Resting briefly, the two Sleepers decided to retrieve their spoils of war from the massacred swarm of Nightmare creatures, scavenging the edible strips of meat as well as the hard earned Soul Shards.
Despite the torrent of thoughts running amok through Sunny's mind over what had happened, there would be time to discuss what he learned at the Bone ridge. The sun was getting dangerously low, only a few hours away from the horizon line now.
In the end over twenty Soul Shards had been gathered, and one by one Nephis crushed them, a feeling of euphoria visibly settling over her as she absorbed their power. Her core was already reaching close to saturation, soon she would have another core.
'How spoiled she is...'
With a little tinge of envy stinging his soul, Sunny forced himself to look away and continue to loot the corpses. Any strength gained between the two was a boon regardless; though ultimately that did not make it any easier on him.
To take his mind off of his innate greed, Sunny played back his battle with the shadow creature, or rather the Whisper of Fate. Compiling what he knew, he tried to formulate a proper explanation without seemingly forcing connections were none existed.
The figure had been Sunny's height, also resembling Sunny in statue and posture. He displayed many mannerisms in combat that was not too unlike Shadow Dance, even performing sequences of a combat art he had never seen.
But the figure also wielded a blade half his size, quite unlike Sunny's usual arsenal. In tune with already fighting like Sunny himself, he managed to use a liquidly form of a shadow spike to ward off Nephis, but never went after her directly. While not exactly the same as his future abilities, it still seemed too alike to mark as a mere coincidence.
More curiously, why did the creature avoid Nephis?
And why was it called a "Whisper of Fate"?
There was a lot packed into the name alone. But the most striking part of the whole fight was the unbridled rage it seemed to fight with, as if possessed by a need to kill specifically Sunny. Was there more to that motive though?
Without more details to work with and no answers to settle for, Sunny let out a heavy sigh and finished absentmindedly packing his seaweed pack with strips of raw flesh. There would be more time to digest the events later anyways.
Glancing at Neph again, he shook his head in dismay and chuckled to himself. His fight might have been impressive, defeating a Fallen Devil; but in his eyes Nephis won the more impressive fight.
Singlehandedly slaughtering over a dozen awakened beasts was no easy feat for even an awakened, yet as a mere Sleeper Nephis achieved the impossible. And here she was, acting all nonchalant about it.
'Crazy woman.'
Sunny suddenly remembered why he never wanted to argue with Nephis, it was that uh... lovely charm of hers, yes that was it! Her charm.
The two finished their tasks, and began to continue west again. The silence permeated heavily in the air as the duo of tired Sleepers did not dare to say a word — partially due to the fear of [Fated] screwing them over again, as well as simply being exhausted — so they traveled silently.
Instead of chatting, Sunny absentmindedly sent Gloomy on his usual task to scout ahead once more, while he observed his runes for the first time in a while.
Honestly, he had been too distraught over his lack of an arsenal, as well as his years of progress vanishing. Sunny... was not quite over that yet.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Sleeper.
Shadow Core: Dormant.
Shadow Fragments: [338/1000].
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Azure Blade], [Last Prayer]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [Bastard of Fate]
Aspect: [Shadow Slave].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Abilities: [Shadow Control].
Innate Ability: [Shadow Bond].
Flaw: [Clear Conscience].
'The Last Prayer? That's new... ah!'
Sunny remembered vaguely hearing the whisper of the Spell after defeating the Fallen Devil but had been too engrossed in his shortly lived reverie and trying to help Nephis to notice.
Deciding to investigate it further, Sunny observed its runes.
Memory: [Last Prayer]
Memory Rank: Transcended
Memory Tier: IV
Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [Forged from the shattered pillars of the destitute temple, born from one last prayer of longing desperation. Coveted within Fate's beloved collection.]
Memory Enchantments: [Beloved Epigone], [O' Faith], [Reaper's Soliloquy]
[Beloved Epigone] Enchantment Description: "Crowned by Death, this weapon can draw strength from it's defeated enemies."
[O' Faith] Enchantment Description: "This weapons durability and strength are one with the master's will."
[Reaper's Soliloquy] Enchantment Description: "This weapon can strike at the Soul of any enemy regardless of their attachment to reality so long as their intent is hostile."
'Wha- this... this is insane!'
This Memory not only disregarded the hierarchal order of Memory's produced by Nightmare Creatures, but also possessed a vast amount of powerful enchantments — though Sunny already knew it was unlikely any were usable due to being a Sleeper — that no Sleeper should have.
Analyzing the enchantments more closely, it seemed that [Beloved Epigone] was the most useful even though the Memory also possessed a soul attack enchantment. Even more interestingly, the Weapon's description mentions Fate's collection.
Since when did Fate have anything?
Wasn't Fate simply the predetermined route of existence through "strings"?
Not only that, Sunny noticed the exponential increase in Shadow Fragments.
Shadow Fragments: [338/1000].
'What's the number behind that? It was only a Fallen Devil, maybe it's similar to the way Noctis coins worked?'
With a slight frown, Sunny tried to do the math to add up the accumulated fragments, but was left inconclusively guessing that the ratio was different. It seemed that this Whisper of Fate multiplied the normal number of Shadow Fragments roughly tenfold.
That was simply unreal to Sunny, maybe he actually could reach another shadow core before becoming an Awakened.
Snapping him out of his deep thoughts, Gloomy spotted a trio of Carapace Scavengers in the way of reaching Bone Ridge.
Clearing his throat, Sunny glanced over to Neph who was quietly in her own thoughts, though to anyone else it could have been mistaken as a look of caution.
"Heads up Neph, there are three scavengers ahead. I want to try something out."
Sunny threw a quick sly wink at Nephis, who shook her head tiredly. Without further consideration, he summoned the ridiculously powerful Memory. Sunny paused for a moment audibly gasping, consumed by the appearance.
It materialized in a shower of deep crimson red sparkles unlike the usual silver, the blade itself was a longsword. It was beautiful really; the material felt solid, yet light at the same time — perfectly balanced despite Sunny's weakened strength as a Sleeper — for its size. Holding it up, the pattern was an intricate depiction of two dark blood red serpents intertwining up the blade.
The rest of the blade was a simple black color, not too unlike the creature it came from.
'It's a little... edgy? Bah, who cares it's way too strong for me to be picky.'
Sunny caught Neph glancing at his newfound weapon with curiosity, and a grin worked its way onto his soft pale face. There would be time for her to analyze the blade when they reached their destination. Without further procrastination, Sunny sprinted forward to the unaware Carapace Scavengers, weaving through the dense coral growth with relative ease.
Sunny could hear Nephis trailing not too far behind him, at least she would watch the supposed fun unfold.
Moments later, he arrived at their location, jumping from one of the large bones of a long forgotten Nightmare creature rooting from the ground onto the back of a Scavenger. With one heavy overhead slash, he split the beast down the middle of its torso to the carapace with ease.
Using Gloomy to observe the constant positions of the last two beasts from the outskirts of the fight, Sunny continued his assault.
The other two turned to face him, eyes blazing with hunger as they laid eyes on the Sleeper. Without hesitation, the scavengers dashed madly towards Sunny, flinging mud everywhere as their heavy legs pierced the ground. Sunny closed the gap with one before they could react, rolling under its large pincer arms and slashed upwards, his blade penetrating the frontal shell protecting the Scavenger killing it.
All these years later and rolling was still as integral in a fight as Hero had first proven!
With a rage, the last one bashed into the now dead scavenger's body, stomping wildly in an effort to crush Sunny under its heavy form. In response, he swung at the barely exposed joints of the beasts legs while dodging them, severing one with each swift swing.
Buckling from the lack of frontal stability it dove into the mud, its torso now exposed to Sunny's small form. With apparent frustration it tried to grab Sunny with its pincers, but was met with air as he quickly rolled again to the side. Regaining his footing, he postured his blade one last time to strike, and impaled the creature's now lowered torso and twisted, piercing its spine ending it's life.
A slow clap echoed from behind him, and he turned to find Nephis smiling softly while walking towards him; a hint of approval seeping into her eyes.
"Look at how grown up the little pervy Sleeper is now."
Sunny widened his eyes and scowled.
"Hey now, I never did anything of the sort back then! I only said some uh, rather inappropriate words tactically."
"Mhm." Nephis let a sly smile tug at the corners of her lips as she walked over the corpses and knelt beside one.
Without any further words, she began to harvest the prized Soul Shards.
'How can she remember such a petty thing still? It's been years!'
Sunny chuckled to himself and shrugged to no one in particular, before observing the setting sun. With a simple estimation, they still had another two hours to reach safety.
Collecting his focus again, Sunny waited for Neph to finish her task and soon the two set off again.
Aside from a little teasing and banter along the way, the duo mostly kept the silence as they traversed. They had already exhausted themselves through fighting, why spend more energy chatting when they could simply enjoy each other's presence. In truth, it was a little reminiscent of their original journey through the Forgotten Shore.
Sunny did not necessarily mind that either.
With a marginal amount of time to spare still, they made it to the long awaited Bone Ridge, and traversed through the hollow skull to the top of the spine. As soon as they duo reached a high enough point to be safe from the impending rise of the dark sea, they collapsed to the ground simultaneously.
They had made it.
Soon Sunny would have another chance at vengeance against the damnable tree, too.
After a moment, he let out a small sigh.
"How are you holding up Neph?"
Turning his head to observe Nephis, Sunny furrowed his brows a little. She had been rather silent and almost... distant the last few days. He knew a lot had been occupying her mind — especially their shared concern over Cass missing — the last few weeks, but it seemed like something else was affecting her as well.
She wasn't great with her words all these years later either...
"I'm okay Sunny, just... tired is all."
A beat passed before she added:
"Maybe feeling a little unalive at the moment too, all things considered."
The usual indifference she held in her voice was all too present, and she too turned her head to meet Sunny's gaze. A simple smile touched the corners of her lips and her grey eyes softened a little. Those eyes of hers held so much depth to them, Sunny felt as if he could drown within their gaze.
He also had missed their intimacy. Having sensed something was off in her mood, he instinctively gave her personal space. And yet, small fire lit in Sunny's eyes at the thought of intimacy followed by a small blush gradually flushing his cheeks.
Taking notice to this slight change, Nephis seemed to have picked up on the intentions deep within Sunny's eyes and soon matched his blush.
"What are you staring at so intently?"
Without wavering nor hesitating for even a moment Sunny shot back:
"You."
A beat passed, then another.
"I see."
Sitting up, Nephis stretched and crawled over as nonchalantly as she could possibly manage — which was honestly quite impressive, Nephis was a master after all — and settled down a few inches away from Sunny, turning her back to him.
"Want to talk about what happened back there?"
Sunny waited for a moment before he responded. Logically, yes they should discuss and go over the events of the day, there really was no room for intimacy in a place so exposed as Bone Ridge either; enemies could swarm them without prior warning at any moment.
Yet Sunny was not exactly caring for logic at the moment. Years of longing had eroded his judgment when it came to Nephis, and his heart was practically begging him to fulfill it's wants.
Just this once, he would indulge.
"There's time for such talk later."
Without any more words, he scooted closer to Neph and held her by the waist, his face only a few inches away from her silver painted hair.
"Ah."
The sound softly escaped her lips as she relaxed her body a little, bending herself into Sunny's shape causing butterflies to fill his stomach — whatever butterflies were anyways, Sunny wasn't quite sure what they were.
It was also a little awkward considering their size difference. Yet that had not mattered in the past, nor would it now.
***
The night went peacefully for once, nothing dared to invade the Sleeper's island allowing the two proper rest — as well as other much anticipated needs — to recuperate. Now energized again, the duo of Sleepers went about preparing for their journey to Ashen Barrow. They had decided to forgo two days worth of travel in favor of resting a little longer.
In the upcoming two days, Sunny planned on sparring with Nephis. A lot of sparring. It was high time they got ready for more human based fights as opposed to the raw combat of Nightmare Creatures.
Sitting down by the edge of the spine, Sunny observed the receding dark sea as the sun rose while patiently waiting for Nephis to cook breakfast.
Ah, how he loved her cooking.
All in all, Sunny was in good spirits to say the least.