Date: April 30th, year 1286 Location: Headquarters of the Fourth Branch, Crystal Rose

  - “SHE WHAT?!” Julian yells in Agnes’ office.

  Agnes was holding her head in her hands, struggling to suppress a smirk. Nyx was sitting on a sofa behind them, grinning at a piece of paper she was holding. Beatrice was excitedly clapping next to her.

  - “She passed all three tests with the maximum grade.” Agnes repeats. “I know, it’s weird. She already got investigated and questioned yesterday, and she answered all the examinators’ questions correctly. To be honest, I was also shocked when she asked if she could take the final exams already, but I let her have her way since she could always attempt them again later.”

  - “That doesn’t make a lick of sense! She studied for a day, and I’m not even done with a fourth of the book of law! I don’t even think she attended a single class, or knows where the damn Guard academy even is!”

  - “Laws are easy to remember, there’s less of them than there are stars!” Nyx comments, showing off her paper. It was an exam sheet, with 100/100 written in red letters at the top.

  - “Trust me, I was afraid she cheated too when the results came out two days ago.” Agnes shakes her head. “But turns out, her memory is basically infallible. She literally just remembers every word she read."

  - “So can I join the Fourth Branch?” Nyx asks.

  - “Kind of, yes, I’ll get the paperwork ready.” Agnes replies, getting up to go and pat Nyx’s head. “Well done.”

  - “Alright I’m gonna have to work a lot harder if I want to catch up…” Julian sighs.

  - “You don’t sound very happy for Nyx.” Beatrice observes.

  - “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m the happiest man to ever live.”

  - “That’s not true, I’ve seen a lot of people happier than you!” Nyx comments.

  - “I was being sarcastic.” Julian drops in the sofa next to them. “Seriously though, congrats. Even if I don’t know how deserved it is.”

  - “By the way Julian.” Agnes cuts in. “ I know we already talked about this, but are you sure you don’t want me to contact your parents again? Maybe they didn’t get the message.”

  - “You sent a letter saying I was no longer missing, didn’t you ? Nobody came to see me, so I’m guessing nothing changed between me and them. We’re elves, the concept of water under the bridge barely applies to us.”

  - “I know, but they’re your family…”

  - “Don’t worry.” Julian smirks. “It’s not like I want to see them either.”

  That night, Agnes throws a humble welcome party for Nyx to celebrate her graduation from the Guard academy after one day, despite not stepping foot on campus once.

  Date: July 20th, year 1286 Location: Headquarters of the Fourth Branch, Crystal Rose

  - “Well done, elf boy!” Julian hears a powerful voice shout from the other side of his room’s door. He jolts awake, instinctively reaching for the dagger he hid under his bed.

  - “...Angelica.” Julian groggily replies. “Why are you here so early in the morning, today…”

  - “To congratulate you!” Angelica laughs. “Rejoice, for I have been informed that you conquered whatever test was obstructing your path!”

  - “Wait, Julian passed?!” Julian hears Nyx slamming the door of her room open, a few meters to the right in the corridor.

  - “Indeed!”

  - “That’s great! Congratulations Julian, I know it’s really hard for humans to remember things!”

  - “I’m not a human.” Julian grumbles, rolling out of bed. “I’m an elf, and we have better memory than them.”

  - “...What is happening?...” He hears Beatrice’s sleepy voice mumble not too far away.

  - “Oh. I think we woke up Beatrice.” Nyx observes.

  - “Maybe if you both weren’t yelling so much…” Julian opens his door, walking out into the corridor.

  - “Congratulations Julian…” Beatrice says, stumbling forward. A large white bandage was wrapped around her forehead.

  - “Yeah thanks, now go back to bed. The sun’s barely risen yet, and you’re still recovering from that stunt you pulled at the Dungeon.”

  - “You’re still mad? I was fine in the end…”

  - “She’s right!” Nyx comments.

  - “You’re both to blame.” Julian frowns, his vision getting clearer as irritation washed his fatigue away. He points his finger at Nyx. “Plus she was bored because you kept going solo to visit the city. If you had given her a little more attention, none of this would’ve happened.”

  - “All’s well that ends well ! Let us end this argument!” Angelica declares as she bear hugs Julian and lifts him off the ground, grinning at him.

  - “Hey, let me go!” He tries to struggle, but it feels like fighting a mountain.

  - “No chance! Now onwards to Agnes’ office!” She turns to Beatrice. “Except you, child. Listen to the elf and go rest, you have no need to be involved in this conversation.”

  - “But I wanna listen…” Beatrice protests.

  - “I have heard the tale of your bravery.” Angelica cuts. “And courage is the best predictor of a great warrior. However, temerity is also the best predictor of one’s death. Do not mistake one for the other.”

  - “You talk complicated…”

  - “Haha, do I now? Well in simple terms, go back to sleep or I’m going to make you!” Her hand forms into a fist.

  Beatrice immediately turns tail and returns to her room. Angelica then walks away, carrying Julian and followed by Nyx. A few minutes later, they’re in Agnes’ office. The latter was hunched over sitting at her desk, three near empty cups of coffee next to piles of paper folders.

  - “Oh hi.” Agnes raises her head to look at them.

  - “You look like an undead.” Julian comments. “I shouldn’t have to say this, but you really should take a good break. I don’t even know if I’ve seen you leave the tower during the past two months.”

  - “Thanks for the compliment.” Agnes smirks. “Don’t worry about me, you should be more concerned about yourselves.”

  - “So the big day is incoming?” Nyx asks. “I’ve always wanted to visit a big theater in person! You’d be surprised how consistent these are over the course of human history.”

  - “Yes, it’s tomorrow.” Julian answers. “I had to take the exam a lot earlier than I’d want to, it’s a miracle that I even passed…”

  - “I wouldn’t call that a miracle.” Agnes comments. “You still received eighty points out of a hundred.”

  - “That’s twenty less than Nyx.”

  - “I don’t think it’s fair to compare yourself to someone who claims to be an omnipotent cosmic goddess of creation, but oh well.” Agnes rolls her eyes. “You know, I only scored seventy on my exam, and here I am.”

  - “Yeah but your magic is a million times more useful. Unless you guys are looking for a merciless assassin, I guess. And even then-”

  - “I see your lack of confidence remains unshakeable!” Angelica cuts with a laugh. “I thought we agreed that you would try to change that?”

  - “I’m… working on it. I can’t just do that with a snap of my fingers.”

  - “You may think you are humble, but you are just stubborn as a dragon. You are much stronger than you believe yourself to be, elf boy. The simple fact that you caught my attention should be a testament to that!”

  - “...You already told me that.” Julian sighs. “Alright, can we move on? I don’t think Agnes called us to talk about me.”

  - “That’s true.” Agnes confirms. “You’re going to need to look the part if you don’t want to draw too much attention.”

  She looks around the room, stopping on each of them. Nyx looked and smelled like she hadn’t taken a bath in a few months, Julian was wearing his patched up white hoodie and a pair of black trousers he found lying around his room, and Angelica was in her usual outfit.

  - “Angelica’s fine, for a Polemian official. But you two…” Agnes continues.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  - “Yeah I get it.” Julian sighs. “I don’t want to go back to wearing fancy, eye-catching stuff, but the mission comes first.”

  - “Thank you for being understanding.”

  - “Oh, so we’re going shopping?!” Nyx exclaims. “That’s great ! Every time I enter a store they tell me to leave though…”

  - “Taking a shower might help. Just saying.” Julian comments.

  - “You think? They also were yelling about how they didn’t like window shoppers and that I should come back with money. I told them that I could give them stars, but they told me to get lost… Humans can be so rude!”

  - “You were trying to sell them the stars in the sky?... I guess you technically own them...”

  - “Yes! I thought that’d be a good bargain, since stars have so much light. I noticed this city needs a lot of light to stay functional.”

  - “Yeah, most spells and magic items are powered with magical energy. Doesn’t mean people would want to use actual stars to power their vacuum cleaners.”

  - “Ah. My bad.” Nyx looks back at Agnes. “By the way, we’re taking Beatrice with us, I think she’d want to come along!”

  - “(One thing Lady Night and her have in common is that none of them bother asking for permission before doing something.)” Julian thinks to himself.

  - “Sure, I don’t mind.” Agnes gets up from her chair, groaning in pain as she does. “I can’t come with you though, I have a few things I need to investigate on my own.”

  - “Then who’ll pay?” Julian asks.

  - “I shall cover all our expenses!” Angelica shouts as she pulls out a few gold coins from her pocket. A stylized rose viewed from above was carved onto one of each of their sides, the other side featured a simplified portrait of a man with long hair and a similarly long beard.

  - “Are you sure?... That’s a lot of money you’re willing to spend for this…”

  - “Is it?” Nyx tilts her head to the side, curious.

  - “One gold coin is equivalent to one hundred silver coins, and each of those is equivalent to a hundred bronze coins. You could probably buy a house in a nice village with a hundred gold.”

  - “Mere pocket change!” Angelica throws a coin in the air and catches it. “The Ironside treasury is inexhaustible! Well, at least as long as we’re at war. In times of peace, uncle Theo makes it very much exhaustible…”

  - “Sounds about right for him. Alright then, should we go? We’ve got all day, but I was really enjoying laying down in my bed doing nothing while recovering from the rush of the last two months.”

  - “To the tailor!” Angelica dramatically points towards the office’s door.

  - “To the tailor!” Nyx repeats, imitating her pose.

  - “She might be rubbing off on her…" Julian whispers, sighing as he follows them outside.

  - “By the way Julian!” Agnes calls out. “Take this.”

  - “What?” He turns towards her, hearing the flapping of wings behind him. A white dove lands on his head, nesting in his similarly colored hair. “Uh… thanks?...”

  - “It’s like my ravens, you can contact me through them and they relay information to me. I just wish they were a little smarter, but at least they’re less recognizable than the latter. Just pretend it’s your familiar and carry it around.”

  - “Will do.” Julian nods before putting on his hood and exiting the office.

  An hour later, they are in front of a large pyramid of glass and cast iron. A large crowd was gathered around it, and half of it was an extremely long line of people waiting to enter through the front doors, two sliding glass panes shaped like the two halves of a rose viewed from above. Above said door, a black marble sign lined with gold read “Rose Quartz” in elegantly carved letters. Angelica immediately starts cutting the line, elbowing her way through the crowd.

  - “Hey, you shouldn’t do that.” Julian comments among the angry whispers of the crowd.

  - “I know the owner!” Angelica shouts back as a few people try to physically stop her. “Hey, hands off! Are you picking a fight with me?!”

  - “This can’t end well…” Julian sighs.

  - “Nyx, I think we should stop her.” Beatrice suggests. “Cutting in line is not nice.”

  - “I guess I can!” Nyx makes her way through the crowd.

  She reaches Angelica, and grabs her arm. The latter’s advance is stopped for a second, as she turns to look at Nyx with wide eyes.

  - “You’re much stronger than you look!” Angelica comments before raising her arm and lifting Nyx above the ground. “But it’ll take more than that to beat me!”

  - “ANGELICA IRONSIDE.” A male voice booms from the entrance of the pyramid.

  At the same time, a tall pillar of flames erupts from where the voice came from. In its center, an elf with brown skin, silver hair, yellow eyes and gold trimmed round glasses was staring at them. He was wearing an elegant black suit with accents of gold on the undershirt, white gloves and a wide black, purple and gold mantle made of some kind of fur. On his left shoulder, a lion head made of flames weaved into his coat was silently roaring, projecting a cloud of sparks towards Angelica. His gaze was so intense it seemed to be the reason the crowd fled his surroundings, as opposed to the flames emanating from him.

  - “Vincent!” Angelica happily calls out.

  - “I remember telling you to stay away from my establishment lest you have important business with me.” The elf replies as the flames roar louder. “Today is the day I send you back to meet whatever twisted deity created you, international politics be damned.”

  - “Hey I don’t have my armor this time, we might actually kill each other!”

  - “Oh believe me, I am counting on it.”

  - “We shall throw our lives away another day! I’m just here to buy clothes at the moment!”

  - “Are you now?” He readjusts his glasses, and the pillar of flames dissipates. The lion head on his shoulder shrinks into a tiny ball of yellow light that floats into the pupil of his left eye and disappears. “You should have said so earlier, you dull laggard. Follow me.”

  He turns and walks into the building, and Angelica signs the rest of the group to come along. The interior of the pyramid was extremely crowded, with multiple floors made entirely of glass layered on top of each other. Assortments of extravagant clothes of all types and sizes were displayed in rows, and the customers from the upper floors were worriedly looking down through the glass to see what was happening.

  - “Angelica, you really gotta be more careful.” Julian whispers when they catch up to Angelica and Vincent.

  - “Is that concern I hear?” Angelica turns towards him.

  - “That’s the Lord of the Kolasi family, so you’re damn right I’m worried. I don’t want to die because you’re somehow managing to harass the top brass.”

  - “He sounds important!” Nyx comments.

  - “You’re damn right, he’s an archmage. He’s among the most powerful magic users in the kingdom, on top of being one of the richest people. For reference, last time one of the archmages got into a serious fight, we lost a few mountains from the mountain range South of the city. Or at least that’s what the history books say.”

  - “Ha!” Angelica scoffs. “He isn’t that strong, granted maybe he could be if he actually put his mind into training!”

  - “I believe you are aware that I am not deaf?” Vincent comments without turning as they reach a large glass column with a perfectly disc-shaped glass platform on the bottom, and a door-shaped opening on each floor of the pyramid. They enter the column, and he taps his foot on the floor. The platform vibrates, then starts levitating upwards, rapidly taking them to the top of the pyramid. “My status as an archmage does not originate from my combat prowess, but my achievements in the field of magic."

  - “You do have a lot of light though.” Nyx observes.

  - “Light?” He turns to glance at her. “Could you be of spirit descent? I am fairly certain they also perceive magical energy as light.”

  - “Nope! At least I think. I’m pretty sure I’m not descended from anyone!”

  - “What an odd creature you are.” Vincent squints. “Your soul’s proportions are ridiculously enlarged, as if it had been forcefully expanded by some manner of possession.”

  - “Oh you can tell? That’s right, I’m-”

  - “Aaand we’re changing the topic.” Julian cuts as he puts his hand on Nyx’s mouth. “Sorry Lord Kolasi, she’s just a little confused at times. All the time.”

  - “Is that so.” Vincent turns away. “I will not pry into your private matters any further then.”

  - “Thanks.” Julian exhales, before turning to Angelica. “How did you even meet him?... You don’t sound like the type to be interested in designer clothes.”

  - “Well I was told to keep an eye on white haired elves.” Angelica replies.

  - “...” Julian looks back and forth between Vincent’s silver hair and Angelica. “Are you colorblind?...”

  - “What? No, it’s just basically white!”

  - “Yeah sure. So what did you do?”

  - “I just approached his carriage when he was riding around town. Security tried to stop me, so I demonstrated to them the might of Polemys!”

  - “Fancy way of saying you just beat them up.”

  - “Then Vincent came out, and he attempted to kill me. I think he must be the only person that actually forced me to use my magic to survive ever since I stepped foot in this country ! Fortunately, my wit prevailed and I now benefit from his tailoring services.”

  - “Wait, you can actually use, like, proper magic? Not just party tricks?”

  - “Why yes. I already told you I came to Specta to improve it. It wounds me that you would think my magic is limited to… party tricks!”

  - “I just didn’t think you were actually good at anything other than swinging a sword and blurting out inspirational quotes. What magic is it?”

  - “Would you like a demonstration?” Angelica grins as a silver light starts emanating from her left hand. The strand of white in her hair starts slowly spreading, as the rest of her hair assumes the same color.

  - “Actually I’m good. I don’t want you blowing up this place.”

  - “Oh. How dull.” The light fades.

  - “We have arrived.” Vincent declares as the platform stops at the very top of the pyramid.

  This floor was practically shimmering with light, as the sun’s rays shone on the rows of luxurious clothes filling the space. A few sofas and tables were visible in this large room, with people who appeared to be nobles sipping tea and discussing while eyeing the clothing from afar.

  - “Good evening gents.” Vincent says as he walks up to one of the tables. “Are you interested in purchasing anything?”

  - “Oh!” One of the nobles flinches. “Not… necessarily. I do not believe I could afford such high standing, pristine clothing…”

  - “It must mean that you are solely present for the sake of entertainment. Then, could I interest you in the tale of the last man I found window shopping in my establishment? Do be emotionally prepared, it is a tragedy.”

  The nobles promptly gather their things and leave through the glass elevator. Nyx spots a teenager between the rows of clothes, hearing that and also running towards the elevator. Vincent also sees him.

  - “You there.” He says.

  - “I’m sorry!” The teenager turns. It was a boy around sixteen to seventeen years old, wearing a plain white shirt and brown trousers. He had white bird wings the length of his arms protruding from his back.

  - “What is it you think you are doing here? You do not look like you could even afford the dust in the corners.”

  - “I… I have an important event tomorrow and… I wanted to impress someone. But you’re right, I looked at the prices and-”

  - “One.” Vincent cuts, raising a finger.

  - “One?...”

  - “I want you to point at one outfit among the ones I personally made. I believe it is not too difficult a task.”

  - “Uh…” The teenager looks around, before his gaze stops on a white and gold ensemble. “This one?...”

  - “When is your event?”

  - “...In two days.”

  - “I will make the adjustments for your morphology by tomorrow. I want to see you here at noon.”

  - “What? But I don’t have enough money, it’s like thousands of gold coins…”

  - “Did you hear me mentioning payment? Do you believe me to be so starved for financial gain that I would be plunged in poverty for a thousand measly coins? Be there at noon. That is all.”

  The confused teenager runs off to the elevator, stumbling on his words as he thanked Vincent.

  - “Now then...” Vincent turns back to the group, and extends his arm towards the rows of clothes. “I do hope you will find the garments from my finest collection to be satisfactory.”

  Beatrice immediately runs off into the rows, disappearing in a matter of seconds.

  - “I’m surprised you thought about bringing her along.” Julian tells Nyx. “I was gonna say it, but I guess I didn’t need to.”

  - “Yeah isn’t that weird?!” Nyx replies. “I don’t know why, but now I think about how to make Beatrice happier. It makes me a little happier when she is, like when those humans were really happy that I gave them more trees and they stopped living in caves.”

  - “Damn, did you discover empathy? And here I thought you’d never make progress.”

  - “Huh?”

  - “Nothing. Alright, let’s get these costumes! I don’t want to spend all day here.”