Still inside the labyrinth, Coincedence felt her sister doing something very stupid. Thanks to her telepathic powers, Coin could read Nyxara’s thoughts clearly and spent most of the time laughing her ass off.

  Still, she was worried… Despite Nyxara’s apparent lack of humor—as Coin liked to call it—Nyxara had always been the only one capable of keeping Coin’s chaos and that of their mutual sister Valeria under control.

  So Coin decided to seek out Nyxara’s most trusted person. Surely that imp knew more, since he had been her best and back then only true friend since childhood.

  Another coin was tossed into the air. “Heads: he’s at home. Tails: he’s still on Nyxie’s mission. Edge: he’s playing poker with Mammon!” Coin announced enthusiastically, although you could still hear the worry in her voice. It was a bit too calm for someone of her temperament. The coin first landed on a rock showing heads, then wobbled onto its edge, and finally spun around to land on tails. “So still on her mission, hehe. Looks like I’ll have to double up on help. I hope there are vanilla ice cream dragons there!” she added with seemingly childlike innocence.

  She picked up the coin and created a chaos portal—with one rule: the location would always be swapped with someone else’s, even if unwillingly. “What could possibly go wrong?” she said with a shrug and a mischievous grin as she stepped through the portal.

  On the other side, Coin saw an imp with three different hair colors and golden eyes. It was immediately clear that this was Oliver, Nyxara’s best friend. And he was holding a pure white key with golden wings that seemed to glow.

  “What do you have there, Oli?” Coin asked right away with a particularly sharp smile, revealing her pointed teeth. The imp, whose skin turned an even deeper red than his usual tone at the sight of Coin, nervously answered: “It’s the… the Key of Truth… I-it can seal any lie and release any truth… I was supposed to get it for Nyxara…”

  “Of course you were, little angel… Well, at least the key has a nice design… Although… I bet Nyxie would’ve called it the Order Key… maybe…” rolls eyes

  “But first, I’m picking you up,” said Coin, and both of them were instantly teleported back into the labyrinth by her powers of chance.

  “Where are we all of a sudden?... What are you planning?... Where’s Nyxara?... Do you know this place?...” were the rapid-fire questions going through Oliver’s head—and he asked them all at once.

  Coincedence answered, “Maybe, hehe?... And through one of the three gates…”

  Oliver immediately wanted to choose the white gate, knowing it was Nyxara’s favorite color—even though she always hated anything sterile. But Coin held him back. At her touch, Oliver’s skin deepened in color again, and his heart started racing. “Are you sure? It doesn’t always have to be white…” Oliver nodded. He was sure—very sure. Coin, however, wasn’t convinced at all and tossed another coin: “Okay, heads is the black gate, tails is your guess, and edge is my favorite—gray! Deal?”

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  Oliver knew he couldn’t win an argument with Coin and reluctantly agreed. When the coin landed, it stopped directly on its edge. “Gray it is then!” Coin announced cheerfully, while the golden-eyed imp only muttered, “I still think it’s the wrong one…” as he followed her through the gate.

  Behind the gate, there seemed to be only two forms of nothingness: one completely black and one completely white, divided precisely down the middle. Before Oliver could even look around properly, Coin grabbed his arm and rushed into the black half. They both came to a halt, speechless, when they suddenly found themselves back in the white area. “Did we just go in a circle?...” Oliver asked quietly. Coin’s reply was, “Definitely not, Oli. I think that black dot over there wasn’t there a second ago!” And indeed, after her words, the dot became more visible and started growing.

  Oliver wondered what was happening and tried to imagine what Nyxara would do now. Coin, on the other hand, tried to poke her finger into the dot, assuming it might just be a hole. But once her finger entered, it kept going in deeper, and she couldn’t pull it out without Oliver’s help.

  Though Oliver enjoyed holding Coin in his arms and even cuddled her a bit, he also looked slightly annoyed that she would do something that dumb. But Coin stood right back up and threw a piece of old paper into the hole: “Best way to get rid of trash,” she declared. Oliver didn’t agree with this at all: “Do you really think that’s a good idea? I mean, isn’t this like… a tiny black ho—…?”

  Before he could finish, she had already thrown a bunch more stuff from her pockets into the hole.

  Then she tossed in an old, empty pink marker. The entire hole turned pink and expanded to more than double its size—before burping loudly. Unexpectedly, Coin found the burp extremely rude and scolded the hole for its lack of manners. Oliver stayed quiet and didn’t really participate in the argument, even though he agreed with Coin.

  Soon, he pulled her close to remind her they were supposed to be looking for Nyxara. But in doing so, they came uncomfortably close, and Oliver got so flustered he couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

  Meanwhile, the hole was demanding more. They could almost hear its stomach growling. But Coin had no more trash, and Oliver didn’t carry any, since Nyxara always lectured him about hygiene.

  Suddenly, Coin had an idea: “Of course! Your pants!”

  Oliver, now wide-eyed and blushing even deeper—looking even cuter due to his small size—was visibly shocked and immediately declined: “No! Absolutely not! Maybe my jacket instead?...”

  Coin shook her head. “Nah, it might get cold, and you still need it,” she grinned, “And besides, Nyxie told me you always wear two pairs of pants, ‘cause one usually gets ripped, hehe ~”“She… she did? Really?...” Oliver asked in disbelief and visibly hurt.

  “Hmm… Hehe, nope, I made that up!” Coin admitted, still laughing. “Do you really think she trusts me enough to tell me that?”

  Oliver now looked visibly annoyed and a little angry, but Coin wasn’t fazed—she knew he couldn’t stay mad at her for long. He forgave her almost as quickly as Nyxara forgave him.