Nyx walks through the door of the cave, and finds herself in a large circular wooden structure. It was completely enclosed, and the few bits of stone visible between the planks here and there suggested that it was underground. It was brightly lit by bonfires surrounded by stones scattered in a ring pattern following the shape of the floor, and two other wooden doors were visible about twenty meters away from her position, a few meters apart. A hole in the ceiling was drawing in the smoke.

  - “The first door has ‘main hall’ written on it and the second one says ‘weapons’...” Nyx comments. “We should go to the main hall right?”

  - “You can read from that far?” Julian asks as he joins her outside of the cave.

  - “That’s far? Now that you bring it up, I used to be able to see distant stars in detail… I guess human eyes aren’t exactly the best.”

  - “Yeah that’s probably true.” Julian replies before pausing. “You’re obviously not human, I can tell by the scale size of your life force along with the way you talk about them as if you weren’t one.”

  - “But I am though! Look, I’m bleeding!” Nyx points out her ankle, still attached to the chain that was binding her to the cage. She also notices the trail of blood that she left in her path, and she gasps. “Oh, Vanessa isn’t gonna be happy about this one!”

  - “...I’m not going to ask you to tell me what you are, since you saved me along with all of these people. There’s no way you could be evil.”

  - “Oh that’s a change of pace! There’s a lot more people who say that I’m evil than people knowing I’m the most loving goddess of the five! Well, maybe except Vivianne. She’s always loved people as much as I do, but in a different way.”

  - “A goddess?... But you couldn’t be one, there’s only four…”

  - “I get that a lot! Doesn’t really matter right now though, I’m incognito in human mode so just see me as that and nothing more!”

  - “...Sure.”

  - “Alright let’s get going!” Nyx starts walking towards the main hall.

  - “Wait. We should pick up some weapons to defend ourselves, given that most people here don’t have very powerful magics.”

  - “Is that so? Why was I here then, you said mine was!”

  - “Probably a fluke? I don’t know, I’ve never seen them make mistakes as big as this.” He points to the door they just exited from.

  Nyx reads the words “Non combative merchandise” carved in the wood.

  - “Oh I get it! Yeah I didn’t fight back before, but now I have to.” She comments.

  - “Then we should probably thank whatever force pushed you to do so.”

  - “You hear that Vanessa? People are thanking you!”

  - “Who’s that Vanessa?...”

  - “She’s me, but also not me at all. According to her mother, I’m possessing her!”

  - “I see. That makes sense, I guess. No human would be born with a soul this absurdly large.”

  The other ex-captives join them in the circular room, and they all proceed to the weapon’s room. The door is locked, but a human girl with long black hair covering her eyes wobbles over from the crowd and wordlessly places her hand on the keyhole. Said keyhole clicks, and the door opens.

  - “Oh, what did you do?” Nyx asks. “I was about to blast it open, but that’s probably better!”

  - “...My magic lets me open anything locked.” The girl replies. Her voice was so low and altered by dehydration that Nyx could only barely understand what she was saying.

  - “I remember them sealing her cage shut, since she would always unlock the chains they used to bind her, even when she wasn’t intending to do so.” Julian comments.

  - “That’s a great magic! I wish I could do that too, that’d be very convenient back at home!” Nyx comments as she walks into the room. She catches a glimpse of the girl’s eyes as she passes by, who was looking at her with eyes practically sparkling.

  - “You… you mean that?” The girl asks.

  - “Of course!”

  - “Thank you…” She starts softly sobbing.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  - “Humans always cry for the weirdest reasons!” Nyx says as she turns her attention to the room.

  It was a small rectangular room, with wooden racks lined up along the walls. In said racks, a variety of iron weapons are visible, and the ex-captives quickly rush to grab whatever they can. Julian takes a longsword in his hand, and nods to himself after swinging it a little.

  - “Oh, a sword! I remember that Serafim likes those.” Nyx comments.

  - “The god of War? I guess he does.” Julian replies. “ But actually, aren’t you going to take anything? You’ve just been standing there, watching everyone.”

  - “Oh I need one too?”

  - “It’ll help you save on magical energy. Plus, with that strength I’m sure that you could just brute force your way through untrained fighters.”

  - “Right, energy. It’s true that I get dizzy when I use a lot of light now.”

  Nyx walks along the wooden racks, staring at the weapons. They all looked pretty useless to her, and she frankly had no idea what the differences between them were. But then, as she passes in front of a particular weapon, she remembers a casual conversation she had with Serafim some time ago.

  Date: December 31st, year 338 of a the first divine calendar       Location: The First Moon

  - “Say, what would you wield as a sacred weapon?” Serafim asks after finishing a tale of a war between three nations that started and ended within a single year. “I can’t say I’m not curious.”

  - “What’s that?” Nyx replies.

  - “A weapon that your followers can recognize you by, and that they can wield to feel closer to you. Mine is the sword, of any length and size.”

  - “Why do you need weapons though? Couldn’t you just wish whoever you’re fighting to disappear? I’ve noticed that you take a very convoluted route to fight people in your stories.”

  - “I’m not as omnipotent as you are, and neither are the others. To wage war, one always needs to get their hands dirty, and one day you might have to do so yourself.”

  - “Oh! That’s true. Also, don’t worry I’d never extinguish humans without a very, very good reason! I don’t want anyone to stop living their life because of me.”

  - “A surprisingly noble desire, granted I don’t think it is born from the most noble ideals. Regardless, what would be your pick for a sacred weapon if you had to choose?”

  - “Well, I don’t know what I would choose to be honest! What did the others pick?”

  - “Vivianne says that love trumps any lump of steel, and I’m sure that she is right. The old man claims that magic is the weapon of the future, and while it irritates me, he’s probably right.” As he says that, Nyx notices Solomon flashing a wide grin while sitting at a small table made of moonstone. Serafim also sees him, and his right eye twitches before he continues. “Calypso dislikes war, so she always refuses to answer my question. To be honest, it makes me sad because it makes me feel like she dislikes me for being the incarnation of war.” His shoulders slump slightly.

  - “So no one has an actual, physical weapon besides you!”

  - “...That’s true.”

  - “Sorry!” They hear Vivianne shout in the distance. She was attempting to groom Calypso’s water-like hair with a comb made of moonstone, with the only effect of changing the color of the water from bright blue to bright fuchsia pink.

  - “...It’s fine.” Serafim whispers, sulking.

  - “You know, it’s weird how you act and talk both like a human child and a human adult at the same time.” Nyx comments. “I’ve never seen humans like this before!”

  - “The consequences of a child’s mind persisting in an unaging body for centuries on end. This is not normal.”

  - “True! You guys are special cases.” Nyx stops for a few seconds, and all the stars of the cosmos suddenly glow slightly brighter. “Oh I know, the spear!”

  - “Oh?” Serafim tilts his head to the side, unable to repress a slight smile. “Where did that come from?”

  - “My first followers, the humans that had a little more hair than today! They were wielding spears and throwing them to hunt animals much bigger and heavier than themselves! If they wielded them with the intent of feeling closer to me like you said, then that means the spear was always my sacred weapon!”

  - “I think you have it backwards, but that’s not a bad choice. The weapon really looks like you.”

  - “I look like a spear?! I did my best to look like a human, why did nobody tell me anything?” She exclaims, and Calypso chuckles in the distance.

  - “I meant your way of being, more than anything. You’re always so… distant from people and yet every action you take has an unimaginable impact on their lives.”

  - “Oh. But I don’t want to be distant! I’ll let you know I did that thing once…”

  Nyx starts ranting and complaining about her lack of ability to directly interact with humans, and Serafim has a soft smile.

  - “Yes… I believe the spear is a fine choice.”

  Date: Back in the present Location: ???

  - “I think I should pick this one!” Nyx says as she picks up the weapon she was looking at from the wooden rack. Its weight felt slightly off, but she was confident. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to fight like a human, for the experience and all!”

  - “A spear?” Julian says as he walks over. “I guess that works. Should we get going then?”

  - “Yes!”

  Nyx and Julian leave the weapon’s room with the group of escapees, and the black haired girl from before unlocks the door to the main hall. When the door opens, they are faced with a long corridor lit with torches on the sides of the walls. At the end of said corridor, they are faced with an even larger cavern, with tens of holes in the walls sealed by doors. A river was flowing through the cave from a hole in the far wall, and a small boat was stationed along its bank. A fourth of the cavern seemed to be some kind of living space, with tens of chairs, sofas and tables sprinkled around. There was a small bar manned by a blonde woman with slightly glowing pink eyes, and a vertical scar over the right one, laughing with and serving drinks to the bandits sitting at the counter.

  A few dozen bandits were sitting on the chairs, chatting, drinking alcohol or sleeping.

  - “Hey! Do you know where the exit is?” Nyx shouts, her voice resonating through the cavern.

  All the bandits whip around to look at her, surprised at first, but when they notice the group of escapees following her they all get up and take arms.

  - “Guess it’s time to defend myself then…” Nyx complains as she readies her spear, holding it backwards with the tip pointed towards her stomach.