The trip back to base was silent after Sunny told Nephis what happened, her reaction was to simply narrow her eyes in confusion, then she rested her head back on his shoulder, that action shut his ranting down really fast.
Meanwhile, the other coupl– the other pair was in some other particular situation. Seishan kept smiling at Kai, who was still blushing.
"What's the problem Kai? Is the great Nightingale nervous about going out with me?"
"W-What? O-Of course not!"
Seishan chuckled and inched closer, whispering with a sweet smile, a light, beautiful blush appearing on her beautiful gray face.
"You are a horrible liar Kai… But I like that about you…"
The poor archer's face became a red tomato. The Princess, meanwhile, was chuckling, amused and having fun at his reaction.
Sunny heard all the interaction and sighed.
"Can't believe they are actually going on a date…"
Nephis raised her head and looked at him with an unamused expression.
"What's the problem? Are you being an overprotective younger brother that hates when your sisters start dating?"
Sunny turned to her with a weird expression.
"Of course, It's my duty as the youngest to make sure no one mistreats my sisters, besides, they already draw enough attention as it is. Do you know how many men want to get her? And how many will feel extreme jealousy?!"
Nephis rolled her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder again.
"Dramatic."
Sunny was going to retort, but he ended up enjoying her head leaning on him way too much.
Eventually, they arrived at the Firekeeper base.
After landing on the landing zone and getting down from the grand raven, Sunny dismissed Dreadwing, letting his Shadow rest beneath the lightless suns of his soul sea.
Sighing loudly, Sunny turned to Nephis.
"We ended up taking too long…"
She nodded indifferently, not minding the problem that much.
"It's fine, to begin with, we were only meant to get you used to the region, there wasn't anything important to do…"
She looked back around the base camp before widening her eyes a little before closing them and leaning to the side and adding:
"And Cassie wanted to see you."
"Cassie's here?"
Nephis pointed to an isolated back part of the camp.
"Yes, just walk a bit and she should be there."
Sunny narrowed his eyes, but began walking towards the place Cassie was.
Walking through the wide path of the dense set of trees, Sunny found a girl contemplating a relatively small waterfall. An ornate silver blindfold resting on a beautiful face, on it, an unreadable expression, while her long, straight blond hair flowed gracefully over intricately engraved silver armor and a midnight-blue cloak.
Cassia… Song of the Fallen…
It looked like she was lost in thought until Sunless called for her.
"Cass."
Cassie perked up, then turned around to face her friend, the silver blindfold hiding the nervousness that inhabited her eyes.
"Sunny, how have you been?"
He sighed and walked a few steps forward.
"I'm doing fine, the Blightlands are surprisingly simple to traverse when you have a guide. Either way, what was it you wanted to talk about?"
Cassie stared at him for some seconds with her blind eyes, then turned back to the lake that rippled due to the constant water that fell.
"I was able to secure a visit to the Night Temple."
Sunny sharpened his gaze in a confused manner, from his understanding, they only needed to pass through the Citadel, not enter it, but Cassie foresaw his confusion, and added to her sentence.
"We need something from there."
Sunny's gaze went from confusion to suspicion.
"Cassie, what could possibly be in the Night Temple that you need? Saint Cormac is not as welcoming as Tyris, he won't like that two Songs will enter his Citadel."
"Cormac won't be there, and you don't need to go, not in person anyway. But there's something necessary for the Second Nightmare in there. Nephis and I will enter, you… You only need to hide in one of our shadows, since you are a Tyrant now, essence shouldn't be a problem."
Sunless sighed, he walked forward to stand by her side on the edge of the lake, his hollow eyes turned to the waterfall.
"How did you know I am a Tyrant now?"
Cassie leaned down, crouching to sit on one of the rocks, no hesitation or inconsistency in her voice.
"Neph told me."
The answer caused Sunless to roll his eyes.
"You are a good liar. Nephis trusts you, but she isn't one to just tell people this stuff."
She hesitated, her mouth opened to answer the accusation, but he stopped her.
"You don't need to hide how much these visions hurt you Cass, did you forget? I grew up with Hel, and she also hides a lot… Seeing tragedies is not a good Fate."
He turned around.
"You should talk to her more, she's not just the one that saved your life due to some vision, and please, don't look at her as the blade that can decapitate you at any moment."
He walked, intending to go back to the camp and leave Cassie.
"What if I hurt you?"
He stopped, listening to the blind seer.
"What if me… Or her… Do something that makes you lose– that is irreversable, that you dread?"
He closed his eyes…
"This something… Would it make me hate you?"
"... You would hate our actions."
Sunny sighed and turned to look at Cassie, who hid her face by looking at the lake.
"Our Fate can't be written like a fairy tail Cass, my mother proved that a long time ago…"
He looked down, a thousand thoughts passing through his head.
"But that won't stop me from trying."
He left, knowing Cassie would need time to think…
A drop of water rippled the lake, but it didn't come from the waterfall.
— — —
"Ha! Got you!"
"Lucky…"
"You're just mad I beat you!"
Lan kept smiling triumphfully as he had finally beaten his brother in the video game they were playing… After twenty nine tries.
Kira paid them no mind, he was in another room and he could still hear them. He looked at the hologram map of the Blightlands that was manifested on the table of the home the Song Clan gave them, Lauma right beside him. He was reviewing his knowledge of the Zone.
It had been two days after Lord Sunless had gone to the Chained Isles and as acting leader, needed to keep on top of things.
The Shadow Watchers had become roommates in a relatively luxurious home, it had three floors, the ground was a wide living space where the living rooms, training dojo, kitchen and meeting room.
The other two floors served as their bedrooms. There were five on each floor. Since they were nine, one of the rooms ended up empty, but who knows, maybe they'll get a new member one day.
Kira sat on the chair behind him and sighed. Since it was outside the Dream Realm, he didn't need to wear his armor, so he was wearing more casual clothing… That still covered his whole body.
A gray jacket, black gloves, black trousers. He had long, straight black hair cascading like a river while his face was obscured by a dark faceplate that hid all his face and skin. Not even having a visor.
Turning to Lauma, who was currently looking through her tablet where various key informations about the Song Clan.
Ever since the return of the Prince of Song, the Raven Queen has given him plenty of responsibilities little by little. Most, if not all, involved undercover operations, espionage, assassinations… Pretty much the whole world behind the surface of the Song Clan passed through him or someone under his command.
Ironically enough, the rumours about him were true.
Of course, not everything was under his control, and Kira was almost sure that there was someone overseeing all his actions in case something went wrong. But on paper, Sunless and the Shadow Watchers had the control.
He turned to look at Lauma, who was still sitting on her chair, her legs crossed touching on her tablet, her hair was loose, unkept, matching the tired look on her face.
Currently, she was receiving all the information of the operatives and making a report. If Kira had to name the one who worked the most out of all their members, it was Lauma, and he had no idea why.
"Lauma, if I may ask, why work so much? You insisted on taking almost our entire administrative workload."
She answered non-chalantly, not even raising her head.
"Why do you always hide your face?"
...
"It 's personal?"
She nodded.
"My flaw makes me unable to help in battle, I need to pull my own weight…"
She hesitated, but added.
"This is my way to repay him."
Sighing, Lauma raised her head and gave Kira a small smile.
"And I doubt Lan or Merlin would be able to do this."
Kira chuckled as he leaned on his chair and looked up.
"True, they would probably break the desk before finishing the paperwork."
Another scream was heard as Lan lost yet another match to his brother.
The two always intrigued Kira. To him, it was a mystery how they came from a normal, nuclear family. Their parents were not at all interested in the life of an Awakened, and would rather Kin and Lan to live a normal life.
Yet they had a talent for combat, real talent, you couldn't tell that Kin only received basic sword training, or that Lan was a relatively amateur in a brawl, and they only were in the Forgotten Shore for three years, becoming among the strongest in around two years.
And even knowing all of that, their mother hated the idea of them in the Dream Realm, fighting Fallen or even Corrupted monsters. Just wanting them to stay in Bastion for the rest of their lives.
But when Lord Sunless came into their house, he was able to convince them, it helped the twins were of legal age. Which is also surprising, to have the Spell infect you at the same time and end up in the same place?
Kira was snapped out of his thoughts as the door suddenly opened to reveal Nix, who didn't make any greetings before announcing the reason for her coming to the room.
"Lord Sunless is here, come to the living room."
She quickly closed the door, which prompted both individuals in the room to get up.
'Strange, so soon? Must be important.'
Kira let his mind wander while he went to the main living room with Lauma.
Almost all were already there in unusual casual clothes, Kin and Lan on the couch, having just turned the video game console off.
Mei was on the only armchair of the room where she always sat, her unofficial seat of the house. The ever-present katana on her side.
Merlin sat on the floor right in front of the couch, while Lauma quietly sat next to her, putting her hands in front of her chest while gripping her tablet.
Motza was sitting on top of the table with his arms crossed, his bandages still there. He was serious… But his eye widened as Nix suddenly figured that the best spot for her to be was between his legs…
She got close, stood right in between his legs and turned around, leaning on Motza, forcing him to hug her, not caring for his confusion and bewilderment.
Everyone stared at them for a good couple of seconds, none saying a word. Until someone broke it.
"Are you sure you two aren't dating?"
The voice came from their leader, the Hollow Death, Sunless Song, who was leaning on the doorway to the kitchen while holding a cup of coffee.
Nix turned her head to him.
"Are you sure you aren't dating Lady Changing Star?"
Sunless suddenly felt every single person in the room switch their glances from Motza and Nix to himself in a second.
"Yes, I'm sure."
A smirk came over Nix's mouth.
"Keep telling yourself that. And yes, we are dating."
Everyone turned to Nix, surprised… Even Motza.
"We are?"
His voice showed genuine confusion, Nix just stated they were dating without his consent.
The girl, meanwhile, turned to him angrily. Well, faking anger, as her flaw made her unable to feel actual anger, so most of the time, she pretended.
"Of course we are! I confessed to you yesterday! And you accepted! Remember?!"
He stared at her for some seconds before saying:
"I just said you were more beautiful than the moon."
Sunny almost dropped his coffee, not believing how much Motza was conditioned by Valor. Kira raised his arm to his face, slowly face palming while Kin and Lan simultaneously dropped their jaws. Mei's eyes widened a little before she sighed and returned with her usual expression.
Merlin was the only one truly confused.
"Wait… Why does that…"
But Lauma quickly shifted closer to her friend and whispered the meaning to her ear. The eyes of the fox girl immediately widened in astonishment.
Nix twitched her eyes, a fake rage came over her as she slapped Motza's shoulder repeatedly, blushing intensely.
"You- Dense- Good for nothing- Assassin!"
"What did I do?"
Sunny sighed, it did make sense, on paper, Motza was one of the sons of Whispering Blade, in reality, he was an assassin trained to kill, and only kill. And Sunny was pretty sure the meaning of 'The moon looks beautiful tonight' was not in Valor's curriculum.
He took a sip of his coffee before approaching.
"Alright, Nix, you can punish your boyfriend later, there's something important I need to test."
Nix was about to slap Motza again, but hesitated, her blush never left her face as she crossed her arms and leaned on him again, now her real expression appearing, a calm, gentle face. Motza now had a girlfriend, and he accepted that really quickly… Even if he had no idea what that entailed.
Kira finally let go of his own face and turned to Sunless.
"What about Lycon? He's not here yet."
"That 's intencional."
All the attention of the Shadow Watchers was now focused on their leader. Mei couldn't help but sharpen her eyes.
"I sent him on a quest to spy on Valor today, to test him. As you know, Lycon is the son of Pillaris, a vassal of the Great Clan.
Lan raised his hand.
"But he hates them, no?"
"Sure, but only the current hates his family, the future one… I'm not so sure."
Sunny proceeded to explain why Lycon was currently under investigation…
"... For this reason, this whole meeting, and everything regarding this meeting stays here, are we understood?"
The reactions upon hearing the information were varied, but most understood, after being on missions with Lycon for months, they knew how volatile the man could be, and the revelation of his flaw made many questions be answered.
But one couldn't believe it.
Merlin stared at Sunless with an incredulous face, she tried and tried to refute what he said in her mind, but it was useless, despite Lycon being gentle with her, despite being the one who answered a lot of her questions, she couldn't deny that all these suspicions made sense.
Lauma touched Merlin's shoulder, understanding what was going on in her head.
Sunny also noticed her reaction, but he couldn't console her, at least not now, she needed to remember what she learned on the outskirts.
"But leaving that aside, I want to test something, any volunteers?"
Everyone perked up at his statement.
"Ahhh…. Test what?"
"What else, Lauma? My new attribute! Come on, it won't hurt… I think, I actually don't even know how to activate."
Everyone in the room stared at their leader like he was a crazy person. He blatantly asked them to experience something he had no idea how to use, no clue if it would work, and didn't even know if it hurt or not…
Everyone raised their hands.
—
Mei straightened as Sunless approached her back and touched her shoulder.
"You guys do know that normally the one who picks the shortest straw is the unlucky one, right?"
Mei hummed as she closed her eyes.
"Hmm, we know."
The rest of the Shadow Watchers looked at the scene with expectation, some with a little jealousy. To decide who would go first, they picked straws, the shortest one would win.
Mei won, Sunny could swear he saw a small smile appear on her mouth.
Either way, Sunny touched her shoulder and started to wonder what exactly he needed to do to give her the blessing of Shadow.
If he compared to Nephis again, he needed to simply infuse his essence into the other person, but she never really described how she did it…
Sunny closed his eyes and let his essence flow, trying to imagine Mei's body as another limb to saturate with essence, or a Memory with an active enchantment.
It didn't work.
He felt no connection to her, it was a complete block.
"Do you actually know what you are doing?"
"No, I don't Motza."
"... At least you are honest."
Sunny sighed, closing his eyes and trying to think of a way to connect to Mei in a…
He opened his eyes and looked at his shadows.
'Damnation, why not?'
Thinking it won't work, he ordered Happy to go to Mei's shadow. Gloomy seemed to have no wish to connect with her, and Sunny didn't trust the other shadows to do anything to a girl.
The Happy shadow… Happily went to Mei's shadow and melded with it just like all other times.
Normally, when Sunny's shadows fuse with another person's shadow, nothing really happens, it was just a really useful way to spy on his enemies.
But this time… Something was different.
Mei's shadow accepted Happy much more. Sunny could feel some kind of connection, no, more like a potential connection, a string that he could pull.
Sunny now infused his essence on her body, at the same time, he pulled on the metaphorical string, and this time, it worked, and his essence flowed into her body, shadow essence.
And Mei felt a chill run down her spine, she felt something change in her, something fundamental to her being changed.
Suddenly, the shadows seemed welcoming,
She looked at Sunny with curiosity.
"Did it work?"
He smiled as the Spell announced.
[You have blessed a Soul with Shadow.]
"I think it did."
Mei's eyes widened, she must have received messages from the Spell.
"Ahhh, since when does Mei have a tattoo?"
Lauma's observation made everyone look at her exposed arm, where a tattoo in the form of a snake formed.
"That must be what you gained. It is a…"
"One of the things."
Sunless couldn't help but pause.
"Excuse me, what?"
Mei looked at him without hesitation.
"I gained three attributes."
—
It was surprising, but true, the blessing of the [Monarch of Shadows] bestowed three attributes to everyone.
First was [Chosen by the Shadow] it gave the Shadow Watchers affinity to shadows and let the shadows help them, recognizing them as worthy to protect. Basically giving them a weaker version of the [Heir of Shadows], letting them see in the dark, hide in shadows, and much more.
The second was [Mark of Shadow] which gave them each a Soul Serpent, serving the same way as Sunny's Serpent, despite them being much weaker than his, it was a good boon, a versatile one.
The third one… That was the most surprising, because it was unique for each one.
Mei received [Shadow Shogun].
Motza received [Shadow Assassin].
Kin received [Shadow Hunter].
Merlin received [Shadow Fox].
Lan received [Shadow Enforcer].
Nix received [Shadow Witch].
Lauma received [Shadow Guide].
And finally, Kira got [Shadow Knight].
An attribute especially made for each one in a way, seemingly giving a special boon. But of course, the descriptions gave nothing direct, only implications.
Other than that, Sunny could see their runes through his attribute, it wasn't like his Innate Ability however, it was more like a name list than anything else, he could see their names and abilities, but not their flaws and some attributes.
'Well, it doesn't matter.'
The only one kind of nervous to reveal his runes was, surprisingly, Kira. But once Sunny said how he couldn't see their most important attributes, he accepted without hesitation.
'I wonder what attribute would be so personal he wouldn't like to share it… Oh well, I don't blame him. Its still very personal.'
Sunny looked at the room and noticed how much the shadows deepened, welcoming his subordinates like they were one of their own. And also how they were exploring their new powers.
"I CAN SEE IN THE DARK!"
Merlin, at least, was certainly enjoying herself.
"Can you please not shout? You don't need to annouce to the world."
"Let her be Kin, it was certainly unexpected to get this."
Kira said as he reached out for the shadows, watching as they reacted to him.
"Its strange, I feel like I'm connected to them, and at the same time not."
Nix nodded, ading her theory.
"It's probably because its not our source element, maybe the attributes are forcing the connection…"
Lan however, cared little for that, he got a pet snake!
"Hell yeah! Mom never allowed for me to have a pet or a tattoo, I got the two for the price of one!"
He stared at the serpent, that had manifested, with excitement, playing with it.
Sunny sighed, but a smile inevitably grew on his face. Before it disappeared completely.
"Thinking of Lycon?"
Motza appeared on his side, living up to his title as an assassin, Sunny didn't flinch, already used to his subordinate's habits and having sensed him.
"Of course, it feels wrong to be missing him, but at the end of the day, we can't trust him."
Motza nodded.
"Agreed, what do you want me to do?"
Sunny turned to Motza, the single black eye showing no hesitation. Sighing, he understood Motza of all people wouldn't rest until it was confirmed Lycon wasn't a threat.
"I'll leave this matter for you and Mei, keep an eye on him. After you complete the Second Nightmare, join in with the other operatives in the investigation on Pillaris, I have a feeling you guys will finish the trial before me."
The assassin nodded, his eye quickly looked to Sunny's side. Someone else approached.
The Prince of Song turned to see Lauma, with a happy expression and a tablet on her chest. A newly born ebony serpent wrapping on her neck.
"What is it Lauma?"
She shifted the tablet and handed it out to her leader.
"Here's all the reports from today."
Sunny grabbed it and quickly scrolled down to see how many were there.
He scrolled…
And scrolled…
And dread creeped onto his eyes as he kept scrolling.
Until he reached the end. The number of reports… Was impressive, to say the very least.
"Oh! Right, forgot to mention, but Lady Lightslayer handed out her part to you, she said she had other important things to do."
A vein popped in Sunny's forehead as he gave a forced smile.
"Did that include messing around with a certain Vessel of Ice?"
"... Maybe."
The shadows on the building grew restless and wrathful…
'Just wait Rev, next, it's your turn!'
— —
Frostblade was meditating on the Mountains that circled Ravenheart, she needed to think, and repress the damn flaw that haunted her life, making her walk on the edge of insanity.
Someone interrupted her.
"Selene, I need your help."
She sighed, getting up to face her old friend.
"What is it Charon?"
Undying Blade walked until he was a few meters from Frostblade.
"I need to spar, it has been too long since I used all my power."
Frostblade raised her brows, a rare expression of surprise came over her.
"Why would you need to spar?"
"What else? A mission, on the Chained Isles."
Realization came over Selene as she understood what he meant, what he needed. The other reason the Raven Queen accepted her children to go into enemy territory.
A sword made from ice slowly began forming in her hands. The snow beneath her feet started to cristalyze as it turned into ice.
"The Chained Isles… Cormac is not a opponent you will lose to. Neither is Tyris… If you are at your best."
On the other hand, the snow around Blade started to melt as a black sword manifested in his hand, soon, the metal tip became hot red as flaming blood dripped onto the sword.
"Don't hold back."
Frostblade chuckled as her body transformed into ice, making her body her own weapon.
"Did you forget old friend? I don't hold back against those stronger than myself."
Undying Blade's skin became gray, and as the rest of his body changed, he glared at his friend.
"We never really settled who was stronger. I'm glad to finally decide."