In a flash of amethyst light Arthur, Elijah, and Tess appeared atop a building within the Cardigan city walls. Elijah and Tess stumbled a bit, disoriented from the sudden unexpected relocation.

"A little warning next time would be nice," Elijah complained.

"Ok, get ready to do it again to get to the ground," Arthur replied as he walked to the edge of the building and looked down.

"It's only five stories," Tess observed from beside him. "Why don't we just fly down?"

"I want to keep our mana output at the bare minimum."

"Good idea," Elijah commented from the side of the building facing the street, looking down over the edge. "There's a lot of guards down there."

Arthur and Tess walked over and looked down. There they could see close to a dozen guards patrolling on both sides of the busy street.

"Yup, they definitely know we're here," Arthur commented.

"Will we be able to make it through them?" Tess asked.

"Probably. We are using disguise artifacts after all," Arthur replied. "The real challenge will be finding Caera again."

"Do we need to find her?" Tess asked as her insecurities flared.

"Personally I wish we didn't, but we need to get to Seris to have our best chance at getting out of here, and Caera's our only link to her," Arthur replied.

"Well you said for her to find a cafe, there's only two that come to mind as realistic possibilities as to where she would go," Elijah stated.

Arthur eyed him suspiciously as he clad his body with aether. "And how would you know that?"

"It seems that some of Nico's memories are still in here," he replied as he tapped his head. "I wasn't sure before, but now that we're here, I can distinctly remember seeing this city."

"I guess that makes sense, you and Nico weren't always two personalities, you shared the same mind and body. Technically you were only an alter ego while his memories were suppressed," Arthur replied, sounding like he believed him, but still kept his guard up.

"So where do you think she'll go?" Tess asked.

"One cafe which is higher end, pretty much only named and high bloods could even afford to go there. The other has better tasting food and caters to everyone."

"It'll be the second one," Arthur replied confidently.

"How can you be sure?" Elijah asked.

"Caera and I met in the previous timeline. The second one is more her style."

Arthur began walking towards the edge of the building facing the alleyway, Tess was quick to follow and hook her arm with his.

"So how well do you know her? Can she be trusted?" Tess asked.

"Well enough. In the previous timeline she trusted me enough to fight beside me in the relic tombs, but she didn't know I was from Dicathen till I left. Although I'm not sure if she actually knew, but Seris probably told her. As for can she be trusted, as long as Seris doesn't order her to do anything against us she can be trusted. She's extremely loyal to her."

"So you didn't trust her?"

"I trusted her enough to know she wasn't going to stab me in the back, but I couldn't risk telling her who I really was. But I guess you could say we were friends. Though I guess we aren't now."

Arthur didn't seem bothered by this, so it made Tess feel better.

Once at the edge they both stood beside Arthur who wrapped his arms around them before godstepping into the alley below. They handled the jump much better this time, but quickly pressed there backs against the wall as Arthur pulled them back, as a tall stack of boxes blocked them from the street only a few feet away.

Arthur raised a finger to his lips to signal for them to stay quiet. Just around the corner was the main street, and a group of guards stopped outside the alleyway.

"Why do we have to have so many soldiers here? We should be preparing to leave and crush those Dicathen barbarians," one soldier complained.

"Shut it," another snapped. "These orders come from the high sovereign himself!"

"T-the high sovereign?" The first guard stuttered.

"Yes," the second said more calmly. "It seems a few Dicathen's somehow managed to reach Alacrya's shores, and it's suspected that they are heading here."

"Ha," another laughed. "This should be easy then. We just need to keep our eyes open for some uncivilized brute. There's no way they could blend in with actual Alacryans, especially here in the central domain."

"Do not make light of this!" The second said sternly. "If the high sovereign had believed this would be easy then he wouldn't have summoned so many of us for this. So keep your eyes open for groups of three and anyone that looks out of place." They then continued their patrol, leaving ear shot.

"Wow, this is so clique," Regis mused humorously. "It's like they were here just to tell you that. Are we in a movie or something?"

Arthur laughed internally, but was grateful for the information.

"We need to split up," Arthur stated after making sure the coast was clear.

"You and Tess go together, I'll be fine," Elijah stated.

"And why do you need to go alone? Why don't we all go individually?" Tess questioned suspiciously.

"Have you been here before?" He replied rhetorically. "Arthur was here before in the previous time line, and I have my memories as Nico. We know how to blend in, while you'll get lost and stick out. At least with Arthur he can help cover for you."

"Alright, let's just go," Arthur said, wanting to avoid them fighting. "Elijah, be careful, and don't let them know you were Nico. That'll draw way too much attention."

With a nod Elijah turned around and ran the opposite direction, as to come out a different alley to avoid drawing attention. Arthur then began removing items from his storage rune and transferring them to his ring.

"When we go out there act completely natural, as if we're walking down the streets of Zestier."

"It'd be easier if there weren't so many soldiers," Tess replied nervously.

"We just need to blend in. Stick by me and I'll cover for you. Also, I saw some street vendor's selling stuff. It probably would help if we just casually bought something as we went."

"Do you have any of their money?"

Arthur held up his rune card. "Should be accepted all over Alacrya."

"Should?"

"Well, it was a separate timeline, so there might be some difficulty. But I also have some of their gold coins, so we will have some money."

Now done storing things in his ring he walked up to her. He could see she was nervous, so he brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. He smiled at first, making her feel better, but his smile disappeared to a frown.

"What's wrong?" She asked, worried something was wrong with her disguise.

"Nothing, it's just," he leaned in beside her ear and whispered. "I miss you your cute ears."

Tess blushed brightly as she punched him in the chest, with a big smile on her face.

"How could you say something like that now?"

"You seem a lot less nervous now," he said with a confident grin.

"Let's go," she said as she fanned herself a bit.

They walked to the street, intertwining their fingers right before they entered the street. As the walked they took notice of the people. The atmosphere was heavy, no doubt from the presence of so many soldiers. Nevertheless people still appeared to be trying to move along with their day to day lives. This actually worked in their favor, as now Tess wasn't the only one who was looking uncomfortable with her surroundings.

They walked down the sidewalk as carriages continued down the street, even seeing Caera's after a little bit. They didn't try to avoid the soldiers, but did like everyone else and stayed out of their way. They came up to a fruit stand, and Arthur bought a few fruits that looked like apples, and much to his relief, his rune card still worked. However eventually their luck began to run out.

"Don't look now, but it looks like we're being followed," Regis observed.

"Soldiers?"

"Yup. Four of them. Looks like a bunch of weaklings."

Arthur didn't comment back, he was now focused on a plan to lose them, without drawing attention. His head kept straight, but his eyes carefully looked around for something, anything that could be used for their escape, or inspir a plan. He saw another alleyway coming up, and an idea hit him. He leaned down to whisper quietly in Tess' ear.

"Don't react, we're being followed." He then straightened back up and looked forward.

Tess hooked her arm in his and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Do you have a plan?"

"Mhm. Just play along."

Taking her by the arm he quickly pulled her into the alley and pushed Tess up against the building wall. She looked confused, even more so when he locked lips with her and started making out, though she quickly got into it as well.

"What the fuck?! This is not the time for a make out session! Do you think you're 007 or something!?"

"Displays of affection make people uncomfortable."

"Yup, I'm feeling uncomfortable."

"They should just walk by when they see us, just keep watch on the street."

"Try slipping her some tongue, and make it obvious. That'll really make them uncomfortable."

Surprisingly Arthur took Regis's tip, and Tess reciprocated. As this happened the soldiers caught up, and a young soldier started to turn in to confront them. However he stopped mid step, and spun around on his heel as he saw them.

"Holy shit! It looks like it actually worked!" Regis exclaimed in amazement.

The soldier walked back to the other three with a slight blush, and an uncomfortable look on his face. He tried to direct the others to continue on, but one of them wasn't listening.

"Oh fuck."

"What?"

"Theres some old guy in the group, and it looks like he's not going to accept walking away."

The old soldier appeared to be of a higher rank than the others as he talked down to the young soldier in a scolding manner. He looked over at Arthur and Tess, clearly looking uncomfortable himself, but matched over just the same.

"Ahem, excuse me," the older soldier said, tapping on Arthur's shoulder. "I need to see both of your identifications." The guard was avoiding eye contact, and probably had a bit of a blush on his face, but it would have been covered by his graying beard.

Arthur turned around with a big awkward grin on his face, trying to make himself look a little embarrassed. Even though Tess was nervous, the soldiers saw it more so as embarrassed.

"Of course," Arthur replied, as he pulled his ascender card from the previous timeline.

The soldier took the card and his eyes got a little wider. "Thank you honored ascender Grey," he said as he handed him back his card. He then looked to Tess.

"I umm, forgot mine," she stated.

The guard scowled, but before he could say anything Arthur spoke up.

"Sorry, that's my fault. You see I just returned from an ascent, and," he then wrapped an arm around Tess' waist and pulled her close to him. "I was just so excited to be back that I practically threw my love here over my shoulder and took her out. You see," Arthur pulled a small bag from his dimensional ring. "It was a very good ascent." Arthur opened the bag to reveal it was full of precious gems. "A very good ascent." He emphasized.

The old soldier looked down at the bag, his eyes wide and sparkling almost as much as the jewels. Arthur then closed the bag, took the soldiers hand, and placed the bag in it.

"I really do hope you'll forgive her and let this slide," he said with a businessman like smile.

The soldier cleared his throat as he put the bag in his armor, then looked at Tess sternly

"Miss, we'll overlook this just this once for ascender Grey's sake. But please do get your identification and keep it on you from now on."

"Thank you, I will," Tess replied humbly.

The soldier nodded, turned around, and led the other soldiers away.

"If it was that easy then why didn't Caera just do that?" Tess asked.

"Maybe she doesn't like kissing other girls?" Arthur teased.

Tess playfully jabbed him in the side.

"You know what I mean."

"It's all a gamble if the soldiers will even take it. If she tried and failed, it would have been very bad if we were linked to Seris."

"And what if we failed?"

"Oh I would have just used static void and killed them," He replied casually.

"I see. Well then we better get going before we bump into anymore soldiers." She then smirked playfully as she licked her lips. "Unless of course you want to do that some more?"

Arthur pulled her closer to him with one hand on her lower back, the other on her cheek. "Trust me I would love to, but we do have people to meet up with, and we don't want to risk getting caught again." He then bent down and kissed her lips gently before the two walked back out into the sidewalk.

After another thirty minutes of walking Arthur and Tess arrived at the suspected cafe. There they saw Caera and Elijah sitting together enjoying drinks and pastries, looking like they were on a blind date. Caera held the vision of elegance expected of an Alacryan high blood, she also held the vision of multiple young men watching her longingly. Elijah held their vision too, but it was more so of anger and jealousy. Elijah had changed his appearance again, now giving him platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, and was now wearing a very nice black suit with gold detailing, giving him the look of a high blood heir.

Arthur decided joining them might not be a good idea and they took the table behind Elijah. Carefully he passed along instructions, using Regis to cause a bit of a disturbance in the kitchen to draw everyone's attention away. He was only supposed to knock over a bunch of glassware while remaining in his wisp form, but instead several employees ran out of the kitchen screaming about a ghost.

After finishing their drinks Arthur and Tess left, and entered an alley before godstepping into the carriage, and only waited a few more minutes before Elijah and Caera returned together.

"How did you like Cardigan?" Caera asked as they went along on the hour long carriage ride back to her blood's manner.

"Well I don't feel at all safe for starters," Arthur commented.

"As to be expected considering they're looking for us," Elijah commented.

"Not because of that. I was able to talk our way out of dealing with the guards so easily. Just a small bribe and they left us alone."

"Well after Lady Seris takes power, perhaps the next time you come to Alacrya you'll be able to actually enjoy yourselves and what we have to offer," Caera replied.

"You honestly think we'd be welcome here?" Arthur replied rhetorically.

"What do you mean?"

"Not only are we on a mission to kill your leader, but Dicathen's have been depicted by Agrona as savage barbarians. Even if you were to get the most of the population on your side, which I doubt, that image of Dicathen will still remain."

"Imagine aside, why don't you think we'll be able to get the people on our side? You think they want this war?"

"Your soldiers see this war as an opportunity to gain recognition, and help their blood. They don't see beyond that, they don't see the path Agrona is taking them. You may convince the other high bloods, and important named bloods, but the general population will see Seris as only overthrowing Agrona for the sake of gaining power. This whole revolutionary path, they'll just see this as an excuse. They'll only see that Agrona who allowed them to live good lives has just been murdered by one of his generals."

"And how would you suggest we avoid that?"

"I can see two options. One, she blames Dicathen and buries her involvement, and picks up the war. This will ultimately end in failure though, because I'll just come back and deal with everyone here, and an endless cycle of war between our continents will begin. The second, she finds a way to prove to the people that Agrona lied to them. Make it look like he declared war on Dicathen out of his own greed, and that Seris wanted to stop the pointless deaths of Alacryan soldiers."

"And how would you suggest we make the people believe he lied to them? According to Lady Seris, it's not like he keeps those kinds of records."

"You just need to provide reasonable doubt. You don't need solid evidence, you just need to make people question what they've been told."

"And when the other scythes try to oppose her power?" Caera probed.

"Has Seris not already thought of all this?" Arthur questioned.

"Yes, but Lady Seris seems to think you're very intelligent as well as strong. I was just curious how you would respond."

"And how did I do?"

"It seems you both think alike in this manner."

——————————————————————-

Knock knock

Caera slid open the door to Alaric.

"We're back?" She asked.

"Coming up on the gate now."

Caera slid the door closed.

"Please keep using the disguise artifacts for now. The servants may be loyal to blood Denior, but not to me."

"What does that mean?" Tess asked.

"The high lord and his wife aren't aware that I'm helping Seris, and the servants know this. They may report back to the high lord, and cause him to return, which lady Seris doesn't want yet. Just let me speak to the servants first, I think I can convince them to stay silent."

They passed through the gates for Denoir manor, seeing a set of guards clad in white armor on either side of the gate. It took a few minutes for the carriage to actually arrive at the house, and when it did Alaric opened the door, looking a little annoyed.

"Don't worry," Caera said as she exited. "If everything goes well, you'll only need to keep this up for a few more days."

The others exited after her and began walking up the steps to the front door, but before they even made it halfway up the stairs a woman burst out the front door. She had bright orange hair in a bun dressed in a black and white maids dress.

"Lady Caera!" She cried out as she ran to her with a panicked expression.

"Nessa what's wrong?" Caera asked, picking up on the panic.

"We have trouble!"