Iris threw a pebble at the lake. It bounced on the still water in a parabolic curve before repeating its movement with decreasing momentum until it sank beneath the surface. The ripples it caused propagated outwards, met each other, and ruined the calm surface.

What emerged as the result appeared chaotic and meaningless, yet Iris was pleased with it. She tilted her head up. Soothing breezes stroked her face, rustling her long straight hair. Although dressed in thin bedwear, she felt only the lingering warmth of her two partners.

Ludmint, in a white gown, came up to Iris. She placed her hands on the wooden railing while overlooking the subsiding ripples.

“After the pleasure subsides, empty clarity takes over.” Ludmint looked at Iris’s hands and arms and face, but she didn’t reach out for them. “Should we get ourselves a lakeside cottage?”

“I would prefer getting a library for a house if we were to change our residence.”

“If I bring you Tower of the Hallowed and make you the Hallowed Librarian, will you make love to me more?”

“If I could love you more, I would’ve done so.”

“If you’ve already loved me with all your heart, why did you sneak out?”

Iris pulled back her hands and turned to her beloved. Ludmint leaned toward her and kissed her. Her tongue pressed against Iris’s dry lips, sealing the words in her throat and turning them into muffled pants. The lovers trembled as their hands grasped each other, and their legs grazed one another.

Iris retreated and exhaled. Misty bubbles leaked out of her mouth, clouding her pinkened face. Despite not needing to breathe, Iris felt suffocated by Ludmint’s forceful yet pleasuring kiss.

“My body can no longer take it,” Iris said. “We’ve already done it multiple times, even with Parmin. If you force the matter, I’ll be angry, furious.”

“How can I stop when you keep showering me with those expressions?”

“If you keep teasing me, I’ll move out to be with Parmin.”

“Have you asked Morbi yet?” Ludmint chuckled. “You missed your chance. When you were sleeping, and you slept so cutely that I wanted you to stay that way forever, Morbi came over and dragged Parmin back home.”

Iris tensed. “Did she say anything about me?”

“She promised to date you another time. Before she left, she stole your kiss and remarked that you tasted like orange.”

“Is she not mad?”

“Who could get mad at you? Before you become a Monster Girl, you must have been the favoured daughter of the world.”

Iris shook her head. Ludmint was right; she used to be the favoured daughter of The Lord, and maybe she still was, but she had never accepted such a role.

“Indeed, I used to have everything at my disposal.” Iris turned to the lake, which had returned to stillness as it had always been. “Compared to the lake, I am but the tiniest vapour, drifting across the infinite sky, coursing onto the uncertain future.”

“Maybe you’ll be the first of a new lake. Your path will be followed by others. Your effort will result in a deep ocean, maybe even bigger than your origin.” Ludmint raised her left hand and dropped it. An invisible impact crashed against the middle of the lake, rupturing a majestic tide, whose silhouette resembled a towering tree with expansive roots.

The phantom tree flickered out of existence the next moment, and the floating droplets plunged into the lake. The drizzle wetted the surrounding trees and the cottage, yet they fell like a gentle, soothing touch on the two Monster Girls.

Ludmint looked at the dim clouds on the horizon and then at Iris, whose eyes glimmered like the stars immeasurably far away.

“Your love for the lake is too profound for me,” Ludmint said. “I’ll return inside the cottage first.”

“I’ll compensate you in full. Today is your day.”

In her lonesome, Iris furrowed her brows. Her eyes grew blurry and, as she caught the wooden railing, gazed into the distance.

On her corneas, a mass of darkness and light manifested. A grand, magical maiden of demonic and angelic nature emerged from it. Her two pairs of wings, one white and feathery, the other black and devilish, enveloped her body, concealing her holy, sensual figure.

She opened her eyes, whose colours alternated between black and white, and beamed at Iris.

“We’ve answered your call, Iris,” Duality said.

“Why did you not warn me?” Iris met Duality’s gaze with unwavering determination.

“If we move too overtly, it won’t be the Legendary who will come for us but the Divine themselves.” Duality covered the right side of her face, revealing her angelic expression. “Please forgive us, Iris. I’ve made sure that she has no ill intention, and, so long as no transcendental interference occurs, she cannot hurt you.”

“I don’t care about my well-being, but my family’s, my partners’. I cannot risk their safety.”

“I apologise for giving you such worry. Please rest assured that I’m protecting them as per our contract.” Duality shifted her hands to cover the left side of her face. A wicked grin emerged. “A promise is absolute. I shall personally ensure their safety whenever possible.”

Iris nodded. “And I shall help you recover as soon as possible. I hope that when you become strong enough, you’ll help me with a favour.”

Duality removed her hands from her face. “Such is in our contract, and thus we will fulfil it. No matter how weak or strong we are, we’ll never break our promise.”

“After I give you the auctioned vessel, how much will you recover?”

“The remnant Divinity will allow us to exert a silver of our might. We’ll be able to impose our Authority upon the world or pull our targets into our infinite whiteness.”

“Impose your Authority upon the world?”

Iris grabbed her head. A spark of agony rushed through her brain as a flood of information gushed inside her soul. She gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, and trembled mightily, yet never did she utter a single syllable of distress.

Although Iris requested nothing, Duality reached out and petted Iris. Her soft right palm gently touched Iris’s head and transmitted a wisp of coldness inside her. It numbed the pain and separated Iris from her torture.

Authorities were the powers wielded by the Transcendent, who, after undergoing their Ascension and fusing their soul with their Domain, unshackled their existence from mortality and began their journey toward perfection, with the ultimate goal of perpetuity.

Countless abstract information, ethereal and incomprehensible, floated inside Iris’s mind. The residue energy from the failed Ascension awakened when she came across relevant information, making her remember her lost knowledge.

“Iris, your secrets are terrifyingly breathtaking.” Duality tilted her head. “It is impossible for those without their unique Domain to undergo Ascension, let alone survive it. Your soul is too strong for your strength, such that, even without my help, you would persist through the integration of knowledge. We’re truly curious.”

“If you can’t find out the reason, how am I to know?” Iris sighed. “Will you be able to hide from the Divine or at least resist them when caught?”

“We can make whomever you choose disappear unnoticed unless they are under the Deities’ watch. However, such a privilege is enjoyed by few.”

“Is my safety within Donhalgen guaranteed?”

Duality shook her head. “Our broken soul and Authority cannot perpetuate themselves. The help we can offer is limited. And you cannot rely on us forever. The more we help you, the more likely their chance of discovering us.”

Iris lightly nodded. She closed her eyes and opened them, and she found herself back on the porch, where she leaned on the wooden railing while watching the still lake maintaining its silent order. After a moment of consideration, she turned to the cottage and went inside.

Lying on the bed, Ludmint casually played with the Eye Bubble. She raised her right hand above her chest and twirled her wrist. The Eye Bubble circled her hand, mimicking her motion. Its dull yet penetrative eyes stared at her, observing her loose dress and exposed figure.

Although the Eye Bubble had no ill intention, its curiosity irritated Iris. She walked to the bed and drove her right hand forward. Black mist trailed after her motion, enveloping the Eye Bubble, who, after struggling for a moment, dissolved back into the void.

“That thing has no gender nor sexual desire, not in the way we define ours,” Ludmint smirked.

“I’m simply giving you back what you’ve done to me.”

“How lovely. You’re my biggest prize since I Fell.”

“Did you also whisper those words to other Corrupted Ones, especially that deep-sea lady?”

“Are you pushing me to embrace you again?” Ludmint giggled. “Unfortunately, I cannot do that. If I don’t finish my assignment, the Court Founder might knock on my bedroom door.”

Iris hmphed. The Court Founder could be sleeping next to Ludmint, caressing her cheeks, fondling her hair, and she wouldn’t even notice it.

“I thought you sneak out to meet me.”

“I did, but my escape couldn’t evade her eyes. She sent me a letter, giving another assignment: Inform you of the procedure of the senior meeting and introduce to you all our senior members.”

Iris looked around the room before she nodded. Though she lost the opportunity to embrace Ludmint, the implication of the Court Founder’s letter was too much. She didn’t dare to kiss Ludmint when the Court Founder could have been watching.

“Very well. I see no reason to delay it further,” Iris said. “If we start early, we might have some free time before dusk arrives.”

Iris and Ludmint spent the entire day together. Ludmint, like a lecturer, articulated her knowledge and experience while Iris noted down, pondered, and affirmed her understanding by asking and requesting demonstrations.

The sun fell through the earth and pushed the moon to the sky. Chilliness painted the warm-coloured sky with a subtle gradient depicting the stars, the purple clouds, rustling night flowers, and the ever-shifting dust. Inside the brightly lit cottage, Iris and Ludmint remained oblivious to the passage of time, their thoughts fixating on their task.

“Words of warning: Do not reveal your weakness, lest they spot it and swallow you whole,” Ludmint said. “Unlike me, they are forceful and terrible and wicked.”

“Are you afraid of my leaving your side?” Iris leaned on her chair with her head lifted. “Your tone has an air of anxiety within it. The way you describe them sounds biased.”

“You’ve never met them. They are older, smarter, more treacherous, and flirtier than me. Although they rarely come to Donhalgen, their influences are the foundation of The Court.”

“I’ve already met them.” Iris looked at Ludmint. “You’re evil and fierce and lewd. You’re one of them, the one who grips my weakness and steals my heart.”

“Do you want me to steal your body too?”

Iris yawned. “Can I exchange it for a hug and a cuddle?”

“As you wish, my Love.”

Iris stretched her arms and legs. She went to bed and collapsed on the left side. Her mind swiftly drifted into the dreamland, where she arranged into her mental library all the information she gleaned from Ludmint and the awakened memory.

Ludmint watched Iris’s dreamy face and smiled. She snuffed the candles and lanterns, closed the curtains, and locked the doors and windows. The quietude engulfed the night, merging the cottage with the still lake and the noiseless forest. With darkness blanketing the land, Iris’s and Ludmint’s dreams went undisturbed.