Kane looked at the beast. It was a monstrosity, a humongous creature with six legs and a huge tail ending in a spike, resembling a long-lost scorpion. It had a large set of teeth, grinding its mouth with an eerie, grating sound.
Kane's voice was filled with a grim sarcasm. "Seriously? A Nightmare Creature at the doorstep? What could possibly go wrong?"
The creature lunged forward, its massive body a blur of motion, to attack Kane and Nephis. Both of them sprinted forward, Kane stepping sideways to attack its flank, his sword weaving through the air, cutting the mind strings of the monster with a horrifying efficiency. Nephis, meanwhile, was tackling the leg attacks with her flawless swordsmanship. Kane scowled at the beast. Soon, the commotion attracted a few people from the hovels, and they joined in the attack, their makeshift weapons and Abilities clashing against the creature's tough hide.
Kane, who was parrying the strikes and trying to find an opening to land a killing blow, suddenly heard a voice, an unknown voice. "Raaah!"
Kane felt an urge to look behind him, but there was no one there. The voice soon began to shout loud curses, the words mixed with some random noises he had heard before. It weighed on his consciousness, a heavy, oppressive presence that made him feel as though his mind was splitting apart. He couldn't stand properly and knelt down, his limbs sluggish, as he resisted the urges to attack his allies. As he looked up, the spike of the beast's tail was about to pierce him. Kane barely raised his sword to deflect it, his movements slow and clumsy.
The mental pressure was immense. It was like his body was being taken over, a passenger in his own mind. He fought back, his will a fortress against the unseen force. He finally regained control, and looked forward. The beast had been killed, a testament to the combined effort of everyone who had joined the fight. Kane stood up, his body trembling, and sat on the ground, leaning on his sword for support.
After a few minutes of meditation, Kane calmed his mind, and the ravings quieted down. Kane thought, 'Somehow, the ravings are more intense than last time. Did somebody die in the attack? Seriously, for a single extra person, I became like this?' As he looked up, Nephis was walking toward him with a set of meat in her hands. She came near him and spoke, "So, I got the share for both of us. The others took their share as well."
Kane's voice was flat, devoid of emotion. "How many people died in this conflict?"
Nephis spoke in a flat tone. "Two people."
Kane looked at her indifferently. 'Just two, huh.' Kane got up and looked up at the attack spot. Only blood, bones, and meat were scavenged. He looked at Nephis. "Still liking the view?"
Nephis looked at the spot and left, without speaking. Kane continued, "Well, thanks for getting my share, too."
Nephis spoke without turning. "Sure."
A week passed in the blink of an eye. Kane and Nephis had stocked meat from their hunt, and now they were waiting for the meeting. Today was the day they were supposed to meet with Sunny and Cassie. And they spotted them first.
Sunny grinned. "Hey, Kane, Neph. Long time no see!"
Nephis and Kane led them inside the stone lodge, which had turned out to be her new residence.
Looking around, Sunny scoffed. "Gee. This place surely needs some work."
Neph shrugged, seemingly not very concerned with her living conditions. Kane spoke, "You should have seen it before we came here." Sunny looked around, his face still skeptical.
Cassie smiled and handed Neph a small bundle. Concerned about her friend, she had not eaten her supper the previous evening, choosing to save it for this moment. "Here, Neph, Kane. I brought both of you something to eat!"
Kane and Nephis received the bundle with a faint smile, and Nephis lingered a little before saying: "Thank you. Uh… do you guys want breakfast?" With that, she walked over to a flimsy wooden table that stood near one of the walls and removed a piece of cloth from it. Beneath, there was a pile of juicy roasted meat, which was left over from the hunt.
Sunny stared at the meat blankly, then moved his eyes to stare at Nephis. "...Where the hell did both of you get all this meat? We thought you would be starving here in the outer settlement!"
Nephis spoke, her voice calm. "Oh… a few nights ago, a big monster came from the road. We and a few other people managed to kill it. This is our share of the spoils."
Cassie's eyes opened wide. "But I thought that Gunlaug's men were supposed to fight off Nightmare Creatures!"
Changing Star remained silent for a few seconds. "They do if the castle is attacked, either from the slopes of the hill or from the sky. If the monsters come from the road, they usually don't bother to do anything."
Sunny smiled darkly. 'That's the glorious Castle Guard for you. Wait…' He blinked, then glared at both of them. He asked, "If that is true, then why on Earth… uh, Dream Realm… would both of you choose to live in this pit, of all places?!"
Kane spoke, "Nephis's choice. She likes it, it seems."
Nephis looked at him with a hint of anger in her eyes. Sunny, who saw the conversation, decided not to probe further. With a sigh, Sunny put Changing Star's strange choice of habitat at the back of his mind and approached the pile of meat. "Let's eat first."
The four of them sat on the stone floor and ate monster meat, passing around Cassie's beautiful glass bottle between each other. It was just like the good old times, provided that those times were not actually that old, and there had certainly not been anything good about them. Almost.
When all four of them were satiated, Nephis looked at Sunny with calm intensity. For some reason, he was reminded of the unseen waves of pressure that Gunlaug created anywhere he went. "What have you learned in the castle?"
Sunny sighed. He started by describing the general order of things in the ancient stronghold. He told Neph about the six different castes and the complex relationships that existed between them, as well as briefly explaining how the members of each caste lived their lives. Sometimes, Cassie would add a few details of her own.
Changing Star frowned. "Wait… did you say that there were five hundred people living in the castle?"
Sunny gave her a nod. "Yes, somewhere around that. Why?"
She thought for a bit, then said: "That doesn't make sense. There are almost as many people here in the outer settlement, perhaps even more. That would put the human population of the Dark City at around a thousand. Most of them are fairly young, too—which would mean that each year, hundreds upon hundreds of us are sent to the Forgotten Shore, with most somehow managing to survive and reach the Bright Castle." She paused. "But I haven't seen a single Sleeper of our crop here in the slum. As far as I know, we three are the only ones to come to the Dark City after the recent solstice."
Sunny scratched the back of his head and said with reluctance: "Actually, it's five. Caster is also here. He's living comfortably in the castle."
Nephis suddenly grew strangely animated. "Caster of the Han Li clan? He is here?"
Kane, who was listening to Sunny's whole report, widened his eyes and spoke, "That Caster, whom you spoke of on the day when we joined the academy?" Sunny nodded, but Kane remembered something and thought, 'I need to ask this question to Sunny, alone.'
Sunny tried not to grimace. "Yeah. He had been here pretty much this entire time. Actually, Caster had told us that there were only seven Sleepers sent to the Forgotten Shore by the Spell this year. Strange, I know." He paused for a few moments, and then added: "Truth be told, I noticed this discrepancy as well. But there is an explanation. You see, there seems to be a pattern to how many people the Spell sends here. Fifteen years ago, when a bunch of crazy humans first laid claim to the castle, there would be just a dozen or so newcomers each year. Then a few dozen. Then a hundred. In the past few years, it was several hundred each time." Sunny gestured at the four of them. "Until this year, that is, when a mere eight Sleepers arrived. Since the Spell is obsessed with the number seven, some people believe that this next year marks the end of a fourteen-year long cycle and the first year of a new one. I think it's plausible."
Changing Star thought for a bit, then asked: "How does Caster know the total number of new arrivals?"
Sunny had asked himself many times before finally convincing himself to go find the handsome Legacy and ask him directly. "There's an Artisan in the castle with a weird type of revelation Ability. She can trace the general location of everyone a person had ever met. Caster paid her a bunch of soul shards to check if any of his acquaintances made it to the Forgotten Shore. She told him there were seven."
Nephis was silent for a few moments, then simply said: "Continue."
Sunny did. He briefly mentioned the main points of everything he had been able to learn, including all the vile crap he had to witness and his own thoughts on how things worked under the pristine white surface of the magnificent fortress. Inevitably, he had to describe how ingenious and unassailable the Bright Lord's hold over the Dark City was.
Cassie grew pale and quiet during his somber account. Changing Star's face grew darker and darker with each word. Kane's eyes widened. 'Gunlaug seems to be a tyrant with more loyal servants.'
Finally, he came to the conclusion: "...and that is why Gunlaug can never be defeated. He controls every facet of life here, both material and abstract. Food, shelter, hope, fear… everything comes under the purview of his authority, and his authority is absolute. Even power itself is his to give and take. Out here, Gunlaug might as well be considered a god."
Nephis remained silent for a long time, and then quietly said: "He is not a god. He is just an impostor."
Sunny chuckled. "In this hell… is there a difference?"
Kane spoke, "Still, he is strong."
She glanced at him sharply and gritted her teeth.
After a few minutes spent in tense silence, Nephis suddenly said: "Still. That only explains why Gunlaug can't be overthrown in a rebellion. Why didn't anyone simply kill him in his sleep? Why didn't one of his lieutenants stage a coup? After all, this is how tyrants usually end—by the hand of their most trusted ally."
Sunny smiled darkly. "Ah, well. That is because up until now, I only told you about his power as a ruler. Which is, by all accounts, nothing short of terrifying. But his personal power?" Sunny shivered, then added in a hoarse voice: "It's way, way worse."
Sunny was silent for a while, then sighed: "Do you remember how Effie told us that he might as well be considered immortal? Well, she wasn't wrong. Apart from the fact that Gunlaug has probably absorbed more Soul Essence and has more experience fighting both Nightmare Creatures and Awakened than anyone else on the Forgotten Shore… there's more to him than that."
Nephis frowned. "Is his Aspect Ability uniquely powerful?"
Kane spoke, "Explain, more."
Sunny shook his head. "His Aspect Ability is that he is able to breathe and move with incredible speed underwater. But it is connected to what I am about to tell you." He hesitated. "You see, Gunlaug came to the Dark City around eight years ago. Since his Ability was of no use in the ruins, he quickly became an outcast. From what I was able to learn, things were even darker in the Castle back then. Strength decided everything, and anyone without strength wasn't even considered to be human."
Sunny shuddered and continued. "But Gunlaug, he turned out to be mad even by those standards. Because he actually began to hunt in the dark sea."
Nephis and Kane blinked and spoke, "What?"
He nodded. "Yes. At dusk, he would dive from the city wall into the black water to scavenge the soul shards from the monsters of the Labyrinth that were crushed by the flood, racing against the approaching horrors of the depths. And at dawn, he would dive into the retreating sea to scavenge meat from the remains of creatures that the dwellers of the depths had killed and left behind."
Sunny took a deep breath and continued. "And this is how he turned from a desperate outcast into the Bright Lord. One day, Gunlaug was pulled away by a current and, once the sea disappeared, stumbled onto a mortally wounded, dying leviathan. The creature was still alive, but just barely. Knowing that the carrion eaters of the Labyrinth will soon come to feast on it, Gunlaug began cutting the meat of the creature's bones with his knife." He paused, then said in a strangely dark voice: "By chance, the leviathan happened to die from its terrible wounds at that exact moment. And since Gunlaug's blade was the last thing to cut it, the Spell happened to attribute the kill to him. And that kill… that kill happened to give him a Memory. A wondrous golden armor that no human weapon can even scratch."
Sunny sighed. "With that armor, he returned to the Dark City, gathered a few supporters, killed everyone who stood in his way, and took control of the Castle. No one was able to threaten his reign ever since. And all those who tried… well. Their skulls are out there for everyone to see, swinging on chains above the gates of the castle."
Nephis spoke, "What traits does the armor possess?"
He shrugged. "Who knows? It's not like anyone who had the opportunity to learn that lived to tell the tale. The only thing widely known about the golden armor is that it is made out of some strange liquid metal and that it emanates a field of crushing psychic pressure. But even that is not entirely true. Actually, it only affects those who look at their reflection in the visor. Cassie wasn't affected at all."
The blind girl raised an eyebrow, only now learning that everyone except for her always felt incredibly oppressed in Gunlaug's presence. For once, her terrible Flaw gave her an advantage.
Kane spoke, "Still, he got a bigger risk, so he got a big reward. By the way, we have learned some things too." Kane and Nephis continued about the Gateway and its guardian, a Fallen Terror. Sunny and Cassie's faces grew pale. They were feeling despair, and they seemed to be in deep thought.
Sunny spoke with a sigh, "So, going there is suicide."
Nephis sighed. "The first ruler of the Bright Castle led a large expedition to find a way out of the Labyrinth. They all perished. The second ruler—the last member of the original cohort—tried to reach the Gateway instead. They all died, too. After that, no one tried to find a way out anymore."
The four of them remained silent for a long time, their mood grim and somber. Now that they had a chance to spend some time in the small human enclave on the Forgotten Shore and gather information, there were no more excuses to deny it. Everything that Effie had told them was true. They were going to spend the rest of their lives here… however long that might be.
Sunny sighed, then looked at Changing Star. "So… what's the plan?"
Kane spoke with a certain tone, "We should create a hunting party."
Sunny scratched the back of his head: "Going into the Dark City blind will be very dangerous."
Nephis shrugged, then turned to face him: "You are right. We will need to recruit a pathfinder."
Sunny spoke with thought, "Do you have someone in mind?"
Nephis gave him a nod. "As a matter of fact, I do. We will go see her later. But first…" Her eyes gleamed with intensity. "...Tell me every detail of what you have learned in the castle. Every name, every Aspect. Every Ability and Flaw you've been able to glean. Every grievance people have and every agenda they're hiding. I need to know it all."
Sunny smiled. Kane facepalmed. 'There is no cure for her.' "Sure, no problem. But be warned, this is going to take a while. I've been very busy snooping around, you know." For the first time since receiving his Aspect, Sunny had been able to do what he had planned to do from the start—gather information without risking his hide, as a real spy should. After months of bloody battles and open confrontations, It was strangely rewarding.
Changing Star gave him a nod. "There's no hurry."
Several hours later, Sunny was finishing his winding report, his voice hoarse from all the talking: "...is actually the same Pathfinder who the hunter from the outer settlement, Jubei, accused of using another human as monster bait. A real nasty fellow. He is an incredibly formidable fighter and is good at his job, but his personal habits… well. The man is a degenerate gambler. He spends all his shards in Aiko's gambling den, then refuses to pay and hurts anyone who dares to object." He took a breath, then added angrily: "Some people even say that this whole challenge happened because he wanted to hunt a powerful monster and pay off a part of his gambling debt. The bastard."
Then, Sunny thought for a while, scratched his head, and said: "Uh… I think that covers pretty much everything. Of course, there are a lot of things I wasn't able to learn at all."
Kane, who listened to the full report, spoke, "My Bro, you are the best," and Cassie patted him on the shoulder, smiled, and said: "You've done a very good job, Sunny! This is amazing."
Sunny blinked and looked aside, slightly embarrassed. "Well… of course it is. That is what my Aspect is actually for, remember? The whole monster-slaying thing is nothing but an unfortunate misuse of my talents, honestly." Sunny smiled, then looked at Nephis. "So… who is the pathfinder you want to recruit? There can't be a lot of experienced hunters in the outer settlement, right? And each of them must have their hunting party already. How are we going to persuade one to join us?"
Changing Star lingered, then said in a strangely tense voice: "Yes. Everyone who is worth something has their own party—except for one person. But persuading her won't be easy."
Kane spoke flatly, "It is Effie."
After discussion to meet Effie, Kane spoke, "Sunny, I need to talk to you alone." Immediately, Sunny and Kane came alone to the corner. Sunny spoke, "What is it?"
Kane sighed and spoke, "Sunny, can you tell me about your first Nightmare again?"