Nephis was sitting at the top of the cathedral's highest tower when she heard someone coming from below.
The cathedral had couple of elegant towers protruding from its roof like sharp spikes — once upon a time they had probably been pristine and beautiful, perhaps decorated with engravings or sculptures — but time and the corruption of the city had done their job and now gave them a menacing look.
All the same, they still provided the best view in the whole city, except for the castle.
And, more importantly, they were empty.
Nephis felt that she could not face more people now. She had definitely seen the fear and judgement in their eyes earlier, even in her own friends. And they had a reason to be fearful. If she was completely honest with herself, she was an existence of rather terrifying kind — at least to the other sleepers living in the Dark City. She could not fault them for their doubts and other feelings.
More than that, Nephis was becoming increasingly scared herself — and of herself.
Just now… I was just like Gunlaug himself. Or just like the Sovereigns.
She had not made the people of the city follow her on their own will. She had forced them. And that stang.
I once said I had no need for slaves… and look at me now. Not only was Sunny her literal slave, but she had also subjugated everyone in Forgotten Shore by brute force.
Perhaps it had been just a moment of weakness, Nephis thought. The news that over half of the populace of the city had died over their journey, together with the feeling of being hated and judged by her own people had made her act rashly and against her principles.
Yes, that was what it was.
And even if there was a deeper problem in how she viewed the world and operated — well, humans were contradictory creatures. Wasn't she allowed to be as well?
Suddenly, something made Nephis fall out of her reverie. There was a sound of scraping: someone was climbing towards the tower's top.
She felt some irritation, but before long she recognized the newcomer.
She wasn't surprised.
"You're here too?" he said.
"It seems that way, Sunny."
For some time, neither of them spoke. The silence blanketed the tower's top like a heavy cloud. All around them the world was dark, their tower, cathedral and the little huts of humans the only pinpricks of light in the night.
"Why did you come here?" Nephis finally asked.
Sunny did not even raise his head.
"I had much to think about. Why did you?"
"The same."
Again, there was a silence. In the end, Nephis was again the one to break it — which was quite an unusual development. Usually Sunny was the one for chatter and also the one more disturbed by prolonged periods of silence, but now it was the opposite. It was probably because Nephis had far more in her mind than usual. And there weren't many people she could talk to.
"I didn't say it in front of others... but I'm actually quite worried about this situation", Nephis said. "I have a good guess as to what creature we're facing: the same that I faced in my second nightmare. Back then I had no chance of beating it. Of course I was much weaker than I am now… but it is still a corrupted creature. For an awakened, that's a lot."
Sunny tapped the stone floor with his fingers.
"But you think we can beat it?"
Nephis sighed.
"It's hard to say. Yes, if I were to rally Gunlaug and all the others to act as a meat shields — then the victory would be probable. But I don't want to do it. It's already bad enough that I had to do what I did earlier today."
"So what are you going to do?" Sunny chose wisely not to comment on the last part of words.
Nephis shrugged.
"If no one else is willing, I will go alone. If anyone else is willing, they may go with me. Of course, I would be happy if you'd be willing to help - you are the strongest here besides me. And also, we shouldn't just rush ahead. We should at least try some scouting first, to learn more about the enemy… that's my proposition. It's up to each one of you to either accept or it or not. I won't force anyone."
She frowned. "It's not much… "
".. but it's the best you can do?" Sunny chuckled. "You seem to be saying that a lot recently."
"That's life. It's full of compromises — I detest it too."
Sunny shook his head. "Do you?"
Nephis was about to answer, but Sunny suddenly continued.
"What about the part about not forcing anyone? You sure like saying that. But when push come to shove, you would still do it, right? You would compromise on your values, because nothing is more important to you than you goal… whatever it is. Am I not right?"
Ouch. Sunny had, knowingly or unknowingly, put in words the exact same things Nephis had been ruminating over earlier. But coming from his mouth the words seemed to come to life — they were no longer anything theorethical but something with flesh and bones. The accusation struck deep… because, perhaps, it was true…
But she would not give up that easily.
"Is it wrong?" Nephis asked coldly. "Doesn't everyone else, ultimately, do the same when it comes down to it? But yes, I'd like to be better. It's only because I'm not strong enough that that's not possible. I am too weak or not knowledgeable enough, not adaptable enough… That's why I needed you by my side… because no one can survive in Dream Realm alone. Not even in the waking world.
"You want to know what my goal is? Well, it is to make it stop. It is to create a world where people are allowed too be weak without fearing for their life. It is to destroy the corruption that gnaws on this world once and for all."
Sunny had been silent during her tirade. Now he frowned.
"That's... a bit much?"
Nephis laughed bitterly. "I know. I don't know if it will be ever possible.
"These nightmares, they never stop. They keep on coming and we are always one step behind… That's is our fate, isn't it?"
She tried to gather herself, but it was difficult. She turned to look at the outside world again. It was, if possible, even darker than before, the little candlelights extinguished so as to not alert the predators in the sky or in the streets of the city.
She breathed deeply, but her lungs seemed to be covered in ice.
Why do we fight? Haven't I done enough? The same questions she had already asked when she was back at the lighthouse.
At that moment Sunny appeared at her side and looked over the city as well. He was a head shorter than Nephis — that at least almost brought a smile to her face.
"But… didn't you say that we broke fate once?" Sunny asked tentatively. "And what's more, our Attributes show it. The Fate is not absolute anymore. It is torn. We have won, even though I don't remember anything about it… haven't we?"
"Do you think this is what winning looks like?" Nephis asked.
"I wouldn't know. I haven't won much."
Nephis sighed. She seemed to be doing that, too, entirely too much nowadays.
"I think I'm beginning to understand… Fate is not something external that guides our path… no, it is internal instead. That's why it's not possible to escape it. The Fate should be broken, but I am still Changing Star, because what I do and what I am have not changed… That's what Cassie meant earlier."
Sunny didn't apparently have anythings else to say. In the end they just surveyed the night together. Now the silence was almost companionable. Nephis felt that their strange and tragic circumstances connected them in ways most people would never understand. Maybe that was enough for her to keep going?
And yet, there was still a question she was afraid to ask.
"By the way… have you considered my offer? We don't have much time before we storm the Crimson Spire and then it is probably too late for such considerations."
Nephis didn't need to spell out what offer she meant. She kept her voice light and steady, but on the inside she was feeling tense.
Sunny looked up at her. Nephis found that she could not read what was happening behind those onyx eyes at all.
"I have been thinking about it a lot", Sunny said. "In fact, I am thinking about it right now… And I want to say, I am actually grateful that you'd go to such lengths to make up for your mistake."
"But… " Nephis felt a feeling of dread building.
Sunny suddenly looked towards the bright castle, away from her.
"But I think… yes. I do accept your proposition.
"I'm sorry."
*******
It had been a day and the preparations for the scouting mission were almost complete. Sunny felt both expectant and little afraid of what would happen.
He also felt a little regretful after yesterday's conversation. Both its content and its conclusion were, in lack of a better word, depressing.
But the world did'n care, did it? It kept moving forward and so would Sunny. And his journey was coming to an end soon, in one way or another - perhaps even in the next few days.
During this past day Sunny had explored the parts of the dark cathedral he hadn't seen before — those that had been unreachable because of the devil they had killed. The place was now populated, of course, but there was still less people there than anywhere else. As far as Sunny was concerned, that was for the best.
Huh?
He had been about to leave and head to sleep when he noticed something strange. Behind a seemingly ordinary wall was an alcove populated by dense and deep shadows.
A hidden room? It's no wonder no one else has been able to sense its location… they don't have shadow sense…
After a little while, Sunny found an old mechanism that was apparently used to open the door. When he discovered that the mechanism had long rusted through, he summoned the Midnight Shard and inserted it between the moving stone plates that constructed the wall together. The scraping sound produced by the opening door was definitely heard by many other people, but Sunny didn't really care. He was much more interested in what lay behind those doors.
Hopefully I'm not bringing danger to the civilians… wait, what civilians? There aren't any!
Indeed, none of the sleepers situated in the heart of the cathedral could strictly be classified as civilians. Still, they were mostly those with relatively weaker offensive power or utility Aspects, so compared to Sunny, they were definitely only innocent bystanders.
Let's just hope I'll be able to handle whatever is down there…
Before anyone could see, Sunny slipped into the darkness, becoming one with the shadows populating it. He quickly discovered a secret passage that bore deep underground. After a series of twisting steps he found himself directly below the statue of the ancient goddess. A room had a well with another staircase in its center, calling him even deeper underground.
Despite his rationale, Sunny's explorative spirit beckoned him forward. Carefully he descended into the well.
A minute or so later, he emerged in another underground chamber. This one seemed to be carved into bedrock. On the opposite wall stood an imposing, black steel door with flickering torches on each side.
There was a small keyhole on the door.
Sunny approached very carefully and, seeing that nothing was amiss, took out something that he had carried with himself to this day, not really knowing why. The key he had gotten from the Lord of Dead's lair fit perfectly into the small hole.
The door opened.
*******
Kai was sitting in the empty corridor inside the cathedral. He had been sitting there for quite some time, as instructed by Cassie. For some baffling reason, the girl himself had long gone to sleep on their little hut, leaving Kai alone. He sighed.
Being a seer's boyfriend… it apparently came with its own oddities.
Kai smiled blindingly. It's still worth it, though.
He continued to whistle a joyful tune — one of his own — when he finally heard something moving in the depths of the tunnel that had mysteriously opened in the backrooms of the cathedral. Cassie had told everyone that the strange tunnel was Sunny's doing, so Kai was not too worried. Sunny probably knew what he was doing and even if he didn't, had some way to magically save himself in case things went awry.
The steps that came from the tunnel came closer and closer, echoing strangely in the empty corridor. Kai stopped whistling and stood up, summoning his short sword in case the thing coming down the corridor wasn't Sunny. Bow wouldn't be of much use in the close quarters.
He frowned.
The steps had stopped all the sudden for some baffling reason.
He carefully peeked around the corner…
"Kyaahhh!"
The person outside was not Sunny.
Kai retreated hastily and considered calling for help. At the same time he couldn't help but shiver, recalling the chilling image around the corner.
A person of unidentifiable height, with no distinct features apart from one: where its face should have been there was instead a black, wooden mask carved in the image of a snarling demon, crowned with three twisted horns.
I'm going to have nightmares if I survive...
"Relax, Kai."
Kai felt the remaining colour draining from his face. The voice that spoke the words was cold and insidious, twisted by the dreadful mask.
It knows me… gods, I'm done for! His hands were crushing the hilt of his swords, drops of sweat running down his nose.
The monster in the tunnel spoke again.
"I'm not Sunny. You're not safe."
"Help! It's — what?"
The person was lying?
"You're… Sunny?"
The mask disappeared and revealed his friend's face. Kai was relieved and irritated at the same time. Sunny on the other hand seemed to have hard time speaking in the midst of his laughter.
"Of course… I am. Who else… would I be?"
"I don't know? Some monster from the depths of hell?"
Sunny looked at Kai, perplexed. He cocked his head a little.
"It was just a prank. Although, the Spell does indeed classify me as monster."
Kai decided to not think too deeply about Sunny's last words. He just shook his head resignedly — he really needed sleep.
"You gave me quite a fright. But anyway, I have something for you. Actually, this was Cassie's idea, but I purchased it."
He quickly transferred a memory called Mantle of the Underworld to Sunny and yawned. "Since you're going to a scouting missions tomorrow, Cassie wanted you to be safe. Although I've no idea how that broken thing is supposed to help you."
Sunny just smiled. "Don't worry. I do."