New Point of View

"You know we never asked.." Emira started.

"What's your name? And what's with the mask?" Ed said leaning in a bit.

"..Noceda...that's all you get to know." I said in a serious voice. They looked a little startled and it didn't take long to reach the market again and split off from them. 'For now at least.'

My walk back to the owl house was shorter than I thought it would be. But what I wasn't expecting was to find Eda standing at the front door waiting for me. She did not look happy.

"What was so important that you had to send King back before you?" She had a slightly worried tone, but it was hard to pick up unless you were trying to.

"Can we go inside first? I'd really like to take off the mask." It was getting hard to breathe in this thing. She nods at me and ushers me inside where I immediately tore the mask off and tossed it onto the coffee table before plopping down on the couch, almost knocking King off.

"Weh?!" He hits the ground with a thud causing me to wince before he gets up and starts hitting my leg.

"Sorry King." He huffs at me before grumbling and stomping off. I sigh and run my shaking hands down my face.

"I may or may not have done something stupid..." Eda immediately gets a little concerned but doesn't let it show on her face much. 

"What did you do?" She stands in front of me with her arms crossed. I can't even look at her because of my nerves.

"I may have gotten a job as entertainment at the Blight's party....." There was dead silence before I looked up and saw Eda's eyes bulging out of her head.

"You did WHAT?" She didn't sound angry at that, just surprised.

"You- you're not mad?" That seems to snap her out of her shock and she takes a seat next to me.

"Kid, i'm not mad at ya. Just surprised you caught their eye is all. But I will tell you, don't trust them. There's something shady with them, not to mention they work with the emperor coven." I already knew they weren't good. Amity is a testament to that, even if she does get better. But I still don't know how bad they are, and i really don't want to find out.

"Thanks Eda." I gave her a small smile before slouching back on the couch. She gave me a smirk before nudging me.

"So, how much they payin' ya?" I snort at this before grabbing the bag of snails, setting it on the coffee table.

"I got a hundred up front, if that gives you a clue." She grins and whistles before nudging me.

"You could make a living out of that kid. Especially if you keep up with those illusions." She gets up and starts to walk off before I stop her, remembering one of her clients.

"Oh wait! You know someone names Adeghast?" she looks confused before I continue, "Octopus looking thing probably not someone you'd usually sell to?" It seems to ring some bells in the first part.

"I might, what about him?" She raises an eyebrow at me.

"He was gonna try to trick me into this fake chosen one quest thing, luckily we didn't see him. Just thought you should know it was gonna be a trap for you." She snorts before shaking her head.

"Why am I not surprised? Well, thanks kid. I'll go check that out." It was already almost sundown so I went back to my room, finding my staff in the corner before seeing a shadow move in the corner of my eye. 

My heart stopped

I grab my staff before turning around quickly and cautiously grabbing my light glyphs and activating one.

Blood rushes through my ears

A dim light spreads throughout the room before I see a small shadow on my bed. 

My hands get clammy.

I slowly approach it, my staff raised in defence, bringing the light closer. 

My heart was racing.

Once I was in front of the creature, the wood-like texture of it became more apparent.

I take a deep breath. 

I bring the light closer and see that the creature was calm, seemingly curious, but not poised to attack.

 I sigh and slightly relax, keeping a guard up just in case, before speaking softly.

"Hey there little one, what are you doing here?" The creature moves a little before it gets up fully, showing me exactly what it was. 

My heart stopped once more. 

My hands were shaking.

My eyes went wide.

I couldn't believe it.

This wasn't right.

It couldn't be.

It was......

Another Palisman.