It had been a week since the fight against Ferros. Nyxon had used all the energy his body could bring up before passing out onto the sea. He had fallen asleep and woken up numerous times with only faint visions of other things. First, his sister– then Kairo panicking— and Luna wrapping bandages around his stomach. Nyxon didn't know what those could mean, but he hoped it meant he was safe now. His fight with Ferros was the peak of his fighting capability. Nyxon had been trained to fight since he was eleven, but he would never have dreamed he would fight threats like this. He knew deep inside without his power from being an Elderian; he wouldn't have come to the conclusion he had with Ferros. Although he couldn't control the power coming from the Aeon Ikari, he was still afraid to succumb to his anger to activate it. Maybe it was best to leave it alone for now. He was still scared of what power it held towards him. Each time he used it, he had only felt like he was losing himself each time he used it. He grew angrier and more violent with each use. Nyxon didn't want to change because of his transformation, so he left it behind for now.

Nyxon had still been resting. He could finally open his eyes after a long rest after his fight with Ferros. He noticed he was lying on a wooden bed in a room decorated with lights and benches where his armor, sword, and brown cloak were perched. He wanted to sit up, but his head shot with pain, and his stomach felt like it had been punched a dozen times.

It took him a couple of tries, but he finally sat up and came face to face with a mirror, which showed the wounds he had received from Ferros. He had a white bandage wrapped around his forehead and some bandages wrapped around his stomach as well. He also noticed that all of his gear was taken off of him and removed for a soft, long-sleeved brown tunic. "You're okay. That's good," said a familiar voice. Nyxon turned in shock to see Lapis, who was reading a book. "You were out for a while— woah! H-Hey,"

Nyxon had felt a wave of emotions overcome him. He remembered what Ferros had done to Lapis just moments before he transformed and hugged Lapis for being okay. "Y-You're okay...that's good," said Nyxon.

Lapis kept her hands in the air. She looked completely frozen from Nyxon's sudden hug. She finally managed to move her arms around Nyxon, hugging him and brushing his long black hair. "Hey– hey, it's fine. Everyone's fine because of you,"

"What about...Luna? Is she okay?"

"Luna's fine. She's fine because of you,"

Although she was right, Nyxon still felt a sense of guilt from the fight. After all, her getting hurt was because of Nyxon leading Ferros to the boat docks. "But...she got hurt because of me..."

"Nyxon. All of this is happening because of you. Your decisions are making these things happen. If you hadn't been doing the things you did, I would still be down in the castle. Bad things always happen, and because of you, we'll get to make up for it. Think about it, that's the fate you want, right? You wanna help people?" Nyxon shook his head. "See? I told you. Everyone believes in you, and the weight of all that can be tough. That's the sin we'll have to bear for now. If it weren't for you, Ferros would still be hurting people to find you. You saved those people on Efrana from him because you chose to. Your choices make these things happen, and we'll be here to help until the end."

Nyxon smiled. The hug from Lapis was comforting, along with the strokes of his hair. "Did I kill Ferros?" said Nyxon, still shocked from the fight with Ferros.

"I dunno, I really wished you did, though," chuckled Lapis. "Saw him fly into the sky screaming, never saw him again after that. And that's when I found you,"

"So, what happened on the boat then?" Nyxon asked, still curious about what had happened.

"Well, Kairo was the only one with a weapon, and Luna and I were knocked out. This ship belonged to a bunch of Pirates, but Kairo beat three of them and took the ship."

"Kairo? Kairo did that?"

"Yep. I was just as shocked when I woke up. But that sword you gave her was crazy, and now she won't stop talking about how crazy the fight was."

Nyxon smiled. He kept hugging and rocking back and forth with Lapis, sitting on the corner of the bed from Nyxon. She smiled at him. It was almost scary seeing Lapis smile because it was unusual for her, but it was comforting for Nyxon. He heard the door swing open in the background, but he couldn't see anything because Lapis covered his eyes.

"Hey, I brought juice," said a voice. Nyxon thought it sounded like Kairo, but he wasn't sure. "Do you think he would be too awake to notice I ate a couple?" Yeah, it was Kairo.

"Stop eating his stuff! Just put it on the table,"

"Sorry— all the good food is being used on him. I'm starving too, y'know," Nyxon heard footsteps slowly approaching him. "You hugging him again? Luna said he should be waking up soon," said Kairo. It sounded like she was pouring water into a cup.

"He's already awake. Look," Lapis moved her arms away from Nyxon, allowing him to see Kairo and her surprised face. However, seeing Nyxon wide awake was something out of nowhere, causing her to lose focus on the glass jug she used to pour juice.

"HEY! YOU'RE POURING JUICE ON ME!" shouted Lapis, who now had a juice stain on her pants.

Lapis quickly got up to leave, while Kairo nearly squeezed Nyxon to death with a hug. He almost felt his rib pop open. "NYXON! YOU'RE OKAY!"

"I– won't– be if— you keep— hugging— me!" cried Nyxon. He almost felt another bone break.

"Sorry–man, you give really nice hugs," said Kairo.

"I didn't even hug you?"

"I know. I'm glad you're feeling better, though. We were all worried about you,"

"I'm really proud of you though. Lapis told me you protected everyone,"

"YEAH! After you went to fight Ferros, I was the only one left, and I had to fight some Pirates and stuff. You should have seen me! I was like— rah! And slicing away at them. I was really cool,"

Nyxon chuckled. "Of course you were. Hey...sorry about yelling at you back at the docks. I was really angry, and I couldn't control myself. My powers can be dangerous sometimes,"

"It's cool. Lapis explained everything to us already. Luna was the most worried one there, though,"

Nyxon's heart skipped a beat. "Is she okay?"

"She has a little bandage on her face, but she's fine. I thought Ferros did way worse to her, but shes really tough. She was the first one to get up, after all. Then, Luna kept shouting and screaming at me and Lapis to find you, but Lapis got to you first. We brought you here, and then we changed you, and we kinda just waited for you to feel better. You have no idea how hard it was to get Luna away from you. We even had to lock the door at one point."

The story made Nyxon feel better. Although his yelling at Kairo did frighten her at one point, he was glad Lapis cleared things up for him. He had Kairo help him get up and enter the hallway, where he was met with a wooden hall decorated with swords and shields that belonged to the Pirates from before. There were six doors in the hallway, with all of them being bedrooms except the one at the end, which Kairo said was the kitchen.

Kairo was letting Nyxon lean on her shoulder, which made her nervous. After all, Nyxon was the person who had just saved the country of Efrana. Kairo finally approached the door. She turned to Nyxon and said, "Hey. Before we go in...uh...man this is hard,"

"What's wrong?"

Kairo shook her head. "It's just...thanks for beating Ferros for me. For all of us."

"It's fine. And no problem, Kairo. I did say I was going to protect you, remember?" Kairo smiled. "H-Hey. Maybe when my stomach feels better, we could get pizza when we can."

Kairo gasped. "Really?"

"Yeah! But, I think it's gonna be a while before we can do that,"

Kairo pushed open the door. The door was completely silent, making their entrance unknown to Luna and Lapis, standing near the stove. The kitchen was nicely sized. It had a large rectangular table with a nice wooden frame, and there was enough space in the kitchen to where they could even run around.

"I'm telling you, it's ok. How's your face?" asked Lapis.

Nyxon saw Luna rub her face. "It's fine,"

"LUNA! GUESS WHO WOKE UP?" shouted Kairo.

Nyxon felt his ears thump. It almost gave him a headache. "Kairo...can you be a little quieter?" said Nyxon.

Nyxon watched as Luna carried a small black pot in her hand and then dropped it after seeing Nyxon standing near Kairo. Kairo immediately shouted, "NO!" but it was no match for Luna's crying. Luna immediately ran over to Nyxon and tackled him against the wall with hugs and kisses.

"That...that food was gonna be the realist thing I've eaten all week," said Kairo. She sounded on the verge of tears.

"Nyxon! Y-You're okay! Thank goodness you're okay,"

Nyxon rubbed Luna's head. "So...what's for dinner?"

"Oh...I just dropped it," she looked behind her, where Kairo seemed to be mourning the loss of her dinner. Steak and potatoes were scattered across the floor. "Well, I do have something special...for you,"

Kairo and Lapis helped clean up the floor of food, which was easy until Kairo stopped because her stomach was growling. Luna promised to make something to satisfy her, making her work ten times faster. Lapis just seemed happy to see Nyxon and Luna together again. Luna was excited to show Nyxon what she had made that was special for him. She reached inside the refrigerator. "Alright. I know Dragons like to eat certain things and like to be in hotter temperatures. So I made this. They call it "Ember Candy," she picked one up and showed it to Nyxon.

It was shaped like an apple but had crystals all around it that changed colors wherever Nyxon held it. "So...what's so special about it?"

"When you eat it, it pops in your mouth. It's really sweet and spicy, too, something dragons like to feel,"

Nyxon took a bite from the Ember Candy. Within seconds, he felt the crystals from the candy crackle and pop inside his mouth. He felt his mouth was being showered with fireworks, and it got hotter after each second passed. "W-Woah! I love it!" he quickly rushed to close his mouth after seeing a crystal escape.

"So, what have we been doing for the past week?"

"We've just been sailing. We haven't done anything yet because Luna wanted to take care of you first,"

"Well, let's just follow the compass Kogohime gave me. That'll take us to Berutis. Where is it?"

Lapis showed Nyxon where they kept his items and then ran outside the group to the front of the ship. The outside of the ship was beautiful. From the sails to the deck and even the ocean currents, Nyxon didn't know which one to admire first. Nyxon has never seen the ocean before, let alone sail above it. It was almost like a dream come true. He wandered to the end of the ship and watched the sea around him clash against the ship.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Luna. She held Nyxon's hand as he continued to stare into the sea. Nyxon stared at the fish in the sea. One fish seemed to catch his eye. The fish had crystal scales and glowed elegantly in the sea. They were also traveling in a pack, where they had formed what looked like an arrow. "They're called "Coralinids" sailors often mistake them for jewelry in the ocean. But they look so pretty; how could they not?"

"They're so pretty," said Nyxon. He looked at Luna, who was still looking towards the ocean.

Nyxon stared into Luna's blue eyes. Now, they had reminded him of the ocean that surrounded him. He felt the compass glow in his hand, the handle pointed directly to his right. He told Kairo they needed to tilt to the right. Kairo said, "Aye, aye, Captain!" And steered to the right of the ocean. Nyxon ran to the rope in the center. He saw Lapis about to bring the sail down. He grabbed the rope, flew up with the string, and landed in the ship's crow's nest. He took a deep breath of the sea around him. It was salty, but that smell made him feel free. "I hope you two are doing okay, Mr.Hugo and Mrs.Elena,"

Nyxon saw a bird speed past him. It shocked him at how fast the bird was. He quickly ran down to the deck as he witnessed the bird land itself next to Luna. Nyxon witnessed the bird at its full display. The bird was tall. It was tall enough to be measured up to Luna's hips, and its beak was yellow and sleek. Its feathers looked like someone dipped their hand in ink and splashed it over paper. Its wings were almost distracting, but not as much as its long, bony legs and white fedora. "Nyxon, come look!" shouted Luna. "This is the courier for the MysticTales. It's a newspaper company that publishes papers and delivers them worldwide."

The courier bowed his head vigorously and squawked. "AH! Hello, everyone!" said the courier in a fancy tone.

"Oh my god," said Nyxon, his jaw hanging halfway from his face.

The courier tilted his head and used his wing to cover his mouth. "I thought all creatures on this land knew about us–"

"He's never seen a courier,"

"He?" screeched the courier.

"I'm a boy!"

"Yeah— yeah. Man, magic can really work wonders. Princess, do you have the form of payment ready? I have another six thousand kilometers to fly by midnight." Luna pulled out an Ink Berrie and crushed it with her hand. The courier handed her a newspaper and ate the berries off the floor.

Luna and Nyxon looked at the newspaper. Luna had to read it out loud due to Nyxon not knowing how to read yet. "Let's see... Magical Artifact department loses the Resurrection Stone...Magical Artifact team responds by deploying troops,"

The courier laughed. "Whoo! They can never do their jobs right. They need to hire real sorcerers. I heard that The Collector stole the stone."

"Who's that?" asked Nyxon, curious to hear about the news.

"He's a bounty hunter known for taking down high-priority targets of each race. I heard he's only just three away from fulfilling that name. People call him many things. The Crow, The Collector, and Black Asura. He only needs to defeat a Demon, a Vampire, and an Elderian next. But it's not like there's any more of them around. Take that with a grain of salt, will you? I doubt he's anywhere to be found. He is a shapeshifter, after all,"

Luna went back to gazing at the newspaper. "Director of Magical Transportation says he hopes to have flying ships within two years. The Eldertome of Arcane investigations still hopes to find missing detectives in the archived case to bring back employment up to one hundred percent." Luna stops reading. "What's going in in the investigations department?"

"Staff have disappeared in the Shadowed Marshlands for the past twenty years. Conveniently, everyone in the Magical Crime Investigations unit and Missing persons in the Magical Abilities unit have disappeared. No one wants to touch the case, not even the professionals."

"Sounds like a lost cause," said Lapis, sitting beside Kairo.

"Sure sounds like it. Not even the director wants to release a public statement about it."

Nyxon was overwhelmed by this information. He was happy to know about it but only wished to hear it when his head wasn't hurting. The Arcane Council? Magical Crime investagitons? The Collector? It all sounded too unbelievable to be true. Then again, that's how Nyxon knew he was awake again. "How do you know about all of this?" asked Nyxon.

"I am a courier. It's my job," The courier chuckled. "Now then, I best be off. Good luck to you people," the courier tipped his hat, flapped his wings, and disappeared into the air.

Nyxon waved at the bird and followed Luna to the front of the boat with Kairo and Lapis. She pulled out a thin paper scroll that showed locations and colored maps of regions of the world. "The Pirates had a ship and a lot of locations labeled on here. I think the map is enchanted! Look, It has a little arrow that marks where we are," Nyxon looked at the map and saw an orange arrow that marked that they were heading to a location. "We're in the Siresong Strait—the ocean current of this region. And if we keep going this way–" she traced her finger along the map, which lit a bright orange pathway, "here is the Verdant Wilds. That's where the compass seems to be taking us,"

"So that's where we go," said Nyxon. He started to smile. Another adventure was just what he needed. "Everyone, you ready to go to the Verdant Wilds?"

"YEAH!" they said in unison. They all rose to their feet and high-fived one another.

Kairo sped over to the steering wheel and focused on maintaining the course to the Verdant Wilds while Lapis used her lightning to fly toward the crow's nest. Together, they all sat on the ship until nightfall. The momentum of excitement had kept everyone wide awake, and the feeling was starting to realization when Kairo fell asleep at the steering wheel. Lapis had carried her by the foot to her room and decided to call it a night. Luna stayed outside, though, for Nyxon had fallen asleep in her lap. He still needed rest from the fight against Ferros. His head still hurt, and his stomach sometimes felt itself shift whenever he took a wrong step. He was napping on Luna's lap, thinking about everything that led up to his fight in Efrana.

Nyxon was scared— deeply scared. While going through as many fights as he had, Nyxon was learning the dangers of the people he was coming across. He almost wasn't able to beat Brinks. He was on the verge of dying against Magnus. And he was lucky enough to have even defeated Ferros. He was afraid. He didn't expect anything to happen like this when he turned eighteen. He only had one question in mind: why did Luna follow him? It wasn't that Luna being with him was annoying, but her decision to follow him on this journey was a question he had sitting in his mind for now.

Nyxon woke up with the moon in view. Its glimmering light reflected off the sea as it surrounded the ship. The sound of the ocean was soothing. In a way, Nyxon wanted to sleep outside just to hear it, but it was too cold out. He groaned slightly from his head throbbing with pain still. He listened to the sound of a newspaper turning and then humming, which he recognized immediately. Luna was reading a newspaper while Nyxon was lying on her lap. "Is something wrong?" asked Luna, her deep blue eyes fixed onto Nyxon.

"My head. It still hurts a little," said Nyxon.

Luna raised a confusing eyebrow, leaned down, and kissed Nyxon's forehead. "Does it still hurt?"

Nyxon's heart jumped. Nyxon knew being around Luna only made him love her even more. "N-No," stuttered Nyxon. He was too happy from the kiss.

"That means you're okay now," said Luna. "I healed all the physical damage your body endured. Now, it is all up to you to heal again. Unless something else is on your mind?"

"I've been thinking about...stuff,"

"What kind of stuff?"

"I've been thinking about everything that's been leading up to this. All the people I've talked to and everyone who offered to help me in the beginning. But, Luna, I still can't wrap my head around how fast you joined me," Nyxon grabbed Luna's hand softly and rubbed his fingers along the surface. "Well– I guess what I'm trying to ask is...why did you come with me?"

Luna looked towards the moon, humming to herself. Nyxon wondered if maybe what he said wasn't the right thing. He was about to apologize until Luna said, "So that's why your head hurts— you had something to ask me," Luna stroked Nyxon's curly dark hair. "How long have we known each other? Let's see...I was twelve, and you were eleven,"

"Seven long years. That's how long it's been,"

"That's right. And in those seven years I've known you. Do you know what you always did? You ran. Every time I saw you, you ran, whether to Magnus, my castle, or even running just to run. I noticed that if I kept walking, I would lose you. I couldn't slow down for a second, or I wouldn't be able to see you. So, I ran away with you. No matter where you went, there was always this sense of enjoyment in running with someone like you."

"When Magnus threw you out of the Kingdom, I stopped running. I had no reason to run anymore. Without you, I lost my meaning in what it meant to run. So I stopped. Without you, I didn't have a purpose. I was...upset. I wouldn't come out of my room, I wouldn't eat dinner, and sometimes I wouldn't get out of bed. I lost my purpose in running away when you disappeared. But then, my dad got locked away, my Mom had to take over the alter, and I was left all alone. I wondered, "How would I keep running like this?" It's all I could ask myself. But then, you came back. And then, when you came back, I told you about what had happened in the Kingdom. And then, I saw that look on your face, that same look you would wear when you were going to start running, that look of hope.

"You went out there, saved my Dad, defeated Brinks, and reunited my family. But now I wondered, "Why did he do all of that?" He didn't need to, but he did it anyway. And just like all of those other times. Then, there you were, about to run again from Esmus with Lapis. I didn't know what would happen if you left me. I didn't want to lose my purpose in running again. Then I said it; I said I would leave Esmus with you." Luna leaned down to Nyxon's ear. "I found my purpose within you, and I'm extremely grateful. The choices you make are so incredible. The things you do make you so wonderful. And no matter what path you take or what dangers await us, I'll be sure to keep running that same path you run on, Nyxon, my husband, my hero, and my best friend."

Nyxon sat up from Luna's lap and stared into her eyes. The two were together after everything they had been through, and only through each encounter would they grow stronger. They felt at their best with one another, and they could only improve from here. Nyxon leaned towards Luna, kissing her on the cheek. He saw her ears twitch from the kiss. "Luna...there's something I wanna give you," he helped Luna to her feet from the bench and walked her inside the ship.

Nyxon had finally remembered. Kogohime told him that he would need a pair of rings. Could this be it? Could the rings be what he was going to need for this moment? He opened his bedroom door. Luna sat on the bed, twiddling with her thumbs while Nyxon scavenged around his room. "C'mon...I know it's— yes!" he finally found the golden rings hidden in his armor.

He walked to Luna, his heart beating faster than ever as he bent down on one knee. "Luna...I want us to have this. It's...It's my way of saying thank you for being with me for this long. I hope...I hope that when this is all over in the future, we can be together in peace." Nyxon took Luna's hand and placed the ring on her finger as he put his on his own. "Luna, thank you for running with me. I love you,"

Nyxon watched Luna's eyes flutter. "Nyxon...I love you, too. I hope that, in every fate that plays out between us, we can find a way to say that to each other again,"

Luna bent down to kiss Nyxon. Nyxon continued kissing her, leaning on the bed and laying beside her. Luna stretched her hand from below Nyxon. She summoned a golden dove from her Aura and turned the lights off, with only the sounds of their kissing echoing through the dark.