Sunny's eyes widened in surprise. "Why are you asking that?" he asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
Kane sighed. "When you told me about Caster again, I kind of remembered your conversation with him."
Sunny, now regretting the Caster information, took a deep breath. "Well, I'll recount the conversation." He spoke, detailing his talk with the Legacy, while Kane listened intently.
'Now I know somewhat about him. That conversation seems more plausible, but the real deal is…' Kane's eyes narrowed, and he spoke in a curious tone. "Sunny, you said you received a blessing, right? From which god?"
Sunny's expression shifted, a hint of fear, as if he might slip something up. "Uh... it is the Shadow God's blessing," he answered, his voice barely above a whisper.
Kane's mind raced. He thought about Sunny's Aspect. 'Sunny's Aspect revolves around shadows. Everything he does comes from the shadow. The blessing seems to have affected his Aspect.' Kane immediately summoned his runes.
Aspect: [Emperor of Rebirth]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Description: [You are a divine emperor who represents the afterlife, which represents the life it lived and the dread experience in the dead. You possess wondrous and terrifying powers which represent an emperor. However, you are an anomaly, thus rules don't apply to you, whether good or bad.]
Kane looked at the runes and thought, 'War God rules on things like life, order, warfare. Technically, so my aspect should be revolving around warfare and combat, but I got something related to the afterlife. Why is it?' Kane pondered for a moment, racking his brain for possible solutions. Suddenly, he asked Sunny, "In your first Nightmare, what was your initial Aspect?"
Sunny's eyes widened for a moment. "Uh… it is related to a temple," he stammered.
Kane looked at him and remembered his dormant Aspect, which looked like thin runes.
Aspect: [Lonely Follower]
Aspect Description: [The Only Follower who bears the scent of dread with no abilities and skills worth to try. You are an antique.]
Kane thought, 'Scent of dread… what was supposed to be related to dread? No gods ruled something like that. It seems I had this before the War God.' With this inference, he looked at his Aspect and got a clear understanding of what had happened. 'It seems the War God's Blessing got fused with some other blessing that was already there,somehow. That explains it, but who rules the dread?' With a new question brewing in his mind, Kane spoke to Sunny with a smile. "Thanks, I got some good inference."
Sunny sighed, as if he had dodged a bullet. "What inference did you get?" he asked.
"It seems we have a lot of similarities than I thought, Sunny," Kane said, looking at him. 'He might have a True Name. Why didn't he reveal it? I don't care.' Sunny looked at Kane, assessing everything, trying to figure out what he had just missed.
Simultaneously, another conversation was going on.
As soon as Kane and Sunny left, Cassie spoke. "So, how was it? Did you and Kane have an argument again?"
Nephis spoke indifferently. "Yeah, Cassie. Meanwhile, I want you to outsource a Memory, secretly."
Cassie spoke in a curious tone. "Sure, what type of Memory?"
Nephis's voice was cold. "A Memory which can make me immune to mind attacks."
Cassie's face grew pale for a moment. "Is it…?"
Nephis nodded, her eyes unwavering. "Yeah. Kane is still a suspect and will cause more issues."
Cassie spoke, a hint of worry in her voice. "You are still suspecting Kane? Are you really sure?"
Nephis spoke with a cold certainty. "Yeah. I tried to learn about his Flaw. I couldn't, but he has way too many secrets."
"Let me guess, you asked him about his Flaw," Cassie said, a small, knowing smile on her face.
Nephis went silent. She couldn't answer that. Cassie's expression showed her worry. "Neph, I want to tell you a couple of things."
Nephis looked at her. "What is it?"
Cassie spoke hesitantly. "I observed a trend in my visions related to Kane."
Nephis looked at her indifferently, waiting for her to continue.
Cassie spoke, her voice filled with sadness. "I think Kane might die here."
Nephis's eyes frowned. "Who killed him in the vision?"
"Not exactly," Cassie explained. "After a certain point, I didn't receive any more visions about him. Or, to be exact, it became like he never existed. From that, I was able to draw the conclusion that he might be dead."
Nephis spoke with a furrowed brow. "Still, we need to have leverage, but we need to make him follow me."
Cassie spoke in a worrying tone. "There is another vision I received. It is about you." Cassie started to describe the vision, about a blue-skinned being with golden runes and silver hair. Cassie couldn't see his face. But when Cassie finished, Nephis's face grew pale, and she tried to think of all sorts of possibilities.
Nephis spoke, her voice strained. "Any idea who that might be?"
Cassie shook her head sideways. "No."
Nephis thought for a moment. "Okay, let me keep a tab on it." And Nephis spoke, "Did you try talking to him?"
"Actually, I did," Cassie said. "I told him about his death and suggested a solution to stick with you. But what do you think his reply was?"
Nephis looked at her.
Cassie spoke, her voice filled with sorrow. "He thought about it and refused to align with you."
Nephis's eyes widened. She scoffed. "Why would he rather die than work with me?"
Cassie spoke, her voice gentle. "He told me that he wanted to follow his own intuition, not blindly follow you. I asked him to rethink, but I don't think I will get any positive answer."
Nephis looked at her, her mind still reeling from the facts. She couldn't digest that someone would rather die than follow her.
Cassie spoke with a smile. "I have an idea."
Nephis's eyes widened and showed some interest.
Cassie spoke, "Kane had agreed to some of your points because the majority voted. If you made the big followers in the slum, he might unwillingly follow you. Majority rules, right?"
Nephis's eyes widened. "Sure. This idea might work, for a while."
After the conversation, Kane and Sunny joined them. It was time to meet Effie.
Some time later, they were standing in front of a makeshift cabin. Just like Changing Star's patchwork dwelling, the cabin was constructed out of mismatched stone blocks that had been scavenged from the ruins. It was reinforced with monster hides here and there and seemed to be built slightly better than the rest of the hovels in the outer settlement. There was a large bestial skull hung above the door, its thick forehead split apart by a devastating strike of some sharp weapon.
Glancing at the skull, Nephis took a step forward and knocked on the door. However, no response followed.
Sunny sighed. Kane used his Aspect vision to check. "Maybe she's not home," Sunny said.
"She is sleeping," Kane replied.She was seeing her mind,through the door barely
Instead of an answer, Changing Star frowned and banged on the door with her fist. The first strike was somewhat gentle, but by the last, the bestial skull was on the verge of flying off the wall.
A sleepy and irritated voice sounded from the inside: "I swear to the gods, whoever you are, you'd better be a Nightmare Creature!"
A few moments later, Kane heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door. Before it opened, though, Nephis suddenly spoke: "Sunny, Kane, turn away." Hearing a strange urgency in her voice, Kane scowled and did as she had asked. "Sunny, your shadow and Kane, your Aspect vision too."
Kane thought, 'What is going on? Are we expecting trouble?'
As Kane and Sunny were staring away from the cabin, the creaking of wood informed him that the door was flung open. "Who the hell is… oh. It's you." Kane swore he could hear Nephis's teeth grinding against each other. A few seconds later, Changing Star spoke, her tone especially flat: "...Put on a Memory, Effie. Please."
Kane had realized, 'Shit, seriously, she is in her own league of weird.'
When he was finally allowed to turn back, the last glimmers of ethereal light were yet to disappear from the fabric of Effie's provocatively short chiton. She wasn't wearing anything underneath, either.
"Here. Better?" The huntress was exactly the same as the last time he had seen her—tall, strong, and brimming with vitality. Without the bronze cuirass with leather pteruges, as well as other elements of the archaic armor, even more of her dewy olive skin could be seen.
"So, you guys are back together, huh? Judging by how clean and shiny the other two look, I'm guessing that their stay in the Castle was pleasant?"
Sunny glanced at Cassie, then said in a reserved tone: "Not particularly. Just like you said, the ambiance there is… well… an acquired taste, I guess."
Effie grinned. "Well said! Anyway, how can I help you?"
Changing Star motioned at the door. "Can we come inside?"
The unruly huntress glanced back, then shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"
Inside, the cabin was small and cozy. One of its corners was occupied by a large pile of furs that served Effie as a bed. At first glance, it didn't seem that lavish, but once it hit Sunny that each of the furs had come from the corpse of a Nightmare Creature, he quickly changed his mind. That was probably the most extravagant thing he had ever seen. There was also a fireplace, a table with a single wooden chair, and a pair of sturdy chests. The rest of the space was occupied by various curios that the huntress had scavenged from the ruins over the years. There was no particular logic to this opulent collection except for the fact that each object had once caught her fancy for this reason or that.
After the three of them were seated, Effie returned to her pile of furs, wrapped herself in one of them and asked: "So, what's so important that you had to come and wake me up this early in the morning?"
Kane spoke, "Morning? It is noon."
Effie spoke, "Well, I woke up just now, so it is morning."
Nephis lingered for a few moments, then said: "You haven't hunted since the day we met. Right?"
Effie yawned, then said in a languid tone: "Nope. I'll go back into the ruins once my food runs out. Which will be in a day or two, I think."
Kane thought about the food quantity. 'It seems her Flaw is truly troublesome.'
Changing Star nodded. "When you do, come with us. Be our pathfinder."
Kane facepalmed. 'Next time, when recruiting a person, I should let someone else handle it.'
Effie stared at them, then threw her head back and laughed out loud. "Ah, that's a good one! Do you want me to be your nanny, too?" When her laughter died down, she shook her head and said: "No offense, kids, but you have just arrived in the Dark City. You are as green as it gets. The best hunters out here wanted me to become a part of their party, and I refused them all. Do you know why?"
Nephis and Kane nodded with a serious expression. Nephis spoke: "Most hunting parties share the spoils of their hunts. Each hunter keeps a part to eat and sells the rest to the people in the slum. But because of your Flaw, you can't allow yourself to do the same. You need all the sustenance a hunt can provide. The more partners you have, the lesser your share will become, so… you hunt alone, and never sell the meat of your prey, just their hides."
Effie smiled. "I see someone has been doing their homework."
Changing Star tilted her head a little and, not paying any attention to the irony in those words, continued: "We can solve that problem by…"
However, the solitary huntress interrupted her: "Stop. Good guess, but you are wrong. That is not why I refused all those hunters."
Kane spoke, "Then what? Is there anything you need?"
Effie spoke seriously, "No, I am content with what I have."
Nephis blinked, surprised. After a long pause, she asked, a hint of confusion in her voice: "Then… why?"
The smile disappeared from Effie's face. "Because they are weak. Every one of them is weak. Even the most successful of them are. And do you know why?" Something dark gleamed in her hazel eyes. "They are weak because Gunlaug will never allow anyone strong to exist outside of his control. So… I am not going to be your pathfinder. Sorry, princess."
Kane was baffled and thought, 'This is getting in the wrong direction,' and looked at Nephis.
Changing Star froze, obviously flustered by that answer. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again and awkwardly pressed her lips together. No matter how much she had honed her social skills during their journey through the Labyrinth, this conversation still seemed to be too much for her.
In the ensuing silence, Sunny suddenly spoke, his voice calm and slightly provoking: "He's allowing you to exist."
Effie looked at him, raised one eyebrow with a smile, and didn't say anything.
Finally, Nephis was able to compose herself: "We might be new here, but we are not weak. Between the two of us, Sunny and I have killed dozens upon dozens of Awakened creatures in the Labyrinth…"
The huntress interrupted her once again: "Even if that's true, that was there. Out here in the Dark City, things are very different." The two of them stared at each other, one with a relaxed smile on her lips, the other with stubborn flames burning in her eyes. Kane thought, 'Glutton mouth versus autistic blowtorch. Who wins?' Kane shrugged off the thought. "You know, I killed a Fallen Beast on the dark sea alone. Still thinking we won't cut it?"
Effie spoke, "You're right. But if it's just you alone…"
Kane immediately spoke, "Explain."
Effie continued, "If you were alone, I would have joined you. But about the others, I can't say."
Kane, who now understood the context, looked at the others. Nephis's face was contorting in anger, Sunny's face grimaced, and Cassie's face grew very pale. Before Kane could speak, Nephis interrupted: "So, if we... If I prove that we have strength other than Kane, you might reconsider?"
Effie chuckled. "Damn! You say it like it's easy. You do know how many people can't even step a foot into the ruins, right? If you guys survive in this hell for a few years, maybe then we can talk again."
Nephis looked at her for a while, and then smiled darkly. "We will talk again in the evening. Then, you will change your mind."
Kane looked at her again. 'Seriously, what shit am I getting into now?'