In the years after Luna’s Dwelling fell and the people began to refer to the once grand location as Twilight, Thespene, the human settlement closest to the area, had benefited greatly.
Thousands had gathered, flocking each year in a bid to enter Twilight and retrieve the treasures of the werewolf race all in a vain attempt to obtain wealth unlike never seen before.
Entire city-states took part in the craze, with the event being regarded as the Treasure Rush, the first time in the history of the Alliance when a civil war nearly broke out.
The town chief at that time, in a bid to capitalize on people flocking into Thespene, had used the money gotten from taxes to expand the town from a minor settlement to a major city.
Back then, it was even regarded as a settlement on its way to becoming the thirteenth city-state of the Solomon Alliance after what happened to the last one.
Unfortunately, after almost fifty years of trying and failing to enter Twilight, visitors began to dwindle and this naturally affected the rapidly booming economy of the city.
Coupled with the fact that the next town chief after the first was a useless wastrel, it didn’t take long for Thespene to become a has-been, only managing to survive on its past glory.
This explained the reasons for the large walls that, though looming, were skeletal, as well as the tall buildings that were mostly uncompleted.
Despite having a land area large enough to accommodate a hundred thousand, the city of Thespene only had a paltry five thousand, and of those five, five hundred were said to be visitors who still held out hope that someday they would be able to find the entrance into Twilight, a place that was now regarded as nothing more than a fairytale.
Sayda, accompanied by Douglas, was one of those five hundred and was currently lodged in a tavern that had seen better days.
After the Jester’s death, she had waited five days to ensure that the coast was clear before hurrying over to Thespene in a bid to complete her mission before it was too late.
Currently, she stood at the window, her gaze regarding as much of the city as she could make out from where she was.
The city was eerily silent and mostly dark, a result of people heading home early.
Considering this was the first Long Night in Henos without the protection of the Goddess Khanna, Sayda expected that the decadence already rampant on the continent would be sure to increase; after all, these ones were ill-equipped for the supernatural horrors the Long Night brought along with it.
Regardless, she didn’t care much for that and instead, was rather bothered about a different matter.
She shifted her attention away from the city to regard Douglas, who was lying in a corner of the room like a dead dog.
He smelled like one, too, but that’s beside the point.
Sayda approached him before proceeding to regard his back with furrowed brows.
The map had faded until there was barely anything left but then it had paused.
The reason she could tell it had paused was because this small patch that was left had been like that since the start of the Long Night.
At the same time, the entrance to Twilight, which was said to open on the first of the Long Nights, hadn’t opened... even the winter fog that was said to herald its arrival hadn’t appeared.
She couldn’t figure out why and she didn’t dare to do so.
Whatever the reason was, there was nothing she could do about it.
In any case, it had worked in her favor as it allowed her to find her way to Thespene.
Taking a deep breath, Sayda remarked. "Douglas dear."
Douglas twitched before opening his eyes to meet her own.
With a warm smile, she said. "Come, how about we take a walk?"
A flash of black and white appeared in the sky above the settlement before dissipating, revealing Alex and Victoria who remained in the air while their attention was drawn toward the source of the tremors they’d felt.
It swiftly became clear that the source was mutants, but not just any mutants, but rather, undead mutants, and leading this park of different mutant species was a Headless Horseman, an entity that had not appeared in Henos for several centuries.
"There are too many," Victoria muttered while scrutinizing the undead creatures. "At least ten thousand."
Turning to Alex, she added. "They won’t survive."
"Indeed, they won’t," Alex replied.
This was one of the reasons he hadn’t completed his Trial just yet.
Due to the nature of what he was doing, he was stuck moving from settlement to settlement, town to town, always avoiding city-states.
It made it easier for him to easily get across to those in need of hope without wasting time dealing with the politics of the better-organized city-states.
However, it came with a cost, as the settlements he taught in were barely able to take on mutant attacks... add on the Long Night and the hordes of undead it brought along with it, then it quickly became clear what would happen next.
Several had already died and it was assured that even more would be added to the roster.
Alex was almost inclined to wonder if Henos even had any chance of surviving through the Long Night.
Of course, this meant that despair would be high and so, more opportunities to complete his Trial, but he didn’t have all the time in the world.
The entrance to Twilight could open at any time, so... he shook his head deciding to do away with troubling thoughts.
"Focus on the task at hand." He muttered to himself before proceeding to snap.
Following that, a sea of black and white flames surged out of nowhere, engulfing the Headless Horseman and his mutant army, erasing them in an instant.
Taking a deep breath, Alex closed his eyes and sensed the location of his other two clones.
Currently, they were also acting as much as they could to reduce the pressure on the settlements he’d taught in, dealing with the undead that threatened them, while also helping out those in need.
Just then, he heard a melodious laughter in his ears followed by a voice.