When Sid awoke he saw he was laying on a bed in an empty room.

With a ghostly figure staring down at him.

"Aaagh!" he cried. "Grim Reaper! Please don't take my soul!"

The figure laughed, and threw back their hood. It was Meg.

"About time I got one back at you," she chuckled. "It's Spectre Armour. I crafted it using Chlorophyte and Ectoplasm from the Dungeon."

"Oh. Nice. So... um... where'd the fairy go?"

Meg said nothing, just held out an item in her hands.

"This is a Prismatic Lacewing," she said. "You blew one up in the Hallow, and that caused the fairy, the Empress of Light, to appear. Fighting her was not fun. Quite a light show, but not fun when those lights are trying to kill you. Meanwhile you fainted, like an idiot."

Sid couldn't help himself. He started giggling. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. She was just... she was so beautiful. I just..."

Meg just groaned. She put the Lacewing back into her inventory and took out another item. The Temple Key from Plantera.

"Well, later today we're heading over to the Lihzahrd Temple to check it out. Just like you wanted."

***

When Sid stepped outside with Meg, he saw there was quite a large gathering of citizens in the central area of the Forest Village.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We've got another new citizen," Meg replied. "And she's quite the attention-seeker."

She led him to the centre of the group, where a young girl, who looked to be in her teens, was moving around shaking hands with basically everybody and greeting them in the friendliest voice Sid had ever heard. She wore a long, fancy-looking dress, and had a silvery tiara placed upon her lustrous, bubblegum-pink hair. She looked just like a princess.

"You must really be 'da bomb', Durim!" She giggled as she shook the Demolitionist's hand.

"I'm Roxanne, the local hairstylist," she said as the Princess turned to her.

"So nice to meet you! I'll definitely be asking you about hair advice if you don't mind!"

"Pop into my salon any time. It's in the Ocean Village. Though, your hair is so perfect already, I'm afraid of touching it!"

They both giggled, and the Princess turned to the next citizen.

"I'm Theodore, the Tax Collector," he said. "Obviously, I collect taxes from these fine folk. Now, you won't need to pay taxes, since you're the Princess, but –"

"Oh? Well, that's very kind of you, but I'd like to be on the same footing as my subjects, thank you very much?"

"Are you sure? I know you royalty types can get –"

"Shut up and take my money!" the Princess suddenly shouted, then equally suddenly composed herself and said, "I profusely apologise, that was very unladylike of me."

Sid chuckled. He liked her already.

"Oh, Meg!" the Princess called. "You'll be pleased to know that the Empress will not be declaring all-out war upon our villages on the condition that we do not do anything that would make us impure again."

"We are grateful for your diplomacy," Meg said, then gestured to Sid. "This is Sid."

The Princess did a small curtsey then took hold of both of Sid's hands and shook them.

"Pleasure to meet you while you are awake, Sid. I really appreciate all the good you, William and Meg have done for this land. So thank you! I am Princess Faye, of the Land of Terraria."

"Nice to meet you too, your royal highness," Sid replied.

She moved on and greeted the Tavernkeep, then the Pirate, then the Angler. Sid couldn't help but notice the young boy blush a bit when the Princess introduced herself to him, then once she had moved on the Pirate laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

"What was that you said about girls being gross?" Red Beard asked.

"She's not a girl, she's a princess!"

Sid chuckled and turned back to Meg. "We heading off to the temple yet?"

"Just got to find William," she said.

"I haven't met William yet," the Princess said, suddenly standing next to her. "Where does he live?"

"He doesn't really live anywhere I think," Sid said.

***

They found William in the dojo.

Over the course of their time in the world, a few Travelling Merchants had stopped by, staying for one day before subsequently disappearing just before sunset. They prided themselves on selling items from "lands that may not even exist", which had made Sid chuckle at the knowledge of them basically being another video game mechanic in this world.

One of the merchants had been selling oriental-inspired items such as Dynasty Wood and Shingles and some food that Sid had never heard of even from his vague recollection of the real world. William had bought up a lot of building materials from that merchant, and had subsequently used them to construct the dojo, modelling it with architecture and a fancy roof that Sid could recognise from designs in the real world. Inside, he set up lots of target dummies, which when paired with a DPS Meter (another item sold by Travelling Merchants), could be used to test how much DPS (damage per second) their weapons did, so they could figure out which ones were the best to use.

At that moment he was stabbing a dummy with a flurry of rainbow slashes, so fast that Sid had trouble keeping track of his movements. He was wowed not just by the speed of this weapon, but by the visual aesthetic as well. Plus, he had never seen William use this weapon before.

"Where did you get that from?" Sid asked.

"It's the Starlight," William said.

"The Empress of Light dropped it after you invoked her wrath," Meg said.

Sid groaned.

The Princess stepped forward. "Oh William, Warrior of the World, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Princess Faye of..."

She trailed off as William kept on stabbing at the Target Dummy. Far longer than Sid felt would be needed to get an accurate reading on the DPS meter.

After about a minute he finally stopped. "Sorry your majesty," he said, sounding short on breath. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"You mean about Robyn?"

She seemed to realise her mistake right as a visible wince passed over William's face, for she said, "I'm so sorry! So sorry! Actually... um... I see you want to be alone, so I will leave you for now. If you need someone to talk to, please please do not hesitate to stop by." She gave a quick bow before she left.

Sid watched her exit before turning back to William, who had put his Starlight back into his inventory.

"She's right," he said. "I can't stop thinking about her. I just wish I'd... you know, told her how I felt at the party, or tried to do something to keep her safe sooner."

"You couldn't have ever known that they were going to curse her," Sid said.

"I know. It's just... what we have to do, it's such a big burden. It's so daunting. And after all we've been through since defeating the Guardian, I don't feel any closer to saving her or stopping the Cultists. If anything, they're probably getting closer to their goals right this moment!"

Sid found himself exchanging a look with Meg.

"On the contrary," Meg said, "I'd say we are closer. When we slew the Guardian, the world fell back into disarray, reducing our relative power significantly. But we have since reclaimed it."

"We've grown even stronger again, mate," Sid said.

"Yes, but it seems like that's all we're ever doing," William muttered. "I want to take action and actually put a stop to them."

"That time will come," Meg said. "But until we know how, getting stronger is all we can do." She held out the Temple Key. "And it's probably about time we pay a visit to the Lihzahrds."