Aeric had to be careful. right now him and sunless were venturing towards cassie and nephis, ofcourse sunny did not need to know that but this was a major moment, the formation of the original trio, will they even let someone like him join them? sure nephis would, maybe cassie too but sunny?
The sunless at the beginning of the series was in a bad state, his only goal survival, remove the dead weight, keep getting stronger, that was his mentality. he soon learned about the value of comrades but that is much later, ofcourse if things came to that aeric wasnt gonna sit around either.
But the thing was, he was not even sure about nephis and cassie, in the past, multiple times at that..... aeric's personality seems to always be at clash with other.
'dont get me wrong, forming connections is one the things im a master of but friends?'
He wasnt so sure about that, what if nephis saw of him as too much of a dead weight? gosh, he did not forget the fact that sunny was the main character, it would be almost impossible to kill him due to the fate and other bullshit logic, and so he had to maintain good bonds with them.
Aeric had always striked for the position of the best, the strongest. anything below that was inadequate and so he had developed a sort of habit of pushing people away, in the end, winning was the only thing that matter. and he was not doubting his mentality even now, its just that currently he was like a pebble in a river, he could not resist the flow of water let alone move forward.
None of it mattered anyway, because in the end, the only person on top of this hell will be him
'This feels so nostalgic, reminds me of law school'
Ah, they had finally arrived, to be frank he was giddy to meet neph and cassie, who wouldn't?
The first thing they saw was fair skin… a lot of skin. The tall, lithe girl was only dressed in a makeshift skirt and a crude brassiere, both made out of seaweed. However, it didn't seem to bother her. With a calm expression, she stopped and looked back. The wind was playing with her short silver hair.
It was Nephis, the Changing Star.
Aeric's heart fluttered and his chest felt lighter, they were even more impressive than he could have ever imagined in his lifetime.
Grey sky above, black mud below, an endless sea of crimson in between. On this dreamlike backdrop, two beautiful girls walked across the labyrinth.
cassie looked delicate and fragile, with blond hair and cerulean, aimless eyes. She was dressed in a simple tunic, with leather sandals on her feet and a cloak the color of sea waves draped around her shoulders. even in this hell she managed to look that good
on the other hand the tall and slender neph, She had silky silver hair and clear, grey eyes. clothes were crudely made out of black seaweed, leaving her fair skin and athletic build exposed. She was poised, alert, and barefoot. ready for any danger thrown at her
A golden rope connected two girls together.
Sunny also analyzed them 'Wow. What a sight…'
'Wait… why am I thinking about that? People! I found more people!'
His heart skipped a bit. If Nephis and Cassia were here, then the orange light from before, most likely, had something to do with them. Which meant that they knew how to get to the tall hill.
Which meant that Sunny didn't have to be crushed to death by the high tide! or by whatever dumb thing aeric did
"Uh… so what do we do now?" he whispered to aeric
He wasn't the best at ingratiating himself to other people. In fact, he was the polar opposite — people usually instinctively avoided him. And that was in normal circumstances. This time, however, he had spent a whole of four weeks making sure that everyone in the Academy hated his guts…
'Good job, Sunny!'
Still, he was at least useful. In this situation, an additional body was already a great boon when facing hungry monsters. And he wasn't just anyone: his ability to scout ahead alone was worth a lot. Surely they'll understand that… right? he looked at aeric
' And what about this guy....'
Aeric either not realizing his situation or not caring enough to give a reaction stepped forwards revealing himself to the two girls, though they were still far away he was definitely spotted
Sunny watched with a heavy sigh, then he followed along towards clearing. They reached it in a minute or so.
Helping herself with the wooden staff, Cassia slowly approached the middle of the clearing and extended her hand, finding Nephis and touching her on the shoulder.
"Why did you stop?"
Nephis supported the blind girl and glanced at the approaching figures
"There are people there."
Cassia's face visibly brightened
"really?"
Nephis blinked and cleared her throat.
"Yes."
Aeric approached the two with his hands in the air, like he was some criminal surrendering himself to the police
Neph's sword was raised in the air, her eyes full of suspicions, meanwhile sunny followed along observing the interaction between them
"Lady Nephis i presume? and lady cassia as well"
After a whole minute of silence, Cassia finally found the words to react.
"Yes? um are you a sleeper from our batch?"
Aeric chuckled ' what an odd question'
"of course this is Sunless and my name is aeric, as you can see we are fellow sleepers"
Nephis opened her mouth, then closed it again.
"How can we be sure? you might be a nightmare creature disguised as a human"
At this point, Sunny decided that it was time to talk. He inhaled deeply, then said in a friendly tone:
"Actually, we have met before if you remember, at the academy gate one month ago"
Immediately, Nephis turned her head towards Sunny, had she really seen him before? he did seem familiar
"Are you the boy who sat with me in the cafeteria?"
Cassie chimed in
Sunny smiled. Meanwhile, Nephis glanced at the blind girl.
"Do you know them?"
Cassia nodded.
"I recognize his voice. His name is Sunless. He was in second-to-last place in the rankings, right above me. the other one though i dont know, im sure he was one of the sleepers in our batch"
The tall girl frowned, as if trying to remember. Then she asked:
"The pervert?"
The smile disappeared from Sunny's face, replaced by exasperation. aeric held back a chuckle, god this was way funnier than reading some damn words.
'Oh, come on!' sunny grimaced
Cassia hesitated and didn't answer.
"Hey! I'm not really a pervert, you know! I just… uhm… said a few things. To a few girls. It was all a misunderstanding."
Aeric shook his head, was he trying to look guilty
" i mean you did say some nasty things sunless, my my i cant even speak some of the things you said aloud"
Sunny shot a glare at his back burrowing holes through it, if looks could kill aeric would be cinder by now
Nephis was silent for a few seconds, and then, finally, dismissed her sword.
"Okay..."
After that, she fell silent, as though not planning to say anything else. Sunny also wasn't sure what to say. Luckily, Aeric came to the rescue.
"Since all of us have the same goal of reaching a gateway, why dont we work together? four people are better than two right?"
'damn, straight to the point huh" sunny thought 'They're not going to say no… right?'
The blind girl turned he head to her companion, a clear question written on her face.
"Neph?"
Nephis lowered her eyes, staring at Sunny. After a while, she said:
"No…"
'What?!'
"...problem."
No problem.
'What's wrong with you, princess?! Can't you speak faster?!'
Feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest, Sunny smiled.
"Well. Alright…" in the background aeric observed the three interact with a wide grin, the real show was about to begin.
He walked forwards and stood infront of the two ladies and gave a small small, extending his hand forward
"Good choice"