Cassie's eyes twitched beneath closed lids, then flung open. She rolled on her side and gasped for air. One hand rose to her mouth in an attempt to keep last night's dinner within her stomach and not splattered across the floor.
"Wh—Who is he?"
A rattled breath escaped her lips. A cold sweat made her skin slick. It was the same dream she had been having every few weeks since the solstice, but only now had it been described with such detail.
A silver armor, frozen voice, and soul-like abilities; she knew of only one man who fit its image. Well, the image she could put together through Sunny's vivid descriptions.
"Nico…"
That indifferent man. The one who had killed and mercilessly torn a single, useless soul shard from an honest man's corpse without a beat of hesitation or doubt. The one who had disappeared the very next week, proclaimed dead by Gunlaug himself.
Her mind feverishly worked to scrape together as much information as she could from her brief vision. They were usually etched so deeply into her psyche it was painful, but only this one proved difficult to commit to memory, almost like it didn't wish to be remembered.
'Ethereal tree… White inferno… Invasive shadow… A lying pendant that showed truth?'
Her pale fingers clutched around the hem of her blanket and pulled it tighter around her. A knot twisted her gut. A strange, uncomfortable vulnerability Cassie thought she'd rid herself of returned.
There was a lot of vague symbolisms in her frequent visions, and she had gotten quite good at deciphering them. Usually, people appeared as their true, unbiased essence. Neph was an angel or well of fire. Sunny was a deep, devouring shadow. Nico appeared to be… a tree? Some sort of tree that existed atop a deep sea and had an unnatural, translucent color.
She drew the lines between each clue quickly.
'They were fighting him, then. The shadow and flame were going to kill him when he… did something?'
Whatever it was had to do with his vague words at the end. The ones he whispered to himself, expecting no other soul to hear. Cassie was quite familiar with the concept already. Her visions tended to reveal to her things no man wished to be seen or heard.
Hoping to gain perspective, she spoke them aloud:
"Can't escape now…"
Her nails found themselves scrunched into the sheets. Who was he speaking to? Was it Sunny or Nephis? If so, wasn't he the one being subdued? Or maybe it wasn't part of the prior scenes at all, and he was speaking about something else entirely?
Golden hair splayed messily over her face as she tossed and turned. An unladylike scowl marred her features. Did he have to be so terribly vague? Her visions were always fell omens. If she couldn't decipher one in time…
"I can't—"
A respectful knock startled her out of trance. Instantly, a voice scattered the dredges of her thought, leaving only the solidified pieces — a battle between her friends and Nico, his words, and the vague imagery.
"Lady Cassia? Are you up? The strategic meeting is about to start."
A long beat passed before she did anything.
Then, she rubbed her face and put on a neutral expression. Neph's cloak found itself summoned around her.
She responded in an appropriately nice tone:
"Yes! I'll be out shortly!"
Slipping open the door a minute later and entering the hallway, the blind girl walked towards the main room. She was familiar enough with the layout of their residence to navigate herself around freely. An odd twenty or so people were gathered around a circular, stone table.
Several motioned to greet her with kind, polite smiles.
Taking her spot beside Neph and Effie, she barely listened to the planning of the hunt. It was little more than white noise as the images from her vision stole all her attention. Trying to reminisce more seemed a fool's errand, but Cassie didn't care. Her mind tried to gather more of what she'd forgotten or perhaps not even seen. Dreams were a fickle thing after all. There was a quite realistic possibility what she knew was only a tiny fraction of what had really been shown to her.
Her efforts paid off in the end as another memory resurfaced.
Before, the features of the man she'd seen were blurry — much too vague to discern. Now they were stark. He was tall, lean, and slightly tan. His eyes were twin lakes of crystal blue water. Like essence manifest, they sparkled, swirled, and dimmed in response to the changes of his soul. But despite the features he was… eerie — a statue so perfect it lacked life.
The man was both beautiful and haunting, but when she saw him the next moment, reduced to a heap of open wounds and smeared blue blood, his armor cracked open and peeled like an eggshell around him, she flinched.
His eyes were glassy.
There was a blade in his throat.
"Cassie?"
"Huh? Sorry, what?"
"Visions. Did you have any helpful visions?"
Refocusing on Neph's flat voice, she shook her head.
"I see. We shall leave now, then."
***
Cassie exhaled languidly as she entered the makeshift stone home. The hunt had gone by without a hitch. She had handed out slivers of meat to the residents of the outer settlement afterwards. Joyous, meek smiles lit their faces for a few moments, but unlike usual, they did nothing to soothe her aching mind.
Far too much was happening right now. Sunny had just abandoned his position among the cohort after killing Harper and arguing with Neph, Gunlaug was looming over them with silent, ever-present threat, and now she was beginning to have terrible visions of an even more enigmatic man.
What would come next?
Before she could even begin to wonder, another person beckoned her to the private room where Neph, Effie, Caster, and her would gather to plan out their strategy against Gunlaug's Host and the horrors of the Forgotten Shore.
It was a modest room — just a table, decorated map, couple of chairs, and shelves for storage space. Upon entering she immediately sensed something was wrong. Or, at least, different. A few summoned lanterns illuminated the interior with soft light. Neph was staring at the ground with an even-more-serious-than-usual frown. Caster was holding an envelope and what was presumably the paper inside carefully. Something sinister was moving behind his eyes.
Only Effie seemed unbothered, her legs kicked up onto the table and arms crossed with a self-amused expression — as if she was listening to a joke only she could hear.
Neph turned to meet Cassie's eyes with stiff intensity.
"We have received a letter," she began, gesturing to Caster. "From a Handmaiden. Sent by Seishan."
Cassie felt her eyes drift to the envelope in Caster's hands. According to Sunny, Seishan had been one of the more elusive members of Gunlaug's Host. He didn't dare scout on her after she almost noticed his shadow, and none of them much knew of her Aspect.
Effie snorted derisively.
"What could that humorless fiend want from us?"
Caster sighed at her lack of decorum, then held the letter in front of him. He read clearly:
"Dear Nephis, the Changing Star, last daughter of Immortal Flame, you wish to overthrow the Bright Lord and conquer the gateway of the Crimson Spire, do you not? Our goals align. It is my ardent wish to return home to my clan, and as such, I am willing to offer my and my Handmaiden's aide. You, of all people, should know how deep our loyalty lies.
We possess a powerful ally that of whom the Bright Lord would proclaim dead. Nico, Blessed of the Heart, Dawn Eternal, lives, and will return once he has accomplished his most pressing goals.
When he does, the castle's lord will fall, and the shambles left behind will be collected under a new regime.
However, it is his sincerest wish that you lead the Sleepers, and as such, mine as well. We hold no malice towards you or your people.
While I am unable to leave my post as lieutenant to offer aide, I may speak through my proxies, the Handmaidens, and freely gift the knowledge of both the Host and its history.
You will not find a better, more knowledgeable or powerful ally. I trust you to make the correct choice.
Best of luck,
Seishan Song."
No one moved after Caster put down the paper.
Then, all at once, eyes turned to Nephis. She, after all, was their leader, and in a situation as delicate as this, guidance was the first thing anyone needed.
The woman in question closed her eyes for a moment, the gears of her mind turning quickly in the background.
'That's… a shocking amount of information.'
It was hard for Nephis to admit, but undeniably true.
'So, he was more connected than he let on. Or anyone let on. How does he know the princess? How can he rely on her as an ally?'
From what she knew of the three hidden Supremes they were most certainly at odds with each other. Conspirators never lingered together for long. How could anyone trust the other after having conspired to slay one of their own?
That was of little importance compared to the other parts of the message, though.
'That name… Dawn Eternal. Is it some monicker or an actual True Name?'
If it was, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume he had a Divine Aspect like herself. The Spell didn't give True Name's out like candy, and while her mother, Smile of Heaven, had received hers without having one, she was more likely the exception than the rule.
Regardless, Nephis had a choice to make.
'Do I trust them or not?'
She pondered silently, then sighed and opened her eyes. Silver light reflected in their radiant depths.
'Trust is irrelevant. They just have to be useful until we go our separate ways…'
And Cassie, watching her alongside the others, felt the familiar prickle of intuition: a warning that something here — something now — was an integral part of her fate.