Asher smiled a bit as everyone was panting in the ground. Sunny had it especially worse, having a giant slug about end him but over all, they weren't hurt.
Sunny gave a short, breathless chuckle and jabbed a finger upward at the shimmering ascended soul shard hovering above him.
"Are you insane? Why would you do that?" Nephis said, clearly angry at Sunny, who simply grinned. "I saw something shiny, so I jumped into the bones. No big deal."
Sunny just grinned. "I saw something shiny, so I jumped into the pile of bones. Relax."
Nephis stared at him, lips parting, then closing again as if she couldn't quite decide where to start. Finally, she turned to Asher and proceeded to... look at him?
Asher's smile faltered. He blinked a couple of times, confusion flickering across his face. The he replied with continuous blinks.
Asher's message was clear in Nephis' eyes.
[You have no right to call him insane.]
For a heartbeat, something like a frown tugged at her features, gone as quickly as it came.
Sadly, the cohort did not get a lot of time to rest. Despite the fact that it wasn't even noon yet, they had a lot of ground to cover before sunset.
Standing up in a chorus of disappointed groans, the cohort assumed the marching formation and set out south. Walking through the mud of the colossal crater was not easy, but for the time being, they had no other choice… unless they wanted to scale the monumental stone wall and return to the Dark City, of course.
Luckily, with Sunny, Kai and Asher scouting ahead, they didn't run into anything.
So, for the time being, the only thing the party had to struggle with was moving their feet through the wet dirt.
The monotonous silence was broken only by laborious breathing and slurping of mud.
…A while later, the impregnable and seemingly endless grey wall of the Dark city slowly twisted, drifting away from the edge of the crater.
Nephis led the party to the sharp slope of the crater, and the six of them climbed out of it. With the help of Kai and the trusty golden rope, the task wasn't hard at all.
For some time after that, they walked on the ridge separating the crater from the Labyrinth proper, but then, finally, had to turn west and enter the maze of crimson coral.
The sharp, briny scent of coral drifted into Asher's nose, tugging at memories he wasn't sure he wanted.
He... didn't like this place after all.
Yet... the familiar environment made them comfortable.
It was an ambivalent feeling...
He slowed, then stopped entirely.
The others noticed immediately. Their footsteps faded, replaced by the faint rustle of gear and shifting sand.
"Why'd you stop all of a sudden?" Effie asked, tilting her head.
Nephis' voice followed companied by her deadpan face. "We shouldn't waste daylight."
Asher smiled a bit.
He could see Sunny still looking at him with narrowed eyes. He could tell that Sunny, though not saying it aloud was still waiting.
Asher knew what for.
Maybe… maybe it was time.
Time to put the words out there.
He felt he could take it:
The burden of trust.
The trust that he could take their back, be a reliable support and...
....stand with them—not just beside them.
"I guess I lied about my aspect a little."
The cohort's expression changed as the realized what Asher was talking about. As far as they knew, Asher's aspect was simple: weight manipulation. Useful, yes—but not the kind of power that could explain everything they'd seen him do in the catacombs.
Caster's lips pressed into a thin line. He'd read Asher's reports, of course. He wasn't stupid—he knew an Ascended-tier potential when he saw one. But the catacombs... Caster couldn't help but bite his lip when he heard Asher say it:
"I... can control gravity..."
Nephis and Sunny didn't outwardly react much. They had already shortened the options to either telekinesis or Gravity manipulation but it was still a different feeling hearing it from Asher mouth.
Cassie looked rather aloof, as she continued to look at the ground.
Kai and Effie meanwhile...
"Isn't that broken…" Effie muttered under her breath, eyes narrowing as she mentally walked through the sheer possibilities. Kai, meanwhile, had a bright smile.
"That's a pretty nice aspect Asher!" his expression softened into something more solemn, the warmth still there but shaded by empathy. "Your first Nightmare must have been very hard… wasn't it?"
Asher met Kai's gaze. He couldn't help but smile faintly. "Oh, trust me. It was horrible."
Kai nodded, then smiling a bit. "It's fine! If you want to tell anything, I'm always free!"
And the thing was… Kai meant it.
In the original story Asher knew, Kai had always been a plain one—the "kind guy" archetype. That was how Asher had thought of him. Simple and predictable.
But standing here, looking at the man's warm, steady eyes… it hit differently. The kindness wasn't shallow—it had roots. It was quiet and unassuming, and it asked for nothing in return.
Asher felt the corner of his mouth pull upward, the smile slipping out without his permission.
"Thanks," he said simply.
The cohort started forward again, the crunch of boots against coral resuming as they assumed Asher had finished speaking.
But he wasn't done.
"Oh, and I guess I have a true name as well."
The effect was instant.
Every step faltered. Sand hissed underfoot as the group ground to a halt.
One by one, the others turned to him, their faces lit with raw disbelief.
Effie actually froze mid-step, her jaw slack as if the words had physically stunned her. Then, very slowly, she dragged her gaping mouth shut, as she stared at Nephis and then Asher.
'Were these two destined?!'
Even Nephis couldn't hide her surprise, exhaling a sharp breath.
She hadn't seen this coming. Not at all.
And for her, it hit harder than for the rest. She already knew Sunny's True Name—Cassie had told her. Now this? The odds of three Sleepers with True Names ending up in the same cohort… it felt almost impossible.
Sunny's gaze slid toward Kai, who gulped and gave a hesitant nod.
Asher caught the look, and his brow creased. 'Come on… can't he trust me a little?'
In Sunny's mind, the thought was simple, almost whispered: Crazy.
Was this the work of [Fated]? It wasn't impossible. Coincidence rarely drew lines this precise.
And another, heavier question lingered at the edges of Sunny's thoughts.
'Does he… have a Divine Aspect?'
The possibility no longer felt like a distant fantasy....
Nephis hesitated a bit, but asked anyway: "So, what is it?"
In this world, two worlds actually, a true name described a lot about a person. That's why a few people like the sovereigns don't reveal theirs. For Nephis, Asher might as well be called the definition of an enigma.
Firstly, it was the way Asher acted. Few times, no, most of the times, Nephis could tell that Asher feigned Surprise or shocked when he learnt about things he shouldn't have.
Next was how naive, yet cunning Asher was. In fact, under all the shrills and witless screams, Asher displayed, a very pragmatic mind.
Even she couldn't predict what was going on in that head of his.
Then, finally, there was that...
'Dreamspawn...'
According to the academy sources, Asher was an outskirt rat. How exactly did a outskirt rat obtain such an attribute? It was all too suspicious, not to mention how Asher somehow completely nullifies Cassie's aspect.
That was why, when Asher parted his lips, Nephis couldn't help be frown:
"Echo of the Abyss."