It was a rather boring walk as Sayda neared the center of the fortress where the Pearl was.
So far, save for the invasive cold, there was nothing else she needed to watch out for.
No mighty golems, no fearsome monster, no twisted aberrations... nothing at all.
Of course, Sayda didn’t seem to mind as she approached a pair of towering doors, the last one that stood between her and her quarry.
Taking a deep breath, she didn’t dare to repeat the mistakes she made upon her arrival in Twilight, instead creating yet another bottomless hole with a terrifying suction force.
The doors gave way without issues, allowing Sayda to enter the council hall that was once utilized by the chiefs of the werewolf tribes.
At the center of the hall which was encased in ice just as the rest of the fortress, was the Pearl.
It appeared like a cleanly cut diamond, its beauty leaving Sayda awed.
It was placed atop a pedestal with the frozen bodies of the chiefs that took part in that forbidden ritual years ago surrounding it.
Taking steady steps forward, Sayda swiftly arrived before the diamond before reaching out to grab it only for a pained groan to escape her lips as she withdrew her arm, only to watch as her hand all the way to her elbow was encased in ice.
Scared of allowing it to spread, she didn’t hesitate to cut her arm off, only to discover with a hint of annoyance that she couldn’t regenerate that arm.
The ice didn’t just freeze her arm, it froze the very idea of her having one, which meant no matter what she did, she wouldn’t be able to regain her arm.
Just then, she heard a childish giggle.
From all indications, it sounded more like a girl child than a boy and judging from the laughter was sometimes close and other times far, Sayda guessed the source was moving around.
She remained calm as she looked around, taking the time to see if she could find the child only for the laughter to stop after which someone touched her from behind.
Sayda leaped back in surprise while also glancing at the individual that touched her.
There, she found a young girl with ponytails, no older than twelve.
Her skin color was similar to the diamond placed on the pedestal and she was wearing a short fairy dress made of crystals with fairy wings on her back.
The epitome of innocence and purity, Sayda thought to herself as she regarded the young child.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Luna." The young child replied, a brilliant smile etched on her adorable lips.
She seemed to radiate warmth though it was quite the opposite as her very essence was cold.
"Luna, as in, Luna’s Dwelling?"
The girl... or rather, Luna, stared at Sayda, blinking a couple of times in silence.
Guessing that she might not understand, Sayda asked a different question. "Were you the one that cut my arm off?"
"Nope, you did that." Luna replied while shaking her head and expanding her cheeks.
"You tried to steal the diamond, so your arm got cut." Luna said, speaking as though it were common knowledge.
"I don’t wish to steal it. I want to take it away from here." Sayda remarked, deciding to speak to the girl as she would a child.
Luna blinked in silence yet again. "Take me away?"
"Indeed, to somewhere with lots of people to play with. It would be fun."
"Hmm, I don’t believe you. That’s what these guys said as well but they ended up being liars." Luna remarked while pointing at the frozen bodies of the chiefs.
"Is that why you froze them?" Sayda asked, a hint of unease gnawing at the back of her mind.
She was well aware that against a Branch of the Absolute One, she would be hard pressed to even survive, talk more of achieving victory.
Luna’s expression carried a hint of guilt as she remarked. "I didn’t mean to, I just wanted to teach them a lesson but then... am I a bad girl?"
"No, of course not, they deserved what they got." Sayda said while gulping nervously.
"Absolutely. They are at fault for trying to deceive you."
"And you aren’t going to do the same?"
"Of course not!" Sayda hurriedly said. "I just need your help."
"My help?... With what?" Luna innocently asked while tilting her head to the side.
Taking a deep breath, Sayda replied. "There is someone, someone that I wish to free from her imprisonment."
"Hmm..." Luna fell into deep thought and for the first time in a long while, Sayda grew tense.
Finally, Luna remarked. "Alright then."
"On one condition." Luna suddenly said, putting a pin on Sayda’s joy.
"What condition?" Sayda asked, worried that the condition might be one she cannot fulfill.
"You absolutely have to be nice to me and you better not try to make me do anything I don’t want to do. I’m not a weapon!" Luna said with a look on her face that said she was not joking around.
The werewolves attempt to turn her into a weapon that would amp them and their descendants had clearly left a mark, one that would not be easily resolved.
In any case, Sayda felt that the condition was fair, after all, the Paragons had no plans of using the Pearl as a weapon, merely as a stepping stone to their real target, the Harbinger of Destruction.
And so, she replied. "Fine by me."
"Pinkie promise?" Luna asked with Sayda replying by placing her only arm on her chest.
"Then I’ll take your word for it."
After saying that, Luna rushed forward, catching Sayda off guard, only for her figure to scatter into crystalline particles, swiftly merging with the cleanly cut diamond placed on the pedestal.
Taking a moment to regain her composure, Sayda reached out and this time, succeeded in grabbing the diamond.