"Wake up! Your nightmare is over!"
The voice of Sunny's rock shook Nephis out of her slumber. She gritted her teeth.
"Have I not explained how annoying that is?" she asked while raising her head.
"You have, multiple times, and in great detail."
And you still haven't changed it. Nephis shook her head. It was as if Sunny was deliberately trying to annoy her... which he probably was. No, not probably, definitely. Sunny was enjoying the fact that Nephis couldn't make him do anything. She had promised not to command him and she was going to keep that promise, even if it meant listening to the ordinary rock for every remaining morning of her life.
Their life... it had fallen into place lately. For a moment Nephis let herself to just look at the ceiling of their room and contemplate the last few weeks — or had it been a month already? It had, at least a month. Which meant that they were still soundly ahead of the previous timeline, just as Nephis wanted.
When she had told the group that she had a perfect spot in mind for them, she had obviously been talking about the great cathedral. From what she now remembered, Sunny had lived there for some time and hunted the abominations in the city. When Nephis had returned from the Crimson Spire, she had lived there as well... previously she had been unable to tell the reason for that, but now she knew. She knew many things, like the fact that she and Sunny had had a falling out right after they had established their hunting party. It seemed to be their Fate, to constantly be at odds with each other yet unable to be away from each other.
She wasn't doing a great job at changing that, but maybe she would, eventually.
Nephis stood up from the luxurious bed, one that she knew very well, and looked around. She and Cassie had taken the large bed for themselves while Sunny and Kai slept on the floor in adjacent chamber. They were now both up, too. Kai was stretching while Sunny groaned and grabbed the sack of dried monster meat they had in the corner of the room. It was the larger of the two and it was not meant for them.
"Is it full?" Nephis asked.
"I'd say so."
"Then let's go."
They ate quickly and exited the cathedral. Nephis looked back over her shoulder, taking in the imposing silhouet of the building. It had taken some time before others had felt comfortable here — there was a fallen devil right below them after all. Sunny had of course adapted fast and Cassie hadn't complained despite being not at all convinced about the plan... but Kai had been the worst of them (or best of them, depending on the perspective.) He had called Nephis mad — politely, of course — and worn his usual expression that said: "I'm going to be a dead man soon." For some reason it was the expression he often wore around Nephis.
Only when they had lived for a week in the prietess's quarters had Kai relaxed a little and even told Nephis that he could "see merit" in her plan. That was when Nephis revealed what they were about to do next.
She remembered hazily an old story about a person named Robin Hood... who had lived in the now inhospitable Europe. It was a strange name and a strange story. She didn't remember much of it anymore; maybe she had read about him from one of the old children's books in their manor — but she had always liked the central plot of the story. Robin was a man of honor in that he stole from the rich and gave his spoils to the poor. He took justice in his own hands when the people in power didn't.
Now Nephis had decided to do the same. They would live in the cathedral and hunt in the Dark City, pursing it from monsters and maybe stealing for Gunlaug's men in case they met. Then they would give the fruits of their labour to the people of the outskirts. Of course they couldn't just pop to the outskirts every day or else the Gunlaug's men would be waiting for them. Instead they appeared at random intervals that were mostly regulated by the rate at which their sacks of meat filled out.
At first the people in outskirts were skeptical, but skepticism quickly turned to thankfulness and respect. The legend of the Immortal Flame princess defying odds in the depths of the hellish cityscape quickly spread, and the exotic composition of her hunting team only made the tale that much more enigmatic. People were soon convinced that Gunlaug's men feared going to the territory of the Immortal Flame, and some even believed Changing Star was about to start her own kingdom in the vicinity of the dark cathedral. If one had keen eyes and looked at the highest tower of the massive church at night, they could see a lonely star burning up there, giving hope to the people of the Dark City...
Nephis and her little cohort had also gone on a small expedition to get the moonlight shard as well as the quiet dancer. It would have been easier to do it with Effie, but the guardian of the shard memory wasn't quite as strong as the other ones. Also, Nephis really wanted to give Cassie more freedom to move around and an opportunity to actively participate in the fights. The echo of the elegant rapier did just that.
Yes, last month or so had been really eventful. But everything had also been strangely peaceful. Nothing world-shattering had happened. It was like they had finally found a balance of some sorts, a middle ground between what Fate wanted and what she wanted. Nephis felt that the peace was not going to last too long, though. They were almost strong enough to go after the last shard memories...
This might very well be their last visit in the outskirts for a while.
Traversing the roads of the city was easy: between Nephis's past knowledge, Cassie's intuition and Sunny's shadow sense they could anticipate almost any danger, and they had developed a strong sense of cohesion in the time spent hunting, even despite tensions between various group members. Soon they approached the first huts. They were built using various materials and trash found in the vicinity of the castle. This time there had been no upheaval in the outskirts — Nephis gave the people food and perhaps hope, too, but she wasn't living alongside them and helping them from day to day.
People quickly realized they had come and gathered near the edge of the small village. Like usual, sleepers formed a line and approached Cassie and Kai one after another. Nephis stood next to them, looking regal and poised. Sunny was standing somewhere near, still uncomfortable with the whole situation.
She's not here... She had been scanning the crowd to find Effie, but without success. The huntress had not been here the last few times they had visited and it had Nephis worried. Was it possible something had happened to her? Effie was strong, but the horrors populating the city were even stronger. If she had died just because Nephis had not deemed it necessary to recruit her yet...
No. She has to be alive. Fate could not have changed so much that Effie would have died... surely it couldn't? But the worry was there and it would not disappear before she knew for sure that her friend was alive.
Kai's voice shook her out of her thoughts.
"Should we leave? The Gunlaug's men have probably seen us already."
Nephis nodded, realizing that the whole procedure was already over. They quickly packed and left. These visits had to be fast, otherwise there would be a confrontation with Gunlaug's forces. The ruler had publicly declared their hunting party an enemy and had promised a bounty for her head. No one had yet been stupid enough to try and claim it, though.
When they were traveling towards the cathedral, Nephis realized they had something important to do. She had delayed it as much as possible in order for their little cohort to grow stronger. But she figured that they were strong enough now, had perhaps been all along. Her plan did not relay on brute strength after all — well, the plan was only partially hers. Sunny had been involved in planning as well when Nephis had told him about a certain echo they had to obtain.
The echo, or shadow, in question was of course the stone saint.
Nephis explained the plan to Kai and Cassie as they neared the plaza where the living statues resided. Kai and Cassie were sufficiently scared but Nephis ensured that everything would be fine. Cassie trusted her quite easily and even Kai nodded after a second of thought.
"You, of course, know more about battling nightmare creeatures than I do", he said slowly. "If you think we can survive, maybe I can think so, too."
"And it isn't us doing most of the fighting", Sunny interjected. "That's a plan I like."
Nephis nodded. "Indeed. It would be foolish to fight against so many fallen by ourselves. But we will leverage the environment to our advantage. Remember, it is most important that Sunny kills the smallest one."
She waved away Kai's curious expression. "I will explain it eventually. Sunny knows why, obviously."
And just like that they were set. The steel spiders often lurked near the stone square where the awakened statues resided, and Nephis wanted to create a fight between the groups. If she knew anything about the Saint, she would be one of the last ones left standing at the end of it — and that's when they would finish her off.
The plan began with Kai. He had the advantage of flying, and so he found the spiders quickly and got their attention by shooting arrows at the monsters. The were easily irritated and strolled forward with Kai flying ahead, sometimes spinning in the air and continuing his rain of arrows.
Just when the pack was about to pass the intersection to the plaza, a terrifying roar sounded from there. There was a noise of a fight, and the smell of blood permeated the air. Kai swiftly escaped to the sky and flew to the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the plaza. Up with him were Sunny and Cassie. Sunny had just unsummoned the ordinary rock he had thrown to the ground and used to create certain sound effects. He had no shadow, and that was because the shadow was currently with someone else.
Nephis was situated between two of the near buildings. Her job was to ensure that the spiders took the bait and attacked the statues. Right now they were undecided, surprised by the sudden disappearance of their prey and not quite sure whether to follow the sounds that were coming from their right.
Nephis decided to attack. As she moved, Sunny's shadow moved with her, doubling her already impressive might. She had killed a lot of nightmare creatures in these past months, but most substantial boost to her power had come when she killed bunch of other sleepers in the Bright Castle.
She was a demon now, and she fought like one.
It took some time for the spiders to realize what had happened. By the time they did, one of their own had already been killed and they were under a vicious attack of a small but quick opponent. The attacker shone with light that burned their eyes, but it was not in their nature to flee. They knew only violence, and so they fought back.
Nephis could have continued the killing, but her job was merely to lead the spiders to where the real slaughter would take place. Not to mention that challenging a pack of fallen nightmare creatures would not have been easy even for her. Thus she did something she didn't like at all: she fled. The spiders gave chase and just like that, the battle of the stone square had begun.
The living statues and spiders clashed together with some of them attacking Nephis. Now that she didn't have to worry about being outnumbered — well, about being outnumbered six to one — she stood a chance against the fallen creatures. It wasn't easy, though — the gap of two ranks meant that she could easily be crushed by just one strike from the terrifying creatures, and they were also a bit faster than her, still. Of course being crushed wasn't necessarily an end to her, but it was also not pleasant by any means.
In time Sunny joined forces with Nephis and they split their augmentations evenly. They had practiced a lot together since the discovery, and Nephis felt good every time they fought side by side. Whatever happened between them, that was a connection that could never be destroyed.
Cassie was somewhere nearby, watched over by Kai, who also sent arrows into the fray between the monsters. The arrows were not that dangerous for the fallen, but they did hinder their capabilities a little bit. Kai quickly changed places between the shots in order to not be targeted. If something were to happen, his job was to escape with Cassie.
The battle raged on for some time, but slowly the ranks of both the steel spiders and the statues diminished. Blood colored the cracking surface of the plaza and the grey sky started to become darker. In the end, only five creatures were left standing on the battlefield. Four of them were sleepers; one of them was the stone saint.
Nephis nodded to Sunny, and they advanced together. Saint met their attack with a raining barrage of swift strikes. She moved with an eerie fluidity for one made of stone, and deflected all their attacks for some time. She only managed it because Nephis was holding back, though — it was Sunny who had to land a decisive strike.
And land it he did, eventually. The Saint fought bravely even though it was evident she had no hope of winning, discarding her defensive style for a pure attack. That, in turn, gave Nephis and Sunny and opening they needed. When Nephis locked her blade with saint, Sunny pierced the visor of her helmet with midnight shard. Saint's alabaster-face broke and ruby dust poured out from underneath. A second later she fell into the ground, her fingers still gripping the blade tightly.
Sunny also fell down, exhausted. The battle had lasted for a while and they were all tired, but Nephis had to know if the plan had worked.
"Did you get it?" she asked. Sunny nodded and a sense of relief washed over Nephis. Not having Saint with them would have been a great loss indeed, but now she didn't have to worry about that anymore.
"In that case, let's go."
*******
Tired but whole, they made their way to the cathedral. Nephis was content with their days work. She became even more content when she noticed a figure at the front of the cathedral's entrance.
She was tall and had her back turned to them. She looked to be contemplating whether to approach the imposing door or go back, but when she heard footsteps she turned quickly, her spear ready at hand.
"Peace", Nephis said. "We're not nightmare creatures."
"Huntress Athena! What are you doing here?"
Effie looked at them, noticing their bloodied clothes and generally disheveled appearance. She wore a puzzled look, like she didn't quite believe what she was seeing.
"Gods, you actually live here? I was just thinking how stupid the rumours were."
*******
AN: It's been a long time, but here is a new chapter. I had family business and a lot of other stuff to attend to, but hopefully I can return to more regular update schedule now. It might not be one chapter every three days, though, at least not all the time.