"Nova, Cassie is back."

Jack's voice practically buzzed with excitement on the other end of the Distance Token, the smile in his tone unmistakable.

Nova didn't answer right away. His mind lagged behind the words, still caught up in thoughts of training, his newly earned Title, and the stat bonuses that came with it. And now—Cassidy?

It took a second, but the lethargy that had clung to him at the start of the call evaporated. A grin spread across his face as he finally responded, "Seriously? When did she get back? Is she with you right now?"

Jack laughed. "Whoa, what's with the interrogation? You gonna breathe between questions?"

Nova didn't reply, and Jack jumped on the silence.

"Oh no. Don't tell me—cat got your tongue? Are you flustered?" Jack chuckled louder. "That's a first... No, wait—you got like this before, remember? When—"

Nova snorted. "Shut up. It's barely been a day and I already forgot how childish you can be."

"A day?" Jack shot back, his voice exaggeratedly wounded. "I haven't talked to you in almost six months. Time must fly for people who don't care."

Nova sighed. "We literally talked yesterday. Don't tell me my best friend's turned into an old man with memory issues."

He paused dramatically. "Maybe I should find a new friend—one who won't forget I exist. If I stick around you, I'll probably end up alone any day now."

Jack scoffed. "What the hell are you even saying bastard?"

"I'm just saying, who's to say you won't forget me next week?" Nova continued with mock seriousness. "It's too risky. I need to cut my losses and find someone with a functioning memory."

"I swear, I'm gonna pummel your head until you stop talking crap."

"The symptoms are getting worse by the second… No, I can't go on like this. I need to find someone else," Nova declared dramatically. With an overly drawn-out sigh, he ended the call.

A chuckle escaped him the moment the connection cut.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the Distance Token, Jack stared at it in disbelief, his fingers clenching around the device. His lips twitched in irritation before he finally tossed it onto the table with a sharp thud.

"You just had to have the last word, huh?" he muttered. "What a fucker."

////////////////

'She should be with the others by now…' Nova mused. 'Maybe it's time I paid them a visit. I haven't seen Rachel, Samuel, Amelia, or Victor in ages. I bet they're having a good time.'

The thought lingered, growing more tempting by the second—until he shook his head with a wry smile.

"Now's not the right time," he muttered. "If that group shows up while I'm too far from here, things could get messy."

He pocketed the Distance Token and sighed. "I'll visit them another day."

With practiced ease, he reached into his Inventory and began to draw a sword—but a sudden knock on the door froze him mid-motion.

'Second time today,' he noted silently. Letting go of the sword, he called out, "Come in."

The door opened, and Neve stepped inside, offering a quick, respectful bow. "Boss, there's someone here looking for you."

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Nova raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Neve shook her head. "She said she knows you, but didn't give me a name. I wasn't sure if I should report it or not—but she seemed certain you'd recognize her."

'She?' Nova's brow furrowed. 'The only one who Neve can't recognize and might know this place is Ynsara… but that doesn't make sense. I only met her today.'

He gave a small nod. "Let her in. I want to see if I really do know her."

With another quick bow, Neve turned and left.

Less than a minute later, the door creaked open again—and a young woman stepped into the room.

"How have you been, Nova?" she asked, her voice soft and familiar.

Nova's head snapped toward the sound, his eyes widening as his mouth fell open ever so slightly.

"Cassidy?" he breathed, the name escaping him like a forgotten memory suddenly made real.

Even though Jack had told him Cassidy was back, Nova never imagined she'd come here of all places. He figured she'd be with her father or the rest of the group—not showing up at his doorstep. This surprised him even more than hearing she had returned.

"Who else would it be?" Cassidy said with a teasing smile. "Unless someone out there looks just like me."

Nova let out a wry chuckle. "This is the last place I expected you to be so soon after coming back. Didn't your father or the others try to stop you?"

"Surprisingly, my dad didn't put up a fight. I thought he'd at least try," she said, taking a seat in the chair across from him. "Rachel and Amelia, though? They practically begged me to stay the whole day."

As she spoke, her eyes studied him closely. Although only a month had passed for Nova since he last saw Cassidy, for her, it had been more than five. He looked almost exactly as he did when they first met—except for the length of his hair, now brushing his shoulders, and a subtle edge in his eyes. If not for those changes, she might have believed no time had passed for him at all.

Then, casually, she added, "Why haven't you reached out to the others since coming back from the portal?"

Nova's expression tensed, just slightly.

"How do you know about that?" he asked.

Cassidy could hardly believe it—Nova hadn't met with the group at all since returning. With a quiet sigh, she said, "I had to ask almost everyone just to figure out where you were. Only Thomas knew the exact location. Did something happen while I was gone?"

Nova shook his head. "Nothing worth mentioning." Then, shifting the conversation, he asked, "What about you? How are you feeling now that you're back?"

Cassidy recognized the deflection but decided to play along. "Honestly? I've been back for less than a day, and sometimes it still feels like I'm in there. I was inside for a whole month, after all…"

She didn't get to finish.

"What?!" Nova blurted out, eyes widening.

Cassidy blinked, taken aback. "What's wrong?"

"You were in there for a month?" he repeated, voice low and serious now.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah… why are you so surprised?"

'How could she have spent a whole month inside, when only about four months passed out here?' Nova's thoughts raced. Something didn't add up.

"You haven't told the others about this yet, have you?" he asked, voice quieter now.

Cassidy shook her head. "No—there wasn't time. How do you know?" she asked, curiosity beginning to take hold. She hadn't thought much of it—spending a month in a Blue portal didn't seem like a big deal. If anything, she assumed Nova had been in his even longer. After all, he still hadn't returned by the time she entered hers.

What she didn't know—what no one knew—was that Nova had only spent about a week inside his portal. Yet out here, more than six months had passed.

If she knew that… her reaction might've been very different.

"If you had told them, they'd have been just as shocked," Nova said, his tone serious. "The time difference between your portal and Earth was around four to one. That's low for a Blue portal. It's not uncommon for them to have time ratios of ten-to-one—sometimes even twenty."

He paused, his mind already racing through possibilities, wondering if there was a deeper reason behind the inconsistency—or if it was pure anomaly.

"Do you see why I was so surprised now?"

Cassidy's eyes widened as the realization sank in. Emotion swelled in her voice. "Are you saying… if the time difference had been higher, I could've been gone for years out here?"

Nova met her gaze and nodded solemnly.

"Unbelievable…" she breathed. The thought of her father and friends thinking she had died—waiting, hoping, or grieving for years—left a tight knot in her chest.

"Keep this in mind for next time," Nova said firmly. "Don't linger in there. Finish the quest quickly and get out. I assumed the time difference would be at least ten days out here for every day inside—but you just proved that assumption wrong. And if that's wrong, then the upper limit might be, too."

"Mhm. I'll make sure to clear portals as quickly as I can from now on," Cassidy said, her voice firm, eyes resolute.

Nova gave a faint smile. "Good. But... I still don't know why you came straight to me. Is there something you need?"

His casual shift in tone lightened the mood, and Cassidy smiled in return. "I heard rumors you were building a faction of your own. Honestly, I got my answer the moment I arrived—this place is more than I expected. Pretty impressive, if I'm being honest."

Nova let out a short chuckle. "So? You like it?"

"I do," she said, her smile widening. "That's actually why I came—I want to join."

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