I descended the castle without any help from Krahinn, who I imagined was just going to teleport himself to the dining room when it was time for breakfast. I loved dealing with that blasted bird; it was so much fun climbing the castle to get annoyed before climbing back down when he could just use to teleport me back. The best part was not getting any sort of helpful answer from him after climbing up to the top of the blasted castle. Knowing Nil, he’d whine about getting woken up early, but I think he’d survive. I needed to develop some way to rapidly move between points as climbing the castle like this was highly inconvenient. Maybe Nil would have a suggestion or an idea of some as that kind of abstract thinking was his specialty.

  After several minutes of climbing, I had finally returned to my room. It was not reassuring that Krahinn couldn’t help narrow down the reason I cast that blasted ; maybe it was nothing, but I hadn’t unintentionally cast it in well over a year. I sighed as I prepared to face the day. What was scheduled for today again? Please nothing too difficult as I hadn't slept well. I got ready before sensing around for my boyfriend who was still sleeping. Well, I shouldn’t be awake by myself. I walked up to Nil’s room, threw his door open, and ripped the covers off of him. Nil rotated in bed, looking at me utterly betrayed.

  “Why?!” Nil cried at me while giving me massive pouting eyes.

  “I was awake and figured you should be too.” I teased him. Nil looked hurt that I had woken him up.

  “I’m sorry.” Nil apologized as he tried to process why I had woken him up.

  “I actually wanted to talk to you about .” I confessed which caused Nil to look at me suspiciously.

  “What kind of ?” Nil checked. Wow, he was doubtful of my intentions.

  “Where is this doubtful attitude of yours coming from?” I inquired, feigning like I was offended.

  “I’m not used to you starting the conversations. You usually call me a nerd and then lean into me while you listen to my ideas.” Nil pointed out. Ideas. Yes, not obsessive one-sided discussions. And it was the exact trait I was hoping could help me at the moment.

  “Setting aside your hurtful skepticism, I wanted to get your insight on developing a .” I informed Nil.

  “Okay, what kind of ?” Nil asked as he groggily began sitting up on his bed.

  “If I want to go ask that blasted of yours a question, climbing the castle is kind of tedious and annoying. Also, because of the protection wards and brick structures, the rapid movement I am capable of doesn’t overly work. I would like some based alternative to reaching that blasted bird.” I explained to Nil.

  “Not having must be so inconvenient.” Nil taunted with a smirk. I poked him in the cheek.

  “Either I am going to wake you each time to save myself time and effort, or I would like some way of getting there fast.” I threatened him. Nil looked at me still a bit hurt.

  “Why would you wake me up? That’s so cruel.” Nil pouted while looking unamused at me.

  “I’m sorry I woke you up.” I apologized, stepping towards him slightly. Nil leaned his head into me now that I was close enough. I began stroking his hair as an apology.

  “I accept your apology.” Nil replied as he settled in a bit.

  “Can you think of anything that might work?” I inquired. Nil went still for a few moments as he thought.

  “Nil?” I checked, hoping he didn’t fall back asleep.

  “I didn’t fall back asleep; I’m thinking.” Nil answered as he leaned a bit harder on me.

  “Okay. I’m sorry.” I apologized as I kept petting his head.

  “You have and right?” Nil confirmed as he turned his head slightly.

  “Don’t know your girlfriend’s . Tsk tsk.” I teased Nil. He didn’t react at all.

  “I’m trying to get inspired. I just want to make sure I’m not missing anything.” Nil defended himself.

  “Yes, those are my .” I verified for Nil.

  “And involves manipulating and interacting with the souls of beings, right?” Nil probed. I mulled it over a bit; was definitely a bit abstract.

  “In a sense. It’s a fairly abstract kind of . Being honest, I have not tested it as much as I should’ve.” I replied. Nil gently nuzzled his head back and forth.

  “The trait that let you be a Regressor, was it the fact you could become your own soul? Or your soul was more durable as a result of your ?” Nil asked. I was not overly sure on the answer to that unfortunately.

  “The Eternal Emperor did not explain the overall mechanisms to me Nil. I could not tell you how the worked.” I informed Nil.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Working off the assumption that possessing made it possible to send your soul back through time to your younger self, it might be possible for you to turn into a soul, or more of a will-o’-the-wisp. Lux is capable of turning into a and make her body incorporeal, I would wager that you could do something similar. Maybe, I don’t know. I haven’t had coffee.” Nil suggested. Huh, would that work?

  “What is a will-o’-the-wisp?” I asked, trying to determine if his idea was possible.

  “A little fire wisp; it was a small fire spirit in folklore. The idea is that you could make your body some intangible soul ball that can float around or move much freer than your normal body.” Nil explained. I mean the idea sounded like it was possible.

  “Do you know how Lux’s works? Like the mechanism or thoughts behind it?” I checked. It would be a great starting point to base the on.

  “I do not, and unfortunately Orga and Ipnerslei are not on Tenebrae at the moment.” Nil stated. I hugged him closer, enjoying how warm he felt.

  “Thank you for the idea. I’ll see if I can make it work. You’re the best, Nil.” I complimented him. Nil hugged me back, staying where he was.

  “Wish I could be more helpful on the actual functionality of the , but the general idea is the best I can do for now.” Nil replied as he hugged me back.

  “It’s okay, Nil. Having a starting concept or idea like that is incredibly helpful. I think I can figure out the rest with a bit of effort.” I assured him.

  “Any time, Luna.” Nil said as he relaxed into his hug on me.

  “And I am sorry for waking you up before you had to.” I apologized again after a few minutes of enjoying Nil leaning into me.

  “It’s fine. On a slightly different note, I realized something recently.” Nil quipped. His hair felt so soft today.

  “What’s that?” I asked, wondering what else he thought about.

  “Why don’t we have pet names for each other?” Nil inquired. I… I mean… huh. Nil had a point. Why didn’t we?

  “I’m not sure. I guess our names are both kind of short to begin with. Now that you point it out, we should have pet names for each other.” I admitted. I mean, Nil was a very easy name to say.

  “What even makes a good pet name?” Nil checked as he shifted up a little bit.

  I nearly gave a sarcastic answer before the smarter portion of my brain stopped me. If I gave him a sarcastic answer this dork might take it seriously and doom me to some cringey or peculiar pet name. How to explain this to Nil? That it was a term of endearment? Maybe explain to him that he should use a word he thought of when he saw me? That was a double-edged sword; who knew what sort of off-hand, out of the box answer Nil would come up with if I gave him that answer. I fought the urge to sigh as I began praying to the Lords whatever idea Nil was about to have was passable or not too bad. Why was I overthinking this? Before I answered him, I should have one for him.

  “Why are you thinking so hard about this? Is it that tough?” Nil probed innocently. Crap, me taking a while he was misinterpreting.

  “No, I was trying to think of the best phrasing as the idea is kind of self-defining.” I reassured Nil. My mind was absolutely drawing a blank on what I could call Nil as a term of endearment that wasn’t dork.

  ‘Oh, that makes sense.” Nil conceded, contently leaning into me.

  “A pet name is generally a term of endearment. A good example is the word you think of when you see the other person, or a pleasant word to show you like them.” I explained to him.

  “I guess I was wrong, I do have a pet name.” Nil informed me.

  “What do you mean? What are you talking about?” I checked, not grasping what he meant.

  “Dork.” Nil answered nonchalantly.

  “That’s not really a pet name.” I sighed, feeling a bit embarrassed by his answer.

  “But I like when you call me a dork. Something about it is nice.” Nil grumbled as he hugged me tighter.

  “Really? You like me calling you a dork?” I probed. I was not expecting that from him.

  “Yes. You call me it and can get flustered, it’s cute. I know you are saying you love me and my nerdiness.” Nil continued with a smirk. Good thing for him that it was endearing as could be when he acted like this.

  “Okay, I will continue to call you a dork. You are a dork.” I agreed as I hugged Nil tighter.

  “So, a word I think about when I see you?” Nil checked, enjoying the affection.

  “Or apparently being called a dork.” I teased Nil.

  “You like I’m not normal. It’s your fault.” Nil taunted right back.

  “Uh huh. Not you trying to deflect blame from your actions.” I retorted. I guess dork worked for him.

  “I would never do such a thing.” Nil defended himself while smiling wide.

  “What am I going to do with you?” I asked as I poked him in the cheek.

  “Be my girlfriend for now.” Nil answered.

  “I don’t know; I’ve been doing it for a while.” I replied sarcastically. Nil shifted a little.

  “How I know you enjoy it.” Nil maintained. He was smiling like he made the world’s greatest comeback.

  “Sure. Sure.” I played along.

  “I think I know what your pet name should be.” Nil stated. I had no idea what was about to leave his mouth.

  “Oh?” I inquired. How different could it be?

  “Think I’m going to call you world.” Nil explained.

  “World?” I asked, not grasping what he was saying.

  “You said a good example is what you think when you see the other, which I also guess could mean something I feel or want to express when I see you.” Nil explained like that clarified calling me world.

  “I see. So, how am I world?” I checked. What was he trying to say?

  “Oh, I missed a word. It’s what happens when you wake me up early.” Nil yawned. What word made it clearer?

  “So, what did you mean to say?” I probed as Nil looked elated.

  “That you are my world.” Nil clarified. What?

  My face was not melting; my face was not crimson. I had a totally normal heart rate as it clicked what he was saying. Nil was still calmly leaning against me, having turned his head into me as I was trying hard not to start sputtering the word dork on repeat at him.

  “You should hear your heart race.” Nil teased. Oh, this was not fair.

  “Dork!” I snapped at him.

  “I love you too.” Nil replied smugly, leaning his ear to listen to my heart better. No. My face was not getting hotter.

  “When did you come up with this?! Did you somehow plan this?!” I squeaked. My voice was absolutely under no circumstances currently several octaves higher than usual.

  “I did not plan this; it just came to me.” Nil answered. His face was so satisfied and happy at the moment. My heart felt ready to burst out of my chest.

  “Why did you think of world?!” I deflected. It was such a Nil move too.

  “Because then when I conquer the world, it means I got all of your love and affection for myself.” Nil teased. I think my brain fried while I tried to think of what to say next.