Nox placed his index fingers on his lips as he went over all the information he heard so far.

Turns out, while on one of her many 'vacations' and rift diving, Astra had discovered an anomaly of a rift.

Of course she had tried clearing it but she reported a place that she couldn't get past, not because of the dangers, but because the door simply wouldn't allow her access.

How did the princess know about the rift?

Turns out she and Ayla had somehow become friends...or it was more accurate to say that Seraphine had forced her into friendship on their first meeting.

And Seraphine had a bad habit of spying on her friends whenever they left the barrier. Though, it was mostly to ensure their safety.

She had forced Astra to take her with whenever she visited the rift, and yet they were denied access to whatever was beyond that door.

The strangest part was that the rift allowed entry and exit whenever one wanted, but only to the two of them.

They had tried forming a party of solar knights to raid the rift, but whenever they tried walking in, they were immediately yanked back.

"And you think we can also enter it because?" Nox asked.

"Just a gut feeling," the princess said with a smile, "and the headmistress affirmed that you two can."

Nox turned to her and she simply nodded.

"I believe this rift raid is important for you kids," headmistress Aurielle said, "especially you Nox, maybe you'll finally have a few answers."

Nox pressed his fingers on his lips again, still lost in thoughts. The headmistress always liked speaking in ways that were impossible for him to understand.

But if she said he'd find answers, then he'd find some, he just hoped they were answers to the questions he actually had, rather than some riddle.

He then turned to Ayla who had been silent this while and asked, "do you want to?"

"Hmm," Ayla nodded, "the headmistress said I should."

Nox nodded at her reply before going back to thinking for a while longer before finally asking, "so it's just going to be the four of us?"

"Three," Seraphine corrected, "after my recent incident outside the barrier, I've been banned from leaving it for a while."

After her words, she looked at Nox with a smile, one that told him that she knew something about him, a lot more than she was saying.

"I see," Nox said, ignoring the look she was giving him.

"Wait a minute," Astra cut in, "why the hell are you hiring raiders for my rift."

"Don't you want to know what lay behind that door?" Seraphine said with a small smile on his face.

"Yes but—" Astra started but paused as she thought about it.

Of course she wanted to know what lay behind the door, especially since she had tried every single way he knew to.

Most of which involved brute force.

So was she going to deny the chance to know what lay beyond...

'You also saw it, didn't you?' one of the voices in her head said, 'the kid has the key.'

Seraphine watched her friend get lost in her thoughts, that was also something she had observed ever since she came back from that rift a year ago.

Her friend had developed the habit of talking to herself, something they all had just gotten used to as the months passed.

It wasn't like Astra was even completely normal before said event, so it was only a matter of time before that habit naturally developed.

The rift might've just sped it up.

After a while of thinking or rather consulting with the voices in her head, Astra let out a sigh before saying, "fine."

"Great," Seraphine clapped both hands together, "of course, the cost of all equipment and supplies needed for this expedition will be covered by me."

She then turned to the headmistress, who was just calmly sipping her tea, letting the kids converse.

"Ah, with your permission of course," Seraphine said.

"Of course," Aurielle said with a smile.

"Great," Seraphine's smile got wider before she turned to the other three, "now to the fun part."

She summoned her drone, the same that had been with Luna when she went for Nox, and placed it on the table.

She then tapped the top, causing a hologram to pop up, showing a single text.

[ò μέλας ñλιος 

"That was what the door had on it," the princess said, "and according to translations, it's ancient tongue for [The Black Sun]"

Nox frowned as he looked at the text, it seemed similar to [The Seal] text he had seen in that world with the being of light.

So he turned to the headmistress in question and she just nodded calmly, confirming his thoughts.

"I did a bit of digging through the library," Seraphine continued, "but I couldn't come up with anything."

Nox looked at it for a while, before wondering, "is it possible that this might not be a recorded history?"

"That's possible," She nodded, "so I was hoping the headmistress would have an idea."

Aurielle 'looked' at the text, of course a mention of the name had popped up before, and although the origin wasn't completely clear to her, she had an idea of what it might be.

But was she going to tell them that?

"The Black Sun is connected to you little light," She said, turning to Nox, "the answers will naturally reveal themselves when you ego through the door."

Well, at this point, it wasn't like Nox didn't expect an answer he couldn't understand.

So they didn't ask further, Seraphine just sighed and said, "I see, then I'll just have to keep searching."

With that, she stood up and bowed a bit to the headmistress, "thank you for the hospitality, Lady Oracle."

"You're welcome," Aurielle said with a smile, "be sure to send your father my regards."

"I will," Seraphine said before turning to the other three, "I'll see you during the tournament in two weeks."

They nodded and she walked towards the door, only to pause when she reached it's.

Seraphine turned to Nox with a smile on her face, "thank you for a month back."

With that, she walked out, confirming Nox's thoughts that she really did know his identity as the Grey Warden.

He just let out a sigh and massaged his forehead, he just hoped that she would keep his identity a secret.

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