Star-touched, platinum blond, unfallen… there were many ways to describe them—the humans that long ago had been tempted by the Star and had turned their back to the Moons. According to what Nil had said a while back, those were the first human cultists that came into being. Unlike the modern equivalents, they had made a vow to remain with the Star, and thus had kept their sanity and consciousness. Sadly, as with more things relating to the star, the arrangement didn’t last long.

Tempted with promises of complete dominance, the Star-touched began a rebellion as they charged against the rest of humanity and any that would support them. Aided by the powers granted by the Star, it seemed as if they would succeed, but then the Moons intervened, cutting their powers off. Since then they were cursed never to have awakened powers until such a time when the Moons decided to forgive their descendants.

There were such people in Dallion’s home village. One of the most important families there had been with such characteristics ever since the village had been established. At the time—before Dallion the Earth part of Dallion’s consciousness had arrived in this world—Dallion found the characteristic quite unique. He’d even had a childhood crush on Gloria—granddaughter of the former village chief. Never had he imagined that when the village had first been established, not all the inhabitants had arrived from the north. There was no way to be certain, but what if part of them had already been in the area when the explorers had arrived and mingled with them, continuing the Star-touched bloodline?

That was one of the reasons why Dallion’s blond friends had attracted so much attention upon arriving at Nerosal. Star-touched with awakened powers, not only were an exotic rarity, they were also people who had been forgiven by the Moons.

So, this is where they lived, Dallion thought, looking at the portrait.

They were clearly a lot more numerous than the ancient stories suggested, and also, the timing was a bit off. Initially, Dallion had thought that the whole rebellion had taken place well after the empire had formed. Clearly, he was off by a few thousand years, which begged the question: how had the Star-touched been so technologically advanced? Having them removed from the world’s history was understandable; either the Order or the Moons themselves had seen to it, less humanity make the same mistake as the blondes did.

Did you find what you were looking for? Nil asked.

“No,” Dallion replied. Nil, you should have just told me. “I’m here to find the dragonlet. This is just something to increase my chances.”

Bitterness filled Dallion. He knew why the echo hadn’t told him about this place. In part, it was because Dallion might stumble across the Star. There was no denying that even after his level increase, he most likely didn’t have what it took to face something of the strength of a fallen deity. Since Dallion was considered a mid-level awakened, he no longer could rely on the protection of the Moons, making any confrontation hazardous, especially in the Star’s domain. However, Dallion strongly suspected there was another reason. Nil was probably afraid that Dallion might see something that might make him tempted to join the Star’s side.

I thought you knew me better than that, Nil, he said to himself.

“This was their land, wasn’t it?” Dallion asked.

There was no answer.

A bubble of rage burst inside of him, furious that the echo wouldn’t answer. Thankfully, the anger vanished almost as soon as it had appeared, mostly thanks to the calming melody in Dallion’s domain.

Thanks, Harp. Dallion shook his head. I needed that.

As Dallion stood here, a realization came to mind. The reason he was on edge wasn’t so much that Nil had hidden things from him. It was Dallion’s surroundings that were creating such an uneasy effect. The last time he had felt something similar was during the expedition in the world sword while walking through the battlefield ruins.

Music! Dallion concentrated on the furniture.

The moment he did, he saw that he was right. All the furniture was made of solid void, as if someone had extracted the void that created chainlings and given it solid form. No wonder that there were no windows—moonlight would have destroyed every object without a trace, just like it had on the floors above.

“Lux, move closer to the painting,” Dallion said.

The kaleidervisto did so.

“Now, flash.”

As blue light filled the room, Dallion split into two dozen instances.

Without warning, every single piece of furniture shrieked in pain. Forms that had likely remained static for thousands of years sprang to life. Dallion didn’t hesitate, plunging the Nox dagger into the middle of the nearest table. A shriek of higher pitch echoed for a second, after which the entire table crumbled to dark ash.

One down, Dallion thought.

Forty-eight to go, Gen added with Dallion’s realm.

Not wasting any time, Dallion did a circular slash, slicing off the back of a nearby chair. Alas, that didn’t bring to its end. Crumbling in on itself, what was left of the chair transformed into a large cockroachy creature, its legs far sharper than Dallion would have liked. And it wasn’t the only one. Everything else in the room was also changing form. Even the doors broke off, becoming large black insects followed by waves of more coming from the corridors.

At first glance, the situation seemed dire, but it could have been a lot worse—the same could have happened when Dallion was several floors down. Then not only would the insects be a lot more, but Dallion’s escape route would have been blocked. Still, he had no intention of just fleeing.

“Lux, cover my back!” he shouted as he slashed at the insectoid chair.

In one of his instances, the insect managed to brush his skin with its leg. The mean was considerable, if but brief. It felt as if melted rubber had been poured directly on Dallion’s skin. Immediately Dallion switched to an instance in which he had sliced the creature in two.

“What am I fighting?” Dallion asked, evading the increasing number of attacks around him best he could. Finding himself in a small enclosed space, he would have done a wall run, or at the very least jumped off of one to get to a better position. Unfortunately, the paintings on the walls made that impossible. They too had come to life, transforming into black wall jellyfish.

This was the stuff nightmares were made of, and in a very practical sense. These creatures hadn’t merely taken the appearance of horrors, but rather were the very substance that created those horrors in the first place—the personification of fears that leaked into the real world thanks to the involvement of the Star and his followers.

“Nil!” Dallion shouted as he sidestepped to avoid a creature attack, then spun in place doing a series of piercing thrusts as he did.

Due to the dagger’s length, slashing attacks weren’t overly effective, and he couldn’t rust using a line attack out of fear he’d slice up the entire tower.

It’s the first time I see such entities, Nil replied. The closest thing I can think of are chainlings without a host.

“Weren’t cracklings chainlings without a host?” Dallion moved about, following basic guard steps to gain a combat advantage. It had been a while since he had resorted to using simple guard bonuses. Clearly, combat splitting had spoiled him; that also explained why Vend had stopped leveling up. Overusing one skill weakened all the rest.

Cracklings have a sense of being ever since they appear. Think of them as sphere items: the substance is there, but nobody’s at home. The only reason they’re attacking is because you stirred them up, triggering some deep-rooted self-preservation instinct.

Zombies, Dallion thought. I’m fighting void zombies.

It made perfect sense. The creatures weren’t forming any complex strategies, they were simply rushing him, often impeding each other in the process.

I’ll take your word for it, the echo replied. For better or worse, “zombies” wasn’t a concept that existed in this world. One thing, though. I don’t think they’re attacking you. Rather, they are attempting to find a way to survive.

“Aren’t we all?” Dallion struck a centipede that was made of an ex-chest of drawers. The instant he did, the dark glow of the Nox dagger doubled in size and intensity.

There was a moment of uncertainty during which Dallion wasn’t sure whether that indicated that his crackling familiar had increased in level, or the creatures had managed to affect him in some way. The next time he hit an enemy, it became clear that there was no cause for concern. A spiderweb of cracks spread out from the point of contact, causing an unfortunate ex-mirror stand to break up into pieces before it faded to dust.

Nice, Nox purred.

Nice, Dallion thought almost simultaneously.

Despite having spent far more time in this world than he had back on Earth, parts of his gamer mentality remained. What had been a tower of monsters set on consuming him suddenly changed into a farming area that would help him increase the level of his familiars, at least one of them. All that Dallion had to do was survive.

“Well, it’s just like old times, Nox,” Dallion said, bursting into instances. “Let’s get them.”

Now that the initial fear had gone, Dallion found that the fight was rather elementary. Lacking coordination, battle tactics, or any purpose other than swarming him, the creatures were quite easy to deal with. Once he had managed to create enough space around him to maneuver a bit, it was only a matter of taking them out a few at a time. The process was long, and resulted in a few painful wounds, but with Lux at the ready, that wasn’t something Dallion concerned himself with.

The flow of creatures became a trickle, then stopped completely, leaving Dallion in an empty room once more. The entire floor was covered in ash that let off the smell of cinders and burned horn. As strong as the temptation was for him to sit down to rest a bit, Dallion chose to remain standing.

Both his hands had burn marks caused by contact with the creatures. The pain was significant, though bearable. Taking the kaleidervisto from the air, Dallion pressed it down on the affected spots and let Lux’s flames do the rest of the work. The sensation was instantly soothing.

You were quite fortunate, dear boy, Nil said. As I was saying, after observing the creatures’ behavior, it was clear that they never wanted to attack you. They were merely seeking the only source of shelter.

“Thanks for the clarification,” Dallion said with a smirk.

When Lux had lit up, the creatures might have confused his healing light with that of the Moon, so scurried towards Dallion in an effort to turn him into a chainling.

The more he thought about it, the more horrifying it sounded. Becoming a chainling was bad enough to feel as if being submerged in acid while that was going on was outright horrifying.

“From now on, I’ll do my best not to come in contact with Star-spawn in the real world.”

Not only the real world, dear boy. Avoid it altogether. I strongly suspect that the reason you were burned by crackling matter was because you no longer have the protection of the Moons. From here on, it’s up to you to fight your battles. As such…

“Fun…” Dallion lifted the kaleideristo from his hand. The skin was new, just as before. “Did the people living here have to go through the same each time they came in contact with a piece of furniture?”

That sounded like something the Star would do—make them suffer just beneath the point that would break them. Or better yet, he could keep them in fear, never knowing when their surroundings might decide to consume them, transforming them into chainlings.

You have it all wrong, dear boy… Nil sighed. That was one of the gifts the star gave to all those who followed him. The Star-touched weren’t affected by crackling matter. If anything, they used it to make clothes and items. That’s their affinity even now.

“Huh?”

Why did you think blondes were revered to such an extent? Just because they can become awakened? Nil let out a dry laugh. They are the only ones who can wrap themselves in crackling void and keep their mind and sanity. All the overseers in the empire, probably all in the world itself, are Star-touched. No one else is capable of achieving that.

The revelation hit Dallion like a thunderbolt. Is that why Countess Priscord had personally sent the Luors of Dherma an invitation to join her for the Nerosal festival? Was that why Falkner’s father had agreed for his son to enter into a relationship with Gloria? That was also the reason Dallion’s grandfather had asked Kierra to take the sacrifice… somehow he, too, had known.

That’s why you had nightmares about the cities, Dallion thought of the former village chief of Dherma. It wasn’t just because of the fashion in which nobles controlled everyone within their domain, it was because you knew what awaited anyone with platinum blond hair should they risk going.

“You were half right, Nil,” Dallion said. “I would have felt better not finding out.”

You need to know even painful truths in order to move forward, the echo said. However, now wasn’t the best time. It’s your choice. I can only give advice, but if you value what I say, you’ll turn back.

“I value your advice, Nil, but I’m moving forward.” If I don’t fulfill my promise now, I’m not sure I’ll have the will to come back to this place…