Ed’s eyes opened to the moonlit sky shining down on his face. He was placed comfortably on a moss bed, just outside of the cave they were in. His arm was wrapped around in cloth, stopping the bleeding.

  Slowly, he pushed himself up, and saw Joyce sitting on a rock right next to him. The heated rock kept the both of them warm in the forest. The bottom part of Joyce’s dress was ripped off, likely to make a bandage for Ed’s arm.

  “Ugh…”

  “Oh, you’re awake. Finally.”

  Joyce flicked a piece of metal onto Ed’s chest, which he grabbed and looked at. It seemed to radiate a kind of magical energy, similar to the one that the animated armor has.

  “What happened?” Ed asked, clutching his head.

  “She’s a vampire, that’s what happened,” Auranna, the ever-present helper, manifested next to him.

  “Vampire?” Ed said out loud. At that word, Joyce looked away in shame. The girl’s red eyes took on a whole new meaning.

  “I’m surprised it took you this long to figure out, considering you made the accusation in the first place. She wasn’t mimicking a vampire, she is a vampire,” Auranna said. “You can’t trust her anymore.”

  “Wait, wait,” Ed said. “You’re really a vampire, right?”

  “Yes. I had to drink your blood back there, or else we would’ve both been dead,” Joyce said.

  It took two confirmations for Ed to finally accept that fact. Joyce was a vampire. He should have realized it earlier, but he just didn’t want to. That possibility was discarded in his mind a long time ago since he realized Elaina was the true cheater.

  Joyce wasn’t solely a victim. You had to choose to become a vampire. There’s no other way to do so. So, what did that mean?

  “Why?”

  “Why what.”

  “Why did you save me?”

  “Because I’m not an idiot, idiot.” Joyce crossed her arms. “Do you think that I would’ve just left you to die in the cave? Do you really think that little of me?”

  “Ah… no. I’m just, if you’re a vampire then…”

  “She can’t be trusted.”

  Auranna finished Ed’s sentence for him, and he looked at her.

  “A human who gives up their humanity to drink on the blood of other humans is a moral boundary that has been crossed. If they did that, then who’s to say they won’t do it again? She is dangerous, Edward,” Auranna explained. The boy looked at her, then he looked at Joyce. She seemed to be upset that it came to this at all.

  And, he knew that vampires were crimes against humanity. But, that bloodthirst saved both of their lives, and he couldn’t just ignore that.

  “What will it take to get you to not tell everyone that I’m a vampire?” Joyce asked, awkwardly. “I don’t want to be chased out of another city again.”

  “Well, if you’re going to be drinking blood from people… then that’s a tall ask—”

  “I don’t drink people’s blood! I… I try not to at least, it’s bad for everyone involved. I uh… steal blood from where I can. Mostly… doctor’s… offices…” Joyce’s voice trailed off, realizing how bad that made her sound. She stopped talking and curled back into a ball. “Don’t… tell anyone about this, please.”

  “That’s still quite bad,” Auranna said. “Doctors need blood for multiple important procedures. Stealing from them could be life threatening.”

  “What other choice does she have?” Ed argued back. “Not like you can just go to places and ask for blood.”

  “Maybe she shouldn’t have become a vampire in the first place.”

  “Oh, come on now.”

  “Who are you arguing with?”

  Joyce asked, looking at Ed a little bit confused. Ed forgot that only he could see Auranna for a moment there.

  “Nothing, just… debating,” Ed said, scratching his cheek.

  “Look. The reason why I headed to Lune was because I hoped that I could find a cure for vampirism here, but it’s hard when the city rejects vampires as a whole. I wanted to win the tournament so I could swear the Governor into secrecy regarding helping me out but…” Joyce sighed. “That didn’t work out. I don’t want to cause you any trouble… that’s why I wanted to do this on my own.”

  “I see,” Ed got up from the rock they were standing on. “I’ve made up my mind, I’m not going to tell anyone. But in exchange, I’d just like to know if you… know anything.”

  “Know anything about what?” Joyce said. A hint of relief came over her face, but Ed needed at least one answer.

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  “Do you know anything about the nature of the divine? How do you get divinity?”

  “Huh?”

  Joyce paused for a moment to ponder the question. She seemed to think it over for quite a long time. That silence told Ed one thing, that she definitely knew something. It was just up to her to tell him about it.

  “If you’re looking to become divine, then… I think I know a way. One that you can try, at least.”

  Both Auranna and Ed widened their eyes. He wasn’t expecting Joyce to tell, but he was thankful for it nonetheless. “Really? Thank you. I appreciate it a lot.”

  “I’ll tell you about it when we turn in the job. We still need to do that,” Joyce said, also getting up. “You seem ready enough to walk, so come on.”

  It felt a little bit strange to walk through town with a vampire by his side. But they blended into the crowd without much suspicion. Joyce was lucky that having red eyes and super-strength weren’t surefire tells of vampirism anymore, because that would have made this task significantly harder.

  The two of them walked out of City Hall, returning their task. The two of them got a significant payout, though Ed had no idea if his blood was ‘more divine’ by this point. Joyce pulled him along to a nearby cafe table, where they would talk.

  “So,” Ed began to ask. “What is this way to attempt?”

  “I don’t know the full details of the ritual myself… since I was very young when I was first exposed to it, but…”

  Joyce had grabbed a piece of paper and glowing pen from city hall, and began to draw a diagram. A large circle, with the three phases of the moon on its outer edges. A full moon, a half moon, and a crescent moon. Inside of the inner circle, there was a drawing of a flower, and the planet that they lived on. Joyce was impressive, her drawing was incredibly detailed despite her statement.

  “That’s it,” Joyce said. “If you do it in a holy place, with holy materials… you might be able to commune with god. Don’t tell anyone else this, or else I’ll be in even more trouble than I am.”

  “Okay, I won’t,” Ed responded. “Thank you, again.”

  “I’m going to go back on my own journey, maybe we’ll meet again later. Thanks for… keeping my secret, please… you don’t need to think about me much, anymore.”

  With that, Joyce got up from the table and began to walk away. Leaving Ed and Auranna to ponder the drawing she gave to them. Ed picked it up, and Auranna seemed to lean in to observe it.

  “How does a vampiric girl know this? Even I’m not familiar with such a ritual. That girl must have some knowledge that she’s not telling us.”

  “You said a long time ago her name was fake. I assume she’s running from something, but it’s not any of my business anymore. She’s been through a lot, so I’ll respect her wishes. We have one goal now, to get the approval of that governor. Let's find Adelyn and the rest.”

  Auranna seemed suspicious, but she also relented at Ed’s statement. The two of them got up and began to head off to find their friends.

  Ed headed into the library, because he figured Adelyn would still be here. Sure enough, he was right. Alongside Teddie and Cozy. The three of them seemed to be discussing something.

  “Wait, wait. Cozy, you actually spoke to Midnas? Doesn’t that make you divine?” Adelyn asked.

  “Yeah. Though, he didn’t give me any divine blessings or anything, so I doubt it,” Cozy responded. “He said I needed to bring you guys next time. We all need blessings for Luan, wouldn’t we?”

  “We… tried to replicate it… but we haven’t had much success. It seemed to just be a one time thing… for both me and her,” Teddie said.

  “Shoot. Me and Ed aren’t divine either, so if it didn’t work on Teddie then I don’t think it’d work on either of us. But divinity seems to be consistently replicable… cause the royal family has divinity… but I got told that it’s not hereditary so…”

  “I think I have a way.”

  Ed appeared, interrupting Adelyn’s thought process.

  “Oh! Ed! It’s good to see you again! How was your trip?” Adelyn said.

  “Painful, and I don’t know if I’m any more divine than usual. But I did get some information from a source,” Ed said. He then pulled out the piece of paper with the drawing on it. “I was told this is the key. A ritual that allows one to commune with Midnas, and we could use this to reach divinity.”

  “Really? I just splashed holy water on my face and it worked,” Cozy said. “This seems pretty complicated.”

  “Well, I don’t think we’re as lucky as you, Cozy,” Ed said. “This is probably our best bet, if we need divinity. Apparently we need holy materials and a holy space, though.”

  “We could ask Ms. Luan!” Teddie suggested. “We learned she’s not as opposed to us achieving divinity as we thought. Cozy and I found a super holy place, and I’m sure she has some holy materials.”

  “You did? That works perfectly then. We can try setting this up as soon as possible,” Ed said. However, as they discussed, Adelyn walked up to Ed and looked at the drawing.

  “Hm,” Adelyn looked at it closer. “This ritual stuff makes sense, considering what I know about the consistent divinity of the royal family. It might be reasonable to think they used something similar but… I dunno. This doesn’t feel perfect to me.”

  “What’s wrong with it?” Ed asked. “It’s very detailed to me.”

  “I don’t know exactly. But it just feels like there’s a component missing,” Adelyn said. “I’m going to check out a bunch of these books, so I’ll sit on that thought for a bit. I’ll tell you if I ever figure it out.”

  “Alright, but today’s been a long day for me… and I assume for all of you. I could do with some rest. Tomorrow, we can try and work our minds around this ritual,” Ed said.

  “I agree…” Teddie said. “Today has been scary… and eventful. I just wanna… cool down for a bit.”

  “Tomorrow, we’ll reach the moon again,” Cozy said. “I could use a breather, maybe another bath.”

  “Same. Plus, the bath is a good place to read books, I’ve learned,” Adelyn said.

  “Wouldn’t that damage the books?” Cozy asked, out of concern.

  “Not if you’re good enough at telekinesis! I can protect any book from danger with my skills,” Adelyn snapped her fingers proudly. “I’ll show you tonight when we get back to the inn.”

  “Huh, sure.”

  The four of them began to walk out of the library, with new information at hand. They were almost ready to catapult themselves into a brand new dimension of Lune. Something that none of them were familiar with.

  “I just wanna rest, to be honest. Too much stress for today,” Ed said, to Auranna as they all walked back.

  “I’m still wondering how she knew about this ritual. If I’ve never heard of it… and only special people like the royals were able to maintain consistent divinity then-” Auranna began to speak.

  “Auranna. I think you should rest too. It’d be good for you,” Ed responded. “Instead of thinking about a girl who we don’t need to know about, we can think of what’s tomorrow. Does that sound good?”

  “I suppose you are correct,” Auranna conceded. They only had themselves to worry about now, and nothing more.