At noon, the bells in the Nuil's castle rang, echoing through the halls and reaching every palace room, especially sounding in the Nuil's chamber, as its light, yet high-pitched noises travelled into the water and up to the round roof.

The chimes signalled the end of the shift for most guards, meaning a time for rest, food, catching up on sleep, or talking with friends and family. They had exactly two hours before their next three-hour shift, and of course, there were some exceptions to this rule. For example, those closest to the Nuil only had an hour, and Lamon had no breaks.

So, when Atomu and Zuimu were passing through the hall, they encountered a massive wave of guards growing near, chatting, and making their way towards the royal kitchen. Soon enough, the two were caught between the tight staircases leading from the basement halls and forced to stand in line, waiting for some soup. One guard seemed very excited about the meal, describing it as a Tributal special, which made the Paladian shiver a little.

When everyone sat down, oddly enough, no one took off their helmets. Instead, they opened a small hatch, revealing only their lips, and shoved loads of food into their mouths. Zuimu and Atomu quickly followed, with both stopping for a few seconds to analyze the taste. In conclusion, it could've been better, but they had to play the part, without adding another word.

One guard described it as a mix of vegetables exported from Malikan, taken by the royalty from Wendigo and poured into a nice, yet soft mix with rice. They couldn't deny its taste, but at the same time, were weary of their entire operation.

Atomu tapped his fingers against the table. "We're wasting our time," he muttered, inching closer to Zuimu.

"Mm, mmms smmp tmmmh..." she pointed down to the dish, nodding her head.

"Tsk." Atomu looked to the side. "Then, it's all up to Chyuuichi, if the storm didn't catch him as well." He closed his eyes, stressed. "...and, oh my, whoever knows where that Mirillian could've stumbled." Zuimu blinked, and he turned. "Finish up with the soup, and we're moving."

"Moving? Where to, royal friends?" A guard, which passed by, holding another plate full of soup said, as Atomu covered his mouth, turning around.

"B-Back to work?" The Paladian tilted his head.

"Pff! Shin, you're funny, dude!" he chuckled. "Why would you possibly give yourself even more work? Take your time!"

"Mm mmmm mm," Zuimu stated.

"W-We don't really have anything else to do," Atomu repeated her words, waving his hands around, a little nervous.

"That's perfect, then! Use this opportunity to sleep it all off, eat even more food, play around in the backyard, and don't put more pressure on yourselves! If you don't have anything important to do, then don't even think about it!" he pressed against Atomu's helmet, and then let go. "Silly goose," he said, with a lisp, before walking away.

Zuimu laughed a bit, and Atomu gave her a mean glance.

"It's that damn Tributal, then." Atomu spouted, albeit still quietly, as someone walked past him, carrying a tray of different foods in their hand. "Rowan purposefully set us up."

"Rowan did not purposefully set you up, dumb idiot," Rowan muttered, standing behind him, and then sitting down. "Perhaps you don't realise that breaks don't always happen at noon. It's random, decided by how fast the cooks were at their job. Hell, usually takes them until the first sights of the evening to get anything done. Don't know what motivated them today."

"Ah! What are you doing here?" Atomu asked, confused.

"I work here, thank you very much. Second-class guards still get the fascinating right to eat food." Rowan spoke through their teeth. "...and no. I'm not helping you. Not that I could, not that I would want to, damned One!" they sounded pissed off, even though Atomu didn't say anything to incur their wrath. "Strike when the break is over, get to know some people, and act like humans!" Rowan inched closer. "If you keep acting like you're here to steal something someone will eventually notice."

"Shh!" Atomu signalled, waving his finger. "Quiet, quiet!"

"Exactly what I'm talking about." Rowan squinted their eyes.

"Rowan?" A fellow Tributal strolled by. "Why are you attacking that poor guard?"

Instinctively, Rowan pushed on Atomu's shoulder, forcing the Paladian's hand to go into the bow of soup, spilling a few drops on the table.

"Oh, my!" Atomu muttered.

"H-He spilt his soup." Rowan stood up, fixing their glasses.

"Oh? I don't think you should be the one lecturing others over all that," they added. "Remember the last time when-"

"OFF! OFF!" Rowan pointed. "Walk to the table! Put down your food and start eating!" they pushed them away, as they giggled. Rowan glimpsed at the two, furrowing their eyebrows, and then disappeared into the crowd.

Atomu let out one final sigh, putting his hands on the table, and looking down at the soup, and Zuimu chuckled again, quickly covering her joys.

***

"Lamon!" Eryk raised his voice, trying to stand up.

Chyuuichi slowly turned to the door, gulping.

"Come over here, quick!" Eryk instructed, "Don't waste any more of my time!"

Chyuuichi breathed out, sighing. "Shit," he muttered under his breath.

"Do you need some sort of special invitation?" Eryk blinked twice.

"Coming," Chyuuichi said, unenthusiastically, assuming that's how someone working under Eryk's influence would sound. He made it up the stairs leading towards the throne, seldom looking down at the water below and drips of the same liquid from above. He looked outside of the massive windows, seeing rain pouring down from the sky, bouncing off the stone paths which made the Midcity.

"Huh. The first rain of Herbes." Eryk smiled. "Isn't that neat, eh, Lamon?"

Chyuuichi nodded, stepping next to the throne and sitting down on a wooden, round chair that had Lamon's name engraved on it... sort of. He kept glancing around, tapping his fingers against his armour in stress and moving his legs back and forth.

Below the rooftop were many balconies made of a white, shining stone, with pillars extending the top, separating tinted glass. Closer to the Nuil's bed was a collection of jewellery, all neatly laid next to the waterfall. There was a chandelier, decorated with various crystals, ones that Chyuuichi recognized. Murlins, which were found all around the town he came from, and partons, ones growing naturally below the Whiteburn Mountains, hidden around stalactites.

"I love the smell. It reminds me of the first time I went to my woods. Ahh." he breathed out. "Although, I'd say that they should already fix that damned rooftop! Why is the rain coming into my chamber?" he quickly got agitated, trying to stand up. "Lamon?!" he looked at him, and Lamon waved. "What's wrong with you today?" Eryk sat back down. "I'm trying to stand up and there's not even an inch of motivation on your end! You'd usually be running over..."

"Shit." Chyuuichi thought.

"I'm not mad." Eryk stared forward. "Just a bit... surprised, I'd say."

At this moment, an idea appeared in Chyuuichi's mind. He took out a piece of paper he conveniently found in Lamon's armour, firstly seeing tons and tons of mean words presumably directed at the Nuil, but when he turned it around, the other side was blank. There was charcoal wrapped in some cloth as well, so the Mirillian quickly wrote something down and then showed it to the Nuil.

"I have... mizuls." Eryk squinted his eyes. "What are mizuls?"

Chyuuichi looked down, blinking twice, before using the cloth to erase what was written, changing it up a bit.

"I am sik," Eryk read. "Jeez, Lamon. Should work on your grammar." he snickered. "Just because you're a guard doesn't mean that you can skip out on basic elementary courses."

Chyuuichi sighed, before leaning into the chair and closing his eyes, a bit nervous.

"Either way-" he waved his hand around. "I'm not here to ask you to help me walk around the castle and such. None of that today. Guess it's just a force of habit when I see you. My little pedestal." he patted Chyuuichi's head. "It's um. About the thing I mentioned yesterday. The attack on Magna."

Chyuuichi looked at him, curious and eager for an answer. At the same time, he started to think that if Eryk was so blind as not to notice that he wasn't the Lamon he knew and loved, then he concluded that Nuil was even more of a moron than he had thought at first.

"Heh..." he chuckled. "Things seem to be taking care of themselves, aren't they? People are getting back to work in Handulia, and everyone else is reaching out to each other over the smallest of tragedies. The citizens whose houses were destroyed are now living with someone else, voluntarily." he scratched his head, gulping. "One day passed and things are already starting to look as promising as they always were. Why? Of course, I know why, they were prepared for this possibility, why are you asking?"

Chyuuichi hasn't uttered a word.

"Why," Eryk repeated, sinking into his throne. "Why?" he continued, closing his eyes. "Why should they be prepared in the first place? A prospering city shouldn't have to worry about these matters. Its people should be able to live lives without such fear. Then, you said... that it was somehow my fault." he pointed to himself, glancing at Chyuuichi. "How? I can't control how I rule this city, okay? I'm just following the rules. I'm doing everything the other Nuils did and prospered, and yet, this is supposed to be my fault." he stopped for a moment.

"Maybe if things were a little different we could've somehow prevented it, although I think that might've been... physically impossible. You know, deterring such a massive army. Okay, still." Eryk shook his head. "How is this my fault? Why is this supposed to be my fault?" he kept asking, and Chyuuichi didn't answer, although Eryk kept staring at him as if he knew his secret, yet said absolutely nothing.

"No, you don't need to say a word. I know you want to, but it'd just be repeating the same things all over again, wouldn't it? You asked me: when will I realise that there's a reason why people dislike me? Do people dislike me? I thought we were on good terms with what was agreed upon. I give you Silver, houses, a life full of glory, a place to live right beside someone of royalty, of the great Tukman family, founded in the 23rd year after the first war!" he clenched his fist.

"I just don't get it. Maybe that's why everyone dislikes me. The guards, the Demonears, townspeople, you too, Lamon. Maybe they don't like me because I just don't get it. I refused to listen to their vows because I wanted to follow what was already written, but somehow, when all of the other Nuils did exactly that, it all worked out. Maybe the problem is just me, myself. I don't get it. I don't."

Everything went quiet for a moment. The silence was so piercing that Chyuuichi could hear his heartbeat, each sniff of Eryk's nose, and somehow able to ignore the pouring rain outside. He didn't think much of the Nuil's inner conflicts, barely understanding what he was trying to say, yet, absorbed every word as if he was cotton.

Eryk looked up, before breathing in. "You know, I think the people of Magna were only truly happy back when the city first came to be. When no one knew of the dangers lurking in its surrounding forests or between its stupid citizens, or Tributals that thought too highly of themselves. Back when three families ruled the three districts, Tukmans, Zenons and Vigils. Each was responsible for one thing that made the family so inseparable, yet, unique to each their own. Tukmans were amazing tool makers, and I mean, they created the elshuims for Erans."

Chyuuichi was reminded of what he came here for and grew even more anxious.

"Zenons were great warriors, using what the Tukmans created to defend the city from demons, and Vigils built great, tall towers, even reaching Lot Thúrum. They all worked in unison, one supported the other, and didn't step out of their roles or become a mixed bag, way too confused about where they should put their foot. They knew what they were doing, that's what I wanted to say. Now... look at me. I can't make tools. I can't fight, I can't build. Hell, I can't even move. Maybe the other Nuils were better than me simply for not being such failures from the very beginning?"

"When did it happen? When did we step off the road that only led us to glory? Who did that, or... why am I not trying to follow in their footsteps? Not many Tukmans remain, there's only one Zenon and only the remnants of Vigils like you scatter here and about. Three fortifications, once tightly packed, now led by someone... who shouldn't have ever gotten this to his mind." he squeezed the Tukman talisman that hung on a chain. "Who's going to carry the Magnanian torch then? Why is there only one Nuil if he can't do his job?" Eryk looked at Chyuuichi. "Lamon, why do you still work for someone like me? Why do you push yourself through all of this, every day of your life? Why?" he raised his voice, and Chyuuichi instantly shot up, straight as an arrow, but Eryk seemed to calm down, rather quickly.

"I'm scared, Lamon," he stated. "What if all those rumours around Errarion are true? Of all those strange things happening as of late."

"What do you mean?" Chyuuichi uttered.

"I already told you. Some information that should've never landed in your hands, but I trusted you, still do, and always will." he closed his eyes, rubbing his hand against his forehead. "The attack on Magna, that woman falling into a coma in Mistwick, ancient temples of demons being discovered each day, the underground, rumbling with some strange power, the Wise disappearing, sights of fairies... and... the rumour that Shi Hon might be gathering power to come back and terrorize our world again, ending humanity once and for all."

Chyuuichi gulped.

"If he escapes, he'll... he'll kill everyone on this planet," Eryk muttered. "Mainland Errarion, all the other isles. Gone. Everyone." he looked down. "I don't want to believe it. Deep inside my heart, I trust the notion that he's been dead ever since the second war ended." he breathed out. "However, an unsure hand won't paint a sure painting."

Chyuuichi looked forward, noticing the picture of Eryk that hung above the entrance.

"How would a Nuil like me handle all of this? Tell me, Lamon. What would you do if there was one amongst your friends that only turned out to be a scheming demon? Killing all that you were sure of, and instead replacing it with a wobbly future, and just like me, you end up realising that you just don't get it, in the very end."