Tessai slammed down another shot. The honey-rich liquid burned as it settled in his stomach, and he had to fight against the urge to retch it all back up a moment later.
"Another," he sputtered, then wiped the residue off his lips and slid his glass across the countertop.
The bartender muttered with dissatisfaction but poured regardless. Tessai sighed wearily. The buzz of the party rattled his head, swallowing all thoughts in the deluge. He lowered his head into his hands, his eyes and ears both covered, yet it didn't help at all — everything was too quiet and too loud, too dark and too bright, too hot and too cold.
Too much. Too pointless. Too hard.
'Ugh.'
Gods, he was wasted.
Memories sloshed around in his mind like jelly.
What a fucking joke.
It had only been a couple hours since he'd seen Nico, and he was already in shambles.
Alcohol usually didn't pose so much as a threat to Awakened, but the bar owner's Aspect allowed her to bypass that entirely. Parties ran seven days a week from dusk till dawn. Big-shot clans often paid specifically for jugs of their booze.
The price was high, but what else did Tessai have to throw his money into?
He groaned quietly.
"You sure you need another, man?"
Refocusing on the bartender's gruff voice, Tessai slumped further and patted the table twice.
"Yeah, yeah," Tessai waved his other hand, his voice slightly askew. "Ugh — fine. Just," he hiccupped, "slide over."
Silence reigned for a few moments. The giant man dragged one eyelid open, confused, but the bartender had just begun to slowly push the glass — half-full and sparkling — back towards him.
He said:
"One more, man, but I'm cutting you off." A moment passed as he carefully observed Tessai. "I mean, you're completely wasted. Go home and get some sleep. The effects should wear off in a couple hours, or when you enter the Dream Realm, but I don't need you burning this whole place down in the meantime."
As the bartender stopped speaking, the room dropped a couple degrees. Tessai's strained, miserable face twisted into a scowl. He stood up suddenly and awkwardly, wobbling, and knocked the seat behind him to the floor.
"Do know who you're talking to? Look at me, I'm fine." He leaned over the countertop for support. "If I want another one —" he stifled another hiccup, "— then can pour me another one!"
Strobe lights flashed on the walls of booze behind the counter. The bartender's eyes narrowed and locked onto Tessai. Then, his gaze slipped past the giant, and a sudden weight descended on Tessai's shoulder. He turned around, now furious, to meet a grizzled young Awakened's gaze. His hand was on the giant's shoulder. The entire room was dead silent.
Tessai glared with open loathing, then shrugged the man's hand away and turned back around. He downed this shot quicker than the last, then lamented the fact he'd knocked over his seat.
A couple moments passed.
The man behind him still hadn't left.
'This… Ugh, whatever.'
Tessai sniffled, knocked over the empty glass, and shouldered past the wannabe hero on his way out.
'Fucking lunatics.' His steps were uneven, and he bumped into a couple things—and people—while walking through the crowd. A couple shot him nasty looks as he roughly pushed them apart, and a few even hurled insults before Tessai made it to the door and threw it open.
Tessai grumbled incoherently, stepping outside. The door slammed shut behind him. Not many were out at this time of night, so the sidewalk was his to roam. Rain pelted his skin and doused his clothes. A single breath was all it took to freeze the droplets around him, each suspended in an invisible current before gliding past him.
Looking up, Tessai saw the moon. He saw the bright light it emanated filtered through the storm clouds—and his drunken vision. Memories of the shore came back to him. How, at first, he had been sure that he would see this celestial view again. Then, how he slowly resigned to the fact he wouldn't, and decided to make the Bright Castle his home instead.
For a man from the Outskirts, he'd come far, hadn't he?
'As if. ' Tessai balled his fists. One breath. Two. 'Just gotta stop thinking.'
He kicked at a cracked section in the pavement, widening it noticeably. The thoughts came despite his declaration. Did someone put some sort of mind hex on him? Annoying…
His breathing slowed.
No matter how tall he grew, how strong he was, or how cold he wanted to be, he still had nothing. His home was wherever the world shoved him next. First it was the dumpsters between alleys, then the lavish halls in a forsaken realm, and now just the modern rooms of the Awakened Academy. All he knew how to do was fight, drink, and lie. What more was there to do in life?
He staggered suddenly, wandering into a small side-street before tripping and colliding with the concrete. It did little more than scratch his nose and rattle his head, but he let out a pained groan anyway. He released hold of his Aspect and let the rain wash him away. The cold was familiar. It consumed his body, letting everything else fade into numbness.
Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing had ever mattered, it was just that Tessai so desperately hoped that it did.
And that sudden realization wasn't so shocking, now was it?
'Nah… not at all.'
He gasped as if out of breath, then felt his shoulders tremble.
"Shit," he mumbled, then brought his hand up and rubbed his eyes. He felt as though he was crying, but that couldn't be right, could it?
Tessai knew the answer but denied it anyway. And as the grief settled, drowned somewhere in the storm, inconsolable spite clawed up through his chest. Only, unlike ever before, it sputtered half-heartedly before being swallowed back to the deepest recesses of his mind.
He couldn't even be bothered to get mad.
Climbing to his knees, Tessai slicked his hair back and dragged a hand down his face.
It was all bullshit.
He hated the world — for how he'd been born, and for all the struggling he'd endured because of it. He hated the Outskirts. He hated the Spell. He hated the Nightmare Creatures. He hated Gunlaug. He hated every damn thing that had been spat out of and regurgitated from oblivion for him to fight or torture or kill.
'Not fucking worth it. It's not worth it.'
Spotting a jagged shard of glass in the corner of his vision, Tessai staggered to a stand, stumbled over, and bent down to pick it up. The broken fragment was dirty, reflecting a warped version of his own bloodshot eyes back at him. He sighed, and a blue hue tinged his skin as the object rapidly cooled.
'I can't do this anymore.'
He raised the shard. Memories replayed like broken records — his own malnourished skin, an inescapable cavern of ice, the first plate of warm food he'd seen in ages, a sea of black water and the labyrinth of crimson coral hidden beneath, hundreds upon hundreds of faces that had been maimed and slaughtered, a set of golden armor and the dread it invoked, a girl wreathed in white flames and a small, unassuming boy in dark clothes next to her. And, finally, a smoky figure with crimson flames for eyes and its cruel master. And his deep blue eyes — vast as the ocean, clear as the sky, cold as ice.
Cold as Tessai.
'I can't…'
He grabbed the overgrown excess of his hair, then brought the shard down. It cleaved through easily, amplified by soul essence and negative temperature.
'Nico.'
If that bastard was really going to offer him a way out of this hellish mundanity, then he'd better not pussy out half-way.
***
…A week later, Cassie returned from the Dream Realm. It was dawn. Her sleeping pod opened with a mechanical hiss, and she stepped out onto the soft carpet. The clatter of metal pans and footsteps reached her ears from downstairs. Yawning, she swept a strand of hair from her face, her other hand reaching out to grab her communicator off the dresser.
'I'm home.'
A small smile graced her lips. She returned to spend time with her parents often, but after a full year on the Forgotten Shore — where she had expected to die around every corner and couldn't even imagine the horrors her companions had fought — it was always a pleasant experience.
Unbidden, in the shadow of her happiness, a familiar guilt coiled around her heart. Sunny was still fighting. He would always be fighting, struggling, grasping towards the light of a furious star. In that way, she could never be satisfied — not until she returned him his freedom and amended her sin.
"Honey, breakfast is ready! I know you're awake up there! Come on down!"
Cassie snapped out of her thoughts.
Sighing, she replied:
"I'll be there in a minute!"
***
Cassie stepped out of her house an hour or so later. She was dressed in fitted black slacks and a white blouse. Her pale blonde hair was tied back into a loose ponytail, and a pair of polarized sunglasses covered her blue eyes. The [Quiet Dancer] sat at her hip, one of her hands resting idly on its hilt.
She saw — or, rather, sensed through every other medium — both the present and the future.
Which is how she knew that her ride was going to appear in just over six seconds.
And, just as she divined, tires screeched over asphalt moments later, and a PTV slowly rolled to a stop beside her house. There was a quiet click, and then a jovial voice said:
"Morning, Cassie! It's so good to see you!"
It was none other than Kai, the singer Night and a former member of her own cohort. She could only imagine his resplendence now that he had Awakened.
"Good morning, Kai." She smiled. "It's been a while. How have you been?"
He sighed. The distinct, sweet smell of pine wood permeated the air.
"Busy. Very busy. Resettling back into the swing of things has been a roller coaster, and Gale and our agency have run me ragged." His footsteps were light as he took a couple steps closer. "I would love to tell you all about it, however, I fear we might be late if we don't hurry. Shall we go?"
Cassie nodded.
"That would be prudent."
Kai gently grasped her hand, then led her into the PTV. The driver started without instruction, and they sped off towards the inner city.
"I can't help but be a little nervous," Kai confessed a moment later. "I mean, a movie dedicated to the Forgotten Shore that will depict all of us…"
Cassie stifled a giggle. "Aren't you supposed to the celebrity, Kai?"
He let out an exaggerated, good-natured sigh.
"That's what Aiko said… can't you guys see the difference? I mean, singing on stage is a performance! I wouldn't say it's not real, but it's still only a stage! The Forgotten Shore, though, it's actual event from our lives!"
She turned her head to face him.
"When you put it that way, I suppose it makes sense." She paused. Then, the thought of seeing herself, scared and weak, dragged along by Sunny and Nephis, reentered her mind. "I… am not too excited myself."
Kai hummed somberly. A couple moments passed. Eventually, he warily asked:
"Were you given a copy of the script?"
She blinked, then tilted her head to the side.
"I'm blind."
There was an awkward chuckle from the archer, and Cassie tried to imagine Kai's face flush in embarrassment. The picture was amusing.
"A-Ah, yes, right." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'm sure they'll discuss it later…"
Was she imagining it, or did his tone sound somewhat malevolent — like someone caught up in a conspiracy.
'That can't be right.'
Cassie shook her head, then refocused back on the present.
"Do you know who Clan Song will be sending?"
The movie, A Song Of Light And Darkness, was set to be a depiction of Nephis and Sunny's, and Nico and Seishan's journey through the Forgotten Shore. As the most notable Sleepers, whose accomplishments paved the way for the Dreamer Army to return home, their stories were the obvious choices. All in all, it was set to be practically two movies in one, and a massive undertaking that was estimated to run upwards of four hours.
And, since the director fervently wished for an in-person meeting instead of sending an electronic questionnaire, Kai and Cassie had decided to go inform the directors of their experiences. Someone from Song, if they could spare the time, would also be sent.
"That's beyond me," Kai ultimately replied. "But, if I had to guess, it will be someone who had been there for a long time — long enough to know both Seishan and Nico's experiences. I heard that Kido and Gemma joined Song. Maybe it'll be them?"
Cassie clasped her hands in her lap.
"Yes, that's a reasonable guess."
However, despite her words, she couldn't shake the strange feeling in her gut that he was wrong. Fate was fickle with its visions, but her intuition proved more reliable, even if it was just as vague.
It probably wouldn't be either of the lieutenants. Cassie knew that to be true.
Light conversation followed afterwards. Kai went into detail about how his past few weeks working with Gale and Aiko had been. They were making a new album, and Kai seemed a little tense when discussing his relationship with his former partner. Still, he was enthusiastic, even going so far as to play a couple snippets of the first finished one.
Cassie's heart almost stopped from the awe.
'I'll have to gloat to Nephis later.'
However, before she could finagle the idol into letting her listen to more, the PTV parked at their destination.
The driver stepped out and opened Kai's door. She followed him out, and the warmth of the sun graced her skin.
"Ready?" Kai asked, standing at the door.
Cassie nodded.
"Let's go."