After six days, Sunny finally returned to the temple, which he now had access to normally instead of having to break the runes like before. Passing by the pile of bones, Sunny still shivered from the time he encountered the archer that had been second to last defense placed by the witch, the last being the witch herself and her minion.
Well, it wasn't exactly a minion. It was more like a companion who chose to help her reach her goal. Sunshine hit his eyes as he looked over the rows of trees in the front. They all seemed a little weaker and were losing their colors, which confused Sunny. He reached the wooden front door, opened it, and walked through the candle-lit halls, where flowerpots sat in each corner.
Reaching a seemingly ordinary door, he opened it, and inside was a large rectangular table - at least for humans - with the witch and Eliji at the end. Sunny sat at the opposite end as they quickly ended their short private conversation, the atmosphere becoming silent yet calm.
"I was wondering when you'll show up today, your shadows truly are good scouts." She said, amused, as his shadows, who were gathered around her in a circle, turned back to him and hid in his shadow.
'That's not the only thing they're useful for, you know!' Sunny thought inwardly, but did not decide to argue.
"If you're done, I'd like to discuss what I found," Sunny said nonchalantly.
"Go on"
Sunny then proceeded to describe everything he found, like the underground base with Ascended Mia leading a secret revolution as their leader. He thought about it and decided to highlight the point that the government itself is already unstable since most of the government doesn't like the new governor, who is accused of nepotism. He also told her about the annual ball held each year in the government, but didn't share his ideas for how they could use it to their advantage since he wasn't certain the witch's plan included taking over the town.
He also had an inkling of a feeling that Nephis might have been captured by Mia since she mentioned having a creature capable of healing, which, if she had obtained it before they entered the nightmare, then the group would have already known about it. However, it was merely speculation, and Sunny was more likely thinking that the creature was just a regular healer. Knowing how valuable a healer was and that it could potentially be Nephis, he didn't forget to mention that the ascended women had a healer and discussed his desire to steal it from her.
Sunny had already observed the witch's ability and knew she was able to make a sturdy enough cage to even hold a fallen demon indefinitely, with fallen devils being the threshold where, if their ability allowed it, they could break out with enough time. Sunny also knew that the ascended were also going to try to become a Saint; however, he was baffled when he learnt that humans actually didn't enter nightmares to ascend but instead developed their soul cores. During his time of rest, he had read about how to ascend through the ranks all the way to the level of a Saint, and beyond it was nothing for sovereignty and the Sacred.
It didn't bother Sunny much because he doubted that the information would be useful, as he was a holder of the spell, which meant that it could exile him from trying to ascend the normal path. Besides, even if it did work, he was deadlocked in a transitional position between ordinary and awakened, and there were no records of this happening, so it must've been a unique trait of the spell.
"Most of the information you speak of is things I had known but forgotten due to time; however, this doesn't mean that it's useless. The annual ball is something held every year as a sort of show off to traveling representatives who will attend from neighboring towns. All of the non-essential government officials and workers will be there, including Ascended Mia, so if you're able to figure out where the healer is, then you have a good chance of being able to steal it." Selena explained in detail.
"Then what should we do about Mia planning on assassinating the entire government during the ball?" Sunny asked, curious as to the answer.
If the witch was planning on taking over the town, then she could allow the government to die at Mia's hand. Then, after they all tired themselves out, the two of them -the witch and her companion - can launch a surprise attack and take out the weakened rebels. Afterward, Sunny would meet up for a rendezvous after he stole the healer before heading to the town itself and claiming themselves as leaders. Thus, the witch will become the leader and conclude the nightmare with the town's leader being her.
'It's nothing short of brilliant!'
"We will stop the assassination while you steal the healer, thus giving you enough time to steal and keep the government alive," she said casually.
... what?' Sunny's head went silent for a moment as his face was like a stone wall.
Sunny calmed himself down and tried his best not to look visibly shaken, which took a big effort, after all, he couldn't see the reasoning for this approach at all!
'Why the hell would you want them alive!'
"W-why keep them alive? Wouldn't it just be easier killing Mia and her subordinates be easier and faster?" Sunny questioned with a choked voice, fighting hard not to throw a flurry of insults relating to her intelligence.
Selena could tell that he was distraught, so she didn't linger to give an explanation."You're probably thinking this goes against my plans that you've thought I had when listening in on my private conversation with Eliji and that I want to take over the town or something similar, don't you?" At this, Sunny felt exposed as he couldn't stand the fury of emotions in his heart and let out a shiver.
'S-She knew about that! Damnation!'
Before he could explain himself, Selena broke out in a hearty laugh.
"From your reaction, it confirms that you have been eavesdropping on my private conversations with Eliji. I was merely bluffing to see if you knew anything. Indeed, your shadows are quite good at being hidden since I wasn't able to notice them during your spying."
Sunny immediately panicked before calming down once seeing there wasn't any anger or resentment in her face. He also realized that she was right, but was wrong in how she figured it out, since Sunny used [Ordinary Rock] as it was more inconspicuous.
'0-2 my shadows and [Ordinary Rock]? Maybe I should start calling it extraordinary rock, Sunny mindlessly thought before nodding to confirm he had been spying.
"I won't tell you what my plan is, as that is not for you to know, and I'm doing you a favor as well. Once the time comes, I'll send you away so that you're not affected; it's the least I could do before I initiate it. As for why we're going with this approach is that my plan needs as many people as possible alive." She explained as if she were telling the weather.
Sunny was dumbfounded as to what the witch was planning now, after all his previous theories had been disproven by her personally. There was the chance she could be lying, and Sunny didn't overlook this, but he doubted it since there was no reason for her to lie. It was obvious that the witch didn't mind him knowing she was planning something; perhaps she had even been waiting for the perfect moment to tell him that she had a plan. However, she was secretive and didn't want Sunny to know exactly what she was planning. Whether to prevent him from trying to stop her because it was something bad or merely wanted to decrease the chance of it being leaked even if Sunny was captured, he didn't know.
Sunny wondered if her plan had something to do with the future, specifically the tree that was in the middle of the forest that even Serpent couldn't deal damage to, and had to dig around it to reach the Nightmare seed stuck deep within the roots. He knew she could control plants, that she was experimenting with the tree plants outside her temple, and that she desired something from the experiments. But it was all merely speculation since it could have been that she was trying to grow a tree with special properties to increase her defenses. He didn't have enough information to make a concrete guess, so he didn't try to guess the witch's plan anymore.
'At the very least, I know that when she starts it, I don't want to stick around to find out. And it also needs a huge pool of people for some reason.' He concluded before speaking up.
"As for the reason why, you sent me to scout in the first place. I have no clue if or when they'll send out scout parties to find and kill you. The best news I could give you is that they won't be proactively searching for you, although it's best you don't try to show yourself anywhere near here, or better yet, not get caught at all. As well as that, they don't know where we're located. Even Ascended Mia tends to deal with you after taking over the town, most likely because she'll have better control of forces and power to do so after the aftermath of the assassination. In my opinion, I think it's best you don't head out for a while, so as not to push their agenda in trying to hunt you down anytime soon."
Sunny wanted to massage his head from everything that was happening silently in the background. It reminded Sunny of the Bright castle situation, where, after Gunlaug's death, infighting between factions competing with each other for total dominance. Memories arose inside his mind as he was reminded of the bloodshed that his former girlfriend, Nephis, participated in, and so did he by supplying her army with memories from Steve. Sunny had seen Steve's corpse in the aftermath and made sure to make a proper grave for him. He was someone who inspired Sunny to be a memory merchant if he returned to the Waking world and left a deep impression on Sunny for pursuing Sunny's brilliant Memory Empire.
The witch seemed to be in deep, though, which Sunny had expected, considering he was advising her to stay hidden, which could halt the formative stages of her plane. Sunny had subtly hinted at this by emphasizing the part where it'll be better if she stayed at their base.
"Very well then, I'll leave subsequent missions to both of you. Mostly of them to you, Sunless." She said the last sentence in a teasing and joking tone, which made Sunny feel regret.
"Don't worry, although most of them are out of your league since you're not at my strength, I'll have Eliji come along with you while I stay back as the helpless damsel."
'She really isn't as mature as she seems.' Sunny groaned, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling at the deprecating jokes.
Getting up, she went to one of the many cabinets behind her and rummaged through the papers inside. While she searched, Eliji gave him a stare that was a mix of anger and gratefulness, which Sunny didn't know where the emotions came from.
'Is he really being pissy about having to do extra work?' It dawned on Sunny as he realized he had given them more work to do.
However, what confused him was his seeing gratitude. Was the monster feeling regretful for something between him and the witch, and by taking over her work it was he essentially making it up to her? Sunny couldn't possibly confirm it as he wasn't as jumpy to spy on secret conversations now that he knew the witch knew of his spying. Selena eventually found what she was looking for inside her cabinet behind her, a map depicting the forest.
"Going about 20 miles southwest from here, there is a colony of awakened creatures that serve under their Fallen Tyrant. They're a pain in the ass as they can bypass my barrier around our home, as well as pose a direct counter to my aspect. Therefore, in order not to allow the creature to be in control of Ascended Mia, who can control creatures, I want you both to go defeat the colony and destroy the eggs that are hidden inside their underground nest to stop them from ever returning." She explained to them in detail, as well as showing a rough layout of the base, which she obtained by using the underground roots to feel for empty spaces and tunnels, which Sunny thought was an extremely clever way of using one's aspect.
'A Fallen Tyrant...' It wouldn't be his first time killing a Fallen Tyrant, as when Sunny and Neph had been in the future forest previously, they encountered great dangers. As one ventured deeper into the jungle, the nightmare creatures only got stronger, with the weakest being Awakened Demons on the outskirts of the jungle, which was where they first were.
One time, they were forced to battle against an injured Fallen Tyrant as they were chased by a pack of wolf-like creatures of the Fallen rank. Nephis had even almost been forced to destroy her core, but Sunny was able to create an opening for himself and was able to destroy the insides of the tyrant with [Ashwake]. Of course, Sunny knew that they never would've truly had the chance to kill the tyrant if it wasn't for the unique circumstances and the willingness to throw everything at it to escape. However, things were different now as Eliji was a Fallen Demon, a creature that wasn't on the level of a tyrant, but with Sunny's help, he was sure that together they would win.
However, he made sure not to get cocky, as many things could go wrong, which would lead to their deaths.
Continuing to smile, she handed the map to Sunny, who stuffed it into his chest, made from the skin of nightmare creatures, which made it quite resilient to the elements and damage. After discussing mundane matters, all three of them dispersed from the table, each to do their own thing. Sunny went to his room, which was barely touched since he mostly only used it for sleeping and resting. He didn't want to get too attached to the nicely made room because he knew it was only temporary; everything was merely an illusion, including the witch, Eliji, and all the townsfolk.
He remembered when the officer told him not to feel anything and to look at everyone in the nightmare as mere illusions or fakes. In the first nightmare, it was quite easy not to get attached to anyone since they either wanted him dead or...
'Actually, everyone just wanted me dead there.' Sunny morbidly thought as he let out a hollow chuckle.
***
After a week, Sunny was preparing himself for the battle to come in his room. He had summoned [Mantle of the Underworld], [Shadow of the Drowned Moon], his twin daggers, [Ashwake], and finally [Midnight Shard]. After mentally preparing himself, he walked out of his room and walked through the halls until he met Eliji at the edge of the boundary, who didn't have anything. Sunny knew that Eliji, without any armor or weapons, was a true juggernaut in the sense that his body was made to take and deal heavy hits.
If it weren't for Selena telling him that his aspect was solely focused on physical attributes, then he would have thought that his aspect was similar to Effie's. His aspect was mainly focused on both being strong and summoning, specifically the undead. The forest was filled with dead spirits that he could channel to use in battle or tasks. Sunny calculated that his aspect was a Transcendent-ranked aspect, considering how powerful and versatile his aspect was, which motivated Sunny to beat the second nightmare even more, since he wanted to know how powerful a Divine aspect holder like him and Nephis would be.
'I wonder what his flaw is for being so strong.' He thought as he walked up to Eliji, who only spared him a look before walking away into the forest, with Sunny tailing him.While crossing the enchantment, Sunny felt a small, almost unnoticeable change that notified him of them officially leaving the safe haven. Continuing to walk along as if not noticing it, they traversed the forest with impressive speed, as they walked surprisingly fast towards their destination.
***
I'm sorry for being away for a bit. I simply got busy.