A middle aged woman wearing a ck apron broomed the wooden floor of her restaurant. There were barely twelve tables within the shop, but none of them were upied. She was alone.


    The bell above the doorframe jingled as the door opened, grabbing her attention.


    A handsome young man with silver hair and eyes wearing a gentlemanly attire stepped in. Following him was an extremely beautiful youngdy garbed in a neatmoner dress. The shop owner was so engrossed in their looks that she almost forgot what she was about to say.


    "I am extremely sorry." She bowed. "The shop is-"


    Xavier flicked a medallion to her.


    The shopkeeper caught it in surprise. She gasped when she saw a knife and a fork crossed and engraved on the golden badge.


    After a couple of seconds, she woke herself up from the stupor and bowed again. "Pleasee upstairs." She gestured at the stairs at the corner of the room.


    Xavier and Eulene walked up the staircase.


    The scene at the upper floor was worlds apart from the one at the bottom. Grand wallpapers hid the old wooden wall, a lustrous red carpet covered the floor. An unlit chandelier hanged from the false ceiling.


    What illuminated the room was the silver light of the full moon. There was only a handful of tables on this floor- four to be precise. They were nothing like the cheap furniture down there, rather it was extravagant- made from archaic wood and covered with white silk. The chairs were throne-like, with an intricately designed backrest and leather covered cushion.


    Xavier was nonchnt while Eulene frowned.


    "Strange," she mumbled.


    ? Xavier gave her a questioning look.


    "I was taught that eateries were divided by sses. Cheap eateries served themoners while the expensive ones served the upper ss. But this one…"


    "We serve everyone." A youngdy- beautiful, her face resembling the olderdy from before- walked up the stairs with a candle in her hand.


    "That''s surprising," Eulene said. "I thought the upper ss don''t mix well with themoners."


    "They don''t." The neer shook her head. "But against mother''s cooking, everyone''s defenceless." She dered in pride.


    "So, themoners eat downstairs while the upper sses here?" Eulene scanned around the hall again.


    "No. Everyone eats downstairs. Only the members of ''the society'' are allowed to step here."


    "The society?" Eulene squinted.


    The youngdy with the candle gave Eulene an examining nce before switching her gaze to the young gentleman.


    "Leave her," Xavier interrupted. "Do your work."


    The girl bowed. "Young sir, should I?" She raised the candle.


    "Just light the chandelier." Xavier walked to the eastern window and sat at the table right beside it. The moonlight refracted through the ss and gave the white tablecloth a silver hue.


    Eulene sat right opposite him.


    Thedy with the candlepletely ignored Xavier''sck of gentlemanly etiquette as she walked to the crank handle on the wall and rotated it, lowering the chandelier to human reach. She torched all the candles with her own and cranked the chandelier back up.


    The room was illuminated now as if it were day. The prismatic ss surrounding the candles shone light on every nook and cranny of the room. But it did not came into the way of the queenly light of the moon in any way.


    The young waitress brought out two hard papers from the pocket in her apron. They had painted pictures of various dishes on the side with names, and of course- prices.


    Xavier and Eulene took one each. Witnessing the pictures, Eulene barely leashed her hunger while Xavier skimmed through the menu.


    Eulene, who learned a bit about Avarese norms, turned to the waitress. "I want all themb items. Make it extra spicy."


    She had tastedmb once, cooked by her auntie herself, and it was delicious. It''s a shame that they were unavable back in her own world.


    Her peculiar order attracted strange gazes from both Xavier and the waitress. But they failed to pierce through Eulene''s thick skin.


    It was Xavier''s turn. "A beef steak and as for the desserts- I want them all." He kept staring at the menu, not daring to look up.


    Two piercing gazes crawled into his skin, surging his blood, making his cheeks hot. "Ahem." He tipped his hat, attempting to hide his face. "Sugar is good for the brain."


    The waitressughed. "Good choice young sir. Desserts are mother''s specialty." She took back the menus, and also the trident candle holder on the table.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Maybe they were just business partners, she thought as she walked away, or a young couple too embarrassed to have a candlelight dinner.


    But Eulene''s words, when the waitress was just a couple of steps away, almost made her trip over.


    "Hi. I am Yue Lin. What''s your name?"


    "Xavier Godwin."


    Eulene clicked her tongue. "Have you not read books when you were young? The answer is-" She deepened her voice, mimicking his. "Hello. I am Xavier Godwin. How are you?"


    Xavier gave her a condescending look.


    Eulene shrugged. "I am fine. Thank you."


    Xavier put forth his hand. "That crystal- give it to me."


    "And why should I?" She smirked. She had snatched the crystal while it rose along with the boulders when they first made a move.


    "You don''t have the money to pay for all thosemb dishes, do you?" he asked with indifference.


    "I-" Eulene''s face twitched. Her tummy growled again. The mouthwatering pictures of all those juicy looking dishes shed in her mind. She gritted her teeth and gave up. Her ring glinted as she passed the yin crystal to him.


    The crystal was somewhat soft, malleable to the pressure of the fingers, with an icy cold surface. It did not produce any shadows like the Darksphere, as if it absorbed all light. But it''s surface reflected his image nheless. "Tell me everything you know about this."


    "Why should-"


    Xavier looked straight into her eyes.


    "Fuck! It''s a pure yin crystal, condensed from a very high amount of pure yin energy."


    "Yin?" Xavier frowned.


    "Opposite of yang."


    "Yang?"


    "Opposite of yin."


    "…"


    "It''s hard to exin. In short, yang represents male, hard, hot, sun, light, day, body and other things which can be taken as ''positive''. While yin represents female, soft, cold, dark, moon, night, soul and other ''negative'' things."


    Xavier recalled all the experiences inside the world of the Darksphere and everything started to make sense. "A fascinating concept." He fidgeted the core. "So because it''sposed of the so-called yin energy- it''s soft, cold, dark, absorbs all light, and I suppose the reflection on its surface is the ''negative'' counterpart of reality or something along that line."


    Eulene nodded.


    "And I also presume that you entered the Darksphere without any resistance because you are a female."


    She inclined again.


    "This clears a lot." Xavier now understood why he did not find thedy close-by despite reaching the Darksphere fast. "Yin- it''s interesting indeed."


    Eulene''s pupil dted. She could not let go of this opportunity. "Did you mean ''Yin''teresting?" she asked with a smug smile, proud of herself toe up with that ''phun'' thingy Sarah taught her.


    Xavier stopped fidgeting the Yin crystal and gave her a weird look, as if he were looking at something even lowlier than an animal.


    This time, even her thick skin could not protect her from a rush of blood.


    ''Why?'' She was sure it was a good phun.


    Remembering something, Xavier''s eyes turned serious as he ced the crystal down on the table. "Where are you from?"


    Euleneposed herself. "I came from across the Southern-."


    "You are not of this world, are you?"