"Concern" may have been the word used by locals to describe the macabre fair taking place beyond Kurayo's northern border, but it was not a word Natsumi would have used had her status quo continued as it was. The young ecologist had been quite content to remain in Virens Forest after escaping the continent of Parvpora several months ago. She had amassed a small network of friends within the region, along with a modest stockpile of supplies. It was turning out to be the perfect base of operations; a place of comfort; maybe even a new home.  Yet such luxuries did little to keep her nightmares at bay when they happened.
 
Canelux was much farther away from its Eastern cousin than it seemed on a map. If not for her curse tying her to a specific, late professor, Miss Yamauchi would never have heard of the ongoing festival of the dead. Even if she had known, she most likely would have avoided the place due to its proximity to where her old professor, a powerful wizard in the employ of the University of Wyllmochvar, died. Only by the force of her nightmares did she eventually arrive on those fairgrounds.
 
'Why would you call me here, of all places, professor?' Natsumi stood at the entrance of the Hallowed Carnival where the rest of the visitors were funneling in. She wore her typical robes and cloak that she used for populated regions in colder months, taking care not to let any of the others around her step on the lowest hanging fabric. Her thoughts drifted to the continuously repeating nightmare she had been having lately, the one of White in chains. Every night she had attempted to sleep for the past week had been plagued with the Professor's voice. He called out to his former student for help in her deepest slumber, begging her to free him, to "break the mirror."
 
Normally, the young woman would have ignored this phantom request. She had gone through enough since leaving her family to understand just how unwise treating dreams as reality could be. However, there was something compelling about the request that made her soften her guard. Natsumi felt herself being pushed to investigate, enough for her to muster a gate travel spell to the Haunted Caravan.
 
Now that she was here among the dead, though, she was at a loss for what to do. The ghoulish merchants were loudly advertising their wares and games to the interested parties nearby, making it difficult for the druid to think. She suspected that the Professor's ghost, if he was here at all, would be somewhere on the outskirts of the fairgrounds; but, before she could go looking, she needed to acclimatize to the noise. Her hearing had been getting sharper lately, making it more difficult for her to be in loud areas. A carnival was anything but quiet, and so it was no surprise that Natsumi began her adventure through the land of the dead by finding a place at the border where voices weren't as concentrated: at least until her headache subsided.