"Hey, Ethan?"
"What's with the formal tone?"
Ethan flexed his restored hands, testing their strength, when Eveline floated closer, fidgeting nervously. What's up with her? Could it be that?
"No, no, don't worry. I don't think your other form is scary or gross or anything."
"That's what people who do think that say! But that's not it… Um, when you said I was family, did you mean it?"
"…W-What're we talking about?"
Ethan's voice cracked into stilted speech. Why now? Sure, he'd boldly declared it to Dimitrescu, but he thought Eveline, floating high above, hadn't heard.
"Ethan, you forgetting something? I'm a hallucination only you can see. I hear everything you say, no matter where I am. Just like you could hear my voice clearly when I was zipping around in the air, right?"
"Please! Forget it, I'm begging you! Just… forget it!"
Ethan clutched his head, yelling in a mix of panic and shame before circling back to desperate pleading. She heard? That's mortifying beyond words!
"Wow, so Ethan does see me as family, huh? Sure you're not brainwashed by me or something?"
"You don't get sad saying stuff like that?"
Eveline teased him, but her expression quickly softened with concern. If he were brainwashed, he'd probably obey her every whim, right? No way he was. Still, after three years together, Ethan had come to see her as family—someone he could trust. But would Eveline mind that he, the one who killed her, shamelessly called her family?
"There's no rule saying we can't be family just because you killed me. Back when I was alive, aging was a fate worse than death. Honestly, thanks for killing me? Kinda. I used to hate the world, wondering why everyone despised me."
"You were pretty hateable back then, you little brat."
"Harsh! But what about now?"
"…Your actions aside, as a hallucination tagging along, I've come to like you. Yeah, fine, I'll admit it—I see you as family. You're Rose's sister. Just… don't tell Mia, okay?"
"…Yesss! Ethan's official stamp of approval! Once we get Rosemary back, I'm gonna spoil her to death!"
"Haha, let's not go that far."
Eveline spun through the air, beaming with genuine joy. Ethan couldn't help but smile at her antics. Glancing around, he spotted an odd object on a pedestal—a square glass container with an embossed crest. Picking it up triggered a hidden mechanism, opening an exit. The label read "EVE №3," but what was it?
"What's this? A flask? Something's inside, but it's too grimy to see."
"Leave it to me! I'll check!"
Eveline dove face-first into the flask. In less than ten seconds, she pulled back, her face pale and haggard. Gagging, she spewed a black, mold-like liquid that vanished quickly—a perk of being a hallucination. What the hell happened?
"Cough, cough… No way… That's awful, why…?"
"What's wrong?"
"…Nothing. It's nothing. Must be a mistake. It has to be. But Ethan, don't look inside. Please, don't."
"Uh, okay…?"
Eveline's cheerful demeanor had vanished, replaced by a shaken, exhausted expression. Puzzled, Ethan decided to leave the castle behind. They trudged through snowy paths and entered a cave, where a familiar old woman's voice echoed, chanting something.
"That voice?"
"Dash Hag!"
Hurrying deeper, they opened a door to find the old woman performing a strange ritual around an altar. A photo of a nun-like woman holding a baby, adorned with flowers and candles, sat prominently—Mother Miranda, maybe? A crest was painted on the wall. What was this place?
"The midnight moon rises with black wings, awaiting the final light. To life. To death. Glory to Mother Miranda…"
"Honestly, Dash Hag's the weirdest one here."
"Yeah, no kidding. Hey, remember back at the castle? I almost died because of you, Dash Hag! What's going on in this village?"
"Finally gone completely mad, calling me Dash Hag? Fine. If you almost died, that means you're alive. A fitting riddle for a sage."
The old woman carefully placed a key with winged decorations into a box on the altar. Had Ethan messed up by calling her Dash Hag, egged on by Eveline?
"Always got a comeback, huh!"
"We still haven't found Rose. Where was she taken?"
"Fuhahaha! Too late! Or rather, almost too late? That child will be a sacrifice. For the sake of life."
"You! You do know something! Spill it, or I'll kill you!"
"Wait, hold on!"
Eveline forced Ethan's right arm to morph into a bladed Molded form, lunging at the old woman. He grabbed his arm with his left hand, restraining it. The old woman raised her staff defensively, her grip oddly youthful. Was that his imagination? What had gotten into Eveline? What did she see?
"…S-Sorry, Ethan. I didn't mean to…"
"It's fine, don't worry. A sacrifice? This isn't the Middle Ages! She's just a baby!"
"I saw it. I saw it. A child born from your body, just a baby? Fine. Find the four crests, and a path might open."
"Ethan, that crest…"
The old woman pointed her staff at the wall's crest. Eveline, still grim, nodded toward the upper left, where Ethan recognized Dimitrescu's crest from the castle and flask. Were these the four noble houses' crests? But the central one… where had he seen it? Regardless—
"No time for riddles. I'm looking for my daughter."
"When the riddle is solved, it ceases to be a riddle."
"Hey, wait! …Please!"
Ethan called after the old woman as she slipped through the door they'd entered, but she didn't stop. He glanced at Eveline, who nodded firmly, her eyes regaining their spark.
"Yeah, we won't let her escape this time! …Whoa, she's fast!?"
"Escaped at dash speed again, huh?"
The moment she passed through the door, Eveline gasped in shock. Ethan sighed. Who was that woman? The inner door wouldn't budge, so he grabbed the winged key from the altar's box and exited the cave. They emerged in a plaza surrounded by four massive statues, with a strange object bearing the central crest from the wall. This village was full of mysteries.
"Sorry, Ethan…"
"Don't worry about it. What happened back there?"
"I thought roughing up Dash Hag would get answers faster, but my anger got the better of me… I can't control you, but I can make your mutated parts act. So…"
"I get it, but what if she's just some powerless old lady?"
"No way she is."
"Agreed."
The plaza offered no immediate clues, so they moved on. On a bridge, three Lycans ambushed them, but after facing… the late, great Dimitrescu, they were child's play. Ethan's sniper rifle and dual pistols made quick work of them. Lycans weren't scary anymore unless they came in droves.
"Back to the village?"
"I flew up and checked—looks like it."
Crossing the bridge and opening a wooden gate, they entered a plaza resembling an altar. A familiar hulking figure stood there.
"You're here. Knew I'd find you in a place like this."
"How does this fatso even get around?"
"Duke, huh? …Waste of time."
"Really? But didn't you find something?"
"Wait, Ethan! Don't!"
Ignoring Eveline's warning, Ethan, desperate to know, showed Duke the flask. What Duke said next explained why Eveline had tried to stop him.
"Well, well. Your daughter's in there, isn't she?"
"…What?"
"…I knew it…"
A cold wind tore through the plaza, and the truth about his beloved daughter's whereabouts hit like a nightmare made real.