"This place is so strange," Sophie said while she walked through the streets that made up the wondrous city of Hope.

She was wearing a white gothic-styled dress. Lone had told her that recently, he had gained a taste for the colour white. She didn't care what she wore, but she was happy that it made him happy.

"Do you think Master will succeed Eolande's tests?" Breena asked from Sophie's side. She was wearing a simple yellow blouse and a pair of brown trousers. One might think she looked like a peasant, but she had specifically asked Lone to make her normal wear look as plain as possible to make her less noticeable. He thought this was stupid since her three tails were clearly visible, but he chose not to mention this.

Sophie took a second to appreciate the artificial wind that she could sense was being made by some sort of magical formation before she answered. "Of course. I've said this before, but if Lone says he'll do something, then he'll do it."

Breena followed after Sophie with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Sorry. It's just so easy to forget how... odd Master is," Breena said.

Sophie smiled a little bit at this and answered Breena after turning a corner into a marketplace of some sort. "Yeah, it is. The thing about Lone though, is that he only gets stranger and stranger as time passes," Sophie replied with a giggle.

'It's been such a short amount of time since you suddenly appeared in my dimension... I wonder if I ever would have changed if you hadn't sealed me? What would have happened to us both if I had said no... ?' Sophie thought.

The marketplace that the two were in was fascinating due to the various kinds of wares and races that were browsing them. Sophie had, like Lone, never met other races until she came to Altros because the times that Eolande had spoken of were clearly before Sophie's era, hence her interest in the different species before her.

She approached a small wooden stall that was showcasing jewellery, mostly brooches. Seeing them reminded her of the first proper gift Lone bought for her, so she took her left hand and gently stroked the butterfly brooch that was pinned to the breast of her dress. It was just as beautiful as she remembered it being with its emerald shimmer.

Sophie was smiling as she basked in her nostalgia before a voice broke her out of her happy thoughts. "Less its fess trals coss!" came the angry shouts of the vendor behind the jewellery store.

A large Lizardkin of some sort. Sophie couldn't tell their gender nor what language they were speaking, and she began to panic visibly.

"Grets mass liks es raks!" the vendor continued in rage while it pointed at Sophie's chest. All the poor girl could do was issue a few meek sounds before she crouched down and hid her head. Dealing with people who were aggressive in a non-life threatening way was clearly still one of Sophie's biggest weaknesses.

A crowd was quickly forming around Sophie and Breena which only served to fuel Sophie's panic attack. Breena was clearly a bit frightened too, not due to the crowd or what ever the Lizardkin wanted, no, she was scared of what Lone's reaction to all of this would be. However, she still reluctantly contacted him via the communication orb that he had granted her just in case Sophie couldn't talk to him telepathically, or they got separated.

She frowned all the while during her explanation to her Master. He was furious. She could tell because he hadn't said a single word since the link was formed all the way until the link was cut. Breena knew one thing for sure; this marketplace would see blood. No life-dream or two can change Lone's barbaric way of dealing with problems.

Back in Eolande's home, Lone had dropped the hammer and subsequently ruined the blade he was working on. He stood up and mumbled to himself, "... I knew letting them out of my sight was a mistake... fucking try to take advantage of my Sophie?"

He then stood up and began walking out of the forge room. "Where are you going? You only have seven days to complete the Tylwyth Teg's task. Now is not the time for distractions," Red'Klata said in a stern tone.

Lone stopped walking and remained silent before his aura suddenly changed which forced both of the Cosmos-Ranked tools to hold their proverbial tongues. [Don't tell me what to do. Something important has happened. I'll be back soon, so just stay here and wait] Lone ordered with his Aura of Dominance in full throttle. He was absolutely livid.

Both Red'Klata and Kal stayed silent while they watched him leave the room.

"Live. Danger," Kal expressed.

"Indeed. I felt like if we refuted him further, he would have extinguished our existences. How chilling," Red'Flata agreed. They had both felt that Lone didn't have the time to deal with them so if he had to, he would have erased their souls purely to save time in doing whatever had caught his sudden attention.

Meanwhile, a certain Tylwyth Teg was following Lone through the halls of her workshop as he weaved through them almost as if he had been here his entire life. It didn't take him long to find the exit and fly out of it.

Eolande was shocked, to say the least when Lone started to Sky Walk. Although not as rare as a created skill, it was still nigh impossible for someone not of an Air-inclined species or Avian race to gain it.

She chose not to reveal herself to Lone as she continued to follow him through the air, over Hope. 'I wonder what's gotten him so riled up? He seemed quite peaceful earlier if you ignore his somewhat arrogant attitude,' Eolande thought before she briefly closed her eyes and sent her mana out to scan the entire city in hopes of finding the source of Lone's agitation.

'Ah, the Cosmos Being Human? How interesting... ' Eolande concluded after having found Sophie and Breena. It looked like Breena was trying to calm down a Lemurian vendor while Sophie was curled up into a ball on the ground.

'Lemurians. Such filthy existences. Always trying to cheat others. Now I know for a fact it won't back down, even with that scary aura of yours, So, Lone, how will you deal with this devious person that has caused so much distress to your loved one? I wonder, hehehe,' Eolande thought in amusement. Rare was it that a potential apprentice of her had so much... fire inside of them.

It appeared that Lone had also spotted Sophie, and so he descended into the marketplace, much to the shock of the nearby vendors and pedestrians.

The Lemurian vendor couldn't care less that a nine-tailed Foxkin had just fallen from the sky, despite how amazing such a thing was. This vendor was blinded by greed. 'She's already in my palm-ss. Another light push and that brooch will be mine-ss!'

Lone watched as the Lemurian briskly grabbed Sophie's arm and pulled her up off of the ground, forcing her tear covered face to be revealed. The Lemurian then roughly grabbed the butterfly brooch from her chest before it threw Sophie back to the ground.

The next thing that anyone knew, the Lemurian was now missing a hand, the Human girl and Foxkin girl were nowhere to be seen, and the nine-tails that had just arrived was now surrounded by a purple haze as he pulled the screeching Lemurian by the head towards the exit of the market place slowly.

No one dared attempt to stop him because they were struggling to breathe, let along try to save a swindler.

'What a powerful aura of Darkness. I wonder how sad you are right now for such an aura to appear? beastkin awakenings are always so... messy,' Eolande said while she watched the blood flow from the Lemurians open wrist. 'I guess I'll help you keep the Lemurians at bay for now. It's the least I can do as your potential Master,' Eolande thought while she looked at Lone. She then swiftly flew to another part of the city, one surrounded by buildings that looked like they would belong in a swamp.