The June morning sun flickered into Gaius’ bed, and the little boy sat up with a drowsy little yawn. Three months had passed since the Phantom Blade’s startling words, and in that three months, the little family of three had fell into a lovely little routine of schooling and sleeping.

Gaius rubbed his eyes and yawned again, before casting his eyes around in a daze. Today was particularly important, for some reason he couldn’t quite recall. After spending a few more seconds trying to remember, the boy floated off his bed. Putting on the uniform of the phrontistery with practiced ease, he left his room.

“Morning, Nexus.” Gaius looked at the sculpture, who was lying on a little sentient knife. The knife in question, Nakama’s stone, was moving up and down slowly, reminding the boy of someone’s breathing pattern when they were in a deep slumber. A small crystal orbited the knife in an equally sluggish pace; Nakama’s second sentient artifact, Lightning, was evidently asleep too.

“Morning, Gaius.”

“Is Isabelle up yet?”

“You’re asking the same stupid question again. She’s been up the earliest for quite some time, right?” The sculpture shook its head. “You shouldn’t even think of touching the stove at this point. Just give up and sit on the sofa or something.”

“She’s going to spoil me rotten at this rate.”

“Doubt that’s going to happen,” Nexus replied. “Nakama got up earlier than you too. Those nightmares seem to occur whenever Isabelle leaves her side to make breakfast.”

“Again?” Gaius shook his head. He’d asked the Pinnacle and the Oracle about recurring nightmares, but from their replies, it would seem that Nakama was just going through a bad phase. Of course, if the boy had a choice, he would rather suffer those nightmares in her stead; he hadn’t fought or sparred against decent opponents for a very long time.

“We’ll have to wait it out,” Nexus said. “After all, Orb doesn’t really have anything to deal with a child’s bad dreams.”

“I should really have a talk with Isabelle,” Gaius mused out loud. “It’ll be for the best if she doesn’t wake up early. I can settle breakfast by buying them or steaming some food.”

He got up and headed towards the kitchen, where Nakama was watching Isabelle fry some eggs. “Morning.”

“Morning!”

“Had a good rest?”

“Yep.” Gaius smiled. “You too, I hope.”

“I heard your conversation outside,” Isabelle said, ladling a hearty serving of eggs onto a large plate. “And you did grow taller by a bit too, so…I think you can handle the stove.”

“I was doing that for some time until you evicted me from my kitchen,” Gaius replied. “Anyway, you know where my priorities lie. The wellbeing of you two is my utmost priority. Anything else can wait in line.”

“Just don’t mess up while cooking, got it?” Isabelle undid her apron, washed her hands, and poked Nakama’s little nose. “And you shouldn’t wake up early just to disturb Gaius when he’s cooking either!”

“Okay!”

Isabelle smiled. “Now that’s a good girl.”

Picking up a plate, Gaius scattered some pepper over his omelette. Cheese and thin strips of meat had been infused into the dish; the boy had a feeling that this should have been something for lunch, rather than breakfast, but he wasn’t about to complain.

In the past three months, nothing worth noting had happened. Reports about the ongoing power struggle in the East continued to flow in, but Gaius had stopped paying attention to them once reports about Paragon Ying Xin and her faction leaving the place for the Republic had surfaced. The faction that had betrayed Gaius to the Human God and the Lifespring had assumed nominal control of the East, but that didn’t mean that peace was at hand.

Feng-Lang was still in ruins. Eo-Seu was still controlled by the remnants of the Lifespring’s forces; the Demigod hibernating in the East hadn’t made an appearance yet. The rich and powerful in Mi-Zu were still preventing Paragon Shizo’s faction from entering the place — the former were accusing the later of orchestrating a coup that served to do nothing but weaken the nation — while making overt preparations to leave for other nations.

And in the backdrop of this political mess, people with ability and resources were fleeing to the Republic of Francois or the Mortal Light Dynasty. Gaius still found the impending collapse of the Eastern Territories somewhat unbelievable, especially since it was due to internal conflicts, but reality was stranger than fiction at times.

In the end, it wasn’t the military incursion by the Lifespring that brought the East to its knees.

No, it was a small group of Paragons that had betrayed everything the once-proud nation had stood for to the Human God, for gains that apparently never materialised.

More recent reports about the consolidation of power in the East had arrived into the North, but after reading between the lines, it was obvious that Paragon Shizo’s reconsolidation of power was only enabled once an absurd amount of people and resources had fled the country.

Gaius finished off the last of his egg, and then washed his plate. The others were finishing up soon, and after dallying around in the living room for a minute or two, he was joined by the two girls.

Both of them were somewhat excited.

“What’s going on for today’s class?” Gaius asked. “I keep feeling that there’s something important, but I just can’t remember it.”

“It’s about the upcoming field trip for the whole of Year One,” Isabelle replied. “We’re going to tag along to the Conference of the Four next month and do some field exercises at the Central Circle.”

“I must have been asleep when we went through that,” Gaius replied.

“You’re usually asleep,” Isabelle replied. “At least you still do well, or else Mrs. Clara would have blown her top a long time ago.”

“Yeah, well…” Gaius thought back to Nexus, who had been tagging along for the midterms, and then stifled a smile.

The others smiled back, in the same knowing smirk.