"........." Nate was silent again, before narrowing his eyes.

"I... Alicja?" he asked.

"Wait... no..." he mumbled.

"No, you're... not Alicja." he commented.

"You LOOK like her... you... well... kind of sound like her, but at the same time, not really..." he went on.

"But your life-force is CLEARLY different than Alicja." he stated.

"Who ARE you?"

"I... Ebony?" he asked.

"Usually around when I'm...?" he muttered further, before shaking his head.

"Am I all right?" he then asked. "I... think so?" he mumbled.

"What I saw was... it... I mean... how...?" he stumbled over his words. "I can't... what I saw was... I can't even..." he went on, before leaning forward and grasping his head.

Even remembering it was too much for him, and she knew why.

He had glimpsed the unthinkable. The unfathomable. His mortal mind had seen an insignificantly small shade of what lay out there beyond the void... and even then, he couldn't comprehend it.

For the most part.

"One of them seemed... almost... like an inky amorphous... thing..." he managed to get out.

He didn't even have time to react, before she kissed him.

And this wasn't a peck. He was genuinely shocked, stunned, and... well... he liked it. He actually started to (try to) reciprocate the kiss, and Ebony broke it after a moment or two.

"Feel better?" she asked.

"Y... yeah." Nate replied, his face redder than before.

But his eyes were back to normal again.

Seemed that such a sudden shock to his system was just what was needed.

"...oh! I think I was warned of that when I first came here." Nate replied.

"I... hm." he then mumbled.

"It was... Rebecca? She was the hurt one, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Ebony responded.

"So the other one is Levi, logically speaking." Nate reasoned.

"Real bright one, you are." Ebony said to him.

"HIS life-force I could look at." Nate then told her, ignoring the little comment, but sighing, as he realised his statements had been on the obvious side. "At least, for a short while." he continued. "Rebecca, though... she was... I just... yeah." he muttered.

"Suffice to say, THAT drove me over the edge."

"Oh?' Nate asked.

"Interesting." he said.

"Maybe I'll ask her one day." he commented, her smirk falling under his radar at the moment.

"When... she's feeling better..." he mumbled.

"Regardless, thank you." he told her.

"You saved my life back there, more than likely."

"Duly noted." Nate responded.

"So... you're Ebony, huh?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I'd ask if you're another personality inside of Alicja, but... your aura wouldn't have changed." he then said.

"It's like you're a completely different person." he went on.

"Including even mana." he added.

"Am I... right? Wrong? Close?" he asked her.

"....oh, I... I see..." Nate managed to get out.

"Who.. who would do such a th-" he went on, before the gears started to turn.

"...she'd mentioned experimentation." he remembered.

"And spoke of dark elves with a venom in her tone I'd never heard before in my life..." he continued.

"Did... a dark elf do this to her... you... both of you...?" he asked her, clearly unsure as to how to properly word it, but trying.

"Or am I REALLY stretching with that conclusion?"

"....." Nate was stunned to hear this.

"Ah... I..." he said.

"Wow." he mumbled.

"That is... that's some heavy stuff..." he said. "To massively understate it." he added.

"Sorry it happened to you." he apologised.

"...Nobody should be forced into anything as horrific as THAT..."

Nate nodded in response.

"Yeah... yeah, I think so." he replied.

"I feel a LOT better now." he told her.

"My brain doesn't feel twisted in knots, and I don't feel like I'm about to be literally and metaphysically twisted into a pretzel stick." he went on.

"So already, that's an improvement. I'll take it."

Nate shook his head.

"Never mind me." he said.

"How is Rebecca?" he asked.

"Looking back on it, her life-force... beyond what I physically am incapable of describing... was very weak." he commented.

"Did you manage to help her in time?" he asked her.

And this was proof enough for Angela that Nate was pretty much up to par, if he had the wherewithal to ask about others before himself.