When night falls, a bell rings. The Curfew Bell. Once it rings, a Taran can't so much as light a lamp, for fear of looking like a poacher sneaking onto the hunting grounds.

Somewhere in the Scatana Plains, two Taran drifters had been caught and beaten by a patrol. Then, suddenly, a fire broke out near a warehouse, and the patrol rushed off in that direction. The one who quietly cut the rope binding the two, without ever giving her name, was an unfamiliar wyvern.

Finn and Celmoon simply called this woman the 'kind doctor.' But this woman had never even properly said her own name. And by the end of this journey, her true identity turns out to be tied to the roots of the largest rebel organization in this story.

1. The Night the Curfew Bell Rang, a Nameless Arsonist

Merchant Finn and hot-tempered Celmoon were being caught and beaten by a patrol. Then, out of nowhere, a warehouse caught fire.

While the patrol rushed off to put out the flames, an unfamiliar woman came over and cut Finn's rope. Finn asked her who she was.

……Who are you?

— Finn

……Go, quickly.

— Reed

Even after they fled into the marshes, the woman stayed by their side. Finn called her 'Doctor,' but the woman flatly insisted she wasn't one.

Once nine o'clock passes, even the radio stops broadcasting. Nothing makes a sound after the curfew bell. Yet this woman, despite saying she'd been to the Scatana Plains before, says "there was no curfew bell rule back then."

The woman quietly asks if they'd killed anyone. Celmoon readily admits to killing two patrolmen.

Everyone starts to sense this woman isn't just some ordinary wandering doctor.

2. Playing Doctor Without Being One, and a Suspicious Old Poetry Book

The next morning, Finn tries to hand out bread, only to find the woman reading an old Taran poetry anthology. Finn, embarrassed, admits he can't even read Taran script.

When Finn thanks her, the woman mutters, "To keep the promise made with Rhodes Island, one must cherish the lives of others." Finn just lets it slide, saying he didn't quite catch it.

Meanwhile, over in Trent County, prosecutor Ch'en and former Victorian soldier Bagpipe appear. The two are tracking a mysterious group called the 'Wraithguard.'

Then Ch'en suddenly freezes up, saying something reminds her of an incident back in Lungmen.

The Wraithguard is a group in strange garb spotted in Hillock County. Ch'en and Bagpipe cautiously begin to follow the trail.

3. The Day They Robbed a Wagon, Reuniting with an Old Comrade

When Finn's group runs out of food, they decide to rob a wagon. But Celmoon insists on imitating Dublinn while doing it. Finn gets angry — is he putting everyone in danger just to satisfy his own selfishness?

And your selfishness…… I don't like it either. That's the biggest lie of all.

— Reed

Reed quietly scolds Celmoon. As luck would have it, that very wagon happened to have Ch'en and Bagpipe traveling with it. The moment Celmoon draws his sword, posing as real Wraithguard, Bagpipe's Castbreaker comes flying in.

In the middle of the chaos, Bagpipe runs into a wyvern wielding a spear she's seen somewhere before. The instant they recognize each other, Bagpipe's eyes go wide.

……Reed?

— Bagpipe

Surprisingly, the two know each other. The fact that they're both Rhodes Island operators comes out naturally in this very moment.

4. Night at the Safe House, Hay Bales, and a Beloved Old Home

With Bagpipe and Ch'en's help, Reed brings the drifters all the way to a safe house. She even gets tents and emergency supplies from Rhodes Island. Celmoon, though, still turns her back, saying, "I'm going back to Dublinn."

At night, Bagpipe pulls Reed down into the hay. "The hay smells nice, doesn't it?" Idle chatter, but here, for the first time, Reed opens up about the home she lost.

Y'know, ye only say 'no' a lot when talkin' about yerself. Like……like yer tryin' to get away from something.

— Bagpipe

Reed says she has an older sister. But her words trail off beyond that.

Instead she answers quietly — someone once said something similar to her. That person saved her, she says, and she still wants to ask why.

5. Moraine Joins, and They Meet Soldiers Who Walk Even After Death

I don't want to be a burden…… as long as my legs can still carry me forward, I want to walk together with all of you.

— Moraine

Moraine, an Infected woman with night blindness, joins Reed. While on the move, the band of drifters runs into unidentified soldiers. Reed inspects the scene and finds it strange — signs of battle, but not a single body.

Bagpipe and Ch'en say they saw something similar in Hillock County: soldiers with fire blazing from their eyes.

Reed answers quietly. "Those…… are wraiths. People who are surely dead, but couldn't find rest."

Just then, Celmoon, who had been hiding, appears. She's spotted a familiar silhouette among the soldiers.

……Brother.

— Celmoon

6. The Shadow Sisters' Old Promise

Celmoon secretly follows her brother. Two years ago, he'd left with the soles of his shoes worn through, heading off to find Dublinn. Celmoon recalls how she'd once tried to follow him, then ran instead.

And overlapping with it, a memory surfaces from long ago — a snowy holiday night. There were two sisters. The elder always excelled at everything; the younger only ever imitated her.

The younger tried mimicking her sister's voice to ask their father for something, but he saw through it right away. "Of course. What kind of father can't tell his own daughters apart?"

That night, the sisters lost their home. The elder took her sister's hand and made her knock on an unfamiliar door.

"Go on, don't be afraid. I'll be watching over you." And so the sisters hid away in their benefactor's study.

Their benefactor handed the two of them spears. The elder used hers to strike down silence without hesitation, but the younger's hands trembled every time.

It's all right, little sister. If you don't know where your desire lies, just try being me for now. In the future, you and I will both become 'the Leader.'

— Evelina

Back to the present. Before Celmoon, cudgel in hand, stands the dead man who was once her brother.

No matter how many times she strikes him down, the soldier doesn't fall. In the end, it's Reed's flame that puts him to rest instead of Celmoon, and Celmoon collapses to the ground.

7. Songs by the Campfire, and an Inspector Posing as a Guest

A few days after settling at the safe house, the drifters share a warm dinner in their tent for the first time in a while. Finn goes around excitedly praising Bagpipe's cooking.

The wanderer, setting off on a long road, wonders where this path might lead♪

— Taran drifter (song)

At night, they all gather around the campfire and sing. Reed, pushed into it despite herself, hums along to a Taran song.

But amid the singing, an unfamiliar man cuts in. His name is 'Fisher.' He claims to be a city council investigator, and says he's had this camp under watch for quite a while now.

Fisher pulls Reed aside to sit alone with him. "Lovely evening," he says, adding this is a much more pleasant setting than an interrogation room. The song goes on, but underneath it, the interrogation has already begun.

8. The Interrogator's True Identity, and a Fire Erupts

Fisher is a slippery one. He points out that Reed has no identity records whatsoever. "Wouldn't that make you rather like a shadow?"

On top of that, Fisher already knows Reed's Dublinn comrades are coming to rescue her. "Come under our protection, and we won't ask any further about the crimes you've committed in the past."

……I refuse!

— Reed

Reed refuses firmly. Bagpipe and Ch'en tear down the interrogation tent in a surprise strike, and at that very moment, flames erupt without any warning at all.

Shouldn't there be fire blazing on your spear right now?

— Fisher

Bagpipe sees the flame at the tip of the spear. And it suddenly overlaps with something she'd seen once before, in Hillock County. That Caster was the very same person who once stood watching, indifferent, as the streets burned.

9. That Night Eight Years Ago, and the Burning Forest

We return to eight years ago, the night of Earl Warwick's final gathering. Sensing something was off, the earl had set out to walk through the snowstorm with the poet.

That night, the earl accepts a cup of poisoned wine. His counterpart was none other than the elder of the two sisters. "A greedy Draco, a Draco of endless ambition…… so what I've spent half my life investigating wasn't wrong after all." The earl closed his eyes with a smile.

The younger sister stood at the doorway and watched it all. Her reflection in the windowpane was a tangle of fear and pity.

Back to the present. In the fog and smoke, the drifters wander the forest, calling Reed's name.

Celmoon and Moraine also carve a path through, holding off the soldiers. People simply run toward the one light they can see ahead.

Somewhere beyond the fog, someone keeps calling Reed's name. Reed suddenly finds herself wondering. "……Reed. Are they calling for me?"

10. Reed Is, In Fact, Dublinn's 'Leader'

As the fog clears, Bagpipe sees clearly the flame Reed has made. "Was that you, the Caster in Hillock County? Are ye Dublinn's Leader?"

Everyone waits for her answer. Reed always wanted to shake her head at this kind of question, but this time, she doesn't want to.

……I am Dublinn's 'Leader.'

— Reed

Reed doesn't hide the wrongs she's committed. That among the countless lives thrown into the fire that was Dublinn, some of the sacrifices weren't even necessary. Even so, she says, starting from this very moment, she wants to live differently.

Bagpipe never really knew how to be disappointed. But right now, she doesn't even know who she's disappointed in anymore. Still, Bagpipe decides not to leave Reed — she just goes her own way instead.

11. Celmoon, Sleeping in the Mud

While escaping, Reed is nearly caught and dragged off again. This time, a woman named Harmonie appears and calls Reed 'Lochsinni' — claiming they're old friends.

Reed doesn't deny the name. Instead, she quietly asks back — did the Leader know? That innocent people would die in Hillock County?

Amid the chaos, Celmoon and Moraine set out to save those who'd fallen behind. Celmoon holds off the soldiers with a broken sword, sending Moraine ahead to safety first.

"They're trying to take our Leader — how could I just stand here?" Celmoon said with a smile. Those were her last words.

At dawn, Moraine returns alone. In her hands, a broken sword and Celmoon's blood-soaked headscarf.

Reed quietly asks what happened to Celmoon. Moraine only shakes her head.

……For everyone rising up from this mire.

— Reed

Reed raises her hand, and a small flower of flame blooms over the mud, then quietly withers away.

12. In the Ruined Palace, Facing Her Own Shadow

The place they take shelter in the fog turns out to be, of all places, the ruined palace of King Gael. With almost no Originium crystals nearby, it was a safe spot.

Inside the ruins, Reed finds a familiar light. Traces that her sister had passed through.

And something with her sister's voice appears before Reed. "You want to snuff out that flame, don't you."

The shadow presses in on her. "You're nothing but your sister's shadow. She has the ability to reach the peak in every field, but you've always hesitated and shown nothing but weakness."

I'm not my sister's shadow. I'm the shadow of the 'Leader' that lives in people's ideals.

— Reed

But Reed doesn't back down. Everyone needed a way out, she says, and it just so happened that she was there.

The shadow asks one last question. "Lochsinni, what is it you want?" Instead of answering, Reed reaches out to a wounded drifter. From her hand flows not flame, but a gentle, healing light.

I've simply found my own flame.

— Reed

13. A Speech Aboard the Warship, and Reed's Answer

Meanwhile, out on Victoria's open sea, her sister Evelina returns to Oak Grove County aboard Duke Wellington's swift warship, after a seven-year voyage. This city, of all places, was where the sisters were born.

We do not fight to steal the crown Victoria holds. We fight to reclaim the destiny that was stolen from us, and to hold that destiny in our own hands.

— Evelina

Evelina begins her speech before the soldiers. She vows to reclaim the name and destiny stolen from them for so long.

At the same time, somewhere among the reeds, Reed also stands before the drifters.

Moraine asks — saying it's 'for the sake of the Taran people's lives' feels vague. What exactly are they even supposed to be fighting?

Even if we can't defeat death…… we can still grant dignity to our lives.

— Reed

Reed answers. She says the Taran deserve a fire to warm themselves on cold nights, and drink to share when they sing.

"Let's go — we're one of them too." Reed sets off, walking together with the drifters.

Asked what she'll do once she moves together with Dublinn, Reed answers calmly. "When that day comes, I'll go meet her too."

Epilogue: A House Built in the Wrong Place

'The Instructor' and Harmonie are still locked in a battle of wits over Lochsinni. Harmonie says she intends to visit, in person, the medical company where Lochsinni once hid herself.

Ch'en and Bagpipe hitch a ride on a cargo truck toward their next mission. Bagpipe fiddles with the old radio Finn gave her. It carries news that the clashes between Victoria and Kazdel are escalating.

Fisher accepts the Caster duke's offer of promotion. His old identity as an investigator is set to be discarded now.

On his way back, Fisher happens to run into Finn. Finn, selling wooden toys, proudly points to the new house he built just yesterday.

Run, Taran. Looks like you picked the wrong spot for your house.

— Fisher

At that moment, a massive roar sounds, and Duke Wellington's fleet rises over the horizon. Fisher leaves one last line and gets into his car. Behind him, the sound of the brick house collapsing is soon swallowed by the warship's din.

When the curfew bell rang, there was once a woman preparing to run. Now, she's become a woman who lights her own fire to warm others. Knowing now that she doesn't have to defeat her sister to be whole, she takes, once again today, one more step out of the shadow.