Once the four—Ash, Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie—descended from the tall statue and reached its base, they carefully examined their surroundings.
"Ash, do you sense anything?" asked Nephis, looking at the group's guide.
"I can sense several things. A huge tower about a few dozen kilometers to the west, inside the city a castle, and many people," he replied.
Nephis nodded.
Ash moved away a bit, looking at the statue of the seven heroes who created the artificial sun of the Forgotten Shore and their massive sacrifice of souls to feed it.
The gigantic statue was of a slender woman, dressed in a light and wispy tunic, standing above the black mud. She was beautiful and graceful, with a slim waist and delicate arms extended towards the sky, as if trying to embrace it.
Or at least, that's how it must have been countless years ago. Now one of her arms was broken, fallen to the ground, leaving only the shoulder; the other was still there, extended—the place that had provided them refuge for three full days in their moment of despair.
The most relevant detail was the lack of a head. Like the knight's statue, the head had been torn off with a demolishing force filled with indescribable hatred.
'Interesting.' Ash naturally knew the whole story of the Forgotten Shore and how it was created. Although the identity of the heroes was still a mystery, as well as which divine world they had been taken from.
Most likely, they had come from the world of the Storm Goddess, or that was his guess.
Stopping looking at the statue, Ash silently followed his companions west towards the nearly vertical slope. However, something happened. A wide stone suddenly moved, rolling to one side, then the other.
Out of nowhere, a roar echoed across the enormous black crater, putting more than one on guard.
Sunny and Nephis turned, fearing something might emerge from beneath the mud, their weapons already in hand. Cassie positioned herself behind them.
Ash simply observed the stone with spider legs and a mouth moving towards him.
Lifting his foot, he brought it down with all his force to eliminate the nightmare creature, but his body froze before striking the creature.
The creature jumped onto his leg, using its rock teeth to try to devour his flesh, but it was useless. The Nebulous Mantle was too hard to receive even a mere mark.
Ash tried to kill the creature but couldn't; his body wouldn't obey him.
'I see. So that's how my Flaw works,' he thought, somewhat annoyed.
He couldn't kill the nightmare creature because it was much weaker than him, and therefore he couldn't kill it. If he attacked with the intention to kill, his body simply froze on the spot, refusing to obey him.
"Ash, what's happening?" asked Sunny.
"It's nothing, just a biting rock," said Ash, grabbing the stone that tried to bite his hand.
Ash showed the creature he was holding to Sunny and Nephis, which was strangely comfortable to see—a creature resembling a stone shaking, opening and closing its mouth full of sharp teeth, while Ash held it tightly.
Sunny shook his head, bewildered, while Nephis had a glint of slight amusement in her eyes.
"I think I'll keep it as a pet. I'll call it Rocky."
"You'd better kill that thing," said Sunny.
"Why? It's adorable. Besides, Rocky is a nice creature. Sure, it bites a bit, but that's normal."
"Do you want to hold it?"
"No," said Sunny, raising the Midnight Fragment.
Ash sighed, dropping the rock to the ground. It tried to flee, but a blow later, the rock was shattered by a black sword from Sunny's attack.
A moment later, a strange expression appeared on Sunny's face.
"What's wrong?" asked Nephis.
"Uh... I just received a memory."
"What kind of memory?"
Sunny scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
"Uh. It's a... rock? An ordinary rock."
Changing Star gave him a strange look.
Ash simply sighed, creating a hole where he threw the pieces of the insignificantly weak Awakened monster, of course taking the soul fragment.
He had managed to prevent his Flaw from being discovered for the moment.
After that, the four advanced until they reached the wall, where they began to climb using their weapons to scale the white granite. Once at the top, and after Sunny informed them of everything he saw, including the castle, they decided to descend into the ruined city.
After descending from the wall, they began to walk carefully north, watching the ruins that rose at the other end.
Occasionally, Ash could see silhouettes of nightmare creatures lurking in the shadows.
Soon the group approached one of the imposing towers built into the wall. The circular structure rose a dozen meters above the ground. A wide wooden door led into the tower's interior, broken for a long time.
Beyond the door, there was only darkness.
"There's something inside," said Cassie out of nowhere, making the three look at the blind girl.
"Listen, you can hear something chewing."
Ash looked into the darkness, focusing on his hearing. It only took him a moment to hear it.
It was a strange sound, like bone being crushed and smashed.
Ash frowned slightly.
Sunny sent his shadows forward. After waiting almost a minute, Nephis asked:
"What did you see?"
Sunny waited a moment before responding.
"Well... either it's a very hungry human girl, or a very gluttonous demon."
Nephis looked at Sunny for a few moments, then turned her head to Ash.
"You go first."
Ash raised an eyebrow but said nothing and simply advanced, taking the lead with the other three following cautiously.
Upon entering the lighthouse, destroyed by time, a delicious aroma filled the entire place, making Sunny's stomach growl.
Ash, without hesitation, ducked, letting a huge, half-chewed bone pass over his head where it had just been.
The bone hit the wall, shattering it in the process.
Nephis stepped forward, ready to fight, while Sunny had recovered from the initial surprise.
Ash heard the unmistakable voice of a woman, full of energy and amusement:
"Is someone hiding in the shadows? Why don't you come out and play..?"
Ash straightened up, dusting himself off slightly, then joined Nephis and Sunny in the circle of light generated by the fire.
Upon arriving, he observed the woman who had almost smashed his head. She was tall, undeniably tall, with olive skin, wearing clothing from ancient Greece—he didn't know what it was called—and over it, bronze greaves, bracers, and a leather cuirass. Her brown hair was pulled back in a simple braid. Her build was athletic, with defined and slender muscles.
The young woman looked at them with some surprise.
"Humans? What a surprise!"
Then she shook her head.
"Ah, where are my manners?"
The woman stood up, the fabric of her clothes shifting slightly, revealing more muscles.
After standing up, she pointed to the fire.
"Here, want to take a seat?"
"You're not going to throw another bone out of nowhere, are you?" asked Ash, looking at the woman suspiciously.
The woman seemed amused.
"No... unless you do something as stupid as attacking me first," she said with a smile, showing her teeth.
In the somewhat tense atmosphere, surprisingly, it was Nephis who broke the silence.
"Are you... are you human?"
"What else would I be? A horse?" Having said that, she threw her head back and laughed heartily, amused by her own joke.
Sunny, Nephis, and Ash looked at each other, confused.
"Of course I'm human! Why do you ask? Anyway, come sit down. My neck is tired of looking up at you."
The huntress sat near the fire and adopted a relaxed posture. Seeing that she wouldn't attack them, the four sat on the stones, looking the hungry girl in the eyes.
The huntress frowned slightly.
"I haven't seen you around here. Are you new?"
Nephis nodded.
"We just arrived in the city."
The young woman smiled.
"In that case, my condolences... wait, you survived almost two months in the Labyrinth?" The huntress whistled in surprise.
"That's a real feat. Congratulations."
Ash yawned a bit, being near a source of heat.
"I'm Nephis, and these are my companions, Cassia, Ash, and Sunless. We're Sleepers who came here during the winter solstice."
The huntress gave them a friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Effie. Well, that's what they call me, at least. I'm also a Sleeper."
Sunny frowned and asked:
"Are you from the castle? There are people living there, right?"
Effie's expression soured for a few moments. An emotion close to pity appeared on her face.
"...Yes, indeed, there are people living in the castle."
"Can you take us there?"
Effie shrugged.
"Sure. Do you have fragments?"
Nephis took out two soul fragments from Ash's dead pet, who looked with pity at his rocky friend who had been sacrificed.
"We have two."
"Only two? Well... that's better than nothing, I guess. Keep them. You'll need them later."
After a moment, Nephis spoke again.
"We were hoping to reach the Citadel and access the gateway as soon as poss—"
"Nephis." Ash interrupted, making everyone look at him.
"What?" asked Changing Star, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.
"The portal isn't in this city," he revealed, making Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie's eyes widen.
Cassie immediately asked:
"What do you mean? But you said it was here?"
"Yes, that's what I said. I remember it well, but not the exact location. Now that I've used my ability to search for it, the only place it is, is inside the enormous tower west of this city."
Sunny clenched his fists while Changing Star had a somewhat lost look.
"Your friend is right. There's no portal in this city. Fifteen years ago, a group of powerful and desperate Sleepers managed to reach this city and claim the castle. Not because there was a portal, but because it was the only place that could keep them safe. At least for a while. Since then, some unfortunate or resourceful ones have arrived at the castle each solstice, only to end up trapped here with the rest of us."
"But that... that's not fair!"
Effie looked at Cassie with pity and then smiled maliciously and said:
"When has anything ever been fair?" She said this while reveling in their indignant desperation. Effie's smile suddenly lost its somber tone and was replaced by a happy grin.
"But it's not all bad! At least you met me. You're very lucky, really. If you hadn't run into a local, you'd be dead by now."
"Yeah? Why is... that?"
Effie sighed.
"The Dark City is the safest place in the Forgotten Shore, and also the deadliest. It's safe because no sea monster can cross the wall, and much more dangerous than the Labyrinth because almost everything here is of the Fallen rank."
"But you managed to stumble upon me. Otherwise, they would have already feasted on your souls. How lucky! Few people from the castle go out to hunt in the ruins, and even fewer venture this far. Running into an experienced huntress like me was probably your only chance to avoid discovering the true face of this cursed city."
Effie smiled.
"That's like... one in a thousand? Ten thousand? A million? Either way, the odds were in your favor. Fortune is in love with at least one of you, kids. So cheer up. Want some meat? I had a great hunt today. It was so incredible, I wouldn't mind sharing it."
Ash simply tuned out the remaining conversation without really paying attention. He already knew everything Effie would say.
'Looks like I'll be busy for at least a few months,' Ash thought.
Once night fell, he could start hunting Awakened abominations to continue saturating his core.
Currently, his fragment count was exactly three hundred. Perhaps in two months he would manage to gather a thousand and have a second Soul Core.
Ash just grabbed a piece of meat and started eating. After all, almost four days had passed since his last meal, only drinking water.
Surprisingly, the meat was delicious, which encouraged him to keep eating.
Soon night fell once more.
Ash was sitting on a pile of rocks, away from the rest, his body hidden by the shadows.
Closing his eyes, he listened to the sound of the waves crashing against the white granite wall.