Hey, you asked, and I answered. To me, the moon is unreliable because I can never be sure where exactly it is. It never appears in exactly the same place each evening and never sets in the same place in the morning. That probably sounds strange, though, right?”

  “I never noticed that…”

  “I did. I looked up so often. The night always felt more inspiring to me than daytime. The moon feels mysterious, and the stars like thousands of guiding lights sprinkled across the sky so you never lose track. Still, they all move. I wish there were something… something more constant. Is that even the right word? I can see it in the image the crystals showed me, exactly what I desire: a light, always in the same place, a beacon to steer toward. Or rather, it is two of those lights. A bit like what Ormir saw in her crystal. Yet mine were not the same, not exactly. They were not big, but small and strangely persistent. Like me, I guess?”

  She laughed.

  “Yes, Ormir did mention her vision. Did you ever talk to her about it?”

  “I did not.”

  Nobea now looked down at the ground, her cheeks flushing.

  “I thought that since she was not as strong as me… not as competent with Lucidity… she could teach me nothing. That her path toward herself was a faint imitation of mine. That is why I hated that she left before me. It…”

  “What?”

  “It showed me I was the one behind… I hated that thought. It also told me you were right. Only in part, of course. I was missing at least some humility.”

  “You still are,” Ray said, teasing.

  Nobea laughed again.

  “True. But that does not need to be a weakness. I have thought a lot about it. I think it makes me go all out, trying to prove that I am better than most. It makes me want to do the best I can. It makes failing a lot more painful, though.”

  Ray nodded.

  “True. Say, your image from the crystal, what was it exactly?”

  “Two lights, bright and small, one above, one below, in the image I saw. They have colored auras around them. Yet they are not the moon, far too small. I had hoped you might have seen them too, somehow, or that you would know what they are. Now it is becoming clear how unlikely and foolish that was… I thought of stars, but it does not really fit, does it? They are like the moon in the end… moving across the sky.”

  Ray understood, even if she did not agree.

  It was strange to her that Nobea perceived the moon and even the stars as “unreliable,” yet her explanation at least made a certain kind of sense. And if her inner image truly looked like that, then the moon was certainly not what she was searching for, not even as a Circle of Radiance.

  They both let themselves sink onto their backs, the cool stone pressing through their clothes as they lay still and gazed upward.

  “I still think you are more of a star person,” Ray mused after a while.

  “What do you mean by that? Why?”

  Ray fell silent for a while.

  Should I talk about personal stuff with her? Would she not just mock me?

  But Nobea’s eyes now had a glimmer in them that was new: hope.

  So Ray continued.

  “Not all stars move. Some stay, at least for a while. I have seen it sometimes. I look up at the sky sometimes, thinking of someone I want to meet again. Dio. The one I am connected to. Wondering if he sees the same thing I see. I have started doing it more often since he disappeared once from my heart for a terrible moment. He is more the sky itself, though… And when I think about that, I look up. And I am pretty sure some stars do not move!”

  I am pretty sure some stars do not move…

  In her head, it was as if Dio said those words as well, and she felt him inside her heart, still there, waiting for her. Yes, that is what he would have said…

  “They do move, all of them!” Nobea exclaimed, sitting up, though her eyes were now far away.

  Am I wrong? I never paid real attention to it…

  Suddenly, Nobea’s aura started glowing, warm and inviting.

  Her hair moved in a rising breeze, her smooth skin shimmering. Her eyes now looked like stars as well, darting across the sky.

  “There! I never saw that one before! It is so close to the moon. Should I not have seen it?”

  Nobea pointed upward.

  Almost directly above them, nearly obscured by the moon, a single star glittered brightly.

  Nobea gasped, the colors around her almost looking like the first breath of something new, and Ray felt determination rising within her.

  She gazed at the beauty of Nobea’s Lucidity. It looked pure, purer than anything she had seen before, inspiring and strengthening her own resolve to let Light never fade.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Ray… I never noticed it… and I have looked up so many times…”

  Suddenly, Nobea squinted, as if afraid the sight might vanish if she blinked.

  “There is a small, colored aura around it…”

  She whispered, her voice trembling.

  Ray focused, drawing her awareness to the little dot, and then she saw it too.

  A halo of pale blue, red, yellow, and green shimmered faintly against the dark…

  And soon, it disappeared together with Nobea’s aura.

  “I think I understand it, Ray. Damn it, yes, I do. I do! … A guiding star, always there… Also a circle, you know? I think… I think… my image… I understand it now… A star high above the oceans… reflected in the water…”

  Her voice trailed off, and she closed her eyes, losing herself in her thoughts.

  Her body shook, and colorful tears streamed down her cheeks, some snot running out of her nose, looking strangely misplaced in her beauty.

  Ray smiled.

  Then a gentle glow surrounded her as well, almost like mist or haze, delicate yet resolute, pulsing in countless colors that seemed to breathe with her heartbeat.

  Not simply white like she liked, and yet still amazing.

  Soon, it faded.

  Nobea opened her eyes again, wiped away the snot, and laughed, relief pouring out of her.

  Unlike Ray’s, the shimmer around her remained as she slowly straightened.

  “It is… so beautiful… this Light… the star… Thank you, Ray. I was so close… I felt it was the night sky, yet I never truly…”

  Carefully, Nobea raised her hands and held her palms facing each other.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then a bright sphere appeared, small yet powerful, illuminating the top of the tower.

  Its intensity grew, pulsing in every color, radiating over the valley.

  This time, it did not fade; instead, it rose steadily into the sky, growing smaller only because it climbed so high.

  It shone, and Ray felt a deep resolve awaken within her.

  Then it vanished, and Nobea let her hands fall into her lap as the aura around her faded as well.

  Ray was still filled with awe when Nobea suddenly rushed toward her and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

  Ray froze as she felt the trembling and shaking in her body, the emotion behind it far stronger than the embrace itself.

  “Thank you. Thank you so fucking much! You did it, and I was such a mess toward you… Shit! Thank you, Ray. I am in your debt… forever…”

  She sobbed, and her tears once more shimmered in every color, accompanied by a salty scent that felt fresh and calming.

  Ray realized she returned the embrace.

  In her inner place appeared a star above her radiant fortress, a warm, celestial sphere, close and comforting, filled with resolve.

  And that star was Nobea, steady and luminous, no longer distant.

  “No, you are not in my debt,” Ray objected, sniffing softly.

  “And if you are, then I am just as much in yours. Without you, I would never have looked up. I would have spent the entire night sitting in some chamber, cultivating, thinking about new offensive and defensive strategies. Once, I feared eternal blackness, yet now the full moon will always be in my thoughts to drive it away, almost like a second Sun. Either we are in each other’s debt, or we are not. It goes both ways.”

  Ray pulled free of the embrace, though her smile remained.

  “You are right. I think… I can finally set out on my… Pilgrimage…”

  Hearing her say those words made Ray freeze, as much as Nobea, who chuckled uncharacteristically.

  Still, there was also sadness in Ray’s thoughts.

  “I will miss you, Nobea… I wish we had done this more often. Sitting here together, simply looking up. Something I fear I have been missing…”

  “Yes. My fault, I think. I was too distant, you know. I messed up so much, in hindsight. I wonder how many people here I never truly got to know. Ormir? Hurc…? Your friend Demoa? You know, I have been watching her sometimes, when I needed rest. Her dances are so… true. Yet I never dared to talk to her. I thought she was just slacking off, or so I told myself. I wonder what she might teach me? After all, she arrived together with you… but how would that look? She would probably laugh at me.”

  Her voice faded, and her yellow eyes grew empty, as if she had stepped briefly into a room filled with unopened doors.

  “There is still time. You could stay a little longer and enjoy it with us,” Ray said.

  She felt her cheeks grow hot, as if she had no right to say such a thing after all the time she had spent training instead of being with the others, after what she had said to Demoa earlier.

  “No, there is no time for me. I have been here too long already. I will return to the coasts where I arrived, maybe out onto the sea… I have a feeling that would show me new wonders. And I want to be a Sage for those people who once cheered for me after I arrived. They set all their hopes on me as a powerful Sage. Or so I always thought. Will they even remember me now? Who knows…”

  Nobea whispered.

  “It sounds great. And… Nobea, I… I can feel you, you know? In my mind. My heart. I think… if you want, we could find each other again after your Pilgrimage. Spend some time together. You know, there is someone waiting for me. Have I even mentioned Dio to you yet? He would love to meet you! He is clever and wonderful and…”

  Nobea burst into loud laughter.

  Ray’s cheeks burned, but soon joy flooded her veins as she fully realized that she had formed a new, deep connection with someone, and that it had happened with Nobea of all people.

  I would have never, ever expected to connect with her…

  “Do it! Visit me once I am a Sage! It will be an adventure. We will all set out and explore the sea,” Nobea said, smiling.

  “Yes, that would be beautiful… After I finish off the Nightmares. After all, I am… never mind…”

  With that, Ray slowly walked toward the door.

  So much had happened in such a short amount of time after nothing had changed for a hundreds of days. And even though her argument with Demoa still weighed heavily on her, she felt the bond between them almost as strongly as before. And she had discovered even more places of Light where the radiant circle lived.

  Perhaps she would soon begin her own Pilgrimage after all.

  Something of Nobea’s colorful aura still urged her to start moving onward.

  I should perhaps really go back to Dio. Yes, maybe it is time. We could join Nobea? Take Demoa with us, maybe even Rad…? Guess we will have to…

  Ray suppressed a chuckle.

  When she was almost at the door, she heard Nobea’s voice once more.

  This time, there was no joy in it, no lightheartedness. On the contrary, her statement, though warm, sent a shiver down Ray’s spine, because there was truth in it, she knew.

  “Ray, I will always have your back.”

  The words echoed in her mind, and the connection she had only just forged with Nobea flared up, filling her with even more warmth and urging her to leave.

  Surprised, she turned around.

  Nobea was again sitting on the floor, yet her gaze was serious. A small smile rested on her lips.

  Then her Lucidity filled the platform with hues.

  “I will do the same for you. I promise,” Ray replied, nodded, and left the room.

  Now she knew what she had to do.

  She would take some time to think about the moon, and then she would return to Demoa and offer her the apology she deserved, hoping to receive one in return. After that, the two of them would begin working toward starting their Pilgrimage.

  Dio, soon! I let you wait too long already. I am so sorry! But I will have so many things to tell you! Most of all, that I love you. And I know it is not a mirage of the Dream. It is real, even though we only met for such a short time! I hope you will be a little proud of me, even if I made mistakes… Yeah, I need to go to Demoa soon. Maybe tomorrow!

  Because even if Ray did not like Rad, Demoa deserved to be happy as well.

  As did Ray.

  And if that meant traveling with him, then that was exactly what they would do.

  Smiling, Ray finally entered her chamber and let herself be carried away by images of the moon, full and round, brimming with strength against the night, exactly like the radiant fortress in her inner sanctuary.