"Excuse me?"
"I might explain it someday", Nephis said. "Forget what I said. It's not important."
Kai's expression fell and Nephis realized that the singer's Flaw had detected her lie. Of course what she had said was important — not only important, paramount. Her coming back in time and in turn disrupting fate might be the most important thing that had happened since the arrival of the Nightmare Spell.
"If you say so... Now, what is your name, miss?"
Nephis signaled Cassie that the question had been directed to her. For a moment she feared that her friend might faint, but eventually Cassie gathered herself.
"It's Cassie. Nice to meet you... and yes, we came here only two days ago."
"We spent a month in the labyrinth", Nephis explained. "But eventually found our way into the city. Too bad that the gateway wasn't here."
"Indeed... It was quite a shock for me at the time. But you seem to be coping well? And a whole month in the labyrinth by yourself, you said? That's very impressive."
"Thank you", Nephis said. "We actually had a third friend with us, but he is not with us here... In any case, I wanted to speak with you. It is of paramount importance."
Kai looked surprised. "Really? What could be so important?"
"If you come with us, I'll tell you", Nephis said. "Do not worry, what I'm about to tell you is also in your best interests. I am not trying to trick you into anything."
Kai scratched his head. "I see you have heard of my Flaw. It's not like it's a big secret, obviously." He smiled. "I've found that it makes many interactions much easier."
"Your Flaw?" Cassie asked.
Kai looked at her. "My Flaw is that I know when people are lying. It is quite handy, sometimes."
"Is that really a Flaw?"
"Not for most people", Kai said. His expression turned wistful.
Somewhere along the way they had exited the previous chamber and now Nephis was guiding them towards her and Cassie's room. Kai was following them so he had evidently believed Nephis. Not that he had much choice, obviously.
"I know what you are thinking, you know", Kai continued. "But when you are famous person like me and believe yourself to be on top of the world, only to find out that most of the people around you are there only for money or recognition... it is devastating."
"The Spell knows many things", Nephis interjected. "A Flaw is always tailored to the individual, to strike where it hurts the most. But you should not despair. Flaw is also meant to strengthen you, for only imperfect things can grow."
Kai chuckled. "Thank you. That was quite a philosophical thought. And maybe it is true, who knows?"
"Your Flaw has brought you pain", Nephis continued. "But on the other hand it will guide you to those people who are indeed sincere and honest. Could you have found them without your Flaw? Probably not."
Now both Kai and Cassie were listening to Nephis intently. Both of them seemed surprised by sudden outburst of speech. Nephis wondered what Kai thought about her use of past tense.
She was usually quiet; often times she didn't know what to say or how find the right words, and when she opened her mouth the thoughts she had came out blunt and unsophisticated. But there were always certain moments... it probably had to do with the current company as well as the topic of the discussion. Nephis knew all about how painful a person's Flaw could be after all. But because of that she also knew better than anyone how to overcome that pain.
"I see you are a very wise person, Nephis", Kai said. "I'll try to take your advice to heart and maybe I'll indeed find a person like that. Or people."
Nephis nodded. "Good. We're here, please come inside."
Cassie and Kai followed her to their room. It was becoming a regular meeting place these days. Nephis knocked on the wall that was between their room and Sunny's to notify him - although Sunny had probably sensed them already.
"We'll wait for one more person - there he is."
Sunny came in through the door. "I was actually spying — " he saw Kai — "well, not really spying, more like watching Seishan from afar. Nephis? Who is this pretty boy?"
Cassie's jaw dropped to the floor and Nephis smiled. Kai looked at Sunny with interest all the while Sunny looked him with disgust — or maybe jealousy.
"I'm Kai", the singer extended his hand. "I assume you are the third member of this friend group?"
"I wouldn't call it a friend group", Sunny scoffed. "But yes. My name is Sunless, but people call me Sunny."
"Well, nice to meet you, Sunless."
Cassie, meanwhile, was hiding her face behind her hands. "Sunny, don't you know who he is?"
"No? Why should I? Is he some kind of celebrity crush of yours? Not that I know what that means."
"What — no! He is — he is the Night!"
Sunny was still clueless and Nephis decided to bring an end to this discussion.
"Sunny, Kai is a famous singer from the Nightingale group. I'll forgive you for not knowing him since you are from the outskirts... But he's also our friend. We'll need him for our plan."
*******
Kai was not at all convinced about the plan.
Nephis had decided not to tell him everything yet, both because of the location and because Kai didn't know her well at this point in time. Eventually she would tell the truth to all of the cohort members, but she wanted to at least have Effie present as well. And probably build some trust between them before dropping a bombshell like that.
They didn't need Kai for the first phase of the plan — for negotiating with Gunlaug, that was. But Nephis would really like to have him on the expedition later. Kai needed to have experience and gain strength, because his potential was vast — far greater than he himself could have imagined.
And it really wouldn't hurt to also have Kai present in the meeting: Nephis definitely wanted to know if Gunlaug was lying to their face.
In the end it was agreed that Kai would be with them. Nephis was satisfied, and she was even more satisfied a day after when Caster told her he had relayed her message to the golden monarch.
Caster informed them that Gunlaug wanted to have a meeting in his own quarters — an expected outcome. Nephis told him that that wouldn't do so in the end the parties agreed to meet each other at the castle's entrance hall. The hall would be cleared of all regular people and Gunlaug would post guards to both doors to ensure the secrecy of the meeting. Nephis didn't like being surrounded, but at least they had an easy way out in case of emergency. She was confident they could deal with the guards fairly easily.
Gunlaug had also agreed to only bring four others with him since Nephis also had four companions. That would probably mean Teshai, Gemma, Harus and maybe Seishan. Nephis still hadn't reached her, but she really wanted to. Seishan was smart and would ally herself with their cause even if Gunlaug decided otherwise.
Nephis didn't really like politics. She had her philosophical side, but mostly she was a straightforward person. She was a general at heart, good at leading battles but not that good at dealing with differing opinions and viewpoints of dull topics. Good thing that this was going to be a strategy meeting more than anything else. They would lay out a battle plan against the forces of Forgotten Shore. There would be questions about the command structure of the sleepers and the authority of the leaders among the inhabitants of the city, things like that... but Nephis didn't care too much about it. The main thing was to get Gunlaug to open up to the idea that the escape was possible.
All of the details kept coming to her mind as she laid on their bed with Cassie on their final night before the meeting. It was not the most important one she had attended over the years, but she felt like it would be the first big difference she made to the original timeline — aside from enslaving Sunny, but that had probably happened as well, only in a different point of time.
Cassie stirred at her side. Nephis could sense her breathing becoming a bit quicker. In the next second she was awake.
Nephis was silent for some time. Then she gently tapped Cassie on the shoulder.
"What is it? Did you have a vision?"
Cassie sat up suddenly. She gripped Nephis's arm tightly. "Yes... We need to get out."
Nephis frowned. She trusted Cassie far too much to question the information, but she was still surprised.
"Are we in danger?" she asked, at the same time standing up and summoning the starlight legion armor. Blessing materialized in her other hand.
"It's Caster. He's been lying to us", Cassie said.
Oh no... and here I thought I could spare him this time...
What Cassie said could only mean one thing...
They had been betrayed.
There was no time to waste. They hurried out of the room and knocked on Sunny's door before storming in. Sunny woke up flabbergasted and annoyed, but before he said anything he had already summoned his armor and sword.
"Damnation! What is it now?"
"We are about to — "
And at that second, everything became black.
Suddenly Nephis saw nothing. Her eyes stopped working as though she had become blind. Was this some kind of mind attack? If so, it was extremely strong. Nephis didn't have special memories to give her resistance to mind attacks, but she had a strong Will and sharp instincts. No, this had to be something else. Maybe some insidious Aspect.
Aspect that made others blind? That would be perfect for an assassin...
It's Harus, Nephis realized. Many things clicked onto place, but she didn't have time to think about them, because they were clearly under attack. She grabbed Cassie tightly and dove to the ground. She felt an airflow ruffle her hair and guessed that she had just dodged a heavy blow. Without thinking she also activated her Aspect. She was not easy to kill even if Harus managed to land a strike.
Nephis realized that their only hope lie now with Sunny. He could still sense shadows around him and thus would not be immobilized. She silently cursed the situation. There were not many ways to render her helpless but this... this had to be one of those few.
Chaotic clashes of metal reached her ears, indicating that Harus and Sunny were now facing each other. Sunny was definitely better fighter of the two but he didn't have even half of his core saturated and would be weaker even with the enhancement of his shadow. And Nephis guessed he had probably not fought much with only his shadow sense — there had never been any need.
I should have told him to practice it...
Nephis realized that she still could do something to help. There was probably going to be other assassins with Harus - and Caster would be there as well - so the hunchback had to die fast. In the heat of the moment she did something that she had not thought of before but that felt weirdly instinctual: she focused and transferred her flames to Sunny.
She had never before thought of that possibility, but it felt easy, natural even. The fire surged from her and she felt the loss in her strength and speed. It didn't bother her, however, because she knew that Sunny would now be twice as strong as before... and effectively immortal, his wounds healed as soon as they appeared.
Then Nephis did something else. She channeled her miniscule Will and uttered a phrase that contained the name of destruction as well as Harus's name... he didn't have True Name or the spell would have been even more efficient, but even his normal name worked somewhat.
Many things happened at once. Someone shouted and there was a crash like wood splintering and suddenly the world was vivid again. Immediately Nephis saw a blur of movement in front of her and instinctually dodged to the side. Cold pain sliced its way through her shoulder and blood sprayed everywhere.
One second and the blur was gone. Nephis span and transferred Blessing to her other hand at the same time. She smashed it into an enemy, but her strike was blocked.
It was Caster. He was retreating now, obviously wary of Nephis. He had a calm expression on his face, but it was definitely a mask. Inside he was probably scared that his little scheme hadn't worked so far.
Nephis looked around the room. The door, the chest and the bed were all broken. Blood had sprayed the walls and there were couple of bodies lying on the floor, either dead or unconscious. He saw Sunny, who was fighting two sleepers at the same time. He was definitely a sight to behold: the combined power of two divine aspect wielders resonated within him, his shadow making her flames somehow more striking.
Nephis took some of her power back for herself and immediately felt her shoulder starting to heal. She looked at Caster. "So this was your plan. I would have spared you... maybe... when we escaped. But now I guess I'll have to kill you."