In a hotel in the North Borough of Backlund.
Azik sat under a gas lamp and looked at the glove before him.
The glove was very thin, as though it was made from human skin. It seemed that as long as it was filled with flesh and blood, it would turn into a hand.
Azik looked at it for a very long time. His face suddenly contorted in agony and pain as he muttered, "I seem to, seem to have cooperated with them before..."
...
Crimson lights casts a frozen shadow over the room. A bed, with neatly folded pillows and blanket, a drawer across it and a simple wardrobe.
In this picturesque scene, the door knob turned and was slowly opened by a women with a lock of silver hair.
Selina closed the door after she entered, bringing with her a plate of fried Sailfish she hid and preserved.
Phew... She heard the click sound of the wooden pane, her body leaning to it. Her gaze lingered onto the floor as she can't help but smile.
"Klein confessed. He said he loves me... But wait, will that stay if we finally returned? Or is this just a spur of being the only one that is like him?"
She clutched the hems of her floral dress and creased her eyebrows, appalled. "If that's the case, I'm gonna beat him! So hard! He'll miss my cooking!
"Ugh! What is happening to me? Dumb Klein..." Selina murmured grudgingly. She pressed a hand to her forehead, resting her fingers to pull back her front hair.
"A-Ahem! I wonder if Falacy..."
She had just turned her head half-way when she noticed that the black, almost Persian-like cat laid aloof on the dresser.
"Falacy!" Selina exclaimed happily. She briefly fixed her hair and took the bowl meant for the cat when suddenly...
"Mmm..."
She heard an Old Man's voice.
Selina's scalp jumped, and she darted her gaze around the room. There's no one there except her.
Who's voice is that?
"Falacy?" she stood up and scanned the room thoroughly. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what my lady?" Meow~
"..." Selina was stunned. She just heard her cat speak!
Wait, wait, wait! I'm a Sequence 8 now! A Beast Tamer at that! Of course this is normal! she recalled and reasoned.
But the feline, whose eyes drooped, turned to her apathetically, Meow~ "So my lady. You can understand me now."
"Y-Yes. I brought fried fish for you." Selina's tone shifted upon hearing an elder's voice, subverting her expectations of the cat.
Meow~ "Did you made it?"
Selina nodded slightly, "I did. Uhm, it doesn't taste bad right?"
"I do not fashion anything else from outside of your cooking." Meow~ The feline leaped off from the drawer and stopped to sit next to Selina's feet.
"I'm glad." Selina lowered her body to transfer the fish to the bowl using a fork. While watching the cat gnaw at the food, she asked curiously, "Uhm, Falacy, how old are you? When I met you?"
"Older." Meow~ The cat paused just to reply and then went on to indulge again.
Meow~ "My lady. Can I finish this first?"
"Oh! Uh, please. Help yourself." Selina watched with her tucked behind her on the floor in a seiza fashion.
Upon seeing the feline gulp down the last portion, she asked, "Do you not feel pricked by the little bones of the fish?"
Meow~ "Yes."
"I'll keep that in mind." Selina said sincerely.
At the end of the cat's meal. It stood up, walked until he was closer to Selina. He said, Meow~ "Your legs will hurt if we converse this way."
"Oh!" Selina propped herself and turned to the chair.
Then, right when she sat, the cat used its reflexes to jump onto the desk. The dim light of the gas lamp illuminated the feline's healthy dark fur.
Meow~ "What do you wish to ask me?" said Falacy.
Selina fell silent momentarily. She reigned in her thoughts of what question would she pose to Falacy once she achieved Sequence 8.
Finally, she answered, "Well, first. I named you Falacy. Do... you have a name? Why can you communicate coherently when other animals are focused on one instinct? Are furballs often stuck in your mouth?"
Falacy slumped its head down in disparage, Meow~ "I fear you'll sleep late again...
Meow~ "Very well. I do not have a name, I prefer the name you bestowed me. I can communicate coherently due to the nature of being a beyonder beast and..."
"Beyonder beast? You're a beyonder beast?" Selina's eyes lit up. The feline didn't get the chance to answer the last one due to that tidbit.
Meow~ "I am." answered Falacy.
...! Selina gasped internally and added eagerly, "What Sequence are you on? Which pathway? Wait, don't tell me you're a high-sequence beast!"
Because that would mean that I should've asked you to protect us whenever we went on missions! Ah wait, if that's the case, Falacy becomes my senior?
Meow~ "No. I'm a Sequence 7 Nightmare of the Sleepless pathway."
A Sequence 7... Selina stared vacantly at the feline for a full twenty seconds before suddenly recalling something.
This made her narrow her eyes in a charming way and described, "During Deimsfel's attempt at retrieving me. I was sure that was my end...
"Captain couldn't have been there, they do not have a teleportation Sealed artifacts. But for some reason Deimsfel fell asleep...
"Falacy, were you..."
Meow~ "Yes. I followed you." Falacy confirmed, swaying its tail gently.
"But how?" Selina looked at the cat closely, "Georgina dragged me into the Spirit World and... You, did you instead pursued Deimsfel, knowing I'll encounter him?"
Falacy began licking its paws. Meow~ "Yes."
Selina suddenly her gaze down and added weakly, "How many times have you saved me?"
"Twice." Meow~ Falacy did not bother turning a head to answer. It stretched its legs up and bent its whole body.
"No!" But Selina picked up the cat right as it was about to do its routine. "Do not do that!"
"Then how am I supposed to clean myself?" Meow~ Falact slumped its two round and adorable eyes.
The fur latched onto Selina's hand as she said, "I'll bathe you!"
You sounded more like a person now! I can't withstand a conversation like this!
"So just... don't okay?"
Meow~ "Heh heh, as you wish. However, my lady, that isn't the only method I use to bathe myself, so I will be alright." The cat pursed chuckled, its fur around its mouth curled up, just staring at Selina.
"Why are you calling me 'my lady?'" at some point, Selina became curious. As for etiquette and adequacy of becoming a fair aristocrat, she placed the cat down and fixed her posture.
"Because that's what you've become after saving me in that house." Falacy straightened itself.
Selina thought, nodded, and then posed another question, "So you had saved me twice. When was the second one?"
I can't recall anything from the original Selina's history...
"Also, that means you also infiltrated my dream during Captain's intrusion!"
Meow~ "Your Captain should really understand personal space. Not littering around to digest his own potion. Sigh, but I don't see any malice in him." Falacy did not denied nor accepted the last accusation.
Then, while caressing its face with its paws again. It replied, Meow~ "As for the times I saved you. One is when Deimsfel tried taking you again as you leave the manor.
"I managed to trigger the Sealed Artifact he had, causing him to leave and replenish."
You know the Acting Method? How knowledgeable! On the other hand, the Sealed Artifact... Selina pressed a finger to her chin. She lowered it right away and asked, "You mean that mask?"
A mask of a clown, with two equal sides. One exudes ecstatic happiness, its mouth curling up. Another, casted down in pure despair and sorrow, smiles downward.
Meow~ "They refer to it as the Bizarre Mask. Powers equivalent to a Saint." Falacy followed up.
"However, complications are just as severe. Which is why I doubt turning the whole town into replicas weren't just a display."
"...How, do you know all of this?" Selina asked. She didn't want to seem privy, but if she would accept Falacy, she had to know of its history.
Meow~ Falacy turned its head and looked outward the window from the drawer. "I was once a companion of a Nighthawk within the Church of the Evernight. My owner was killed, but he produced something, then I ate it as a tribute.
"Y-You ate a beyonder characteristic... a Sequence 7's... and survived!?" Selina was too stunned to look away.
Falacy nodded, unfazed. Meow~ "Hmm, that's all there is to it."
You're one radical old man... Selina's mouth was left agape. Then, out of concern, she asked, "Do you not feel or hear any auditory hallucinations reaching this point?"
"I don't. I'm fine. You." Falacy faced Selina, its adorable furred visage was forcing a frown. "You should stabilize yourself."
Sigh... Selina exhaled. "I know."
Meow~ "Also, don't think that because I'm a cat doesn't mean you have to disrespect me. I can see it in your immoral eyes." Falacy chinned up and looked down as Selina.
"Eh?" Selina was stunned. "I-I'm sorry."
Falacy, drowned in the fur of its face still forced a smile to be visible. Meow~ "Heh heh. Now, don't you want to be explained how the Rose School of Thought raided Milo?"
Selina perked up, her eyes lit up but dimmed at the same time. She thought and replied after a few seconds, "First of all. In my diary page. How's it that I wrote 'Everyone is going to die. Including me'?"
Falacy answered, Meow~ "That is not too difficult of a question. When you were desperate to break from any forms of hypnotisms, you devised a contingency plan of writing that, to scare yourself awake once you start becoming wary of everything."
So that note wasn't actually a prophetic disillusion or an evidence of a mind breaking? Selina was enlightened.
"Alright. Please tell me what happened in the town of Milo next."
The night deepened, and Falacy sat through a whole narration for Selina to understand.
Deimsfel's Lawrence surname wasn't actually his real surname. He was invited into town by the folks, through which his caravan broke down and needed repairs.
There, he saw Selina, with her parents. But none even bat an eye, except for Deimsfel and his travel mates with him. They claimed to be hunting a "myth" circulating in the mountains across Mirminsk Mountain Range, as they are a self-proclaimed demon hunters.
Many months passed since they arrived. When Deimsfel and his traveler companions returned, the whole townsfolks suddenly turned rigid and indifferent. That's the catalyst for how Selina was wed to Deimsfel.
"I'm so glad he died..." Selina expressed her loathe freely on the cat.
Falacy seemed to want to say something. But refrained. It heard Selina sighed at the bottom of her heart and add,
"Falacy. There's so many things happening. At least for a little, I get to be reminded that good things happens where we overlooked them.
"Sigh..." Selina ruled out what to share in her mind and said, "It's fine if I rant right? Friends from far away are quite possibly in danger. Some were transported offshore, while others are trying to escape a cult ritual...
Meow? "Ritual cult? Friends from far away?" Falacy finally paid full attention in Selina.
Selina smiled cheekily. She already planned on what to reason for whom the letter was trying to reach to.
She can't simply hint at the Tarot Club. She's aware that what Mr. Fool meant is that no soul should know His existence except herself and the members. Thus, she refrained from mentioning their actions.
Instead, she opted for another option.
"You see, I truly have friends outside. They're members of an organization. In subtle ways, I can communicate with them, that's where my letter before was intended to reach. But lately their situations are turning dire due to the Primordial Moon faction antagonizing them."
Meow~ "Continue." Falacy suddenly became serious in his tone.
Selina deliberated her words and nodded. She was already used in bundling truth with cruise multiple times that it did not became issue to her now.
"The curly chestnut haired girl was actually from the Southern Continent! She adores tales and it led her to aspire, becoming an archeologist. Regrettably, her father was mixed into the Primordial Moon, eventually he got himself sacrificed for what this girl describes, boons."
Meow? "Boons?" Falacy sat upright. Fawning at her story.
Selina resumed until she mentioned something crucial. "Actually, the festival should've begun by now..."
Isabelle, it's already the 6th of September... why haven't you report yet? Don't tell me something went wrong!
Suddenly, her hand started caressing her left arm.
"I'm worried... sigh, but all I can do is simply pray." Selina drew a crimson moon on her chest and said, "May the Goddess keep them safe."
Meow~ "Aldesh town, Rite of the Blood Moon, Primordial Moon boons..." Falacy sorted the pieces of information and abruptly stood up.
"Where are you going?" Selina asked.
Meow~ "I'm hungry again." replied Falacy.
Selina frowned and said, "But you've just eaten!"
"A cat's stomach is endless." Meow~ Falacy retorted unconventionally.
"Wait." Selina called right as the feline leap off. "Do you... really not intend on becoming my cat?
"I was thinking of what animal I should tame to act as a Beast Tamer and what crossed my mind immediately was you. So Falacy, won't you become my first tamed beast?"
Falacy stared at Selina with its slit green pupils for awhile until suddenly, it hissed.
It shocked Selina dreary for a moment, however she soon noticed that the door was being opened. She turned around and saw Melissa in her nightwear.
"Sis Selina? Is that a cat?"