Appearing within the waking world once more, Sunny looked around. They were no longer within the speakeasy, but in an empty building instead, one that seemed to have been abandoned long ago.
He bowed gratefully to Saint Tyris.
"Thank you for everything. If I need a… safehouse? I will let you know."
"Of course. Do not be afraid to ask for help. I will see you tomorrow."
Moving towards the window, the Saint jumped out and vanished. As for Sunny, he simply disappeared into the shadows, leaving unseen.
'Annoying… so annoying…'
How had Valor already narrowed her location down to his district? Since his return, he'd made Nephis wear the bracelet Ki Song had given to him. They shouldn't have been able to divine her location… So how?
'Doesn't make sense…'
Had he somehow left a trail for them? He shouldn't have… had someone somehow spotted her? That shouldn't have been possible either. Ever since he'd moved here, he'd kept the windows shut and covered, there were small cracks to peek in here and there, but if anyone tried it he would notice, given the fact he always left a shadow with Nephis.
'Could the neighbours have heard her voice and reported it?'
That may have been possible. Nephis kept quiet most of the time, with her only being a loudmouth during her training, but that was fine since the underground dojo they trained in was well soundproofed.
'So how..?'
Could it have just been a coincidence? That was possible as well… Still, he had to prepare immediately. A communicator appeared within his hand as he began searching for a certain contact. Finding the person he was looking for, Sunny called them. After a few seconds, they answered.
"Teacher Julius?"
A lively voice responded, clearly happy to hear from him.
"Well if it isn't Awakened Sunless! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I need your help in buying a Memory."
The voice on the other side paused for a moment, confused.
"Me? Why? I'm sure you have enough credits to buy anything you may need? That is unless I'm misunderstanding what you are asking for…"
"It's not the credits I'm worried about, sir. I just need the Memory as soon as possible, but I don't have enough connections in the government to make the process speedy. Could I please ask for your help?"
Julius responded a moment later with a satisfied voice.
"Ah, so that's your problem? No worry, no worry! Come down to the Academy, I'll help you right away! I just so happen to be free today, actually…"
Sunny sighed in relief.
"Thank you. I'll be there within an hour."
Normally the Academy wouldn't be a place that would take him that long to reach, but he'd run into a problem.
'Where the hell am I?'
Looking around, he recognised almost nothing. There were abandoned buildings and factories all around, but it didn't exactly seem like the outskirts.
Checking his location on his communicator, he saw that although he wasn't in the outskirts, he was quite close to it.
'Oh come on… I'm all the way across the city!'
He understood that Saint Tyris wanted to keep her tether in a remote and unchecked location… but seriously?! He was in a rush!
Stepping through the shadows once more, he rushed through the darkness, making his way towards the Academy.
***
Sunny appeared before the red gates, his mind only half there as paid far more attention to the gloomy shadow, which he left with Nephis. She was training with Solvane as usual, only right now she was studying, as she was taking a break from the physical exertion. Honestly, he was a little worried about how dedicated she was. A child should be more worried about having fun, or so he'd been told anyways. But perhaps this was the only way to keep her sane, since this had been her life back with the Immortal Flame clan as well.
Seeing the gates to the Academy finally open, he sighed.
'I'll figure something out.'
For now though, he'd have to worry about her safety more. So be it.
He took one last look at the ground near the gates, remembering when it had once been covered with burning candles. Pushing the memory away, he made his way inside.
Briskly walking throughout the halls, he searched for Julius' office, finding it with ease.
"Teacher Julius?"
"Oh, Sunless, you are here? I thought you said an hour? It's only been… not even thirty minutes!"
"Sorry, I'm in a bit of a hurry."
Turning to him, Julius smiled.
"All is well, my boy! Now tell me, what Memory do you seek? Do you need a new weapon perhaps? A bow? Maybe a grappling hook?"
"No, I need one that can produce breathable air in a radius around it."
The old man blinked.
"I see… you aren't planning on going to the Stormsea, are you?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"No? I… no, I am not."
Julius smiled in relief.
"Ah, okay then! Forgive me for asking! It's just that when young Awakened like you ask for oxygen producing Memories, it's usually because they want to go swimming for some gods forsaken reason."
"That's… hm. I see why you would think that, but no. In fact, I'd rather never get near a large body of water again."
The professor nodded in understanding. Sunny actually already had a Memory that allowed him to go diving without worry, the [Shackle Key], so he didn't need one for that. This one was for something else completely.
"With your experiences in the Forgotten Shore… it'd be strange for you to not. So! Are there any specifics you want for the Memory?"
"I need it to produce enough oxygen to fill a room about the size of…"
He looked around. The teacher's office was a lot smaller than his lecture hall, but it was still quite big.
"...maybe not as big as this room, but around it. And I need the enchantment to be passive."
Julius nodded, falling into thought for a moment.
"That should not be a problem. Give me… until tonight."
Sunny breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
"Yes, of course. Thank you. As for the payment…"
The professor laughed, slapping him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about it my boy! I don't need a commission or anything, we are colleagues! As long as you fork over the credits to pay for it, there's no problem at all."
He nodded gratefully.
"Thank you again. I… please let me know once you have it, I need to get going."
Letting go of his shoulder, Julius nodded again.
"Then be off then, young man! I am sure you are busy. I'll let you know once I get it, so keep your communicator on!"
Turning around, Sunny left immediately. He only paused for a moment as he heard Teacher Julius' voice call out to him as he was closing the door.
"I look forward to your next report!"
Unable to stop a smile from forming on his face, he closed the door.
'That's done.'
He could've asked Song as well, but he'd rather not owe that clan any favors. Since Ki Song had left, he hadn't been asked to come in even once, which suited him just fine. The thought of what Jet had said about Seishan still lingered in his mind as well…
He could've also tried to recreate the [Essence Pearl], but he didn't have the time to recreate the Memory from scratch while relying purely on memory.
Leaving the Academy with brisk steps, he didn't stop to interact with even a single person.
Disappearing into the first dark alley he could find, he made his way home.
***
Sunny appeared within the underground dojo, causing Nephis to yelp slightly as she had been distracted by her communicator.
"Ah, Sunny!"
Putting the device down, the girl immediately got up to give him a tight hug.
"Hey kid. How are you feeling?"
With her face still pressed into his side, her voice came out muffled.
"...Fine."
Patting her on the head, he sighed.
"Listen… from now on, you might have to sleep in a different room."
Letting go, Nephis looked up at him.
"Huuuh? What room?! I like my room!"
Sunny snickered.
"Relax! It won't be for long. I hope. And you'll still be here, just in… a different kind of room? You'll see. But we're going to have to move your things for the time being."
Groaning, Nephis pushed her face back into his side.
"Reaaally?"
"Yes, really. I'm sorry kid, but I promise I'm just looking out for you."
She sighed, shoulders slumping.
"Okay…"
Letting go, Nephis sat back down, grabbing her communicator.
"What are you working on?"
"Thermodynamics…"
Sunny glanced at her screen, paling slightly when he saw what she was studying.
'Wasn't… wasn't she asking me for help with division not too long ago? How the hell…'
Or perhaps the devious little thing had only asked a simple question as a way to test whether or not her shadow would truly respond to any question.
"Impressive! But Nephis, don't you want to… I don't know, do something fun?"
Nephis turned to him, confused.
"What? I thought you got this for me so I could have fun?"
Sunny blinked.
"No, I… Well, are you having fun?"
She gave him a genuine smile, showing all of her teeth.
"Of course! This is amazing!"
"..."
He was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say.
Sunny had always been someone who could easily throw himself into his studies for long periods of time, but would he call it fun? Absolutely not. He wasn't bored while doing it, but as for if he enjoyed it? No. Learning was cool and all, but he would definitely enjoy himself more if he was just relaxing and doing nothing instead.
"Then… you're welcome, I guess. Just make sure you don't spend all your time on one subject."
"Okay!"
And with that, he left her to her studies. He didn't leave the basement just yet, instead sitting next to her as he scrolled through reports on his communicator.
'I guess I don't have to worry about her getting bored…'
He'd wanted to take her outside to give her a chance to interact with other kids her age, but he'd never gotten the chance. He had run into the same problem the Immortal Flame Clan had, as if Valor ever spotted them… there would be problems. There was the option of disguising her features whenever they went out, but if it were that easy, Immortal Flame would've been able to handle themselves. Sunny was no fool, he knew the government and by proxy the Great Clans had all sorts of ways to monitor the masses. Even before the dark times, privacy had been practically non-existent. The only ones who could reliably bypass such things were the Awakened.
The Dream Realm had its own problem with privacy as well, but he wasn't too worried in the Chained Isles. Compared to many, many other places, the region he stayed in was quite undeveloped. Sure, it had a Saint watching over it, but it was so far away from places like Bastion to the point where it barely received any of the technological advancements people made in the Dream Realm. The Sanctuary itself had next to zero sorcery, with the only one Sunny could really think of being the fountain beneath the Gateway that never seemed to run out of water. But if he lived in Bastion… it would be a whole other story. That Citadel was extremely packed, and there were all sorts of Aspects and sorceries going off at all times. Unless one had an Aspect geared for stealth, they weren't going to be able to hide within it.
Sunny sighed inwardly, pushing the thoughts of Bastion out of his mind. Looking over at Nephis, he saw her smiling as she continued her studying, completely engrossed with whatever it was that she was reading. She also wore some familiar old-school headphones, listening to a song he couldn't make out.
Despite the fact the sight made him smile, he still felt worried.
'Still… aside from Jet, me, Serpent, and Solvane… She practically doesn't interact with anyone or anything. A developing mind shouldn't be limited in choices like that…'
He had already searched the neighbourhood for kids her age, but had found none, only toddlers and teenagers.
'Maybe… Rain?'
He missed his sister dearly. Many times he had found himself appearing before her house, debating whether or not he should go in.
'It's too risky.'
Song had eyes on him. Although his opinion of them was slowly improving, he didn't trust Ki Song enough to let her know he had a vulnerable family member out there somewhere. If Rain lived with him like Nephis did, it would be fine, but he wasn't about to kidnap a girl who didn't even know him and force her to live with him. Rain's life would be far better off with her current family anyways.
'There's Tyris as well…'
As big of a risk as it was, he had given away the fact he had Nephis with him to her, which meant that he might be able to ask Tyris to allow Nephis to befriend Telle.
'Surely she would understand my worries?'
He'd wait a while first though, as he didn't think Sky Tide and him were that close yet. There was the fact that it was possible the two girls wouldn't even end up friends anyways. He didn't know enough about Telle to judge how they would react to meeting each other. Hell, aside from the one time he'd seen her at the ball, he had never even met Tyris' daughter.
Sunny shook his head.
'Problems for another time.'
He had bigger things to worry about. Summoning the Covetous Coffer, he immediately got to work.
***
The night was silent, and the waning moon hung overhead.
Currently, Sunny was waiting patiently within his sleeping pod. He had gotten it repaired some time ago, for appearance's sake, but tonight and for several nights before now, he had laid awake within it. He was supposed to be a mere Awakened, after all. Why would an Awakened be sleeping in a bed?
Soft vapor drifted within his cradle, its blue light shining atop his pale skin. Not too far from him, Jet was fast asleep within her own sleeping pod, performing her duties within the Dream Realm.
Since Tyris' warning, nothing had happened yet. Nobody had searched his house, he had not received any strange visitors, and he had not been attacked.
…Until tonight.
Sunny's eyes snapped open, immense killing intent contained within.
Despite the fact every door and window was closed and locked, two shadows had suddenly appeared within his house.
Through the shadows he had left stationed around the house, he saw their appearances immediately. A man and woman, both dressed head to toe in pitch black garbs. Both of them had daggers strapped to their waists, the symbol of Valor engraved on the hilts.
Sunny's eyes narrowed. A moment later, they were shut, making it look like he was fast asleep.
***
Entering the house, one of the intruders glanced at their partner.
"Two Awakened live here, so be wary."
"Oh calm yourself, Kalo, I can sense where they are."
Kalo, the man, raised an eyebrow.
"Where are they then?"
The woman grinned.
"Both fast asleep! This one should be quick."
Kalo sighed in relief.
"Good. Then you search upstairs, and I'll search around here. Then we'll both search the basement."
The woman gave him a mock salute.
"Sure, sure."
The female intruder's Aspect activated, surrounding her in a cloud of chilling frost. She silently ascended the stairs, leaving no footsteps. Kalo sighed, turning towards the kitchen. His Aspect activated, and every object within the area became tinged with a small spark of light.
He moved towards the kitchen, opening cupboards and drawers, searching for anything of note.
'Nothing…'
His Aspect didn't tell him anything. Moving towards the main room, he didn't find anything either.
"Kalo, come check this out!"
Immediately alert, he made his way upstairs. Making his way into the room his partner was in, he glanced at her.
"Find something?"
His partner turned to him with a serious look.
"Doesn't this bed look used?"
Kalo scrunched his eyebrows.
"And? People live here, Marie."
His partner, Marie, sighed in disappointment.
"Gods, you're so dense!"
She smiled strangely.
"This house only has Awakened, so the beds should be unused, right? It's only this one bed that seems used too…"
The man didn't respond, waiting for her to go on.
"Come on, really? Do I have to spell it out for you? Man and woman living together? Roughed up bed? Gods!"
It was only once she made an obscene gesture with her hands did Kalo's eyes widen.
"Marie, you-!"
"Bahahaha! Seriously, is there anything in that empty head of yours?"
He smacked his partner across the back of her head, blushing furiously.
"Come on! Now is not the time for your perverted hobbies, Marie. This is only the first house of the night, so let's search the basement and make this quick."
With a click of her tongue, Marie turned away, rubbing the back of her head in pain.
"Fine…"
The two of them made their way back downstairs, neither of them even noticing the box that was inconspicuously placed right beneath the room's work desk. They continued to bicker as they made their way down, not at all worried about getting caught. The security system had already been spoofed, and the only residents weren't at any risk of waking up.
Finding the entrance to the basement with ease, they broke into the dojo, sweeping the area.
"Man, nothing?"
"Nothing."
Disappointingly, the basement was empty as well.
…Aside from the two sleepers, of course.
Marie placed a boot on the side of the male sleeper's pod, checking out the man within.
"Now that I get a better look at this guy… Awakened Sunless, right? Man the photo in the file does not do him justice! Hey hey, can we kidnap him?"
Kicking the side of the robust military-grade sleeping pod, Kalo sighed.
"Go for it."
The woman sighed in disappointment.
"Aw, really? You never say yes!"
The man raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean? I just said yes."
Marie's eyes widened.
"...Huh. I guess you did."
With a wide grin, she immediately pulled out a device, tapping a couple things on its interface.
"Finally finally finally! You never let me take the cute ones! What changed?"
"The boss wants to get a look at this one, so we're taking him in."
The woman turned to him, surprised.
"Him? What for? He didn't seem very impressive to me… aside from, you know."
Kalo shrugged.
"I don't know either, but they're rounding up some of the Forgotten Shore survivors. Something about a memory search. I think they're looking for that secret hero again, you know the one with the bird?"
Marie's grin widened even further.
"Wow… so this guy might be the one?"
He scoffed, leaving the military pod alone.
"Please. This guy? No chance. Should've seen the recording of his post-solstice interview. He was practically pissing himself!"
With a shrill laugh, the woman pressed a button and the hydraulics of the sleeping pod decompressed. With a slow whir, the lid opened.
"Send me that recording later. I need to see that…"
Jumping atop the pod, Marie reached in and pulled the sleeper out.
"Aw, such a cutie! Hey hey, Kalo, is it okay if I..?"
The man just sighed and turned away.
"Sweet!"
Caressing the side of the sleepers face, she leaned in.
"Stop."
"..!"
Both of them froze.
The air within the basement chilled, and what little light remained within vanished.
"Leave, and I'll forget this happened."
Marie attempted to pull away, but her wrist was already locked in an iron grip.
Seeing his partner in trouble, Kalo reached his arm out.
"Marie, get away from him!"
"I'm trying!"
The sleeper continued, not caring for their exchange.
"If you don't, then I promise the two of you will die tonight."
…Kalo did not heed his warning.
With a click of his tongue, his hand flicked to-
"Aaah!"
From the darkness, something had attacked. Blood dripped to the ground as his arm bent at an extremely unnatural angle.
"Oh… Oh gods, oh gods!"
"Kalo!"
Realising she wasn't going to free herself from the sleepers grip, Marie unleashed her Aspect. Frost began surrounding her as her wrist suddenly phased through the sleepers hand, freeing her from his hold.
And a moment later, another attack came from the darkness.
Worm-like vines shot straight through the cloud of frost surrounding Marie, easily piercing through her defenses both mystical and physical alike. With a cry of pain, she dropped to the ground, the cloud of frost dissolving as her Aspect was suppressed by the vines. A second later, she was yanked into the darkness.
Kalo could only watch in horror, clutching his bleeding arm.
"You, you… I'm sorry, I…"
A soft voice responded from the darkness.
"Mm, I'm sure you are."
The sleeper got out of the pod. At some point, he had managed to don fearsome black armour, and on his face… a ferocious mask made of black lacquered wood sat.
A harsh kick landed on the back of his knees, forcing him to kneel. Cold hands pressed against his shoulder and the side of his neck.
'I'm… I'm going to die…'
Marie was already gone. Neither of them were going to make it.
'This was supposed to be easy… this was…'
His Aspect made it easy for him to infiltrate places and take people out. Marie and him had only been tasked with capturing the weakest and least notable Forgotten Shore survivors. It was supposed to be an in and out operation. Their lords had said…
"Shadow… can…. I..?"
A deranged voice laced with hunger resounded from the darkness. He could still just barely hear the sounds of Marie struggling.
"Just make it quick."
There was a gleeful laugh, and with a loud crack the sounds of struggle ceased.
Tears began forming in the corner of Kalo's eyes as he looked down in fear.
'Why did I pick this house… why did I have to pick this house? Out of everywhere I could've picked…'
The sleeper, Awakened Sunless, crouched before him. No… it couldn't have been Awakened Sunless. Someone or something must have replaced him at some point. This… the poor boy must've been a victim to this monstrosity as well.
"Now… you are going to tell me absolutely everything your lords told you and more. Understand?"
So overcome with fear, he was unable to muster a response.
"Hey…"
"Gah!"
The monster grabbed his hair, forcing him to look into its eyes.
"Tell me. Or would you rather join Marie?"
"I… I… I'll tell you. Please… I'll tell you."
"Good."
Letting go of his hair, the man took a step back, sitting down on a chair that had appeared at some point.
"Serpent, if you would."
"What..?"
Almost immediately, he felt something happen. Panic and adrenaline surged within his body as he desperately searched for what was causing the feeling. A second later, he saw what was causing it.
'What is…'
A wood-like substance had begun sprouting from the exposed bone on his arm, and a moment later, it began pulling his arm back into place. As the break was clean and the wound fresh, it only took a couple seconds to heal.
"What are you…"
"It'll be harder to think if you're in pain, right? Come on now, my patience with you lot is seriously thinning."
"Okay okay!"
Taking a deep breath, he began recounting every single order he had received from his Domain, leaving nothing out.
He could only desperately try to push any thoughts of his impending doom out of his mind.