We all kept running until we returned to the place where Eugen and Rackam's friend greeted us earlier.
"Hey y'all, why are you suddenly back? Did you already buy the supplies we need?" Eugen asked, surprised to see us return so soon after leaving.
"No time to talk, Eugen. Get on the Grandcypher," Djeeta said without stopping.
Hearing the urgency in Djeeta's voice, Eugen told his friend he had to go and quickly followed us onto the Grandcypher.
Once everyone was aboard, we could finally relax. "Hah... hah... we're safe now," Io panted, not used to running so fast.
"Well, now what? Do we go to another island?" Vyrn asked Djeeta from on top of my head.
But before Djeeta could answer, Noa suddenly interrupted her "Unfortunately, you can't leave this place."
Djeeta and the others turned to Noa, who was standing beside Rackam after Rackam had pulled him along when we fled from the Empire. "What do you mean we can't leave the island?" Rackam asked Noa.
"From what I've seen, it seems you don't remember our promise, do you? Unfortunately, until you remember that promise, the Grandcypher won't be able to fly again," Noa said, shaking his head.
"Promise? What promise? I've never met you before!" Rackam looked utterly confused, unable to recall anything from his childhood.
"Sorry, I can't tell you because that would break our agreement," Noa replied.
"I see... You're talking about Mithra, right? A primal beast that governs contracts and promises," I said to Noa.
Listening to Rackam and Noa's conversation, I started to remember what is gonna happen on this island... and the primal beast Mithra.
A primal beast used to keep promises, even altering the laws of the world to ensure someone fulfills their promise.
For example, if someone promised to marry their beloved but the beloved died, Mithra would resurrect her so she could fulfill her promise.
I almost forgot about this primal beast, so I must get Mithra too while I'm here...
"Mithra? You mean there's a primal beast on this island too?" Lyria is shocked because she can't sense any primal beast inhabiting the island.
"It seems my ability to sense primal beasts is really bad... Before, I couldn't tell Rosetta is a primal beast, and now I couldn't sense Noa approaching us, or Mithra on this island..." Lyria feels disappointed because her ability to sense primal beasts isn't as good as Rei's.
But as Lyria is feeling down, she suddenly feels someone gently patting her head, comforting her. She looks up to see who it is.
"It's fine, Lyria. You're just not used to your powers yet, whereas I'm an Astral with a strong connection to primal beasts," I say to Lyria while trying to comfort her.
Lyria after seeing me patting her head immediately holds my hand and smiles. "Yes, I'm going to get stronger so I can be useful to everyone!"
"Yeah, I can't wait for that," I reply while smiling back at her.
While Lyria and I are in our own world, Noa seems to be observing us as if realizing something. "I see... The Singularity and the girl in blue..." Noa murmurs to himself.
"Right? You must be surprised too," Noa suddenly hears a familiar voice and turns to her. "Rosetta? Looks like you're here too, huh."
"Singula-what now? What's that?" Rackam who is nearby overhears Noa's words.
"Don't worry about it, Rackam. It's just a term we primal beasts use," Rosetta says hoping to divert his attention.
"Huh? Well, whatever. So it means you can't tell me about our promise?" Rackam decides to return to the previous topic.
"Yes, like Rei said, this is all Mithra's doing. Because of Mithra, I can't tell you about the promise we made. So, I can only hope you'll remember it, so the Grandcypher can fly again," Noa explains to Rackam.
"Why can't we just call Mithra and have Rei stop Mithra's power?" Io asks Noa, glancing in my direction.
But Noa only shakes his head at Io and says, "Unfortunately, Mithra's powers work on an unconscious level to keep every contract, pact, or promise absolute and indestructible. Mithra's power cannot be stopped even by Mithra itself."
"Wha... So that means we're going to be stuck here until Rackam remembers his promises?" Vyrn asks Noa.
"Yes..."
Everyone then turns to Rackam, who looks confused and clueless about what's going on. "What?"
Suddenly Eugen firmly grasps Rackam's shoulder with a smile. "It's fine, Rackam. I'm going to help you remember!" Despite Eugen's smile his eyes show no trace of smiling at all.
"What??" Then Katalina pats Rackam's other shoulder while also smiling too. "Me too. I'm going to help you, Rackam. You know, when I was a Lieutenant in the empire, I always helped a lot of people remember their deeds."
"Isn't that interrogation?" Vyrn murmurs from atop my head.
"Wait, what????" Rackam is even more bewildered, but before he can protest, Eugen and Katalina drag him into the Grandcypher to start their 'discussion.'
"Ohh, me too. Let me follow," Noa says happily, trailing after the three of them into the Grandcypher.
"Well, now what?" Djeeta asks after watching the three disappear into the Grandcypher.
"They might take a while, so we can do something while we wait," I say while shrugging.
"And we can't really leave this building because the Empire soldiers are definitely still searching for us," Vyrn adds.
"Actually, I need to go," I suddenly say.
They all turn to me quickly. "What? Where do you want to go?" Lyria asks.
"There's something I need to check, so I'll be gone for a while, maybe a few days," I reply.
"What??? You'll be gone for a few days? Is it like the last time when you disappeared suddenly?" Djeeta asks.
"No, no, not because of that. I just have something I need to get..." I hesitate to tell them that I'm planning to awaken Akasha and absorb it.
"Rei, it's fine. You can tell us about it," Lyria says, tightening her grip on my hand.
I can see from the others' expressions that they won't let me go until I explain.
In the end, I sigh and tell them about Akasha and my intention to steal Freesia's memory to find Akasha's location.
"The ability to rewrite history!? What kind of primal beast power is that!" Io exclaims in shock after hearing my explanation.
"Yeah, I've never heard of a primal beast like that either. Are you sure, Rei, that such a primal beast really exists?" Rosetta asks while folding her arms in front of her.
"Unfortunately, Akasha actually exists, so I need to find it before the Empire does..." I tell them.
They all fall silent after hearing my words. They agree with me about not letting the Empire possess such a powerful primal beast, but...
"But you're just going to go there alone? What about us? We can help you," Io says while raising her staff.
"Yeah, no way we're letting you go alone to find such a dangerous primal beast," Djeeta adds with her serious expression.
"Sorry everyone, but you know the Grandcypher can't fly right now, so I need to go alo..." but Lyria suddenly cuts me off with a loud voice, "No! This time I'm going to follow you."
"What??" Vyrn looks shocked since he's never heard Lyria shout like this.
"Lyria? You need to stay here because this is going to be dangerous," I say while turning towards Lyria but I can see the determination in her expression.
"No, I want to help too. With my power, we can definitely find Akasha faster, so I'm going to follow you!" Lyria insists while gripping my hand tighter.
We all fall silent after seeing Lyria's determination until Rosetta chuckles softly. "Fufufu, you've really changed, Lyria..." Rosetta remembering about the first time she met Lyria when she was still part of Djeeta's father's crew.
"Hahh... I wanted to offer to go with you first, but after seeing Lyria, I'll step aside for her," Djeeta says acknowledging Lyria's resolve.
"Hahaha, looks like you have no other choice, Rei," Vyrn laughs as he flies up, no longer on top of my head.
*Stareeee* Lyria continues to stare at me with her blue eyes.
"Alright, alright, I'll take you with me, Lyria..." I finally just give up.
"Yay, thank you~" Lyria looks overjoyed when she hears I'll take her.
Without hesitation, I lift Lyria and carry her in a princess carry. "Kyaa~" Lyria squeals in delight, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"Alright, we're going to go first, everyone," I say to them, then spread my four wings and take off with Lyria towards the Empire airship.
"Be careful, Rei and Lyria!!" I can hear the others shouting at us.
"Okayyy!" Lyria responds while waving her hand at them.