Chapter 4 

The blurry outline of the ceiling of a room, shrouded in shadows. The sound of a light air instrument playing serenely. The feeling of a coarse blanket and new, tight bandages. The taste of dried blood. The smell of forgetting. ‘S’ turned to the side. On the other side of the semitransparent divider, lit by the moonlight on some sort of ledge, a person danced while playing the instrument. Around and around for as long as ‘S’ looked at them. Balls of light were appearing around the person. Too bright... ‘S’ though, burying their head under the blanket.  

A new sound, footsteps. Approaching. A shadow. Looming. A hand. Touching. Darkness. Nothing. 

_+_ 

3rd Day on ??? 

Woke up in some sort of room. Not exactly a jail, but not exactly a house. From what I could see, it was suspended somehow in the air. Maybe this is that part of the spire that I saw before. That woman from before... She might’ve brought me here. I couldn’t image why, but it’s a possibility. I’ve gotten new bandages. And what were those balls of light from last night? I can barely remember what they were... They looked like spirits of some variety... Maybe I can make a contract with one of them. I’ll just leave now, and find the spirits. I can’t forget my goal. I can’t lose focus. I can’t suffer the consequences. 

_+_ 

‘S’ wandered the room, looking for a way out. Outside, the Star looked like it had been risen for the past few hours, with the sky being a mute bluish teal. They noticed a weird pyramid shaped object in the middle of the circular room, stretching from the floor to the ceiling. It emitted light and heat, with no apparent power source. It was quite unusual. Have they mastered power to energy conversion? ‘S’ though, observing the object. If they have, they’re wayyy more advanced than I thought... And might be able to help.  

As ‘S’ was thinking, the Toast Cat appeared again. This time, it was not acting very happy like before as it stared down at ‘S’ with a calculating expression. “Leave.” it said, voice cold. “By the order of Prototype, you are to leave this world.” 
“Oh wow, I would love to.” ‘S’ said, pacing slowly around the room. “It’s just that you’ve literally made it impossible for me to do so.” The Toast Cat sighed, and looked at ‘S’ again. 
“Your confinement from this planet will be lifted, but you will have to travel to one of the Chrono Commission’s strongholds, and be kept there for the time being.” 
“Hmmmm...” ‘S’ said, feigning thought. “Stay, and have a little freedom, or leave, and have none. I thought you lot were meant to be logical. Of course I’m not leaving on those terms. And you, as a mere low-level spirit on your own, you cannot transport me that far away. Your Prototype does not seem to be interested in me at the moment, so don’t delude yourself into thinking that they will give a single damn where a I am. And so what if I mess up a timeline, they will just fix it. Isn’t that all they do? Fix things when they can’t even fix themself?” 
“YOU TALK LOWLY OF-” the Toast Cat got cut off as a hatch under a carpet opened, and the same woman from the shop a day earlier poked her head out. Her unsettling green eyes stared at ‘S’ for a moment, then she smiled. “Hello, traveller.” ‘S’ jumped back, knocking over some small jars on a nearby bench. The person... was talking to them... as a person... She... saw them...  
“Sorry for basically kidnapping you yesterday...” the woman said anxiously, walking out from under the floor. “You were kind of bleeding all over the street, and it’s a Light Summoner’s job to care for the wounded around these parts...” Remember your goal, remember your objective. Ask her about the maybe spirits. Don’t get distracted.  
“About yesterday.” ‘S’ started, trying to speak confidently. “What were those... spirit things that appeared... You appeared to be summoning them...” The woman gasped, and ran up to ‘S’. She looked ‘S’ dead in the eyes and asked, “You saw them? The spirits?” ‘S’ slowly nodded, not expecting this response from her. The woman’s eyes lit up. “People of this world... aren’t meant to see spirits. Only the blessed ones...” Oh stars no.. “And if you’ve seen them...” This is bad, really bad... “You must be another blessed one too! You must’ve been sent by the spirits!”  

As the woman started rambling excitedly about spirits, and being blessed, ‘S’ sat back down on the bed. This was not meant to end up like this.