"In a place shrouded in total darkness, where even the most piercing eye would struggle to discern anything, a black mist rose above a grand temple.
The ancient-looking temple resembled the residence of a giant, mystical god. In the hall inside, what looked like a throne shrouded in shadows dominated the entire space, as if watching everything from above!
A silhouette could be seen sitting on this throne, its appearance and everything that could describe it was shrouded in darkness, amplifying it even more! The silhouette moved its head as if suddenly understanding or sensing a presence near it, but nothing else moved!
The silhouette looked ahead, its eyes absent, as if seeing something that only it could see! If someone were there, they would have heard:
"What a singular existence, it seems that its progression is limited by something ."
The silhouette, as if looking at someone's life from top to bottom, murmured later: "Even if he is a sovereign, he is not ready for what's next. It seems I have no choice."
Suddenly, the silhouette straightened up, fixed its gaze ahead, and whispered "Let's begin"
Bastion, citadel of the King of Swords, Anvil of Valor, the Ivory Island floated like a cloud above the great human citadel!
Inside, a festive atmosphere could be felt, after all, it wasn't every day that the cohort of the Changing Star could gather! In one of the rooms on the underground level, 4 people were seated, discussing! A young man of striking beauty with brown hair, a young woman with very cold blue eyes and short black hair, a delicate young woman whose eyes were hidden by a blue cloth indicating she was blind, she had very striking blonde hair, and finally a woman with an athletic appearance was visibly impatient about something! Of course, these were Human Transcendents, some of the most famous ones even at this time in humanity, known as Saints! They were Saint Kai Nightingale, Saint Jet, the Soul Reaper, Saint Cassia, Song of the Fallen, and finally Saint Athena, Raised by the Wolves!
In the kitchen located next door, a young woman with ivory skin and silver hair was busy cooking, with a strange expression on her face!
Nephis spent most of her time on the battlefield, exterminating abominations! Being with her friends was a rare pleasure, and cooking for them reminded her of the Forgotten Shore and something she couldn't quite remember, but soon this thought disappeared too! Effie, impatient, asked:
"So, Princess, is it almost ready?"
Nephis replied without getting distracted: "Yes, just a minute."
Jet and Kai were discussing their last mission in South America, where a gate had to be quickly taken care of to facilitate inter-quadrant maritime's transport! It wasn't easy, given that it was a Category 4 door!
Cassie was strangely calm, as if cut off from the world, maybe still seeing something invisible to the rest!
Soon, Nephis appeared, carrying 8 plates very skillfully, 4 in her forearms and hands. Effie was assigned 3, and the rest took theirs! They ate practically in silence, speaking very little, maybe they wanted to forget everything at that moment, because it's true that their lives had taken a new turn after the 3rd Nightmare, the number of things to manage had multiplied, whether it was humans, the awakened, the Nightmare gates, and personal responsibilities, each of them had their hands full, so it was refreshing to get together after a long time!
Soon, Jet looked at Nephis and Kai, who were tidying up a bit after the meal, and turned to Cassie and said:
"Have you found anything about this matter, you know, our memories gap after the 3rd Nightmare?"
Effie straightened up and said: "Oh, that, I had kind of forgotten, but it's true that it's weird, this feeling of a hole."
Cassie replied: "No, I still don't have anything concrete, but I have a lead, a person to be more precise, it's still under observation!" Cassie felt the most concerned among them, not only did she have these memomy issue, and this unpleasant feeling of forgetting something she shouldn't, but also her vision or connection to the threads of fate allowed her to glimpse the future had been severely altered since leaving the Tomb of Ariel!
Thus, her visions no longer appeared to her, plunging her into great disarray and darkness, reminding her of her first steps as a Sleeper and her cruel flaw !
Cassie had spent a lot of time reassembling the missing pieces of a puzzle, the simple fact of remembering the problem was challenging, let alone solving it, but one of the pieces, a letter left to her, was perhaps what she needed to make the other pieces move!
● Wish Happy birthday to Sunless, on the Winter Solstice Day●
It was a strange letter, but even stranger was not remembering writing it! Needless to say, all of this was very destabilizing! So yes, her investigation was still ongoing, secretly learning everything she could about this "Sunless".
The first one in 4 years she had met, who seemed to be a master, owns a café in Bastion, a café whose merits Effie often praised !
Cassie was waiting and hoping to get in touch with this Sunless to see what would happen!
Nephis and Kai, having heard the discussion, also remembered those annoying memories gaps , as if the world itself was rebelling to prevent them from remembering!
Jet remained silent for a moment, then sighed:
"Okay, it reassures me to know that I'll finally have answers, it's not fun to know that we've forgotten something, and even more important, a collective thing, its a very bad sign!"
Cassie nodded, but at that moment, a wave of coldness made them all stiffen, as if they were walking into the mouth of a ruthless Nightmare creature!
Nephis reacted quickly, summoning her memory, a Transcendent sword, and put herself on guard, but saw nothing in the surroundings, the shadows of the room grew deeper and more menacing, and soon everyone did the same as Nephis, all within 4 seconds! But unfortunately, this force was tyrannical, and to prove it, it enveloped them in its gigantic shadow and dragged them along with it, leaving the room silent, without a sound!"
~~~
"Elsewhere, on Bastion, the members of the great Valor clan were holding a meeting in view of the upcoming war domains against Song Clan .
In the room, several renowned Human Transcendents such as Morgan of Valor, the Princess of War, Saint Gilead, the Knight of Summer, Saint Tyris and her husband Saint Roan of the White Feather Clan, Saint Jest, and several other figures! Suddenly, the Light was oppressed by a gigantic shadow all around them, and before anyone could react, they were savagely swallowed by this shadow!
In this same place, 4 friends, who were enjoying their meal as they gathered after some time also gets swallowed by the balck force!
It did the same with a middle âge man who was writing reports in his office !
~~
Elsewhere, on the Song domain, an empty room stood inside the Jade Palace. No sign of the people who were there!
In the outer area of Ravenheart, on the ash-gray snow, a young girl with pale skin was cursing inwardly!
"Who does he think he is, leaving me to rot in this dump for hours?"
Rain was waiting for her prey, a awakened demon, on her teacher's instructions, but the wait was so long that she had to curse her teacher to pass the time.
Suddenly, Rain was enveloped by a shadow that dragged her along docilely, without even being able to scream!
The shadow didn't stop. In a kingdom located in a Tomb built by a Deamon, where time flowed from the future to the past, it swallowed the king and his daughter. Somewhere else, it did the same to an old woman on a Ketch.
In the kingdom of Hope, where the lords of the chain ruled, it enveloped a man with striking beauty, with a crescent moon mark on his forehead, and a woman with a warrior-like demeanor, equally captivating!
~~
Nephis opened her eyes after being unable to see into the Shadows for a moment! She observed her surroundings and saw people emerging from the shadows around her, just like she did!
Everyone seemed confused, but Nephis didn't have a second to lose and instinctively checked on her friends to see if they were okay!
"Cassie, are you okay?" As she spoke, she noticed that her her power seemed fading, not just her power , but her connection to the Nightmare spell itself seemed to no longer exist!
"I'm fine, actually, I can see normally!" Cassie said in a surprised tone!
Nephis was shaken, which rarely happened, and seeing her friend without being able to put aside her flaw brought her immense joy. She stepped forward and hugged her!
"This place is very strange, it seems like a force more powerful than the spell itself governs here, which is not reassuring" Jet said as she approached, she too seemed to have noticed the absence of the spell!
Aside, not too far, the members of the Valor Clan looked at each other in astonishment, they too seemed to have noticed the strangeness of the place, but at this moment, they were on guard because they saw their enemies, all equally alert to the situation!
But suddenly, 2 figures stepped forward! Anvil of Valor and Ki Song faced each other, their Clan members hadn't even noticed they were there and were therefore taken by surprise, the situation was very tense!
~~
A young girl was shaking violently, having no idea where she was or why she was there! Rain was paralyzed with fear, having noticed that powerful people were all around her, she wondered what she was doing among them! Suddenly, she fixed her gaze on her shadow and whispered! "Teacher, are you there?"
There was no response!
Rain continued: "I know I cursed you, but please reassure me, you know this place or what's happening here?"
Still no response, and Rain began to panic because she realized she was alone without her teacher, which scared her in this place full of strangers!
"Please, say something!" she whispered, her eyes about to shed tears! Suddenly, a hand landed on her shoulder:
"Are you okay, little one?" Turning around, Rain saw an old woman speaking to her! She exuded a strange sense of safety, the same feeling her teacher gave her!
"Yes" Rain replied, continuing "Actually, I felt a bit alone in this place, I was with my teacher and the next thing I knew, I was here alone"
The old woman grasped her shoulder: "Don't worry, I'm sure there's a reason for this precise gathering"
"That's true" said a man with a handsome appearance and unique clothing, he had a crescent moon mark on his forehead, and a woman with a warrior-like demeanor wearing blood-red clothes stood beside him. She seemed to be on guard but also annoyed!
"I find this place fascinating, despite the shadows surrounding us, I notice a very strange architecture, maybe I'll see more clearly with a bit of light, but what I find even more fascinating is the people brought here"
said the man with a joyful demeanor, as if he had just been pulled out of a long, boring situation and had found something to entertain him!
"By the way, you can call me Noctis, I'm the lord of the east and a remarkable sorcerer" he said without really boasting, simply to introduce himself!
The old woman seemed to regain her composure, saying: "Oh, I'm Ananke, a priestess of the Nightmare spell"
Rain was in shock, struggling to process what these words meant!
Noctis seemed surprised to hear this too: "Ah, a follower of Weaver, I see. I was about to make a decision regarding him, it seems like fate!"
Ananke simply nodded, while Solvane, the woman in red, still didn't lower her guard and wasn't interested in the conversation!
Noctis turned to Rain, who seemed lost, and said:
"And you, little one, who are you?"
Rain struggled to regain her composure and replied, trembling
"I-I'm Rain, a simple human"
Noctis studied her for a moment, as if seeing through her
"Strange, I sense the scent of a special being on you, even if I can't quite place who or what!"
Rain was shocked, thinking to herself: "No, no, no, I'm not even awakened yet, what am I doing here?"
~~
Suddenly, the room lit up, and everyone stopped!
Now that the light was on, they could contemplate the space they were in, and to their great surprise, the room reshaped into the appearance of an opulent movie theater! The chairs, which looked very comfortable, stood one by one, forming a magnificent ensemble! In front of them stood a giant screen, worthy of the room itself, and soon words formed on it to everyone's surprise!
[Welcome to the Cinema of The Unknown]
These words touched them deeply, and even Anvil and Ki Song seemed alert!
Suddenly, Morgan of Valor spoke regaining her composure !
"Who are you? And where are we?"
The screen changed, and new words formed!
[ You can call me the Moderator, I represent the will of a special being]
[ As for the place, you are in a location where time has stopped a long time ago. Here, past, present, future, death, and life exist only exist according to the Will of This Being ]
Everyone seemed surprised, even stunned. Who had the strength to call all of them here, Sovereigns, Saints? And also cut their connection to the Nightmare spell!
The screen continued to display words!
[Your connection to the spell has removed and time has been frozen in this place, so you will return to the world you came from at the time you left in the end of my mission ]
Everyone held their breath, but someone spoke without fear:
"What is the reason we were brought here, and is this your mission?"
Mordret of Valor asked without caring about the gazes on him!
[Rest assured, it's very simple. All of you have to do is sit back and watch the story and Yes my mission is to simply display this story to you ]
The silence was heavy, everyone studied the words with perplexity!
After all, was it just to gather them and make them watch a movie?
Gather sovereigns for that?
But after a few thoughts, some understood that it wouldn't be an ordinary story!
The screen continued:
[Your powers have been restricted to that of a mundane Human in this place to avoid any physical conflict. You will have understood that fighting is forbidden here, and severe sanctions will follow for anyone who breaks this rule! Some of your flaw have been readjusted to allow for a good viewing experience! ]
As everyone was processing informations the screen lit up again !
[Now, sit back and let's begin the first act!]