"Silvie!!" The Spider Dragon in front of me morphed into Rivi's human form, slipping through the vines that bound her to rush to me and wrap me in her arms. "Are you alright? I was so worried."

"I—Thanks, I'm fine." I hesitantly returned her hug. "Were you really…fighting your sisters for me?"

"Of course! Not that it did any good." She sighed. "Come, I don't want to talk in front of them." She held my arm and the world darkened around us, morphing as if we were travelling through a tunnel of shadows before rematerializing back into the familiar setting of my room in the Silver Moon Tea House.

She waved her arms and shadows devoured the walls of the room, engulfing the edges of the room like smoke, until it seemed like we stood in a black amorphous box. "There, that should keep everyone but Noe from peeking. God." She sat down heavily on the floor. "What did she do to you? You didn't say yes did you?"

"Say…No, No, I—Wait, how did you know she asked something of me?"

"Hugh," she sighed. "The only time Noe bothers to summon anyone, it's when she wants something from them. Always saying something like 'the fate of the world is at stake,' or 'the consequences are more far-reaching than you can imagine,' I swear she thinks of me more as her kid than her sister."

"Hehe," I couldn't help giggling a little, only to stifle it with my hand. "Wait," I froze looking at my hand. "What the heck? Why am I in human form again? Isn't this supposed to be draining for me?"

"Noe has that effect on people. Something about 'the power of the void,' or 'the heart of her domain,' I never really payed attention. Anyways. What did she tell you? Did she change her mind about the whole Summoned thing?"

"Something like that…" I told Rivi what happened as best as I could remember. "Most of it was just her showing me stuff from her past. I guess she wanted to get me to trust her or something?"

"Ugggh," Rivi laid down on the floor. "She's the worst, I finally get someone I want to hang out with, and she's trying to take you away again. What do you think? I know you've been kind of overwhelmed since you got here. Is this like one more thing to add to the pile, or is it helping you figure things out?"

"I don't know." I laid down next to her, looking in her eyes. "I got overwhelmed by everything, because it felt like everything I knew or thought about myself was getting pulled out from under me. I was dead, I was a girl, I was not special and not talented. And to have all that shoved in my face so suddenly really felt like too much to handle.

"But now it feels like Melphinoe—"

"Noe," Rivi interrupted. "When we split, we all still bore the name Melphinoe. Noe changed her name too, so that we could all regain some semblance of individuality."

"Ah, I see, well. Noe, then. When she asked for my help and gave me that whole schpiel, it seemed like she was trying to reverse that revelation. But it just…I don't know if I can believe it anymore. And even if it's true that I could be of a lot of use to whatever her schemes are, I'm not really sure I want to.

"The only thing I really felt like I had over the other Summoned after I died and resurrected here was the fact that I felt freer from the games the gods were playing. Yeah I was in the hands of…Noe? But my very insignificance to her felt like it was a shield that would protect me from being manipulated. Now, I don't really know what to think." I put my hands on my head and looked up at the ceiling, trying to envision what I wanted my future to look like.

"Hmmm," was all Rivi said in response, and a long silence lapsed between us as we were each lost in our own thoughts. At last Rivi turned back to me. "Hey, wanna escape with me?"

"Huh?" I turned back to her to see her eyes sparkling with mischievousness.

"I mean it, what if we just ran away, the two of us, and left them and their scheme behind. Travel the world, figure out what we want for ourselves."

"Isn't that kind of…treason? Would they even let you?"

"They might try and drag us back here, but as long as they want to use you, they might just let us go."

"But what about—? I mean, I'm kind of useless right now, right? Without a master I can't go beyond a Night Skeleton, and I'm not really skilled at all outside of the system."

"Oh that? That's easy, I can fix that." She moved her hand towards me then froze. "Actually on second thought I should wait. Evolving from Night Skeleton to Night Mistress takes time and leaves you weak."

"What? What are you even talking about? You're saying you can evolve me without a master? Or were you going to accept my offer to be my master?"

"No, no. The whole contract thing was thought up by the sisters. They didn't want their servants turning into unthinking monsters so they came up with some restrictions to help ease or control the ways the different species of undead tend to go out of control. But I'm a part of Melphinoe, too—I can lift your restriction, just like any of the sisters can.

"Why do you think I don't have a master?"

"I—I never really thought about it, I guess. Wait so you're saying I don't have to pledge loyalty to you to break through the restriction?"

"Nope! It might be a little risky, but with me at your side you should be totally fine. I haven't lived this long for nothing."

"So…"

"Do you want to do it?" Rivi grabbed my hand, her eyes shining with anticipation.

I put my hand to my forehead. "I feel like I'm going to regret this…"

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