Nephis was asleep...
No. Nephis was in the Dream Realm. She was on top of a small rocky island, surrounded on all sides with water. It was pitch black, not a star in the sky. She was utterly lost, helpless in the dark, but still alert. She thought about using her flames to make darkness retreat... but no, that might....
There was someone else near her. Nephis was tense, every muscle in her body ready to pounce as she — stumbled into someone.
There was a scream, and then — the girl hugged her with surprising strength as her sobs echoed in silent darkness.
"I... I thought that... "
Nephis learned that the stranger was the blind girl in the Academy, Cassie. She was dissappointed, but it could have been worse — one of her enemies could have been there instead.
And... they lit a fire... which proved to be a very bad idea.
She fought, fear making her strikes faster and her resolve stronger. She survided.
When the dawn came, dark waters receded and she saw an endless expanse of blood red coral in all directions. What was this place? It wasn't any region she was familiar with.
They made a plan. They would have to go down, into the coralline labyrinth sooner or later. So they went... and then there was... a shadow?
A human shadow?
Nephis opened her eyes, drawing a sudden breath. Her head felt light and her body felt heavy. She almost stumbled and fell.
Splash.
Ripples on the water. Inky blackness surrounding her from all sides. Sharp, slippery rocks and choral under her feet.
Wasn't she here just a minute ago?
Nephis panted, scrambling to get away from the water. Images flashed before her yes. She closed her eyelids — though it didn't make much difference — and smiled. Brightly.
Memories that had been locked away from her were hers once again.
She exhaled, cherishing the moment.
It had been the first time she met Sunny. It was a meaningful moment and she savored the memory as she made her way away from the water. Eventually the emotions of past and future that mingled confusingly in her head had calmed and she shook her head, droplets flying in all directions. She had to concentrate on the task at hand. She had to find Cassie. It shouldn't be hard as she already knew she would be near.
With a relatively quiet voice Nephis asked:
"Is anyone here?"
She immediately got an answer. Creepily enough, a whisper sounded right beside her right ear.
"Neph?"
And then —
"Neph!"
Cassie's fingers suddenly touched her arm, and in the next moment Cassie stumbled into her. Neph caught her and blushed furiously at the same time, realizing they were both naked.
As Cassie held her, Nephis transported her armour Memory to Cassie. She flinched.
"What — "
A moment later Cassie's surprised voice echoed in silence.
"Why did you give this to me? And how do you even have Awakened Memory of sixth tier?"
Nephis looked around, fearing that Cassie's outburst might have attracted attention. Luckily there seemed to be no movement around them.
"Could you be little quieter?" Nephis whispered. "Didn't I say that I was going to help you? You need an armour more than I do. And I got it from my First Nightmare."
"Oh." Cassie was silent. "Thank you. That's amazing. But could you please tell, where are we? Does it seem like some place you would know?"
Nephis shook her head and said in a quiet voice. "No. It doesn't seem like anything I have ever read about. It's completely dark and we seem to be near a large body of water — perhaps sea."
"Are you sure? Could it be Storm Sea?" Cassie asked.
"I am sure. There's no stars or moon in the sky, and the water is much too calm."
There was a silence again. Cassie's hand trembled. "Oh no. Do you think this an unconquered region?" Her voice was wavering, like a candle of hope in her chest could snuff out from slightest wind.
"It might very well be", Nephis said, feeling bad for Cassie. It must have been horrifying situation to be in for her — they were probably as good as dead in her eyes.
"Anyway, there doesn't seem to be much we can do right now", Nephis said. "I don't think we should light a fire — it might attract something. We should probably rest and wait for the morning. Then we can get a better understanding of the situation." Nephis wasn't intending to make them a target like she had done in her last life.
"Okay." Nephis sat down on the rock and Cassie leaned into her, trying to find a comfortable spot to lie on. There wasn't any debate on who would keep watch, and Nephis wasn't even that tired. She had way too much to think about. She had to make plans and think of a way to locate Sunny. She knew now that he would in the direction of west, but where excactly, she had no idea. Last time it had been Sunny who had found them with his shadow.
Nephis concetrated on the new memory she now had, of her first meeting with Sunny, trying to obtain new information. She tried to make other memories reveal themselves by brute willpower, and to her surprise, it actually worked. The scene she had lived when transported to the Dream Realm suddenly continued in her mind. She remembered how Sunny had approached them and how suspicious she had been.
I had a good reason though. He was suspicious, second-to-last place sleeper who was never seen in classes and who still managed to take down a carapace scavenger.
It was kind of disheartening; the start of their relationship had been anything but warm. She shouldn't have expected anything more, really. They were both cautious people, and they both had secrets they wanted to keep. Sunny for example had hid both his True Name and his actual strength in the Academy, instead making himself look crazy and patetic. And Nephis... she had been like a scared child, oblivious to the world of people and trusting in nothing else but her sword.
But why it had to be so awkward? Sunny definitely thought that... actually, I have no idea what he thought...
Nephis also realized something else. The reason that Sunny had been journeying toward them had been a light he had seen at night, coming from their direction. Did it mean that they would have to risk it to attract his attention?
No, that would be stupid. Nephis decided to instead go west early tomorrow and try to find Sunny themselves. They should be able to locate the place he spend his nights on quite easily. Actually, it was probably the statue of the headless knight, short distance away from here.
*******
When the dim light of the morning graced the grey sky, Dark Sea returned to the depths of the labyrinth. Nephis told Cassie what she saw while making clothes for herself. Seaweed was less than ideal material, and she herself wasn't that skilled at this kind of thing. Truthfully she hadn't had to do anything like this in a long time.
When she was done, they descended into the labyrinth. Cassie was wary and scared for obvious reasons, but Nephis's logic was sound.
"We have to get something to eat, and we also have to scout and see what kind of environment this is. It's better to do it now when we have strength left and are not terribly hungry."
The labyrinth was just as confusing as Nephis remembered. She had to constantly scan their surroundings and be ready against any kind of danger, and she had to keep their trail in mind in case they had to retreat back to the island when night came. It was nerve racking because Nephis had no idea what lay behind the next curve or bend. They might just run into a horde carapace scavengers if they were not careful. Nephis saw clearly how important Sunny's scouting ability was in an environment like this.
She had to fight couple of times when a lonely scavenger was in their way. First time it happened Cassie was scared and clung to Nephis, not wanting to let her go. But by the third fight, Cassie had started to trust her.
"That was super fast! It took maybe a minute at most."
Nephis nodded. "These scavengers are big and strong but they lack intelligence. If one knows their weak spot, defeating it is not too hard."
"At least for you", Cassie said. "I bet anyone else would have trouble beating an awakened beast as a mere sleeper."
Nephis was little embarrassed.
"Thank you", she said. "Now, let's go. I think I see a next high point. It's a giant statue of a headless knight. We might spend our next night there."
But path to the headless knight was far more difficult than they had imagined. The labyrinth near the statue was teeming with hundreds of scavengers. Nephis soon saw what had caused such a commotion: a giant shark abomination lay on the ground just tens of meters away from the base of the statue. It was probably of the corrupted rank and had been torn apart by something even more dreadful. Now scavengers were eating its remainining flesh bit by bit.
"There's a lot of scavengers ahead. We need to try to flank them", Nephis whispered. Cassie nodded. Nephis thought for a moment and turned around, intending to to circle around the corrupted creature —
And then she spotted it.
A shadow.
A human shadow.
"Sunny... "
"What?" Cassie asked, confused. "Sunny? Is he here also?"
"His shadow is here", Nephis said. "So Sunny is most likely near. Probably on that giant statue."
When she said that, shadow nodded and pointed to the top of the statue.
"Can you lead us there?"
The shadow didn't answer — of course it didn't. Instead it just stared at her for a couple of seconds and then shrugged lit it was saying: I can try. It turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction to where Nephis had intended to go. Nephis sighed and followed.
*******
Sunny lay on top of the statue, unmoving, staring at the sky and at the same time seeing through his shadows eyes. A sigh escaped his lips. He didn't know whether to be annyoed, relieved or joyful.
It was obviously nice to have company, and company of two beautiful girls who didn't hate him like everyone else in the Academy was a stroke of miraculous luck. That, however, was what made Sunny suspicious and even angry.
Fated? It had to be that damned Attribute! Sunny felt it was all too straightforward. What were the odds that both of his newly found allies just so happened to be in the same corner of the Dream Realm as him, and supposedly under a days' march from where he had spawned? One of them was probably the weakest sleeper of the whole year, and she had somehow found herself with the company of not one but two sleepers with True Name! And to top it all, they had been sent in an unknown region of the Dream Realm...
It felt almost like reality itself had been manifactured to fit some kind of divine plot, and Sunny didn't like it one bit. He felt like a marionet dancing on the palm of a higher power. A puppet.
But there was something else, something even stranger than their supposedly fated encounter. It was that Changing Star had made an effort to befriend both Sunny and Cassie despite them being disregarded by everyone else. It was almost like she had known what would happen... But that couldn't be right, could it? It seemed unbelievable. But at the same time, was there any other explanation?
And if Nephis had known the future... what else did she know? Did she know about Sunny's Aspect? Or his Flaw? Or even his True Name? Did she want to find him just so she could enslave him?
Sunny pressed his eyelids shut and concentrated on steering the two girls in the right direction. He was suspicious, yes. But in a situation like this he couldn't just disregard potential allies. Nobody survived in the Dream Realm alone after all.
One thing was sure, though. He was going to be careful. He had translated Nephis's True Name with the help of Teacher Julius and knew precisely what it meant.
Star of Change, Star of Ruin, Star of Misfortune.