She woke up feeling sore, her arms were sore, her back felt like it had gohrough a wringer and somehow it was dark?

  She could feel the shadow in the room and they told her that it was in the m, around 8 to 10 AM. So why was it dark?

  She also felt fy and a sweet smell was hitting her in the face, trying to open her eyes and close them amouo no success so she started moving her shadows trying to find the reason why it was like this.

  For starters, she found out that she was in her room. Obviously. After all the hectic things that happened yesterday, they decided to try and solve the problem with the destroyed furniture and trashed living room tomorrow. Both girls were too mentally tired to do something productive.

  Elizabeth was too tired to care so she just told Nyx to fix the apartment and the debris, while Rossie had spent almost all her mana aress meter finally left the ive numbers raising all the way almost to 50%!

  She found out that the pink-haired girl was rec her mana slowly since her stress meter was so high, she offered some of her mana drink but the pink-haired girl said that she knew a sure way to get the stress down. So she left to her room after making dinner for them.

  Elizabeth had her status window open and sure enough, after the clock hit midnight the Stress on Rossie went down quite quickly...She lost a few points of HP but recovered almost as fast as she lost them... She...Worried for her friend, but sihe pink-haired girl never went below 97% HP aress was going down at tremendous speeds...

  One 't argue with those methods...Grahe pink-haired girl was losing mana too, but since she was going into ive stress her mana regeion would go into overdrive soon enough, besides they wouldn't o use their mana till Monday anyway. So Rossie could be frugal with it.

  So after making sure her friend was fine Elizabeth threw herself into her bed and dived into her [Soulscape] nding in the reception, she wao hug Nyx while sleeping...But he was dealing with the disaster that was their living room...

  Uuugh...she would o buy new furniture tomorroerhaps find someoo fix the fl...So with that in mind, she willed herself to the outside of her [Soulscape] and started sleeping.

  She remembered that at some point she had started hugging something...But si smelled nid was a good at hugging her back she didn't mind it, perhaps she had summoned Nyx at some point?

  But if it was Nyx why it felt warm? And the smell...Nyx didn't smell like anything...Besides she didn't feel that typical e she had with the Shadon...

  Instead of a e she just felt fy, whatever it was in front of her was also really soft since her face was sinking into it, sneaking a hand towards her face she felt her hand threading the figure of someone in the back of her head, whatever this was it felt...Familiar.

  When her hand made it near her face she retty sure to know what this mysterious fy and nice smelling thing was, but her half-sleep brain needed more proof!

  So she squished this mysterious soft and nice smelling thing!

  *squish/grope*

  "Hghnya?" She heard the voice of her friend.

  And in that instant, her brain quickstarted to 100%, she could feel the world slowing down, the sensations on her hand firming what the back of her head was screaming.

  The blood rushing from her heart to her brain (And making a quite suspicious stop in her face) she overdrawned all the 34 points both in Int & Wis she had.

  In a mere sed the feelings in her fad hand were engraved in the depths of her mind, the memory of the st burned into her...All she could think right now was how to move herself to away and apologize to Rossie for...Why did she o apologize?

  THIS WAS HER ROOM!

  If anyone o apologize it would be the pink-haired girl for ing into her room and sleeping in her bed!

  Granted she was a really fortable sleeping panion...And she smelled nice...Should she go back to sleep?

  NO WAIT WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!?

  Even if it was fy she o solve this! A quick ping into her shadows firmed her theory. She wasn't in her room.

  Wait what?

  She focused once again and ihe aodations were...Off...Her belongings weren't here, the bed was different, the clothing was different and even the mirror was covered with a b. A further iigation from her senses firmed that her bed was across the room and... A weird presen her bed?

  It felt like a...Longing? A quick flick of her will in that dire and she found that where she had been sleeping now was a hug pillow, it was covered in shadows for some reason.

  She focused once again on that trying to distract herself from the feelings in her hand that kept squishing, and also to distract herself from the voice of her friend that was hugging her quite strongly and sinking her face more into her chest.

  "Stop it Eli-Eli ?...We 't?..." mumbled the pink-haired girl, whatever she was dreaming included her for some reason...

  For her part, the blonde could only think very few things 'WHAT WE 'T DO?!?' Thought the blonde while fog her mind on the feeling she had in her room.

  'OF COURSE, WE 'T!!! YOU HAVE A LOVER!!!' And while thinking about that she felt herself sink into the shadows.

  And like that, she got surrounded by the shadows a herself sinking into her own bed.

  "No..." Was the st thing she heard from the pink-haired girl before nding in her bed.

  The nice smell gohe soft feeling in her hand was gone..." huh?" said to herself the blonde girl while the light of the m fell on her face. A small er of her heart was disappointed by the absence of both the st and feeling of the pink-haired girl.

  She looked around the room to find all her things and saw herself in the mirror, face flushed red all the way to her ears and a disappointed look on her face.

  She wondered if all of that was a dream (Albeit a very vivid dream) but her shadows told her that the pink-haired girl was trashing in her room searg for something, the hugging pillow now on the floor.

  "Wonder if Rossie would mind if I went back..." Said to herself the blonde before striking her own cheeks to awaken herself from that random train of thought.

  She o know how she ehere...And how she returned here for that matter, it felt...Too smooth of a transition, almost like how she uned with the shadows in general. How the shadows moved at her whims aions.

  And so, she focused inward...Being somewhat exasperated at herself for finding it easier when she didn't have the full sleeping body of her friend in front of her as a distra. And sure enough, a new blue s was found in the backlog of her [Soulscape].

  Notice:A nelication derived from the user using [Shadows] as a medium of transport, the user has awakehe subset skill [Shadow Travel]. The user may leave up to at least one spot to teleport herself. The skill may use an object to sces. In case that said object is a living being the target may resist the skill, the user o overpower the [Int] status of the target to achieve the teleportation in that case.

  [User earns ara slot per 10 points in wisdom]

  ...And that expined how she ehere.

  Perhaps since she had started using her shadows ihe [Soulscape] as a way to transport she awakehat use? She didn't think it would t...Sine o use the [Skills] in a real enviro.

  Was it because no other powered had ever traveled to their [Soulscape]?

  She didn't know.

  Now the only question was why she had teleported herself toward Rossie's bed... Did she subsciously feel the pink-haired girl hugging the pillow and used the skill to ge pces with the pillow?

  Was she so starved fs? She was hugged enough at home by her mother, and while her father was more of the stoic type he didn't resist her hugs...

  And Alexa also had that habit of hugging her when she saw her... Was her life one hug after another?

  She would o buy herself a hugging pillow, when did Rossie get ohough?

  She didn't remember seeing it befranted she didn't usually cast her shadow senses over her room, privacy being a thing and all of that. For now, the blonde girl would ge clothes, and while putting on a casual wear.

  A pair of fortable bck sants with a top that matched it, she didn't remember having this particur pair of clothing so they may be one of the ones provided by the school. She never used to ink before...So she had her doubts about them. Perhaps they were intended for Rossie and not her?

  They fitted her quite well though, even if she wasn't used to showing her belly button, but sihey were fy and cute she didn't mind it too much. Somehow the top made part of her hair get a pinkish tone in the end.

  And it came with a cap!

  She loved her caps.

  She wondered what the X on her ne meant...But she didn't think too much about it and just walked towards the living area, her senses on it were fuzzy sihe shadows were moving all over the pce. So she wao know what that was about.

  Hopieleport while sleeping thing hadn't affected it too much, she...Didn't want to think too much about her powered side, the skills were ag almost on reflex and that scared her since her magical side felt too much different.

  More precise, like the skills [Status], [Identify], and [Iory]. While only her shadow-reted ones were somewhat more accessible and susceptible to her emotions.

  And after opening the door to the living area she found...

  "Hah?" Fbbergasted by what she was seeing.

  She saw Nyx always loyal direg a group of Shadons all over the pce, other smaller versions of him frolig around... And in the middle of it, two oood more bizarre than the spectacle around.

  One was holding a broom and sweeping the floor, that in itself was weird since dragons shouldn't have hands to hold a broom after all. But that in itself wasn't the problem here.

  "A butler? A shadon butler?" Said the blonde girl not sure if she was seeing things right.

  Like Nyx that one had obsidian scales and horns...But that was about it, his eyes were blue and looked more like a fme than a normal eye, slowly and silently burning in his eye sockets. He was donning quite the elegant suit fully equipped as if a regalia. That small humanoid kinda dragon moved with precision from spot to spot making sure everything was .

  And wheiced Elizabeth, he just did a bow that one would find difficult to emute outside a royal court.

  She...Wasn't too sure how to react to that, for ohat small butler that couldn't be taller than 50 cm was ing quite effitly the room. But if that was all...She could deal with it.

  Nyx had done some ing before and he didn't even have hands like this one!

  That the shadon butler looked humanoid wasn't in itself the problem, while humanoid in form, his form wasn't truly human looking. He had scales on his head for starters, and most of his body while covered in his butler regalia. She could feel through her shadows that his body was the same as Nyx's.

  A reptilian one full of obsidian scales. No. Her problem was elsewhere.

  "THAT IS A CHAIR WHY ARE Y TO NAIL A TABLE TO IT YOU IMBECILE?!?" Her problem was with the other...Thing...That was berating one smaller shadon soldier.

  The oing the c Shadon Soldier was a small girl, she also seemed to be at around 50 cm tall, but she looked human enough. Her skin was fair and she had flowing bck hair that reached her shoulders. She was dressed in a bck summer dress with some red motifs and over it, she had what looked like a jacket with some design simir to that of a maid.

  Granted she had the jacket open and she couldn't make most of the design of it.

  "Oh, mistress you are awake. Is mother still sleeping?" Asked the little girl. While turning her red reptiliao her, the shadon that was beied took that ce to run away and hide behind her.

  The little girl ig and just looked around "Don't stop w you sckers! We o finish this before Mother awakes!" And once agaiiohat...Mother...

  Shouldn't that be her?

  She was the ohat summoned Nyx...But she referred to her as 'Mistress'...

  "Hmm...Yeah, the scouts say Mother is still sleeping...Heh...I will use this ce to take victory and prepare the meal!" Said the little girl while turning to look toward Rossie's room.

  She was too stuo even answer...

  If she looked towards Rossie's room...And her 'Mother' was asleep...

  "Wha...why...HAH!?!?" Said the blonde girl while stuttering trying to make that line of thought work.

  "Is there a problem Mistress?" Asked the little girl from the kit, her pure red eyes looking at her.

  In the back, she could see how she was moving her hands as if a director of an opera other shadows dragons. She also could see how in her back there were a pair of bck wings.

  Uhe butler shadon, she had more promi evidence of her draiature. A pair of bck wings on her back for one, a tail almost as thick as her waist flowed down from under her skirt, a pair of horns that pierced her hoodie, and finally her reptilian eyes.

  She didn't look like Rossie at all, granted she didn't look like her either...Although...

  She looked somewhat like how her face was during her [Shadow Shift - Shadow Empress]...So wouldn't that side of her be her Mother?

  "Amm...Why do you say that Rossie is your mother?" She asked while walking and dodging most of the shadons that were hard at work repairing furniture.

  She was amazed at how they could repair it...Granted most of them just shoved nails into the pieces to make them look normal...And a few were bringing logs from god knows where...

  Actually...One of them pulled one from his shadow? Her shadow? One of the shadows in the room. What?

  "Well...For starters, only Lord Nyxfyre has a [Mother]." Said the little girl while pointing at Nyx.

  So sinly Nyx was allowed to call her Mother? But he didn't speak...

  "And since you are our [Mistress] then our Mother should be your paniht?" tinued saying the little girl while pointing at the room of Rossie.

  "And on that topic, since you were sleeping with her, and acc to Lord Nyxfyre you also share baths and ge each other clothing...Isn't her your Paramour?" Said the little girl while pointing at the blonde girl. "Also there is the fact that the appearance of this one was affected by Mother." Finished saying the little girl while pointing at her hairpins.

  Sure enough, her Airpins had a heart motif...That...Wasn't a good enough reason thought the blonde girl while hyper-fog in the fact that the little girl was using the Airpins as reason.

  She totally wasn't ign the fact that the girl spoke about her sleeping with Rossie...Nor how Nyx told them of how she had shared baths with Rossie...

  "Wait...I NEVER SHARED A BATH WITH ROSSIE!" Said the blonde girl while quickly c her mouth and looking at Rossie's Room. But no signal of her waking up came.

  "It's okay Mistress. Mother raised a sound g barrier befoing to sleep." Said the little girl while direg the shadons t a couple of ptes to the now-repaired table.

  She was still iffy about if that was a good enough reason to call Rossie's Mother though.

  "Ask Rossie's permission first if yoing to refer to her as Mother." Said the blonde girl pretending that her blushed face wasn't there.

  At least no one ointing that, so she lowered the cap to try and hide her eyes at the very least.

  "...Only you hear me though." Said the little girl tilting her head to the side, cute.

  "Wait why? You are speaking quite well..." Answered back the blonde, also tilting her head...But to the other side.

  "Amm...No...I'm using the [Link] made from [Shadow Essence] between you as our Mistress and me as a [Servant]. Sihis form sacrificed almost everything just to be able to unicate and do some basic household chores...Thanks to that I could boost my [Authority] so I was able to speak... But the other ones..." Said the little girl pointing at the rest of shadow soldiers. "They are orie bat, so their intelligence is low, their [Authority] is low..."

  And then she poi the butler shadon "And sihat one is supposed to work as butler he sacrificed almost everything to allow me some extra wiggle room, sin his own words..." Said the little girl while taking a more serious and grim appearance "A butler is silent and only works in the shadow for his mistress."

  At those antics, the blonde girl couldn't help but ugh. The butler just once again bowed making her ugh even harder while the little girl giggled at it.

  This was ridiculous, her skill was going nuts, and somehow those that should be her son and daughters thought Rossie was their Mother. And she was relegated as a [Mistress].

  And so it seemed only one of her summons could speak right now, and if what that girl had said was true... Then Nyx would need extra effort to be able to speak for himself. Since he was the [Progenitor] of these ones...

  Wait..."So is Nyx your father?" Asked the blonde girl.

  All the dragons instantly sank into the shadows, most of the work was already done so she didn't mind them gone... But both the butler and maid turned very slowly to look at Nyx.

  He only huffed a cloud of dark fmes from his maw and shrugged his head in disappoi. Treating the words of Elizabeth as if she was dumb.

  Rude!

  "Amm...Mistress...While is true that Lord Nyxfyre is our [Progenitor] as the first of our species in this world...Our Father wouldn't be him...He might be the gate we use to e into this world..." Said the little girl while looking at her and pretending to not look at Nyx from the er of his eye.

  But after getting to that point something that never had happened before occurred. She heard Nyx growl, his growl reverberated in her body and while she k wasn't aimed at her she felt a primal fear.

  And before she could even answer or do anything they all heard a sound out of pce that brought them out of that situation.

  A cup of tea ced oable with all her breakfast. The butler had at some point prepared her breakfast. "Right! He is right! Breakfast!" Said the little maid.

  "Eat before it's istress...I will go and wake up Mother!" And on that note, she left running towards Rossie's Room. For a sed she could swear the air in front of Rossie's Room rippled as if someone had thrown a roto a pond.

  But she was busy thinking of something else.

  Was Nyx...Angry?

  Perhaps he had some bad retionship with her Father?

  But then again...Her skill cimed her summons weren't alive. But the shadons she had seen had too much 'Personality' to be anything else but living beings. That little maid showed fear and a personality, as did Nyx.

  And while she for one ordered Nyx to deal with this room...She could see how the furniture was fixed in different ways, some used nails, other screws...She could see a bottle of glue irash even.

  And she didn't order them to prepare breakfast...Besides...That butler... He had read the mood a with the awkward situatioed by her question.

  "Thank you." Said the bloowards the butler, who just bowed and sank into her shadow, now only Nyx was left. But he just huffed again and flew towards the bowl that Rossie had prepared for him in a er. There was food that she wasn't quite sure of what it was.

  But it wasn't the lizard food she had gotten for him before, that looked more like the meat of some animal...She just hoped it wasn't the meat of someone.

  For now, she would try to not think about that and would eat her breakfast while waiting for Rossie.