"You seem to know a lot about this 'troublemaker', so spill it." Nezumi asked, or rather, demanded, "I get why you have that tone, we're in the same boat after all." The man calmly spoke, "Okay, so what did he do to you?" Nezumi asked in a calmer tone this time, "As you probably guessed, I'm a mask salesman, and that impudent rapscallion stole my most precious mask." The man explained.
Nezumi blinked in confusion since she didn't see any... That guy... Girl... Whatever it was is wearing a mask, "You seem to understand what I'm talking about, so, I wanted to make a deal that would benefit both of us: You help me get my mask back, and I return you to your original form, okay?" The man offered, it was way too simple, "What's the catch?" Nezumi asked, "No catch, in fact, to make sure you trust me, I'll tell you a secret." The man suggested.
Seeing as Nezumi was a complete stranger, revealing a secret would indeed make her trust him, "What is it?" Nezumi asked, "I can control time, in fact I'm keeping time from moving as we speak." The man revealed, "What. Why?" Nezumi asked in confusion, "Well, I'll have to tell you something about the mask that was stolen from me, it contains an evil power, capable of corrupting anything, including that little troublemaker, in fact she calling down the moon." The man explained, not really explaining anything in the process.
"The moon!?" screamed Nezumi, "Yes, but don't worry, as long as I keep time still, it won't get any closer to impact." The man reassured, "Good... That's... Good." Nezumi slightly calmed down, but not as much as she could have, "Now, I'll have to start time again for you to be able to proceed in your quest, the time you have is three days-" The man was explaining, but Nezumi interrupted as she yelled "Three days!? This little time!?", the man not really bothered by this kept explaining "Luckily, I can also rewind time, but that means your progress willbe reset to when you started, so try to do as much as you can before it's time to reset."
As if being transformed wasn't bad enough, now Nezumi had to deal with this, "To make things easier, I'll already turn you to your regular form, should help a lot." The man said, and in that moment, Nezumi felt as if something was being removed from her body, but it was mostly her face, then a mask fell, Nezumi looked at the mask, recognizing it as the appearance she had while cursed prompted her to look at herself.
"So, will you help me?" The man asked, "...Alright." Nezumi agreed and started heading for the door, but the salesman stopped her, "Wait a moment, I would take that mask if I were you, it might help you." He explained, Nezumi was a bit unsure about putting it back on again, but he was right, the ice power was useful, so she decided to bring it along.
𝕮𝖑𝖔𝖈𝖐 𝕿𝖔𝖜𝖓
"So this is Maelstrom." Nezumi said outloud, "Yes, ever seen something like it?" Cher asked, feeling a little smug about the place he lived at, "I'm a princess Cher, I live in a castle." Nezumi told him, "You're a what!?" Cher exclaimed in surprise, but Nezumi shushed him since they had more pressing matters to deal with than social status, "So the moon is supposed to fall, I'd say the first thing we should do is find that guy, Ovrachar you called him?" Nezumi asked and Cher nodded in response.
The first thing that came to mind when it came to finding someone was to ask people, thankfully there was no shortage for that, "Excuse me sir." Nezumi asked a guy that was passing by, "Yes?" He replied, "Did you happen to see a... Uhhh..." Nezumi came up blank and so she turned to Cher, "*Sigh* A girl made out of crystal, wearing a weird blue mask." Cher asked for Nezumi.
The guy thought about it for a moment before replying "I did see someone like that, he was heading in the direction of the Ancient Furnace.", Nezumi nodded and thanked the man, "Okay Cher, lead the way." She instructed the Pixie, who really wasn't happy about being ordered around, but seeing the circumstances, he didn't really have a choice.
After going around the town a bit, seeing many incredibly familiar faces, but if course, not the same faces, why would they be there if they didn't know of this place, "Are you okay? You've been eerily quiet." Cher asked, scared Nezumi was rethinking their deal, "I'm okay, it's just that a lot of these guys look a lot like people from my home." Nezumi explained, kinda confusing Cher, but he didn't ask.
After a bit, they reached the Ancient Furnace, it was located inside a building covered in metal, that made sense since the furnace would probably burn wood down, but inside there should have probably been heat, instead it was barely lukewarm, that's when Cher realized.
"The furnace... It's broken!" The Pixie exclaimed in panic.
Loop 1, Night of the first day.