✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Lightmaker • Kugiitafushi *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Five - Split Soul *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The room spun as Yuuji realized what this meant.

Yuuji knew about Nightlights. They all did.

Nightlights had been one of the many species of Magicfolk that no longer existed. One of the most powerful had been Castorel Honorrock, who Kallisa Fushiguro talked frequently about in her journals. Their one role was to banish the darkness created by Shadowmen. Once the shadowmen had been destroyed, the humans discovered the Nightlights. The humans were not kind to Nightlights like they were to other Magicfolk at first. They used the Nightlights powers to give light to their villages, keeping them as servants and slaves. The Nightlights had no other power but their light, so they had no way of escaping. When a Nightlight had served their full usefulness, the humans killed them. Then, one night, all the lights in the entire world went out as every last Nightlight perished. There hadn't been a Nightlight, nor a Shadowman, born in thousands of years.

Yuuji couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was a Nightlight. If he was a Nightlight, that had to mean there were Shadowmen roaming the Earth. After all, Nightlights could only live by banishing the shadows of the Shadowmen.

"I don't... I don't think I'll be able to bring that back for a while. I can feel it in my core, but I can't connect to it. Maybe it was just a one time thing." Yuuji said, putting his hands up to his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to connect to the light again, but nothing happened.

"What... what did you see?" Megumi asked curiously.

Yuuji looked confused. "How did you know I saw something?"

"One thing I remember my mother telling me is that when a Nightlight uses their light, they can see things that others wouldn't be able to in normal daylight. Writing made from the same hands that made your light." Megumi explained.

"There were words. Words warning me about the Shadowmen. They're back, and they're angry." Yuuji murmured.

Nobara's eyes widened. "Oh come on. First we have to deal with humans and now we have to deal with fucking shadows?!"

Yuuji nodded. "I have to access my light again. We're doomed if I don't."

"Did you see anything else? Anything that could help?" Megumi questioned.

Yuuji then remembered, "It said 'Lightmaker, find the place where the Earth reaches the Heavens and the sky turns purple in your domain. Find the city of Nightlights."

Nobara thought for a moment. "The Earth reaches the Heavens? Could that mean a mountain? But what about the sky? How would the sky be purple?"

Megumi's eyes lit up. "The Aurora Range! At night, which is a Nightlight's domain, the sky fills with colors, but it's predominantly purple. I think we have to find the ruins of Caelym."

Nobara turned and stared at the vampire in disbelief. "Caelym still exists? I thought it was completely destroyed hundreds of years ago."

Megumi shook his head. "It was rumored to be destroyed, but that rumor was created to protect Caelym's ruins, and Queen Paradise erected the mountains around it to protect it. My mother spent years looking for the ruins, and if my hunch is correct, I think she found them. That's where our next clue is."

"So we're going to Caelym." Yuuji said, looking determined.

"Well, we have to get through the Aurora mountains first." Megumi said, sighing frustratedly. "Caelym is completely surrounded by the mountains, and it's one of the most dangerous mountain ranges in the world."

"We can do it. I know we can." Nobara said encouragingly, a confident grin on her face.

Yuuji could feel the magic thrumming beneath his skin. Caelym had been the birthplace of Nightlights. It seemed as if the light inside him was excited to go home. It was itching to escape the hold of his mortal body, but he couldn't access it. He knew deep down that this magic had belonged to his mother and his mother's mother, and everyone who came before her, even if they couldn't use it.