Autumnfold was about a day’s trip from Mechadream. About. It was rather hard to tell.

  Phoebe snuck a glance at her new ally. No reaction. She sighed. Of course a being that had lived for eons would’ve travelled here several times before.

  There was no awe or curiosity about how the Sun had somehow snuck around in front of them and was now fixed in the sky, shading it with beautiful tones of orange and pink. Autumnfold was trapped in perpetual sunset, for reasons nobody knew.

  Phoebe missed Count Boogula already.

  “Zzz… hello? …Zzz… Phoebe…?”, suddenly her walkie talkie crackled to life, transmitting a garbled whisper.

  “Count Boogula?!”, she cried. “Is that you? Are you alright?”.

  “Haha, well, could be better…”, he said sarcastically, even as his voice weakened. “I’m fine. Jingle Jack is keeping all us ghosts inside some sort of cursed mirror. I’m surprised I can even reach you right now”.

  “Just hang on! We’re coming to rescue you!”. “Shhh, quiet…”, Count Boogula replied. She bit her lip as the walkie talkie went silent. It never came on again.

  “The show is starting”, Hex surmised. “Count Boogula must be one of the acts. This is probably good news; we just need to infiltrate the audience now”.

  Phoebe chewed her lip. “Or he’s bait. Does Jingle Jack want to turn our fight into a spectacle?”.

  With no answers, they could only continue onwards. The crumbling stone walls of Autumnfold soon came into view, ancient remnants of a once great city. The houses within were far more modern but in similar states of disrepair. Trees stood at street corners, their leaves orange-red no matter the season.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Half-good bread!”, a merchant promoted (?) his wares. The man smiled eagerly as we approached with furrowed brows.

  “Half-good how?”, Hex asked purely out of curiosity.

  “Well, this loaf’s stale and hard as a rock, but still edible. Only 2 copper!”, he showed another loaf with a funny shape. “This one had some mold I cut out, but the rest is good. 3 copper! We’ve got all kinds…!”.

  “I don’t mean to be rude, but we’re actually looking for a travelling circus”, Phoebe cut in.

  “Oh, of course! The Marvellous Menagerie of… something or other. They’re stopping by in a tinyish while”. Without days to go by, the city of Autumnfold tracked time in ‘whiles’. It was a pretty opaque system, but Jack was probably a few hours away from opening at the most.

  “Thank you for the information”, Phoebe put a copper coin on the merchant’s stand as thanks.

  “Oh no, I can’t accept this!”, he protested. “You could’ve asked anyone for that much!”.

  Phoebe smiled. “Just take it. You helped us out, after all”. Besides, it’s one copper! There should be a limit to modesty, she thought.

  Phoebe and Hex explored the town, passing by dilapidated shack after collapsing shed as they searched for signs of the circus being set up. Leaves fluttered down, creating crunchy piles of yellow, orange, and red by the roadside.

  Autumnfold was undoubtedly a cursed town. But somehow there was a sort of beauty and pride at the heart of it. The city was not named after its present decay, nor its former glory. It was named after the charming trees that lined its streets.

  “Phoebe”, Hex began. “You should know that Jingle Jack is a dirty coward. He’s going to use everything he can against you. Your friend, your sister… It won’t be easy”.

  She took a deep breath. “…I know. Honestly, my adventuring career mostly revolved around her. But now…”, she tightened her fists. “I have my own reason to fight”.

  Hex nodded. She wasn’t ‘healing’, she was… changing. Stepping out from Lucina’s shadow and realizing what was important. Jingle Jack might come to regret that.