The midnight air atop the coral mound was cold and tasted of salt and ancient dust. Blaze sat up, his movements fluid and silent. Ever since he had awakened in this world, sleep had become a fickle stranger. The trauma of his First Nightmare had rewired him, leaving him with a restless mind that preferred the clarity of the dark to the shadows of a dream.
Across the dying embers of the fire, he saw Sunny and Nephis. Both were awake, their eyes reflecting the faint orange glow. Cassie remained huddled in her armor, her breathing deep and rhythmic.
"Did I disturb your sleep?" Blaze asked softly.
Sunny didn't reply, his gaze fixed on the horizon. Nephis, however, turned her pale eyes toward him. "Why are you awake?"
"Couldn't sleep," Blaze replied, leaning back against a jagged coral rib. "I was just recalling the fight with the Scavenger."
Sunny let out a long, weary sigh. He shifted his weight, glancing toward the sleeping Cassie before looking back at Blaze. "Hey. Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Blaze said.
"Why are you burdening yourself with her?" Sunny's voice was blunt,
Nephis tilted her head, clearly curious about the answer herself. Blaze looked at Cassie for a moment, then back at Sunny with a faint, enigmatic smile.
"Because I want to give her a choice," Blaze said. "Let me tell you a story. Once, there was a scorpion who wanted to cross a wide river. It couldn't swim, and the water was rising. It saw a human about to wade across and asked for help. The human, being kind, opened his hand. The scorpion jumped in, and the human carried it all the way to the opposite bank."
Blaze paused, his voice dropping an octave. "After reaching the other side, the human gently laid the scorpion on the grass. The scorpion immediately stung the human's hand and scurried away. The human did nothing—he didn't strike back, didn't curse. He simply turned and walked away. Now, here is the question: What was the human planning to do next?"
Sunny thought for a moment, his cynical mind already reaching for a dark conclusion. "He was going to find a cure. He knew he was stung and was prioritizing survival."
Nephis looked at the embers. "He already anticipated the attack. He helped knowing the cost."
Blaze shook his head. "He did nothing because helping is simply who he is. He didn't change his nature just because the scorpion followed its own. I believe in giving people freedom and the power to choose their own destiny. I've taken her under my wing because I choose to—whatever she might become, or whatever choices she might make in the future, that is her burden. My burden is simply to be the hand that carries her across the river."
Sunny and Nephis glanced at each other, the weight of his words hanging heavy in the air. Nephis broke the silence, her voice devoid of judgment. "Where did you get the Transcendent armor you gave her?"
Blaze's gaze hardened slightly. "I got it from my First Nightmare. I'd rather not go further into the details of that place."
Nephis nodded, accepting the boundary, and returned to her silent vigil.
As silence reclaimed the camp, a sudden spark of inspiration hit Blaze. He thought of the mechanics of his Hellfire—how it flowed like a liquid, yet burned like a star. Compact... rotating... high-density.
Hellfire Rasengan.
If he could apply the rotational mechanics of a spiraling sphere to his Hellfire—compressing the heat into a focused, grinding point—it would bypass almost any physical defense. He closed his eyes, visualizing the flow. Maybe I can work out the stability in the morning.
*********
While Blaze drifted into a meditative state, Sunny and Nephis continued their own low-voiced exchange.
"Hey," Sunny said quietly. "Can I ask you something too?"
Nephis shrugged. "Sure."
"I thought you Legacies came into the Spell with an inherited arsenal of Memories," Sunny said, his voice tinged with a hint of envy. "That's supposed to be your big advantage. How come you only have two?"
Nephis was silent for a few moments, her eyes tracking the movement of a distant cloud. "We lost most of our Memories when my father passed away. The ones that remained were sold, one by one, over the years to keep the family afloat. This sword and armor came from my First Nightmare."
Sunny blinked, surprised by the admission of poverty. "Surely, with your clan's reputation, there were other ways to make money."
Without any visible reaction, Nephis simply said, "There were other reasons." She turned her head toward him. "Can I ask you a question in return?"
Sunny swallowed hard. "Yeah, go ahead."
"How did you know that I'm a Legacy?"
"Simple," Sunny replied, feeling a bit of his confidence return. "I heard Caster mention it. He was scolding the other Sleepers to make them treat you with respect."
They talked for a few more minutes—small, guarded truths exchanged in the dark—until the exhaustion of the Dream Realm finally forced them to rest.
******
In the morning, Blaze, Sunny, and Nephis were the first to rise. As the pale sun began to bleed through the gray mists and the Dark Sea retreated from the Labyrinth's floor, they built a small fire to prepare a meager breakfast.Blaze was practicing it secretly
Cassie was still asleep, so they didn't talk much. It was as if the vulnerability of the previous night's conversation had been buried under the immediate need for survival. However, as the morning progressed, they began to discuss the plan for the coming days.
"With what Sunny told us about the Scavengers crowding to the west," Nephis said, tracing a line in the dust, "the logical step is to move east. North and south are options, but east puts the most space between us and the primary swarm."
Sunny nodded. "I've explored a little to the east, but not far enough to be sure we can make it to the next high point in a day. We should spend today scouting a path to those cliffs over there and move the camp tomorrow."
He sighed, looking at the desolate landscape. "Do you have any idea where we are? Is there a human Citadel nearby?"
Nephis shook her head. "I've never heard of a region that looks like this. We have to move to find out. We'll either find a Citadel, encounter an unconquered Gateway... or die. East is as good a direction as any. Plus, it's safer."
Blaze poked the fire with a stick. "We might need to check the west, though."
Sunny groaned. "Did you miss the part where I said there's a literal horde of monsters that way?"
"I heard you," Blaze said calmly. "But what if the Gateway is that way? What if we spend weeks traveling east only to find a dead end? We need to be certain."
At that moment, Cassie suddenly sat bolt upright. Her eyes were wide, and her face had gone deathly pale. She looked both terrified and electrified.
Nephis frowned, her hand moving toward the hilt of her sword. Blaze moved to Cassie's side. "Cassie? What's the matter?"
The blind girl turned toward them, a trembling smile breaking across her face. "A... a vision! I just had a vision!"
Nephis remained tense, her eyes scanning the horizon. "Are we in danger?"
Cassie shook her head energetically. "No, it's not that! People... I saw a castle full of people! A fortress in the mist!"
She pointed a delicate, trembling finger into the distance. "I don't know how far it is, but I'm certain it's in that direction!"
Blaze, Sunny, and Nephis looked at each other, their expressions a mix of hope and sheer dread.
Cassie's finger was pointing directly west—straight into the heart of the monster horde.