“Siphon energy? Of course, I know. That’s basically child’s play for me at this point,” Mei chuckled, looking at Nyx curiously. “What exactly is this experiment you have in mind?”

“Glad I got your attention,” Nyx commented, resting her arms on the table. “I found a little curious thing and it seems that Amaris here-” her eyes glanced over at the pinkette sitting beside her. “-She seems to be the only thing that’s keeping it in control. My experiment is to see if her own spiritual energy will be enough to keep it contained.”

“W-wait, don’t I get a say in this,” Amaris suddenly interrupted as she rested a hand on her chest, anxious about having her own spiritual energy taken from her.

“Relax, kid. You think I’m just going to let someone kill you like that? No, I’m going to have Mei take a little bit out. You’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, taking energy like that would only leave you a bit tired, or fatigued at its worst,” Mei added, straightening her posture. “It’s not draining the spirit itself, just the energy it can provide. I assure you that there’s nothing to worry about..”

Amaris glanced between the two older women before nodding, a little embarrassed by her sudden outburst. Maybe she was overthinking… But she couldn’t help feeling wary when she didn’t know Nyx or Mei that well. On the other hand, after all the help that Nyx has given, it did seem kinda rude to assume that the blonde will let her get severely injured.

“Alright, do you happen to have a viata crystal with you, Mei,” Nyx asked calmly. “If not, I have a small one that should get the job done.”

“Always so prepared,” Mei teased, chuckling as she stood up. “Let me grab something really quick and then we’ll head out.” The fox woman would walk over to stand behind the bar, reaching under and then stepping away. As she walked to rejoin them, her hands came up to tie a locket necklace around her neck. It looked like it was made of gold, the locket so polished that it reflected the dim lighting within the tavern.

“We’re heading just past the gates, right,” asked Mei, lowering her hands after tying the locket.

“Actually, we might have to head out some more to the grasslands. In case something goes wrong,” Nyx replied, standing up and motioning to Amaris to stand as well. “I’d rather not put too many people in danger.”

At this, Mei’s ears twitched as she raised a brow, looking at Nyx with a more serious expression for the first time since they stepped into the tavern. Her hands settled on her full hips, not letting up her stare on Nyx.

“And what exactly are you going to do if something does go wrong?”

“Well, we have my spirit chains, Amaris here has taken care of this type of situation twice before, and I’ll also have a four-tailed kitsune with me - I think we can handle it.”

“Kitsune? Is that what you are,” Amaris asked, looking at Mei with curiosity. Mei would glance and then her expression did a 180, suddenly looking proud as she brought her hand to her chest, right over the locket.

“Yes, I’m called a kitsune. In the world I’m from, we’re a powerful fox spirit that can learn many different powers that we call paths,” she said proudly. “I happen to know the fire, celestial, forest, and spirit paths. Now, if you met my older sister, she has-”

“C’mon, Mei, stop fooling around,” Nyx called, already standing by the door. “You can tell Amaris all about kitsune after we get this done.”

“Aw, you just had to ruin my fun, didn’t you?” Mei pouted and then sighed, lowering her hands to her sides.

“But what you told me sounds really cool, though! I didn’t know that there was a being who could do that,” Amaris quickly stated, her eyes bright with excitement and impressed by Mei’s claimed paths. “Ah, wait… You said from your world. You’re one of the Connected?”

“Indeed, I am. My sister and I were brought here some years ago,” Mei explained, following Nyx to the door with Amaris. After stepping out and having Mei lock up the tavern, they headed for Nyx’s car again, all while Mei told Amaris of her first years in Shimmercrest. It was lucky that she was brought in with her sister, this in itself was a rare occurrence among the Connected. With no way of returning home, Mei and her sister - named Miyako - did their best to adapt to their new surroundings. Though, it seemed their exotic appearances were enough to get them hired quickly - Mei as a bartender and Miyako as a restaurant hostess. Which then led up to how she met Nessa, the one who recommended Mei to Nyx: turned out that Mei hearing a lot from her patrons was good intel for Nessa and the investigations she was doing. Of course that’d make her a valuable asset to have. Not that Mei minded, she did get paid for giving out information whenever Nessa asked.

Before Amaris knew it, they were already near the grasslands to the south, having enjoyed listening to Mei talk the entire time. It was a good distraction, if she was being honest. It kept her from thinking too much about her family. However, now came a new situation: this experiment that Nyx wanted to put into motion. After parking the car by the side of the road, the three would get out and walk into the tall grass, Nyx leading the way.

“Now Mei, I don’t want to hide the details behind this,” started Nyx, glancing over her shoulder. “Amaris is carrying around a core, one that came from a monster. If not for her own influence, that monster would be regenerating and coming back to life. This is why I didn’t want to do this near a lot of people.”

“And that’s why you’re so confident we can take down a monster that won’t stay dead otherwise,” Mei added, rolling her eyes. “So you want to see if Amaris’ spiritual energy would be enough without having her actual presence around. I’m guessing you want to keep that core contained in a secure location instead of having her carry it around everywhere, right?”

“Yeah, that’s basically it. It’d be safer for everyone, honestly.” They stopped once they were far enough away from the car, Nyx reaching into her jacket pocket to take out a small, red, clear crystal, holding it out for Mei to take. Amaris would look on with wonder, Mei taking the crystal but catching Amaris’ stare. The kitsune would chuckle, holding up the crystal for her to see.

“Never seen a viata crystal in person before? They’re pretty neat and very useful,” she started, holding it up so the sunlight would gleam through it. “They say that warden stones are actually very warped viata crystals influenced by Vesper. But viata themselves are the pure raw power from Joren. They power up all kinds of things, and once they’re depleted, we’re left with an empty container - like this one.”

Nyx would step back some, apparently letting Mei take the lead here. The kitsune would turn to face Amaris, offering her hand out to the pinkette. Amaris, who had been listening closely to everything, remained quiet as she continued, having seen the viata crystals very rarely. She knew they were valuable for being limited power sources, but she didn’t know they could be used again after.

“What I’m going to do is take a little of your spiritual energy and seal it within this crystal. Then I guess we move on to the next part where we see if it works on that monster core you have. You ready?”

“Ahm.. Yeah, I guess I am,” Amaris replied, nodding and holding her hand out to Mei. The kitsune would smile softly and gently take Amaris’ hand in her own. She’d then close her eyes to focus, Amaris watching quietly for something to happen. She noticed one of Mei’s four tails began to glow white a bit, her eyes staring and watching for any change. However, Mei suddenly opened her eyes and pulled her hand away, taking a step back as the fur on her tails bristled some. Her green eyes were wide with surprise, though her body flinching back proved it was more than just surprise.

“You… What are you,” Mei asked, her voice hushed. Catching this sudden shift in mood, Nyx furrowed her brow and stepped closer, Amaris just as surprised as she was by this.

“I-I, um…” Amaris hesitated, unsure how to even answer that. For someone to ask that, it could make anyone question their humanity if they really thought they were human all this time.

“Mei, what’s going on? Did something happen with the siphoning,” Nyx asked, moving to stand between the two, Amaris standing a little to the side to look at Mei.

“Yeah, something happened… Or rather I should say that nothing happened,” Mei began, her eyes looking past Nyx to stare at Amaris. “There’s no spiritual energy for me to siphon! Actually, I didn’t even feel any spiritual presence within her! What is she to have no spirit - no soul?”

Both Amaris’ and Nyx’s eyes widened some by this revelation, Nyx turning around to look down at the pinkette. Amaris would look up to meet her gaze for a moment, but she couldn’t find any words to explain or tell her anything, instead looking down as she held her hands together to stop them from shaking. Turning around to face Mei, Nyx held her hand out to take back the viata crystal, adding with a calm voice, “Mei, the girl doesn’t seem to know either. I don’t think anyone does, to be honest.”

“What kind of investigator are you if you don’t have any info on her,” Mei snapped, still vexed by the fact Amaris apparently lacked a soul.

“The kind that doesn’t want to upset a girl who doesn’t have many memories and recently lost her family,” Nyx retorted back, raising her voice. “And believe me, Nessa and I have tried to find any information on her but there’s nothing! For all we know, she could be just like you, one of the Connected!”

At that, Mei’s eyes softened from their hard stare, surprised written across her face. She’d then gaze at Amaris, the fur on her tails starting to relax and smooth out some. Lowering her gaze, she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head. The silence would hang heavily between them, Nyx staring at Mei the entire time. The kitsune noticed this quickly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and looking more uncomfortable by the second.

“”Alright, I get it,” Mei said aloud, looking over at Amaris. “I’m the last person to judge on something like that after what I went through.” Amaris would slowly nod, unsure what to say to her to that. Not like she could apologize for unknowingly lacking a soul to begin with.

“Stil, this is… an odd circumstance,” Mei continued, musing over it as she tapped her cheek with her finger. “What do you remember? The earliest memory you can think of.”

“Oh, that would be when I woke up in that field back in Glimmerport,” the pinkette replied, looking at Mei curiously. “Does this happen often, though? For someone to lose their memory when they get pulled into this world?”

“I can’t say it’s unheard of, but it could have been very possible that amnesiacs lost their memory before being pulled. There’s no certain way of proving that the process in itself can cause memory loss.” Mei would sigh and then move her hand down to her hip, staring at Mei with a weary smile. “Though, it sounds like your earliest memory happened in this world, when you might have lost your prior ones after being brought here. You’re quite a catch to be someone who has no memory and apparently no soul either. But that doesn’t solve the current problem we have about that core.”

“I know,” Nyx spoke up, shaking her head. “We can’t do anything with it other than to have it be with Amaris at all times. And that in itself is going to be a pain in the ass because if anyone so much as steals it away… We have an impending disaster on our hands.”

“That’s not even counting if there’s more monsters similar to the one I fought out there,” Amaris pointed out.

“Right, which brings us to our next option: Mei, would you be able to use your spiritual path to find out more of this core. To the best of your ability?”

Humming to herself thoughtfully, Mei seemed hesitant but shrugged. “I can try, but I won’t guarantee we’ll get any answers. Let’s see that core.” Offering her hand out, she waited for Amaris to step around Nyx and hand her the core. The moment her palm met with the core, Mei was overcome with laughter, the kitsune doing her best to work through the unexplainable joy to use her path. As before, her tail would glow as she held the core close to herself, trying to suppress her giggles. A few seconds would pass before she’d suddenly gasp and drop the core, her right hand coming up to her forehead.

“That… This is much bigger than you think,” Mei said in a low voice. “I felt… I felt the same thing when I went to the Spiritdance Thicket: a mass of souls. Joren’s souls.”

“Are you saying Joren created these things to prey on people,” Nyx asked as Amaris hurriedly picked up the monster core.

“I’m not sure about that, but it could very well come from him in some way. But there’s no denying the similarity.”

“But I thought Joren was a good guy,” Amaris inquired, confusion in her eyes. “Why would a god that worked to stop a force trying to harm people create monsters that would hurt others?”

“Another mystery to add on to this ever growing list of mysteries,” Nyx replied with a sigh. “We need more information, but how we go about doing that is the question. We barely have clues as is. For now, let’s keep this as confidential as possible between the three of us. If word breaks out about this, there’s no telling what kind of panic that would cause.”

“Of course,” Mei agreed, hand lowering from her forehead. “If I hear anything, I’ll let you know right away.”

Staring down at the core, Amaris gave a solemn nod… and remembered the words the beast she slew had said to her.

They were just filled to the brim with joy.

“Joy… I think this one fed on happiness,” Amaris said slowly, thinking this over. “Is it possible that there are others like it that feed on different emotions?”