Chapter 13: Lessons from the Past

At a café in Soukai City, as evening fell, for Valkyrie trainees sat at a booth, all four teenaged boys exhausted and in various states of wear, uniforms dirty and overall completed messes. Soleil vocalized their collective pain with a rumbling groan as he sat up, his head lolling back over the booth seat.

"Captain's training is always a flippin nightmare…" Soleil grumbled, bringing his hands to his face. "Makes you want to cry! The man's a demon disguised as a human!"

"You're tellin' us…" Alex grumbled. "How the hell did you go three hours in a spar with the guy?"

"Don't ask. 'Cause I still don't know." Soleil sighed, letting his head fall and meet the table.

What the group had been put through was making them feel like nothing short of some abject torture instead of training. Or perhaps attempted murder. Not just an obstacle course, but one with training robots to evade and various – if overall somewhat harmless – traps to evade along with everything else. And that wasn't even getting into when Leon decided to yank one aside after a lap and spar. He freakin means it when he says his training is also a punishment. Soleil thought, rolling his head up.

"Anyway…" Takeru sat up straight and got to redoing his former ponytail. "now that we're out of hell, how about some more proper introductions from the lot of us to Empyrean, hm?"

"At this point I am just fine with anything other than Captain's Hell Course." Alex said, glancing over the menu he'd propped up.

"I'll go first." Rani said, managing to prop his head onto a hand. "Rani Peppers as you know. My family comes from the North Africa branch of Schicksal, and my mom's been a Valkyrie pretty much her whole life. Also a vet of the 2nd Impact. Next time she's around… well, Mom's kind of a hard person to miss."

"Considering how much of an amazon she is, no kidding." Alex muttered, Rani giving an embarrassed chuckle.

"Yeah… best she doesn't find out about this or my ear's gonna get chewed off." Rani let out a deep sigh as he hung his head again. "Anyway, I'm here at St. Freya since it turned out I had Honkai compatibility. Wouldn't be surprised if my little sister ends up here once she's old enough to attend. You got any siblings of your own, Soleil? Well, aside from Zaychik, in a sense."

"Far as I know… a little sister." Soleil said. From what Sozo has let onto me anyway. And I'm just assuming since Seele looks so much like me. "Though it's just from some offhand knowledge I picked up. I've uh… never actually met her before. I'm not sure my dad even knew about her for a while either, since my mom died during the 2nd Impact."

"Don't that just sound like the hint to some plot line in a novel." Alex muttered. "Finding out about a sibling or daughter you didn't know about before, only to mysteriously be unable to find them easily."

"Yeah it's… a case." Soleil chuckled. Not like I can say this sister is stuck in the godsdamned Sea of Quanta of all places. Or that she interacts with me through a blue butterfly only I can see. Best to leave it at the mystery. He thought.

"My turn then." Alex sighed. "Alex Shrade, I'm from the UK. The absolute epitome of nobody special to boot. Family was normal and not much else. I found out I'm compatible pretty much by accident as a kid. Folks got worried as hell that would mean Beasts would be attracted to me, so once they heard about St. Freya, I got shipped here first dang thing. Its not a bad deal though. I get to travel to new places whenever my team gets missions, and I've gotta admit the whole helping people thing isn't so bad."

"Now if only your practical scores were better." Takeru mused, Alex's face going red as he glared. "You are a good supporter though. You should consider joining the medical corps."

"Where the heck is the fun in hanging back huh?" Alex sighed. "I'd rather be out in the front making sure people don't have to be dragged back to some field hospital in the first place. So he really is a good guy at heart. Soleil couldn't hide the amused smirk that came to his face, and Alex's face got even redder when he caught sight of the look. "Its just how I am alright? Sure I ain't the best fighter but I do what I can. Besides, I'm not that bad!"

"Sure sure." Rani mused. "By the way, in practicals I'm in the above average group. Though I've got nothing on you guys up in the top scorers."

"Compared to someone like Fu Hua we're all scrubs." Alex muttered. "Your Class President is a wonder kid ya know that Empyrean?"

"So I've heard lately." Soleil said. "She actually recently asked me to spar with her since she's interested in my family's martial arts."

"Seriously what the hell is with you and women?" Alex muttered. "They hover around you like bees and honey."

"I have no answer for that. I find it weird too." Soleil bit.

"Not like you don't get stares too. We all do." Takeru said. Alex sighed and went back to menu browsing. "And as I said earlier, the name's Hiyama Takeru. Compared to Raiden I'm about as normal as Alex over here, though I suppose being from a family formerly involved in exorcism helps out."

"You mean like the classical kind of onmyodo stuff?" Soleil asked.

"More or less yeah. Though like a lot of things we can say the legends about Yokai exists because of Honkai." Takeru said. "My family's had little in the way of interaction with Schicksal until more recent history since the far east remained separate from their activities for a long time. But you could say we're well versed in dealing with Honkai threats as any other. The fact I had resistance myself was seen as a boon, especially since I'm an only child. Having a bunch of aunts is kind of a nuisance when they're not used to training a boy to fight with the family arts."

"Ah so that sort of family eh?"

"Indeed. So, now it's your turn."

"Right alright." Soleil tapped the table as he sat up, rolling a still stiff shoulder. "Not like who I am ain't obvious. Soleil Empyrean, son of the guy everybody calls the Dragonslayer for the time he took down a specialized Emperor Class Beast. Family was one of the Founders from way back when Schicksal was founded in old Europe, only to ditch after the 2nd Impact for reasons I still don't know. My life has been… a mess, to be honest. Spent my entire childhood going from place to place, training with my old man and getting beat to hell by Beasts and zombies along the way. I've got all the scars to prove it."

"And probably some fun as hell stories." Alex mused. "Any Beast encounters you took special note of? Or just a bunch of mundane stuff?"

"Hmm… well there was this one time in Hong Kong a couple years back during New Years." Soleil started. Suddenly he found the other three boys giving some rapt attention. "Basically while the festivities were getting started, people were talking about some Nian beast, y'know, the old Chinese legend of some monster that comes around on New Years that has to be scared off with fireworks."

"Kind of a classic one." Rani noted.

"Yeah turns out the one some people swore they were seeing was a Honkai Beast. As usual." Soleil got a round of nods. "So my old man did what any good Honkai hunter does… and by that I mean he ended up crashing head long into a parade during the fight. Best part? The crowd all thought it was part of the show right to the end!"

"Seriously?!" Alex yelped. "Wouldn't something like that make sudden news around the world or something?"

"Not if they thought it was for the show." Takeru said. "Probably confused the hell out of the show planners though."

"Not like we found out, cause we had to split town pretty much the day after." Soleil admitted. "Dad's been tyring to keep Schicksal off his trail for ages, and from what I can tell he's done a dang good job at it."

"Considering the information network Schicksal has, I'm surprised he's managed nearly fifteen years without being found at all." Rani said. "A lot of the things that happened during the 2nd Impact are pretty mysterious though. Even what we students are given access to for history lessons barely tells us more than the basics."

"And learning more about it is kind of part of the reason I stayed." Soleil said. "If I can make it to a higher rank, than I have a chance to get into data I normally wouldn't. That, and, well, I'd probably be chased to the ends of the earth by those three if I ditched them."

"Alright time for the story we really wanna hear!" Alex shot up, a smirk on. "Spill the details bro, how the heck did you even meet those three at all? We're already knee deep into this, so lets go the whole way."

"Ya really want to know?" Soleil got nods again. Well I guess it can't hurt. Just gotta leave out the details the Captain said I can't tell them. So nothing about Mei being the Herrscher. With that in mind, Soleil cleared his throat. "So, it kinda started when I got lost on my way to school. I… kind of have a bad sense of direction. But, well… that was when I ran into Kiana…"

Later that evening, after telling the three boys a rather abridged version of the events of Nagazora, Soleil found himself parting from the lot back at St. Freya on rather friendly terms now. They'd paid rapt attention to the story, particularly the Herrscher encounter even if Soleil had to leave out the fact said Herrscher was Mei. Alex had to Soleil's amusement, almost ended up in tears near the end when he got to the surprise attack from the large beast and Kiana's wounding. Though getting around the Herrscher resurfacing and Mei's involvement had actually proven tricky. Though, he was also avoiding bringing it up as much for Mei's sake as anything else. Her past and status as a Herrscher was a touchy subject after all.

Though when it came to Soleil's various mentions of his misfortune, those had earned him some chuckles. Such as the medicine cabinet or falling from the railway and getting lost in the amusement park. The fact he'd swayed Bronya to help their little group through HOMU collectibles had been something the other boys found both amusing and not surprising. Considering Bronya was always carrying around her HOMU plush, nobody assumed anything else about her.

"Though the fact she likes HOMU and is crazy smart is kind of all some of us can gather about her." Rani had said after that explanation. Well… yeah I see what he meant with that one. Soleil thought. Bronya can be a bit of a hard case to read at times. She's a locked book that's for sure, and all I can really get out of her at times is that she knows my old man. And that she was with AE before is an assumption for now.

As he was thinking these things over, he'd already arrived back at the dorm and was kicking off his shoes. While he did, Soleil heard movement from above. And then a worried-looking Mei came out from around the corner.

"Soleil-kun! What took you so long?" She said. Oh, right… she thought I was going to the library again. Soleil's look cracked as Mei looking him over. "What happened? You look like you got into a fight!"

"Relax it's nothing." Soleil said, holding up a hand. "Just uh… got kinda rowdy today with some guys I met. Captain put our butts through the ringer after he caught us."

"Oh." Mei sighed in relief. I think I'm starting to see what they meant with those "accusations" about how Mei acts. Soleil shut his eyes as he hummed it over. Kiana does like calling her the "perfect wife" type and all. "Well, if it's nothing big then alright. But does that mean you made some new friends?"

"Well… yeah. Friends through mutual suffering in training, and then sharing a bit about each other. I think I might be hanging with them here and there."

"Well that's good to here." Mei turned back off to the kitchen. "Go and get cleaned up, I'm almost done cooking. Kiana's with her mom and aunt tonight so how about we go over some study plans for tomorrow?"

"Sure sure. Can also get Bronya's help with it too." As he split off while Mei ducked into the kitchen, Soleil stopped again. Then his face got a bit read. Dammit now I'm thinking about it! Shit, shit! It really does come off as that doesn't it?! Letting out a groan, Soleil slapped his face a couple of times. He could feel it burning even before he did so. "Man my life is frickin weird…"

What the others didn't know is that in her spare time, Bronya had been working on something of her own. Soleil-niisama and Mei-neesama have the right idea, but Kiana-idiotka won't learn so easily without some special method. Was the small girl's thoughts as her small hands fiddled with various tools and electronics skewed around her worktable. As for what it was she was working on… well, one certainly would be wondering considering the three items were all in the shape of HOMU characters.

"Done." Bronya set her tools down and lifted one of the HOMU shaped items up. There was a proud glint in the deadpan girl's eyes as she turned it around. It looked to be some kind of headset, and this particular one, designed after HOMU himself, was marked as the MK 1. "With this, it should make helping Kiana-idiotka learn a thing or two much easier."

With the item done, since for now it would not be needed, Bronya set it back to the table and rolled her chair to another desk with a computer set up on it. With it done, it's time to get back to the game. Alloy_Bronya is needed in the dungeons. Cracking her knuckles, Bronya's fingers started flying across the keyboard. Her work was done for now, so it was time to play.

"Ahhh! I can't do this!"

Soleil sighed as Kiana threw the book she was reading up, catching it with a smooth motion. As expected, a few days into the study sessions, Kiana was about ready to go and give up on it. Not to mention the mountain of books she got. Soleil's eyes trailed over to a stack taller than he was, sighing again as his shoulders sagged. At this point he was about ready to give up too, but it'd be do or die with the upcoming exam if they wanted to get Kiana anywhere.

"Why do we even have to learn all of this stuff anyway?" Kiana whined. "It's all just boring history and other stuff. What's the point?"

"The point is so that we know where we came from and the kinds of things we're up against." Soleil said. "Rapid fire question, when was Schicksal founded?"

"Uh…"

"Bzz. Answer is during the fourteenth century. It was also originally founded as a religious organization."

"Why would that be useful to know nowadays?!"

"It's common knowledge for one." Soleil snarked, Kiana groaning as she rolled over. "How much of middle school did you even bother to remember?"

"I spent three years traveling the world, it wasn't a concern!" Kiana said. "Ugh, why do we have to take stupid tests if we're fighting the Honkai anyway?"

"So that way we can at least function in normal society that's why." Soleil remarked, Kiana groaning again. "Gods you're hopeless."

"Mean!" Kiana shot forward and latched onto Soleil's front. The boy sighed as she held tightly. "Lemme recharge a bit first."

"Fine." Soleil sighed and leaned back to at least be comfortable as Kiana held on. If it ain't me, it's Mei. She really is like a cat sometimes. As he had the thought and started scratching Kiana behind the ear, earning him a giggling purr, the door to the room blew open, Bronya entering. "Oh, hey Bronya, here to help out?"

"In a way yes." Bronya said. Soleil then noticed the three HOMU shaped items shoved onto her backpack.

"Well you don't need to!" Kiana said. "I'm getting alone time with Soleil-senpai and you can't stop me!"

"You're supposed to be studying ya' dumbass." Soleil tapped Kiana on the head. And no sooner had his hand moved then Bronya had plopped two of the HOMU devices onto his and Kiana's heads. "Wat."

"What the heck are these?" Kiana asked, sitting up and fiddling with the one on her head as Bronya put the remaining one on.

"These are specially made HOMU-HOMU virtual reality commlinks." Bronya said. "To help with learning and such before being put to use for games. The Bronya put them together herself."

"Wait did you say…" Soleil started.

"Link start." But he didn't get to finish before Bronya uttered the command. And soon as she did, Soleil and Kiana flopped to the floor as the devices pinged. Bronya sat down, and her eyes shut in following suit.

And to the surprise of the first two, in the moment they'd passed out, barely a moment later they'd found themselves now in a massive and expansive library that circled up and around them seemingly endlessly. Kiana awed as she spun and took it all in, while Soleil was checking himself over.

"What the actual heck Bronya?!" Soleil yelped. "Seriously, the girl's a genius in every sense of the word if she can whip something like this up. This barely feels like it's any kind of VR."

"No kidding!" Kiana said. "But really what is this even supposed to be? She said to help with learning or something, right?"

"Hear me, o' lost girl by the name of Kiana Kaslana." When they heard Bronya speak again, both looked over. Only to find that rather than Bronya as usual, they were faced instead with Bronya as a tiny, but still deadpan, fairy. "O lost girl and the noble knight, you are gazing upon the Schicksal database on the history of Honkai. I am the Bronya, your tutorial fairy. Follow me as we embark on a quest to combat severe idiocy."

"How much of that was hacked?" Soleil asked. Bronya paid the comment no mind as she fluttered towards one of the bookshelves.

"Tutorial fairy? And what, is there some monster called severe idiocy?" Kiana snarked. She was somewhat amazed with how in character Bronya was getting. For a degree of it, anyway.

"The Bronya will begin with the earliest records of the Honkai. Bronya pulled one of the books down, and the shelf slid open. Though rather than a passage, it was a portal that Kiana and Soleil were sucked right into. When they fell to the other side, they found themselves surrounded by lush foliage, and just within sight, a village. One currently beset not by anything the two in-training Valkyries would call Honkai beasts, but more like wild animals infected by the Honkai, with bony limbs and spikes coming from them as they attacked the villagers.

"Where the heck are we supposed to be?" Kiana asked, batting a plant aside.

"This is a data recreation of historical events in VR, meant to provide as accurate an experience as possible." Bronya said as she flitted past them. "Now listen, because there is also a narration."

2717 B.C. Southern Asia: The first recorded instances of Honkai-infected animals occurred here. These are the earliest known instances of Honkai beasts, and they exist only to exterminate mankind.

"Whoa there really is one!" Kiana yelped as an electronic voice spoke above the chaos in front of them. "This is better than the movies! But, these Honkai beasts are really simple. Kinda spooky, but not that much."

"But a lot of them ended up inspiring local legends, even if they were just infected animals." Soleil said.

"Really? That makes sense." Kiana hummed. She shaded her eyes as she observed the panicking villagers being attacked by the "Proto-Beasts." Even if this was some VR recreation, a part of her still wanted to jump in and help. "But why aren't any of them even trying to fight back?"

"Honkai resistance is already rare to find in people nowadays." Bronya said. "In times like this, people who could resist the Honkai enough to fight it were almost impossible to find. However, there was one who made an appearance…"

In the face of certain extinction, a mysterious young girl appeared…

The narration continued, and the simulation seemed to shift ever so slightly. The attacking "Proto-Beasts" were set on by gouts of fire and bursts of wind. A bird screeched as it passed by the observing group, settling up to a nearby tree. In that tree was a girl, holding a glittering golden sword and dressed in what could only be called royal regalia. The bird flit to her hand and came to rest.

"That was the girl who was the first recorded holder of Honkai resistance in the current civilization, Jixuanyuan. The sword she wielded was considered a powerful relic, and was one of the first known anti-Honkai weapons wielded by a human." Bronya explained so as the girl jumped from the tree and started engaging the beasts, the sword flashing with elements as she fought in what could be called more of an elegant dance that swordplay, even with a blade almost longer than her own body.

The girl who went by the name of Ji Xuanyuan, better known as the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor is also the first recorded human with the powers to fight the Honkai. Ji Xuanyuan single-handedly exterminated the Honkai threat at the time, but than disappeared. Not even Schicksal has been able to locate any information about her whereabout.

"Then it'd turn out that sword of hers was a Divine Key." Soleil said. "One of the weapons known to belong to the Tenth Key Series."

"Wait, what?" Kiana said. "Divine Keys can exist in a series?"

"Not really." Soleil said. "My dad explained it to me. That sword, the Xuanyuan Blade, is kinda unique. Apparently the old civilization that built the Keys was able to mass produce that blade somehow, and the ones that survived all took on specialized forms. Each one was suited to what was probably an individual wielders own desired method of fighting."

"Huh. Mama and Aunt Theresa both use Divine Keys, but theirs are way different than that if it was mass produced." Kiana hummed, a hand to her chin. And it's in moments like these when she's actually thoughtful. Soleil thought. "Though I bet I can totally do what she's doing! Let me have a go at it! I'll probably be better too!"

"Ah, talking trash about historical figures. Choice." Kiana hit Soleil's shoulder as he gave a dry chuckle.

"This is all data anyway; you cannot do much of anything." Bronya said. "Kiana-idiotka likely cannot handle these beasts on her own anyway."

"Well that sucks!" Kiana kicked a stone. "And I heard that shorty!"

"System, begin transfer to next historical even." Bronya said, snapping her fingers. The scenery around them immediately changed. From lush foliage and ancient villages to an open field lined with men in armor and on horseback, wielding large lances and faced down with a slew of Honkai beasts that were much more familiar to the modern group. Soleil almost couldn't help but wince as the battle began.

14th Century CE: Europe: The Honkai threat reemerged in greater force and numbers than before. But Schicksal, an organization formed at this time to combat the threat of Honkai had established a strong presence on the continent.

"Oh oh, Soleil-senpai brought this one up!" Kiana said as they started walking past the battle, the scene changing again to a road lined with carts pulling cages beasts with them. "Schicksal was also a religious organization at the time!"

"I just asked you when Schicksal was founded." Soleil replied.

Schicksal created knightly orders at this time, and developed weapons to combat the new Honkai threat. This was the first time that humanity had an advantage in the war against Honkai. The human race of the time could disable and capture these creatures, but were not equipped with the tools to destroy them.

"Eesh, that sounds terrible." Kiana muttered.

"Just pay attention." Soleil said, as now they were before a massive, grand cathedral.

These captured Honkai beasts were then taken and held within the catacombs of Schicksal's grand cathedral in their stronghold in Europe. Elated by their victory, humanity could not foresee the terrible events that would follow this.

"The Black Death. Bronya said. Kiana perked up with interest at that. Again the scene around them changed. Now, it was cobblestone roads and dilapidated houses. The roads lined with people groaning in pain and coughing. Priests in robes marked in Schicksal's emblem walked the streets with incense candles lit, and plague doctors wandered from patient to patient. And even more clergymen dragged off any bodies that had gone totally still.

The Honkai manifested itself as a plague. Schicksal scientists postulated that it has a degree of sentience about it. The plague spread quickly throughout Europe, taking twenty-five million lives in just six years.

"It's been theorized that the Honkai acts against life in many ways. Natural disasters, illness, the Beasts. It isn't until mankind reaches a certain point in development that Herrschers begin to arrive, and it's only after all of those things occur." Bronya explained. "Microbial Honkai is quite difficult to combat."

"Huh, is that it?" As they kept moving along, Kiana stopped when she saw something in the corner of her eye. Taking a turn down another road, to her confusion, she found the same cross Theresa always had with her. "What's the Oath of Judah doing here?"

"Kiana?" Soleil had noticed her departure and diverted as well. He took a similar pause once he laid eyes on the Judah. "What the…?"

Kiana reached a hand to the cross and laid her palm on it. The metal felt cool to the touch, and she barely noticed Soleil call out to her again and set a hand on her. Because something else rushed into her head in the very same instant.

User ID: Kiana Kaslana

User ID Verified.

Affiliation: House of Kaslana

Verified. Decrypting hidden memory files.

Memory decryption complete.

When Bronya caught up with the two, she didn't see either Kiana or Soleil at all. Only the Oath of Judah in the middle of the road, and no sign of her two elder students at all.

"Kiana? Soleil-niisama?" She glanced around in bewilderment. Did the system glitch and boot them out? No, it couldn't have. So what happened? I will need to check this cross and see if it has anything to do with it.

As for Soleil and Kiana themselves, they'd started feeling as if the cross had opened up some kind of gate. And once they were through it, they found themselves falling through the sky above a different town than they'd been in before. Both yelled as they fell, and the two's trajectories were ever so slightly different. Soleil found himself crashing onto a roof as he and Kiana separated. Thankfully it didn't hurt that much.

"Ahhh… man I'm glad this is in VR… but is it supposed to make me feel sore?" Soleil groaned as he sat up, a hand to his head as he looked around. "Where did Kiana fall? Couldn't have gone far? But, hell, where are we now? It looks like the same era, so that's safe… Bronya? Hey! Bronya what's going on here?!"

"What the hell are you yelling into space for?" A smooth voice prompted Soleil to shoot around. He was now faced with a young man, and Soleil gasped a bit as he took in his appearance. Hair as vibrantly red as flame, a pale face marked only by a scar underneath the right eye. And those eyes, the same glimmering blue as Soleil's own. In fact, what startled Soleil was that he and this mysterious young man looked somewhat alike. Not exactly, Soleil would say the other was, admittedly, more masculine looking than he was. Who is this guy? Is he an Empyrean from this era? "And now you're staring at me like some dumb child. Then again considering you fell from the sky perhaps that's what you are."

"Hey!" Soleil snapped and shot up, the young man raising a brow as he got in his face. "Don't go assuming some shit like that! But… I kinda don't know what's going on. But, a girl fell with me, did you see her?"

"If you're talking about what's going on down there, then I think you'll be surprised." The tattered black cloak the young man wore shifted as he pointed down towards the road. Soleil turned and saw an ensuing scene. Kiana was below, thankfully, and near her was a young woman Soleil could swear was a slightly older looking Theresa, wearing a tattered nun's habit and still clearly wounded on one arm, though her wrists were bound in chains. And near the two were three figures in dark robes and beaked masks. "Tch, dammit Kallen. You're making a scene again. Can't help but jump in to save people at every turn."

"Wait, you know that girl?" Soleil asked.

"Quite well in fact. But that doesn't concern you… though if your friend makes the mistake of getting involved, I suppose it will."

Soleil looked back down to the scene. He couldn't hear what was being said from up on the roof, but he could tell they were close to an altercation. As one of the figures reached out for the woman named Kallen, Kiana butted in, as Soleil could only expect, landing a flying knee to the torso of the figure. As the figure stood, another moved so fast Soleil lost sight of him for a moment. He reappeared behind Kiana and smacked her at the base of the neck, knocking her down in one blow.

"Kiana!" Before he could jump from the roof, Soleil was stopped by the red-haired man holding an arm out. "Why are you stopping me! You saw that right!? And they'll take your friend away too!"

"Relax for a moment." The man urged, his voice stern. "Lord Arthur is quite skilled in combat; you won't have a chance if your friend didn't either. Besides, Kallen is letting them take her. You won't have to worry though. Your friend will be fine once they find out she has nothing to do with me or Kallen. Go to the cathedral tomorrow, you'll be able to pick her up."

"Hold on, what the heck is even going on!" Soleil followed after the young man as he leaped to another roof, keeping the group of robed figures in sight as they lead Kallen off while now lugging Kiana with them. Is this even a simulation anymore? This guy isn't acting like some data recreation.

"Don't go involving yourself more than necessary. I'd best advise to get your friend tomorrow and leave."

"What, not even half curious why we fell from the sky?"

"I've seen a lot of things in my life. Something like that is hardly surprising."

"Well it's also not like I'd have a place to stay. I don't even have money on me." Soleil said, a smug look on his face as the man stopped and gave a heavy sigh. While it did mean those they were following from the rooves made distance, Soleil was more concerned with getting something out of this.

"I can't believe what I'm about to do." The young man sighed and turned, glaring at Soleil as the boy kept smirking. "Fine. I'll let you stick with me for the time being. But, once you get friend from the jail, we part ways and that's that. I have a hideout nearby you can rest at."

"Alright." Soleil said. "By the way, my name's Soleil. Would be rude not to share our names, wouldn't it?"

"Hmph… you have a point." The young man turned again, and it seemed like his air changed, just a bit. "My name is Logos Empyrean. And I'm a former knight of Schicksal."