Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 3

Radiance wrote:Internally: "Shit. Well it was worth a try. On that note keep that accent at hand I want to know immediately if we find a match to anyone out there."

"Sure, but I'm not exactly a computer" Echo quacked, shifting his weight, it sounded like he was sitting in an armchair or something similar:
"My memory is about as good as yours. If I recognize a familiar accent somewhere, chances are, you will as well."

Circi wrote:"I'm simply listening to their story's. Death is just another part of nature."

Kaylee uncomfortably shivered and shriveled up.

"Okay, lets head out" Johan said hastily, unfolding his batpony wings and picking up Circi into the air. Kaylee soon followed.

Twilight wrote:She looks at Ursula. "Anything else you want to know?"

"Mm.. I think I understand" Ursula said after a while. After thinking for a few moments she looked at Twilight:
"...How come... my people were exiled?... How come the Machine World didn't want them to return?"

Rogue wrote:"Whoever these guys are, they clearly don't share our values. We don't execute the ill the last time I checked" Rogue adds.

"I believe you" Ursula said, looking somber: "That the invaders are not your ruling government and they do not represent your world. I believe you, but..
I don't know if the other Witchers ever will.

So much blood was spilled on our side... innocent blood... and the Witchers have a long memory.. and they do not forgive. I don't know if they'll ever be able to overcome their feelings of hatred, to examine the situation like I did."



During the flight to the other side, Ursula kept an anxious silence. Kaylee and Johan with Circi trailing behind.

When the door on the other side came fully in sight, Ursula increased speed and began her descent.

Rain wrote:"HAH!" Rain laughs in triumph, "And that's teamwork! Let's take the other one now!" She steps up to the second pyrimid and grabs it by the bottom before pulling back as hard as she can.

As soon as you began approaching the proximity of the first, now empty, pedestal, the pyramid in your hand suddenly came alive and tried to shoot back to its rightful place.

"I knew its a magnet! It has to be-AAAAAAaaaaaaa!" One of the merchants yelled, grabbing the rebellious pyramid as it almost flew out of Rains hands, then ran away with it towards the staircase in the distance.
The pyramid in his hands eventually stopped struggling and went dim again. The merchant smiled and remained by the staircase.


His partner looked at Rain and nodded, before the two of you tried to pull at the second pyramid. With one less body to apply force, it took considerably more strength to dislodge this pyramid from its invisible chain.


You thought you heard the flapping of wings, when you finally managed to break the last pyramid away from its nest. Like last time, the forces of motion made both you and the merchant fly off and tumble down to the floor, with the pyramid safe in your hands.


Ursula flew into view a few moments later, looking at you with her eyebrow raised.

"...the heck are you guys doing?"



"Nothing, what are you doing" the merchant said immediately getting up and dusting off his hopelessly dirty clothes.


Johan and Kaylee flew in a few moments later. As Johan began setting Circi back on the stone floor, the light above his head fizzled and vanished.

Radiance's Heightened Senses became dulled as well, just a few moments later.



"...Johan?" Kaylee called, spreading her hands wide and trying not to run into anyone in the darkness: "..what happened to your light?"

"It vanished on its own." Johan said, looking somewhere above his head: "I guess we've been here over an hour now and the spell finished its course"


"Is okay" one of the merchants said and bounced up a dimly lit pyramid from one hand to another:
"We have pirimid. It will light the way"


"Come on, lets get outta here" Kaylee waved everyone to follow and headed back up the stairs.

Kaylee Brown wrote:Ursula flew into view a few moments later, looking at you with her eyebrow raised.

"...the heck are you guys doing?"



"Nothing, what are you doing" the merchant said immediately getting up and dusting off his hopelessly dirty clothes.


Johan and Kaylee flew in a few moments later. As Johan began setting Circi back on the stone floor, the light above his head fizzled and vanished.

Radiance's Heightened Senses became dulled as well, just a few moments later.



"...Johan?" Kaylee called, spreading her hands wide and trying not to run into anyone in the darkness: "..what happened to your light?"

"It vanished on its own." Johan said, looking somewhere above his head: "I guess we've been here over an hour now and the spell finished its course"


"Is okay" one of the merchants said and bounced up a dimly lit pyramid from one hand to another:
"We have pirimid. It will light the way"


"Come on, lets get outta here" Kaylee waved everyone to follow and headed back up the stairs.

"Oh, so you guys managed to remove them?" Rogue says, "Huh, they seem dimmer than before, d'you think they draw power wirelessly from the pedestals?"

"Maybe." Johan squinted at one of the pyramids:
"Wonder how their mechanism works, their color kinda looks the same as the Shimmer" he said, beginning to head up the circular staircase.

"And my spell just ran out as well, which means I'll take point on the way up. My hearing isn't boosted to an ungodly amount but it is still leagues better than the average." Radiance moves to the head of the group

Internally: "I figured with your access to my memories you could search through them with a fine toothed comb. Is that not the case? Regardless, if you think about it the mind is just an organic computer and between us we have two computers"

"I'm afraid a computer is more efficient than a human mind, in that regard" Echo replied:
"A computer can't forget the data that we stored in its hard drive and retrieves it exactly as it was stored.

Human memories can become less vivid over time and unless the memories are revisited, they can become all but lost.
Like studying mathematics, or learning a different language, if you don't practice it constantly, you will forget what you learned.


At any rate, I'm afraid I don't possess the same abilities as a Memory Orb.
While true that I can review your memories, but, if you can't remember something, I cannot see it in turn."



Johan let Radiance through to take the lead, then followed. The seemingly infinite staircase once again opened before you. At the thought of climbing it for another good fifteen to twenty minutes, Kaylee grimaced.

"..all these stairs are starting to hurt my leg.." she quietly mumbled.

"You mean the prosthetic?" Johan asked, looking back.


"Yeah.. its pressing too hard on the stump.." Kaylee quietly complained: "And there's not enough room to spread wings and fly up.." she wiped her forehead and shook off the feeling:
"Anyways.. doesn't matter... we need to figure out what to do, once we reach top side.

Where should we go next?.. our plan of action" Kaylee said, beginning to ascend the circular staircase.



So far, you don't hear anything out of the ordinary. The staircase and the surrounding area of the cave were deathly quiet, just like before.

Kaylee Brown wrote:Where should we go next?.. our plan of action" Kaylee said, beginning to ascend the circular staircase.



So far, you don't hear anything out of the ordinary. The staircase and the surrounding area of the cave were deathly quiet, just like before.

"Heading back to the convoy's probably our best bet, this trail has hit a dead end" Rogue suggests.

During the trip up, Twilight tried to keep her mind off her aching legs by thinking of the information given, muttering out loud.

"As it seems, those guys executed an ally after his suit was breached. The victim's panic revealed that the side doesn't know why people die without those suits, only that they do when not wearing them. This means they don't know the details on how glysteria work, but did find a way to stop them."

She goes deeper in thought. "This would explain why they weren't willing to let those people come back, they didn't know what diseases there were. A pretty assholish move, but still... Though, why do they cross to the other side to take the ma-"

Her eyes widen in shock. "... We might be too late. Ursula, I need to know something. Does the history of humanity's first arrival say anything about the loss of magic? If so, when?"

Rain hauls the pyrimid over her shoulder and begins to follow the group up, "Booyah who was right! I was right. I called that shhhit!" She gloats, "However." She clears her throat, "If we should most certainly find it after we inform the kings of the invasion on both sides." She looks back at the merchants, "If you two eavesdroppers have a quicker solution to get to the capital of Nifelhime it would be very useful."

Circi cracks her knuckles as she follows close behind. She remains ominously silent. Her eyes locked onto the merchants as she follows, her distrust radiates from her as her spiderlegs tap up the steps.

Rogue wrote:"Heading back to the convoy's probably our best bet, this trail has hit a dead end" Rogue suggests.

Ursula nodded: "Mm, I'm a little worried about them"

"Is there really no way for us to track the Dark Machine, after it left this tomb?.." Kaylee asked, thinking.

Twilight wrote:"This would explain why they weren't willing to let those people come back, they didn't know what diseases there were. A pretty assholish move, but still...

"Wait.." Ursula stopped dead in her tracks. With her head lowered, a long shadow fell over her eyes. Her lips pursed into a thin line. Her gloved hands collected into fists so hard, the metal plates over them creaked:

"...are you saying the Machine World cut communications with us, forbade our return, because they thought we were contagious and plague-ridden?.."


Kaylee slightly stepped closer to her: "..Ursula-"


Ursula suddenly smashed her fist into the stone wall, so hard, the echo dispersed throughout the entire long staircase. When she removed her armored fist from the site of the impact, a very deep, visible dent remained in the wall.


"...I'm fine" Ursula stiffly replied and began marching upward at an increased pace.

Twilight wrote:"... We might be too late. Ursula, I need to know something. Does the history of humanity's first arrival say anything about the loss of magic? If so, when?"

Ursula sighed. Her adrenaline was still visibly up and it was difficult for her to speak calmly:

"..Magic never existed on Nifelheim, not in the way you described earlier. The few unicorns that lived among us, could never cast magic, from the very moment of Exile.

Twilight, I have to be honest, before I ran into you guys, I didn't even know that unicorns could cast magic. It was never mentioned in our history records.

It always seemed that, the unicorns were the same as every other species. None of us could cast magic... not without a parasite.
It has always been so on Nifelheim. We didn't even know it could be any different"

Rain wrote:"If you two eavesdroppers have a quicker solution to get to the capital of Nifelhime it would be very useful."

The merchants exchanged awkward looks before one of them replied:
"... the capital of Nifelheim.. Lieselotte.. is located directly south of our position.

But if you wish to link up with the convoy and follow them to Rakshata first, the fastest way would be to head east, straight through the Rakshata swamps."



"Oh, that's right.." Kaylee nodded: "According to the map the convoy leader drew, they were headed to Rakshata through the fastest path - a direct line straight through the swamps and into the city.
Yeah, if we wonna link up with them, we'll have to travel east to Rakshata as well"





As time past during the conversation and you slowly climbed up, what seemed like over forty flights of stairs, Radiance began to hear very faint music, coming from somewhere very far above. It sounded like someone was playing a wind instrument of some kind. You can't seem to tell which one exactly.

Kaylee Brown wrote:

Rogue wrote:"Heading back to the convoy's probably our best bet, this trail has hit a dead end" Rogue suggests.

Ursula nodded: "Mm, I'm a little worried about them"

"Is there really no way for us to track the Dark Machine, after it left this tomb?.." Kaylee asked, thinking.

Rogue sighs and waves his hands around, "If it's really as powerful as the legends say, then it's builders'd certainly want some way of tracking it's location if it got lost or stolen, sort of like the GPS locator card in every nuclear bomb.

Only problem is, we don't know how long ago 'twas taken, or how far away it's been moved in that time, giving us a search area around about the size of the planet. Even if we could figure out when 'twas taken and narrow down that search area a bit, we still wouldn't know what kind of signal if any it'd be giving off, or how to detect it.

I don't know, does the memory orb record the date of recording?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:

Rain wrote:"If you two eavesdroppers have a quicker solution to get to the capital of Nifelhime it would be very useful."

The merchants exchanged awkward looks before one of them replied:
"... the capital of Nifelheim.. Lieselotte.. is located directly south of our position.

But if you wish to link up with the convoy and follow them to Rakshata first, the fastest way would be to head east, straight through the Rakshata swamps."



"Oh, that's right.." Kaylee nodded: "According to the map the convoy leader drew, they were headed to Rakshata through the fastest path - a direct line straight through the swamps and into the city.
Yeah, if we wonna link up with them, we'll have to travel east to Rakshata as well"

"I think we've an obligation to return to the convoy and make sure they reach the safety of Rakshata first, then we can go on to Lieselotte" Rogue says, "Though I'm suprised they're going through a swamp, from my experience swamps mean an uneven mishmash of still water and low-lying waterlogged forest, not exactly the best place for a fleet of caravans?"

Rogue wrote:I don't know, does the memory orb record the date of recording?"

"No.." Ursula shook her head: "If the owner never said when the memory took place, we only have the contents of the memory itself to analyze"


"If a GPS tracker exists on the Dark Machine, detecting its signal would be extremely difficult, you're right. This alien technology may be using methods of transmission that we can't even imagine." Kaylee said, looking down in thought:

"Mmm... maybe we can approach this problem from a different angle entirely.."

Rogue wrote:"I think we've an obligation to return to the convoy and make sure they reach the safety of Rakshata first, then we can go on to Lieselotte" Rogue says, "Though I'm suprised they're going through a swamp, from my experience swamps mean an uneven mishmash of still water and low-lying waterlogged forest, not exactly the best place for a fleet of caravans?"

"Yeah.." Kaylee nodded in thought: "Not to mention its dangerous for the civilians. One wrong move can result in someone drowning"


Ursula chewed on her lower lip for a bit: "...they may have a pathfinder, someone familiar with the area.
Going around the swamp would add an extra two or three weeks to their journey. If the convoy commander believed they were pressed for time and going around would expose the civilians to an increased risk of a horde attack, I guess I could picture him pushing through the swamp.. if only to reach Rakshata faster to properly treat the wounded.."


As she spoke, you began hearing the faint melody of a wind instrument as well, echoing from somewhere above.

Kaylee Brown wrote:

Rogue wrote:I don't know, does the memory orb record the date of recording?"

"No.." Ursula shook her head: "If the owner never said when the memory took place, we only have the contents of the memory itself to analyze"


"If a GPS tracker exists on the Dark Machine, detecting its signal would be extremely difficult, you're right. This alien technology may be using methods of transmission that we can't even imagine." Kaylee said, looking down in thought:

"Mmm... maybe we can approach this problem from a different angle entirely.."

"Well I don't see what other leads we can draw on for that new angle, the skull'll only give us a rough idea of what ethnic group they were, and their dental record'd give hints as to where they lived" Rogue says,

"But since they wore environmental suits for the duration of their stay here and thought everything was contaminated, it's unlikely they'd've eaten any local produce that'd allow us to track their movements that way. Even if they had, there isn't a preexisting database of samples to compare with, so we'd've to do it ourselves and go to every geologically distinct biome on the planet.

As for the pyramids, their function's unknown, and whilst we can't rule it out, I doubt they're anything to do with the Dark Machine. If they'd been positioned to defend it, they failed and're useless, whilst if they were intended to track it's position, we've got no idea how they operate and're again useless.

At this point, I'm open to to suggestions?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:

Rogue wrote:"I think we've an obligation to return to the convoy and make sure they reach the safety of Rakshata first, then we can go on to Lieselotte" Rogue says, "Though I'm suprised they're going through a swamp, from my experience swamps mean an uneven mishmash of still water and low-lying waterlogged forest, not exactly the best place for a fleet of caravans?"

"Yeah.." Kaylee nodded in thought: "Not to mention its dangerous for the civilians. One wrong move can result in someone drowning"


Ursula chewed on her lower lip for a bit: "...they may have a pathfinder, someone familiar with the area.
Going around the swamp would add an extra two or three weeks to their journey. If the convoy commander believed they were pressed for time and going around would expose the civilians to an increased risk of a horde attack, I guess I could picture him pushing through the swamp.. if only to reach Rakshata faster to properly treat the wounded.."


As she spoke, you began hearing the faint melody of a wind instrument as well, echoing from somewhere above.

"Did we actually leave anyone up top in the end, or did we all come down here?" Rogue asks the group, " 'Cause either I'm experiencing auditory hallucinations, or we've got guests..."

Twilight began muttering quickly, her eyes darting around. "Then my fears are true, magic becomes less and less accesible thanks to something in Nifel. Then thanks to the pillars, that effect was planted on earth, causing us to detoriate there as well. If this isn't stopped, soon the heritage of the unicorns is lost forever, the balance of the races will fall apart. Damn it damn it damn it, if it's tied to the glysteria we might be deprived from real magic for generations. And who says that they haven't been around on earth thanks to those excursions? Who brought them in the first place, what the is going on?"

After a few seconds of the music in her ears, she looks up. "Hold up... Music? ... No... That must be..."

She grits her teeth. "Guys, if that's who I think it is, we're completely done for."

Disgruntled purple wrote:Twilight began muttering quickly, her eyes darting around. "Then my fears are true, magic becomes less and less accesible thanks to something in Nifel. Then thanks to the pillars, that effect was planted on earth, causing us to detoriate there as well. If this isn't stopped, soon the heritage of the unicorns is lost forever, the balance of the races will fall apart. Damn it damn it damn it, if it's tied to the glysteria we might be deprived from real magic for generations. And who says that they haven't been around on earth thanks to those excursions? Who brought them in the first place, what the is going on?"

"The balance of the races?" Rogue repeats incredulously, "This isn't the medieval period, just because we can't use our naturally-evolved magic anymore doesn't mean we're less valued as a people, we still get spears on our heads. As I've said before, if anything the Glystaria've democritised magic, by allowing everyone to use it regardless of their race. No bad thing I say."

"..if they survive the joining ritual" Ursula wearily said.


Kaylee fell into thought: "So.. there's probably something on Nifelheim that suppresses the unicorns magic?... And when the pillars were built, that something began leaking through them to Earth, suppressing our magic as well.
Yeah.. yeah, it makes sense.. I think you're on to something" she looked at Twilight and nodded:

"Narrowing down what's causing this though, will be.. difficult" Kaylee squinted into space: "I'm not even sure how to rule out possibilities.




Anyway.. about the Dark Machine.. lets take a step back and look at the whole picture. We know the invaders took it and we know they were headed to the Machina Portal.
We know where the portal is and given the data, its reasonable to assume that no invader ever left Nifelheim.

Which means, the Dark Machine, or at least the clues to its whereabouts, should be somewhere along the direct path, from this tomb to the portal."



Kaylee sighed: "The issue is, we're trying to follow a trail that was left hundreds of years ago.
We need some way to discover what happened on this land, during that time."




The music became slightly more louder as you ascended the stairs and Ursula began growing weary:
"..I'm pretty sure we didn't leave anyone up there.."


"Okay, lets not jump to conclusions" Kaylee calmly raised her palms: "..Johan, you're knowledgeable in music right? You studied to play violin?" she looked at him.


"Yeah" Johan nodded: "And singing too"

"Can you tell which instrument it is?" Kaylee asked.

Johan moved his large batpony ears for a bit, listening to the echo. After a while he nodded:
"Yeah.. I think its a flute. Not like a wooden one.
But a long, metal one that you hold to the side, parallel to the ground.. you know which one I mean?"


"OKAAAY, WE'RE DEAD" Ursula yelled.

"Come on, it doesn't mean anything.." Kaylee said, uncomfortably shuffling in place: "Lots of people play flute..."

"Yeah, like who?" Ursula said, anxiously biting her lip.

Kaylee opened her mouth, then closed it again, thinking and looked from side to side:
".........troubadours play flute"

"Yes Kaylee, its a troubadour visiting Circi" Ursula replied in sarcastic anxiety, looking upward at the staircase.

Kaylee Brown wrote:The music became slightly more louder as you ascended the stairs and Ursula began growing weary:
"..I'm pretty sure we didn't leave anyone up there.."


"Okay, lets not jump to conclusions" Kaylee calmly raised her palms: "..Johan, you're knowledgeable in music right? You studied to play violin?" she looked at him.


"Yeah" Johan nodded: "And singing too"

"Can you tell which instrument it is?" Kaylee asked.

Johan moved his large batpony ears for a bit, listening to the echo. After a while he nodded:
"Yeah.. I think its a flute. Not like a wooden one.
But a long, metal one that you hold to the side, parallel to the ground.. you know which one I mean?"


"OKAAAY, WE'RE DEAD" Ursula yelled.

"Come on, it doesn't mean anything.." Kaylee said, uncomfortably shuffling in place: "Lots of people play flute..."

"Yeah, like who?" Ursula said, anxiously biting her lip.

Kaylee opened her mouth, then closed it again, thinking and looked from side to side:
".........troubadours play flute"

"Yes Kaylee, its a troubadour visiting Circi" Ursula replied in sarcastic anxiety, looking upward at the staircase.

"Guys, seriously, what're the chances he'd show up again?" Rogue says.

"Rouge, it's us. When does our...villain of the year...not show up a few times before we either convert them to our side or shit stomp them?"

Ursula nervously wiped her forehead:
"The chances are low... unless he has a reason for coming to this location"

"..what type of reason?.." Kaylee asked.

"I don't know" Ursula anxiously exhaled: "And that's what scares me"

Twilight looks up, having a bad feeling about what's waiting for them up there.

"... The only optimism I can bring..." She weakly said. "Is that it could be an impersonator using the tales of the flute for intimidation."

"Other then that... Well..." She gulps. "I hope he's having a plan for us."

Circi slowly steps over the party and up the steps, "I shall see to this." She says quietly, "we have the numbers advantage, we can also have the advantage of ambush if you guys stay hidden." She looks back from the top of the staircase, "I politely ask you to do so unless things turn to a fight then I encourage you to surround him and eliminate his life." She quietly steps out of the hole and follows the sound of the music, to find her noisy intruder.

Rains ears perk, "Do witchers use music to March? It could be that one old parasite we met when we first got here. Or something extremely dangerous." She looks down and away for a moment, "I don't understand how a flute could give us trouble."

"It's the owner of said flute. And said owner is likely the strongest entity on this planet," Radiance doesn't follow Ciri's direction but steps out as well and heads towards the flute.

As you ascend the last flight of stairs and emerge out of the hole in the floorboards, you don't notice anyone in the vicinity.

Circi's cozy home was just as you have left it. All seems untouched and there's no one inside the house.
The music was heard a little louder here and seems to be coming from just outside the building.
It appears that the one playing the flute has positioned himself somewhere in front of the main door to Circi's home.



Kaylee, Johan and Ursula cautiously peaked out of the hole in the floorboards and looked around:

"..should we stay hidden inside the house for now?" Kaylee quietly whispered.

"Witchers never use music to march" Ursula whispered: "Its very important to keep our forces hidden and dispersed, to avoid detection.
We do have orchestras in the fortified cities, but they're only for entertainment purposes."

Kaylee Brown wrote:As you ascend the last flight of stairs and emerge out of the hole in the floorboards, you don't notice anyone in the vicinity.

Circi's cozy home was just as you have left it. All seems untouched and there's no one inside the house.
The music was heard a little louder here and seems to be coming from just outside the building.
It appears that the one playing the flute has positioned himself somewhere in front of the main door to Circi's home.



Kaylee, Johan and Ursula cautiously peaked out of the hole in the floorboards and looked around:

"..should we stay hidden inside the house for now?" Kaylee quietly whispered.

"We can take up defensive positions by the windows and door, keeping low and out of sight" Rogue suggests, "If this does go south, we'll've both the advantage of surprise and the advantage of fortification."

Circi moves to the front door. Swinging it open she glares outside, "Solicitors or bards hanging outside my home will be promptly eaten. Please leave." She grumbles, a spiderleg twitches over her shoulder as she gazes emotionlessly outside looking for the visitors soul.

Rain slowly moves with the party, "I'm with rogue on this one. I say we head up and stay low. Get the jump on whatever's up there. I'm sure Circi can handle herself for a few moments."

Johan, Kaylee and Ursula quietly emerged out of the floorboards like shadows and glided towards the walls.

Johan stood by the door, Kaylee and Ursula hid just by the windows, on Johan's either side. Hidden from view, the three drew a sign in the air with their index fingers and faint balls of light began to dance in their palms.
They're cooking something.

The two merchants went to hide in an adjacent room, by some other windows. Judging by how silent and light weight their steps were, it was hard to believe they were simple town's folk. They didn't look particularly scared and moved with a purpose.


When all were settled and Circi swung open the door, the music became ever so slightly louder.






A five meter tall hedgehog was the first thing you saw.
The beast was enormous, body slightly curled up in a ball, back arcing upwards. Several dozen massive, razor sharp spikes covered its back. The prolonged muzzle, twisting left and right, sniffing the air was particularly unnerving.

The creature was clearly not all there. Its eyes were deranged, detached from reality and neurotically darting across the landscape, scanning, searching, calculating.

It didn't help that it was a parasite. Its entire body was glowing a faint red and partially transparent.




Somehow, unbelievably, the thing managed to crawl up to the house, without making much sound and without trampling the vegetation. It now sat there, some 10 meters away from the front door and just frantically darted its eyes everywhere.


And on top of its spiked back, sat a person. A young man, maybe twenty years old. Dressed in simple farmers clothing. He sat with his legs crossed and held a metal flute. His hands effortlessly danced across the instrument and the music that emanated from him was breath taking.
Beautiful, timeless, border-less.

For a brief moment, you remembered someone once saying that music was a universal language, that everyone spoke and could reach out to every corner of the world.




As Circi spoke, the young man continued to play for a few scarce moments, before coming to a natural stop in his song and lowered his flute, smiling.
You could have mistaken him for a sea pony, if half his face wasn't rotting.



"So quick to reinforce stereotypes. And I always believed you wanted to disperse those" the young man peacefully said:

"Hello my dearest neighbor. A fine evening, isn't it. What are you up to today?"


Looking at the man, you don't recognize him at all. Judging by Ursula's, Kaylee's and Johan's expressions, they don't really recognize him either.



The massive hedgehog continued to sit still, un-moving. Its deranged eyes continued to dart all over the place.

The young man on its back, took a moment to humbly look around as well, a feint trace of confusion over his face:

"Oh... where are you guests, my lady?" he asked and smiled to Circi.