I returned to the castle with a strange feeling. Despite the importance of what we had just learned I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone else. It almost felt like I was collecting the secrets of the Four Pillars of Tethia. First the real role of the head magician, then Alvis’s history. I had seen a couple of hints that Nero was hiding something as well, and I didn’t even want to think about the possibility of accidentally learning something like that about Queen Levina.

This time instead of holding a meeting Cassandra sent a message that it was likely Alvis was being targeted and to keep an eye out. When I had talked to Alvis earlier he hadn’t seemed surprised, but I decided that it was best to keep the reasons to myself for now. The story of Alvis’s past was a bit unbelievable.

After I had finished reporting to everyone Autumn asked to speak with me alone. He seemed nervous and hesitant so I had agreed and invited him to my office.

“Cassandra… have I ever told you why I know so much about the game that Mickey made?” he asked hesitantly.

“No. Is it important?” I questioned.

Autumn nodded while he fidgeted with his hands. “The first time I saw that game, I walked in on a scene surrounded by an intense battle. A cute girl with cat ears was holding a beautiful woman in her arms as the woman died with tears streaming down her face. I have always liked fantasy adventure so I asked a few questions and found out that it was an otome game and the two characters in that scene were the heroine and villainess respectively.”

I frowned. “Are you saying that the character representing me dies?”

“Yes. It was a scene where we discover that the villainess never hated the heroine and had been protecting her the whole time, but on their way to escape the chaos assailants appear and attack the heroine. The villainess fights them off with beautiful form, but after the assailants had fallen, the villainess also collapsed with an unseen wound,” Autumn explained.

“Do you know why?” I asked.

“Only sort of. I never finished playing any of the routes. That scene was on the Alvis route, and after I got to the scene I was looking for I stopped playing. I wasn’t really interested in the capture targets.”

“So… You played the game to see more of the scenes with my character?” I asked.

Autumn nodded. “When I met you here, at first I thought you were so different from how you appear in the game and I was disappointed, but recently I have started to realize you are just like your game self so I started to feel scared. The only reason I remembered the prince of Kalorvia is because that battle is the trigger for your death.”

“I admit fighting is not my strong suit so I might die in that situation,” I agreed, “but wouldn’t the situation change completely if we made sure someone else was there too? Storm, for example.”

“But how will we know when to keep him around?” Autumn asked, “It was a sneak attack and the setting wasn’t exactly clear.”

“I doubt they will be able to attack the castle directly without us being able to notice anything,” I assured him, “but if we do have to leave for any reason I will make sure that both of us have talented guards. Are you sure you can’t remember anything else?”

“Sorry,” Autumn apologized, “The reason I can’t tell you much is because I didn’t pay that much attention except in your scenes. I didn’t even play to the conclusion of the war with Kalorvia. After this I won’t be able to help at all.”

“Knowing the future is both a blessing and a curse,” I told him, “If we can change this one last thing I don’t mind not knowing. However, seeing visions of the future is the duty of the Queen, so I must accept a life of having knowledge of the possible future.”

“A life of knowing the future,” Autumn repeated, “I think I just remembered something. It might not be important but I am fairly certain that the villainess was supposed to be somewhere else, so I wasn’t expecting her or that scene to appear yet. That and when she showed up she was badmouthing Alvis.”

“So it is somewhere I am not supposed to be, and Alvis will do something that makes me want to badmouth him before the scene happens,” I noted, “I will keep that in mind. Thanks for warning me, Autumn. I should probably track Storm down and make sure he knows about the situation. Asking him for this favor will make me owe him a lot of food expenses, though.”

“That guy really likes to eat,” Autumn agreed with a slight chuckle. He was starting to relax.

I stood up and headed for the door. “Did you tell Keane about this?” I asked.

“I did, but I promised to tell him what you thought about the situation,” Autumn answered, “Good luck with Storm?”

The last phrase was a little awkward and Autumn quickly left the room. One thing was for sure. Autumn definitely had the nimbleness beastkin were known for.

I set out to look for Storm, but I had no idea where to find him since he was the type who came and went as he pleased and I hadn’t requested anything of him recently. When I left the castle I noticed it was later than I thought. The moon had risen, and stars filled the dark velvet sky.

As I watched the sky, movement caught my eyes. I stiffened and surveyed the sky again. Could the sneak attack come from the sky? Had I underestimated Kalorvia? I caught sight of the movement again and frowned. It was too small to be a vehicle. For a moment I imagined a witch on a broomstick and shook my head. That was also incredibly unlikely.

The movement came closer and I took several steps back, but as it drew closer I was able to recognize what it was.

“Nero?” I asked.

He landed in front of me with a tired sigh. “I thought you may have seen me.”

Coming from Nero’s back was a pair of wings that resembled those of a butterfly, but these wings looked as if they were made from captured pieces of the night sky.

“You are a fairy?” I asked him, “A night fairy by the looks of it… Why would you hide it?”

“It’s a long story,” Nero muttered, “For now can you keep it a secret? I just came out here to stretch my wings.”

“I can,” I agreed, “At least now the color of your magic makes sense, but I want an explanation later.”

Nero stretched a bit and looked around. “Fine, but not now. We can meet officially later. Just keep in mind it probably isn’t a story you would enjoy.”