With Sunny sounding the bell for the Army's retreat, Audun's platinum veil protecting them from the Sun's wrath, and Nephis organizing and guiding them, the Sleepers of the Forgotten Shore successfully made it to the safe shade of the Crimson Spire.
Though most were battered and beaten, the injuries that they had sustained had been minor at best— with nearly all of the sleepers who had participated in the battle surviving to this point.
Some of the archers stationed at the very back lines, and a few non-combatants, hadn't been able to go the full distance before perishing in the soul-reaping light, but they made up a minority of the thousand sleepers that had been trapped on this acursed land.
After gathering their bearings and taking stock of their situation, Nephis, Effie, Caster, Kai, Sunny, Audun, and Cassie found a quiet yet open spot in the coral-infested hall to hold a brief meeting.
Nephis appeared largely untouched, with her armor and condition nearly the same as they had been when the battle began.
"Did any of you manage to get a rough estimate of our numbers?"
Effie, though slightly more disheveled than the white-haired girl, was in a similar state to her.
She spoke up.
"'Round the same as we started with, princess. I spotted a few of ours getting tripped up in the field of corpses, but I'm pretty sure most of them made it through. Plus, this guy was swooping down there to grab whatever stragglers he could, so I'm pretty positive our losses are minimal."
Effie stuck her thumb out at the idol, causing him to smile modestly.
"I just did what I could."
Nephis acknowledged them with a brief nod before falling into thought, her brows furrowing slightly.
This time, Sunny spoke up.
Remarkably at ease, the black-haired sleeper spared a passing glance at the crowd of sleepers in the distance.
"We weren't really expecting too many losses, but this is a little more than we anticipated. Any changes to the plan?"
He turned his attention to Nephis, who, noticing his gaze, slipped out of her thoughtfulness.
She spoke with a small sigh.
"Yes. Though it's still mostly the same."
Gesturing toward the blonde swordsman, Nephis continued.
"As Audun handles the terror, the rest of us will be responsible for the other sleepers. Sunny and I will pave a path for our ascension, while the rest of you will divvy the survivors amongst yourselves and guide your respective groups up the spire while defending them from whatever stragglers we missed."
It was a rather straightforward plan.
"Any questions?"
Surprisingly, this time, Caster was the one to speak up.
"Is there any reason why Sir Audun must be the one to take on the terror? I believe Sunny has proved himself just as capable of taking on a foe of that level, and Sir Audun has an aspect better suited for large-scale battles, does he not? Would it not be better for Sunny and perhaps Lady Changing Star to face the terror while Sir Audun guides us to the gate?"
Effie considered it for a brief moment before nodding as well.
"I sort of agree. I feel like sending Prince Charming over here to wail on the terror might be a little overkill. Sure, Sunny has a better aspect for scouting and reconnaissance, but I feel like he also wouldn't really have much trouble with the terror. Plus, considering how much this guy juiced up the others during the battle, all of us could probably head up to fight the bastard, and the others would still be alright."
Nephis considered this for a brief moment, but the swordsman in question spoke up first.
"... I can't replicate what I did during the battle. It takes too much energy, and I'm running on empty."
Caster frowned.
"Then shouldn't—"
"I can take on the terror with confidence, but I can't really say the same about protecting the army."
Audun shrugged as he continued.
"Also, Sunny will probably be able to locate the gate a lot faster than I could. With how many we have, guiding everyone back to the waking world will probably take a while, so time is of the essence."
The legacy was about to speak up, but Sunny interrupted him with a cold look.
"If you think we're lacking manpower, Gunlaug's old cabinet should be capable of pulling their weight. We could always grant them leadership roles and assign them their own groups."
Nephis, Audun, and Sunny engaged in a brief exchange through eye contact before Nephis let out a small breath.
"We will proceed as intended, Caster."
The legacy stiffened for a brief moment before nodding and lowering his gaze, his expression utterly neutral.
Nephis turned her attention to the only other person who had raised a question, but Effie raised her arms up in mock surrender.
"Doesn't really matter to me. As long as we get out of this fucking place, I couldn't care less about how we do it."
With a brief nod, Nephis addressed the group.
"Then, let's begin. We shall reconvene when we're ready."
Nodding, Kai, Effie, and Caster hustled to assemble their respective groups, though the legacy had a noticeable look of annoyance on his face.
This left the two Stars, the Shadow, and the Seer to continue their talk.
Audun was the first to speak up.
His features were fraught with helplessness.
"I want you guys to take Cassie with you."
The Blue-eyed girl looked almost dazed, with her features remaining utterly blank.
Perhaps due to her usual lack of presence during their meetings, Sunny and Nephis hadn't taken note of this abnormality.
Nephis narrowed her eyebrows.
"What happened to her?"
Audun shook his head with a helpless expression.
"She was feeling a little uneasy earlier. Something about a bad feeling."
Sunny winced.
"A seer having a bad feeling feels a little... ominous."
Audun shrugged.
"I'm kind of at a loss. I've been extra vigilant this whole time, and I haven't noticed anything too out of the ordinary— well, aside from the soul-damaging sun."
Nephis frowned as if considering something.
"... So then, what do you want us to do?"
Audun hesitated.
"She seems to be thinking about something, or maybe she's having some sort of vision— I digress. Either way, I don't think she's in any state to be leading a group right now."
He continued.
"Quiet Dancer should be enough to keep her safe, but if you could have Inky or Saint watch over her too, so she doesn't fall behind, and keep her by your side, that'd be great."
Sunny nodded with a vaguely complicated expression.
"I don't have a problem with that or anything... But are you sure it's all right to just leave her like this? Also, are we really just gonna ignore the elephant in the room?"
Sunny shook his head animatedly.
"The Soul Damaging Sun is one thing, but don't you guys feel like everything is going a little too well? I'm not trying to be paranoid or anything, but Cassie's original vision played out a lot differently than this."
Audun frowned as Sunny continued.
"What happened to the copious amounts of death and peril...? I dunno, I just thought we'd have a lot more trouble defying 'Fate'."
Nephis considered this for a moment.
"Maybe you're right... But it's too late to fret about it now. All we can do is keep our guard up and see this out till the end."
Audun nodded.
"Yeah— Let's just hurry up and get this done so we can get out of here."
Sunny frowned, though, after a beat, he let out a breath and shrugged.
"Fair enough."
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Everything after arriving at the Spire had become a blur to Cassie.
The faint sense of incongruity that had blossomed in her heart had gnawed at her conscience, forcing her into an endless spiral of confusion.
Usually, a single deviation wouldn't have been enough to shake her as much as this, but her heart's desperate knocking told her that something was truly and utterly wrong.
Thus, she began to retrace her steps— trying to remember every choice that had led her to this moment.
She recalled her departure from the hut— more specifically, the vision that she had had at the time.
While summoning the memory had been rather easy, with the vividness of the imagery firmly implanted in her mind— When she tried to remember the emotions she had felt, or the thoughts she had at the time, it was as if some sort of fog was preventing her from completely reliving the moment.
She had frowned, finding it odd, yet Cassie continued to peruse her memories.
Most of them had come to her right away, with the records being untainted and pure— but there were still a few odd instances here and there.
Every so often, Cassie would vaguely recall having an important vision, but when she actually tried to remember what it was she saw, it was as if the memory had vanished.
The frown on her face deepened as the occurrence became more and more common, with the holes in her recollection being brought to light.
'How did I not... notice this...?'
It was strange.
Incredibly strange.
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(A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed the double release.
I felt the first chapter I wrote was kinda short, so I worked a little more and wrote a chapter to go alongside it. )