The little sculpture edged the glossy brown door open, opening it just enough for Gaius to enter the room. Gaius, however, was more taken with the fact that a small sculpture that had been remodelled to the size of his palm somehow had enough strength to push open a door…but this was Orb.

Satisfied with his answer, he entered the room, where a white-haired girl was sitting up on her bed.

“Good morning, Xanadu.” Gaius smiled. Deep down, however, he felt a tad awkward. He didn’t know how to face the Phantom Blade — he had offered her a family of sorts back then, only to lapse into a coma three years long after wards. Rubbing his nose, he hemmed and hawed as he tried to think of how to talk to her.

Xanadu inclined her head slightly. “Your Majesty. How may I serve?”

“I think I’m missing some pieces of crucial information,” said Nexus. “Why do you call Gaius ‘Your Majesty’?”

“Right…I was thinking of getting you to help since our origins are now the same,” said Gaius, “but there’s actually a hierarchy for the Crying Abyss too. First, you can serve by never calling me that again. Gaius will do. Second, you can help me explain my current status to Nexus, who has somehow seen through lots of things.”

“By your will, Yo— Gaius.”

“Third,” Gaius added, “speak to me normally. Emphasis on normally. Got it?”

Xanadu’s body relaxed visibly, and Gaius grinned. “We’re friends, so don’t go placing me on a pedestal. You’ll make me sad.”

“Fine, fine, I get it.” Xanadu ran her left hand through her hair, which had lost some of its lustre, compared to back when Gaius last laid eyes on it. “Welcome back, Gaius. What was it like over there?”

“Intimidating,” he replied. “And scary. I don’t want to go near it.”

“I thought you’d be pleased, though,” Xanadu replied, a wide grin on her face. “Pegged you as someone who liked being called by titles.”

“Yeah, what’s with that?” Nexus asked. “I thought you would have no issue with ‘Your Majesty’. Weren’t you the pretentious type?”

“I’m not?” Gaius looked at the tiny sculpture and wondered why it also called him pretentious. The last time he heard that word was back in Cybral, when Weiwu called him the exact same thing.

“I think you need a mirror,” Nexus replied. “You like making an entrance, you like to seem mysterious, and you definitely like to look different from other people. To me, all these things scream ‘pretentious’ and even more.”

“I’ll beat you up if you continue,” Gaius said. “Alright, back to the main topic. So…how do I start…”

“From the beginning,” said Nexus. “Right when you gained enough power to overcome the Human God’s familiar spirit. I believe you started there.”

“True. Everything of great import did start there…” Gaius’ voice faltered. “Yeah, that did sound pretentious. Ahem.”

A white-haired girl and a tiny little sculpture glared at him, and Gaius cleared his throat awkwardly again. “Back then, during the assault on the Unity, I found myself overpowered by the familiar spirit’s Divine Territory. Therefore, I was forced to make a breakthrough to Knight, but at that point, the Chanter of Innocents intervened and prevented the normal process from happening.”

“The Chanter of Innocents?”

“Yeah. Erm.” Gaius thought for a moment. “Long story short, I entered eternal servitude in exchange for immense power.”

“I do not see the correlation between the Chanter of Innocents, eternal servitude and immense power,” Nexus stated. “You might want to learn how to tell a story better. From what I know, no bestselling book has ever been a single sentence long.”

“It’s long and complicated, okay?” Gaius sighed. “Alright, give me some time to think this through. But the relevant points are that I have” —Gaius lowered his voice— “less than maybe five years left on Orb. The Chanter of Innocents is, for lack of a better word, dying. I’m his replacement of sorts, in guarding against Really Nasty Things, who will cause great harm if I don’t stop them from leaving.”

“I see what you mean now,” said Nexus. “You don’t have much time left here. Therefore, you don’t want to get yourself into relationships. See? Wasn’t that simple? Why did you have to make a mountain out of a molehill?”

Gaius felt his eyelid twitch. “You askin’ for a beating?

“No violence!” Nexus scrambled onto Xanadu’s bed and dove into the blankets, which were thickly piled upon.

At that sight, Gaius felt the annoyed expression on his face slide off. Xanadu’s bed, or rather, the sheer number of blankets on it, made him think about someone who was weakening by the day. He knew why he had that impression — such people were usually incredibly cold, and therefore relied on lots of insulation to prevent themselves from shivering.

“How much time do you have left?” Gaius asked.

“Not long,” Xanadu replied. The same faint smile she had earlier when watching Gaius quarrel with Nexus had faded somewhat. “But the last three years have been the happiest years of my life. My only regret is that I am not blood sisters with Isabelle or Nakama.”

“I was thinking that you might have grown stronger, with the birth of Demon Sovereign Asteria a few days ago,” Gaius replied. “Since, you know, your purpose here hasn’t been fulfilled after all.”

“It’s hard to tell as I am now.” Xanadu touched the blankets around her lightly. “I wish you’re right, however. I…I want to live.”

“Don’t we all.” Gaius looked away from the Phantom Blade. Up close, he could tell that he wasn’t the only one whose condition had deteriorated over the past three years.

He clenched his fist. “Maybe there’s something I can do.”

“Something?”

Gaius looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Weiwu! Come out! I know you’re listening! You and your progenitors owe her this much, at least!”

His shout had roused the others muddling around in the bedroom, and light footsteps began to approach. Gaius, however, didn’t relent. “Come out! You can definitely do something!”

As La-Ti, Isabelle and Nakama burst into the room, a small vortex began to form, one that emanated grey light.

Within the vortex, a familiar silhouette began to take shape.