Sunny and the group went inside after briefly introducing them to Rain and her family.
Sunny was the only one who planned to live at his house. However, his house was not designed for just one person, but for families. The living room was more than enough for the four with Cassie taking a chair, Nephis and Kai taking the couch, and Effie just pulling up her wheelchair. Sunny moved to kitchen island that gave him a sightline to everyone in the room.
He made tea while the others made light talk before moving onto their future plans.
"So, Changing Star, huh," said Effie, looking at Nephis. "After leading us all out of the Forgotten Shore while some waited many years, I would say that's more than deserved."
"Thank you," said Nephis. "But I actually received my true name after my first nightmare."
Effie and Kai's eyes widened and Sunny and Cassie smiled internally. She truly was a bringer of change who imposed her will onto the world no matter the era.
"How was awakening for all of you?" asked Nephis.
Effie went first.
"I also received a true name, Raised by Wolves," she said.
"Nightingale," said Kai.
"Your guys' roll of the tongue a lot better than mine," said Effie.
She looked to Cassie and Sunny.
He was quiet for a moment.
"I have one," he said. "But it's the kind of true name that's dangerous to say out loud. I'd appreciate it if nobody asked me what it is."
Effie started to say something but then-
"No worries," said Kai with a smile saving Sunny from an uncomfortable question.
"Progeny of the Hateful." said Cassie.
The others absorbed this trying to reconcile the word 'hateful' in the context of everything they knew about Cassie.
"That's... not ominous at all," said Effie.
"Progeny means better, right." said Cassie confidently. "So that means I'll have to strive to be better than whoever the 'hateful' is."
Sunny caught her eyes across the room. She gave him a look that said, now. Her flaw made it impossible for her to direct others into situations. This meant that the part of the conversation that required laying out the situation fell, inevitably, to him.
He set down his tea and looked at the group.
"There's something Cassie and I should tell you," he said.
"We have some knowledge of what's coming," Sunny continued. "How much of it is still accurate is… uncertain. Things have already changed."
"What do you mean, like her visions?" asked Effie.
"Not exactly," said Sunny, who exchanged a look with Cassie. "We sorta are from the future."
Effie gave him a skeptical look. Kai's eyes were bulging. Nephis tilted her head. The two girls looked at Kai.
"H-he's not lying." he confirmed with a shaken voice.
"I can't lie, it's my flaw," said Sunny candidly.
Again Kai confirmed with a nod.
"What's going to happen? What changed?" asked Effie leaning forward.
"A lot. Some events and other things," said Sunny compelled by his flaw.
"What events?" she asked again.
"For one we escaped the Forgotten Shore with far fewer casualties and sooner," he said gritting his teeth in annoyance of his flaw.
"Wha-" Effie began.
"My flaw makes me have to answer so I would appreciate less questions," he said before Effie could ask again.
She opened her mouth, but before she could speak.
"You can't expect to drop that and for us to not have questions," said Nephis with a frown, her arms crossed.
"No, I can't, and I'm sorry, but knowing exactly what happened won't help us," he said. "And I think it will be dangerous to get sucked into it. Like I said things have changed."
"Things have changed," Effie repeated. "Right. Because you two went back in time and now you're running around with some agenda based on things your telling us to not ask about. I don't love being managed... or manipulated."
Nephis looked at Sunny directly.
"She's not wrong. You're asking us to act on knowledge we can't verify, in service of a future you won't describe, trusting that you aren't using said knowledge with other motives, maybe even against ours." she said.
Her expression was even.
"I am going to ask something," she said. "In this future you came from... what happened to us? To the people in this room?"
Sunny was quiet for a moment, his flaw building.
"...Ruin," he said grimly. "A couple tortured by a deranged Sovereign and one worse than that."
Nephis's eyes hardened.
He had a new appreciation of what Cassie had to deal with in regard to her visions. He had not, in the previous life, fully understood what the weight of it was. He had of course his own reaction to her decisions and the effects of them, but did not know the struggle of knowing things that could not or should not be shared. He was inside of it now.
"I can't speak for the other two, but I can try to understand," said Kai. "My question, though, would be why you bring it up?"
"My flaw prevents me from asking things or receiving help from others," said Cassie breaking her silence. "But this is because in order for the world to not fall into extermination, we will need much help."
The three were silent for a moment.
"Ok." said Nephis with a determined smile. "I trust you two, you four. And if it is our will who dares stop us."
Kai nodded in agreement and Effie directed her gaze at Sunny.
"What do we need to do?" she asked.
Sunny and Cassie smiled at them with gratitude.
"The short version is that we need to walk a narrow path to salvation. The longer version is that Cassie's visions along with our best judgements can give us an idea of how to best position ourselves to keep from allowing the world to fall into the hands of a god." said Sunny.
"The visions say that we must be in two places," said Sunny. "Bastion and Ravenheart."
He watched the room process this.
"Valor and the Song Clan's territory," said Nephis, with a complicated expression.
"I know you have issues with the Great Clans, I do too, of course not as personal as your reason," said Sunny as Nephis pursed her lips realizing that whatever future knowledge Sunny and Cassie had included her reason for hating Aster, Vale, and Song. "But I believe that you need to make a foothold in Bastion."
Nephis closed her eyes and sighed.
"I was planning on infiltrating one of them anyways," Nephis said. "And I heard that Princess Morgan herself was going to try and court me on behalf of Valor."
"Thank you," said Sunny with a smile turning to Effie. "Effie, we also believe you should be there to help her."
Effie absorbed this without visible resistance.
"Valor comes with benefits," she said. "I'm not opposed."
"Kai," said Sunny. "Ravenheart is the headquarters of Song Clan, with your status as a Forgotten Shore surviver you will be able to be based there if you ask and I think we need you there."
Kai nodded.
"What should I be doing there?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," Sunny admitted. "But build a relationship with Song. Additionally, Cassie will be going there as well. The two of you together should be able to figure out why it's an important area for our purposes."
He nodded.
"And you?" said Effie. "Where are you going?"
"The Chained Isles," he said, to the quizzed looks of the three. "I went there last time, and I need to retrieve somethings."
He looked at Nephis and Effie in particular.
"I also need to get someone who will be joining you in Bastion," said Sunny. "He's useful. He's also not to be trusted without certain conditions in place."
"He's a psychopath," said Sunny. "I'm going to scare him into cooperative behavior and then figure out how to get his flaw reattached."
Effie looked at him.
"You say that like it's a normal thing to announce," she said.
"He protected Cassie and Rain," said Sunny. "Before he died last time. That's worth something, even if don't like the bastard."
Effie looked at Nephis, who confirmed her agreement with the arrangement with a minimal nod.
"Don't hesitate to communicate if you run into any problems," Sunny told them. "And be careful, we're threading a needle and I don't plan on losing anyone."
The others left as the early evening got later, Cassie stayed. Sunny joined her in the living room and they enjoyed the silence together. Eventually, they decided to fill the silence with the plans for the future.
"I'm leaving Serpent with Rain," he said. "Things are moving differently... faster this time. I don't know when the Spell will infect her. If the timing has changed, Serpent can protect her."
Serpent was much more powerful this time around and was a great help in the Forgotten Shore. But Sunny had already decided that using [Grace of Shadows] was the best move.
"You are a good brother," said Cassie with a smile. "We will manage without Serpent, I am also not ready to accept taking chances with you or any of the others."
"You're including yourself in that I hope," said Sunny looking at her.
"I am not planning on leaving you," she said meeting his eyes. "ever."
"The vision I had in Ravenheart," said Cassie. "You were there, at the end. I don't know if that was the future or my subconscious being… partial." She looked at him with the candor she brought to the things she was not certain about. "But I think you might end up there regardless of what you plan."
"Maybe," he said. "But I need the Isles first. Nightmare and the Coffer are there, I'm not going to leave two of my Shadows if I don't have to. And Weaver's inheritance is there. Another piece of the lineage. I want that for you."
She looked at him.
"Thank you," she said. "There's also Mordret,"
"There's also Mordret," he agreed, with resignation.
"Wanna spar," he suggested.
The basement was exactly what Sunny had kept it for, which was this kind of purpose.
They sparred hand to hand combat. Cassie was good. They had only sparred hand to hand once or twice at the academy, she had lost her hand in the Dream Realm, and without her sight in the last life she was not able to utilize this skill at all. She was fast, accurate, and used angles and leverage to her every advantage.
Hand to hand combat was not entirely alien to Sunny, however he much preferred a weapon or even to turn into a nightmare creature. Sunny was confident that he was one of the most skilled fighter with weapons or using [Shadow Manipulation]in existence with his experience, but not when reduced to just his hands.
They were pretty much evenly matched. They were enjoying going back and forth with wins and loses. Almost as much as they enjoyed their bodies coming into contact with each other, even if the goal was to defeat the other.
The Shadow Bond allowed him to wrap the shadows around her, which allowed them both to be augmented with one shadow each and being able to adapt to slightly more options with more speed and strength.
"My awakened ability changed," she said, during a break. "I figured it would since I'm not blind anymore."
"What did you get," Sunny said.
"My master ability. Brief future sight. Two or three seconds. It requires a lot of essence though." She looked at him with uncertainty. "I think the Bond means I can share it."
It made sense, Nephis could share her flames and he could share his shadows. With Cassie he was able to join her dreams the more they practiced in the Forgotten Shore.
"Try it."
She did. The first time she gave it to him was not smooth. It arrived in his perception as a second awareness not totally overriding first. The future-sight included his shadow-sense and sight disorienting him with four inputs. He had to close his eyes.
He spent the next hour learning to get used to it. By the end of it he was doing something that he suspected was genuinely unprecedented, integrated into a single awareness, the present and the near-future overlapping in a way that gave him frightening information about his area for the next couple seconds.
Sunny and Cassie cleaned themselves up after sparring and Cassie left unfortunately having to deal with organizing her and Kai's arrival to Ravenheart.
Sunny walked outside to think. He looked in the direction of the Outskirts and contemplated [Shadow Step]. With Shadow's Ichor, the distance he could step was much greater almost at his master level. Still he would not be able to comfortably reach the Outskirts to brood.
He opted to teleport on his roof. He thought about what he had asked of the others.
Effie, who had been tortured by Asterion and lost her husband to his mind plague. While the world was doomed he still removed Little Ling from her life. And now he had asked her to embed herself in the seat of a powerful clan and position herself for a future she could only know was worth pursuing because he and Cassie had told her it was.
Kai, who had grown incredibly as a person and protected as many people as he could in the last life. He had asked Kai to move toward Ravenheart, toward the Song Clan's orbit again, but this time on the basis of that confirmation and a future he could not be given the details of.
Nephis, who had began to bring ruin in her quest for revenge on the Spell. She had agreed to live under the banner of the man who had her father killed without complaint.
And Cassie. He sat with this one longer than the others. He now helped carry her burden of orchestrating the future with an unusual power dynamic over others due to knowledge. He did not intend to let her carry it alone this time.
He was not certain he was doing this correctly. But his intention was real and authentic.
That would have to be enough.
'I wonder if that is what she told herself too,' thought Sunny.
Sunny sat in the dark for a while longer looking out at the NQSC.
The Chained Isles were exactly as he remembered them. The islands ran as far as he could see right before the Hollow Mountains, stacked at different altitudes scattered with the chains as the only thing keeping them from drifting further apart.
He finished off the last nightmare creature with a single stroke of the odachi and then checked his runes while he stood at the island's edge.
He had received the Coffer as an echo this time and used the shadow fragments he had to turn it into a Shadow.
Shadows: [Soul Serpent], [Marble Saint],[ Covetous Coffer].
Shadow: Covetous Coffer.
Shadow Rank: Ascended.
Shadow Class: Devil.
Shadow Attributes: [Mendacious Coffer], [Capacious Chest], [Lurid Trunk].
Shadow Description: [Noctis said to a nebulous figure in a fearsome mask, "I greatly appreciate your willingness to make a deal. Please excuse the clutter, these are just my treasure chests. They won't bite. Well... except for this one. This one will eat you alive..]
[Shadow Fragments: 0/400.]
The Coffer was not able to fully manifest to it's former glory of a castle or even to a cottage. However, it was a great storage memory in addition to the [Thief's Pocket] and could act as a combatant.
The charm he received by killing Solvane was not on its face better or even equal to the armor he'd gotten last time. But with the [Mantle], he had no need for an armor and instead was not going to complain about a charm so he could augment Saint with the [Dark Drinker].
Memory: [Cursed Beauty].
Memory Rank: Transcendent.
Memory Tier: III.
Memory Type: Charm.
Memory Description: [Beauty is the desire of many, and true beauty is the curse of those who enthrall others simply by being seen driving those around them mad. A beauty forged by the sun god was condemned to immortal loneliness to imprison Hope.]
Memory Enchantments: [Beautiful Nothing].
Enchantment Description: [This charm severely enhances all the wearer's strengths and defenses. Once the wearer is seen by an enemy this enhancement is only slightly effective, if the wearer is currently in view of an enemy the enhancement is non-effective.]
The charm was strong, his strength unprecedented for an awakened with Sunny's other advantages. This was only when he was undetected though, if an opponent caught even a glimpse the bonus would fall greatly and if in their sight it was gone. However, this played well with [Shadow Step] and a more assassin style of dealing with battle.
He thought about [Shadow Step].
The ability had changed with the [The Shadow] attribute working on it in the background, and the change was more interesting than he'd anticipated. Last time he had to be touching a shadow to step from it. Now he could teleport from shadows several feet away.
He was also able to partial step dipping his arm into the shadows to allow it to 'teleport' and deal a quick blow from a different angle or distance.
It also cost less. This was the part he appreciated most practically.
He looked down at the island below.
It sat at a lower altitude than the one he was standing on, close enough to see its layout clearly but far enough that the drop would be significant. The Awakened and nightmare creatures of the Chained Isles had a reputation of the island that if one were to go down there and you'll sleep. Not comfortably. Not briefly. Something on that island had been doing something to the natural sleep patterns of anything that stayed too long, and the results were not the kind you woke up from easily.
He was going there because Nightmare was there. Or had been. Or would be.
That was the part he was less certain about.
Last time, finding Nightmare as a Shadow had required being inside the seed. He had only gained a sizable amount of fragments from the island last time. He had a suspicion, quiet and persistent, that his Shadow wasn't going to be waiting on the sleeping island. The reunion would require the second nightmare in the chained islands. Sunny had checked and that the second nightmare seed wasn't here this time.
He hadn't decided how he felt about this yet, moving through grief in a muted way.
He looked at the drop below him.
He stepped off the edge and relaxed his body falling headfirst.
He let himself fall for a few seconds realizing that it was the closest thing to relaxed he'd been all week.
Then, he looked at the sleeping island coming up below him and prepared to reach for the shadows.
Elsewhere in the Dream Realm.
The snow lightly decorated the forest as three tall creatures wearing tattered armor that turned green from rust and carrying large heavy battle axes walked in a clearing. A delicate girl in a white battledress drew back her bow.
Moonveil breathed and let go.
It pierced one of the Chalice Knights earning her a kill as the other two turned to rush at her. She nocked again and was moving to a better angle when she released crippling one of them.
She rolled and then with exaggerated shock, turned realizing there were two more of them flanking her.
One of the one flanking her stiffened and fell to the ground a saber exiting its body. Silent Stalker emerged from under it and engaged the other. Her awakened aspect ability allowing her a few seconds of invisibility.
They hadn't heard or seen her coming. Moonveil almost never heard or saw her coming. That was strong point of Silent Stalker, she wasn't there until she was.
Moonveil had already let loose two more arrows one of which eliminated the other Chalice Knight leaving just one for each of them. Stalker let her saber fall and Moonveil let her arrow fly ending both remaining threats in seconds.
They walked back. The forest thinned gradually and the outer paths of Ravenheart came into view, and then the market beyond them, the Jade Palace visible above the rooftops.
"Did you hear about Seishan?" said Moonveil, when they'd been walking long enough for conversation to feel natural.
"I heard she woke up," said Stalker.
"She did. She's going to be coming here, home, where she belongs now. And she's bringing some of the people she survived the Forgotten Shore with."
Stalker was silent for a few steps.
"Which people?"
"A few that apparently worked under her, as well as a couple others. The interesting one is Night."
Stalker looked at her confused.
"The pop singer, the really good-looking one," said Moonveil. "I wonder how much better he looks after awakening."
"Huh," said Stalker disinterested.
They walked through the outer market as they cleared the last of the treeline. It smelled like food and cold and the general productive chaos of a lot of people in a small space.
"Busy day," muttered Stalker, looking at the market.
"It's always a busy day when something interesting is about to happen," said Moonveil. "And we have quite a few new arrivals."
They walked into the market and the crowd closed around them, and the Jade Palace waited ahead.
They found them near the far end of the bridge connecting to the Jade Palace to the outer area.
Kai was even more beautiful in person than Moonveil had expected. She was aware that she had gone slightly still.
Stalker, beside her, had not gone slightly still. Stalker was scanning the group pragmatically assessing the new awakened of Ravenheart.
The girl next to Kai noticed them first.
She had beautiful blonde hair and her cerulean eyes moved across both of them with a glint of precise attention. Her left arm was in a sling, the sleeve of her coat pinned neatly at the elbow. She looked at Stalker and Moonveil with a kind of recognition and warmth that was unexpected.
"Moonveil," she said with a smile breaking the ice. "And Silent Stalker."
Stalker gave a slight almost unnoticeable nod. Moonveil kept staring at Kai for a second before snapping out of it.
"That's us," said Moonveil said slightly blushing. "You're Cassie. Someone mentioned that you were one of Changing Stars closest cohort members."
"I was just lucky enough to be at the right place to help Nephis," said Cassie politely. "I've heard people mention you guys too, the best awakened of the Queen."
"Thank you," said Moonveil. "But I just can't wait to challenge a nightmare seed to catch up to my older sisters."
"I'll be sure to invite you then," said Cassie in a joking tone causing both to laugh.
Cassie was not actually joking. She had seen enough to know now that she, Sunny, Kai, Moonveil, and Stalker would need to challenge the seed together. She, unfortunately, had not been able to gleam anything about the coming second nightmare itself.
Stalker watched all this without visible reaction.
Kai joined the conversation after not having said anything yet.
"Moonveil, Silent Stalker," he said. "Good to meet you."
"N-night," she said a bit nervously. "It's nice to meet you too, I hope you find Ravenheart well."
"Thanks, maybe you could give me a slight tour," Kai said hoping to make her more comfortable.
Moonveil's heart was racing, but she calmed herself and continued to make small talk with him.
Stalker had turned back to Cassie.
"Seishan said you were interested in being in Ravenheart for a long while," said Stalker with a questioning tone.
"I am," said Cassie, with a slight smile. "There's some things I'd like to understand better and I think this place will help me figure it out."
Stalker was quiet for a moment.
"You'll have to excuse me," she said finally. "I would like to go see Seishan."
"Of course, it was nice meeting you," said Cassie. "I hope we stay in touch."
"Veil, you coming?" Stalker asked.
"Oh! umm," Moonveil replied, looking apologetically at Kai. "I've gotta go."
"No worries," said Kai. "Another time."
Moonveil and Stalker moved towards the Jade Palace as Cassie and Kai moved to explore the outer area. Cassie's eyes scanned the wilderness.
She knew there was a nightmare seed past the snowy forest on a different side of the volcano. She sighed thinking about how she had to locate it with her one hand as well as convince Moonveil and Stalker to join them despite likely having to go in without permission.