Once they climbed all the way to the broad shoulders of the statue and found a suitable place to make camp, everyone looked down without having to say anything.
Far below them, the giant nest was still aflame. The cables that constituted it were melting and turning into rivers of liquid metal, flowing down from the edges into the vast abyss of the canyon.
The turbulent black waters were rising from below to meet them. When the two streams met — one lightless, the other incandescent — billowing columns of hot vapor shot into the air. For a few moments, it seemed as though light and darkness were on equal footing.
But then the cursed sea rose from the depths of the canyon in a surge and washed the brightness of melting iron away. The flood of blackness crashed into the burning nest, dousing it.
A minute or so later, the white flames were gone. The surface of the dark sea continued to rise, as though nothing had ever happened.
Sunny sighed and turned to Nephis.
Now that they had reached their goal, it was time to face the real danger. With a grim expression on his face, he asked:
"So… now what?"
Changing Star glanced at him, lingered for a moment, and then said:
"We arrived at the canyon faster than I expected. There are still two days left before we can act. So, make yourself at home. We'll rest tomorrow and start preparing for it the next day."
Lucien sighed in relief. Yes, rest sounded good. Especially for what was coming.
Just like that, the cohort found itself with nothing to do for the next two days. Before leaving the Dark City, Changing Star had anticipated that various things could slow them down and padded the schedule of the expedition with extra time.
No one had expected that they would reach the statue so early. Things were going well, almost too well.
Well, at least he'd have enough time to fill up the drained soul shards with storm essence. That's what he ended up doing for the first hour.
After that, he struck conversation with Cassie, asking her about the waking world. He learned of the history of the spell. How it had first descended decades ago, throwing the world into chaos. How the population had dwindled from some twelve billion humans to barely three. He learned of the four main human cities that remained.
Apparently, the rest of the cohort were from the 'Northern Quadrant Siege Capital', or as they liked to call it, NQSC.
Cassie spoke of the first awakened. She spoke of Nephis' grandfather, Immortal Flame, who had been the first human to conquer the second nightmare and become a master. How it had been her father, Broken Sword, who had conquered the third nightmare and became the first Saint.
She spoke of the legacy clans, Valor, Song, and House of the Night. Among these, it was the last one that caught his attention. An alliance of multiple smaller clans that follow the Storm goddess. The sea was their domain, and their citadel was supposed to be a moving ship.
That was interesting; his own aspect was closely tied to storms, but they seemed to be tied to the sea. Who knew, maybe if he survived and rose the ladder of ascension, his aspect too would skew towards the sea.
Cassie then proceeded to talk about NQSC, her home, and the awakened academy. She told stories about Sunny and Nephis in the academy. Lucien couldn't help but be intrigued by how Sunny chose to act then. Almost as if he wanted to be hated.
The rest, Lucien knew, were bits and pieces from Effie and the other hunters. He had never really asked anyone about the waking world directly before, except Effie, but her knowledge was fragmented and incomplete.
It was during these moments that Lucien felt the invisible boundary between the five of them and Sunny and Kai. It was not a conscious decision made by them, but a subconscious one. At the end of the day, the members of the hunting party preferred each other's company over the two temporary members.
Seeing that, he was reluctant to take Kai away for their spar. However, he still had to continue training in that new style of fighting. He had only just gotten the hang of it. There was a big difference between using it during a friendly spar and during a fight to the death.
Lucien hesitated; his only options now were Effie, Nephis, and Caster. A part of him wanted to spar with Nephis properly, get a feel of her fighting style. Just in case he had to fight her for real in the future.
Just as he was about to walk up to Nephis and ask her to spar, someone else interrupted him.
"Lucien, if I may," Caster walked up to him, a strange glint in his eyes.
"Hm?" Lucien turned to face him, "Yeah?"
"I would like to spar with you," Caster said, "With just our aspects.."
Lucien raised an eyebrow, "With our aspects? Why?"
Actually, he had an inkling as to why. Caster wanted to see who was faster between them, just like Lucien.
"Just curious." He shrugged, "Will you accept?"
"Sure, why not?" Lucien said after a while, "No weapons?"
The legacy shook his head, "No weapons, just our aspects."
The conversation had garnered the attention of Sunny and Nephis, both of whom were silently watching them.
Choosing not to don any armour, Lucien made his way to an empty area of the statue and activated his aspect. A purple glow soon covered his entire body.
Considering who he was fighting, Lucien poured his storm essence to boost his speed and only his speed.
On the other side, Casters' body blurred and zoomed towards him at an alarming speed. Taken aback by his display of speed, Lucien pumped even more storm essence into his body and jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the strike.
He couldn't even tell if it was a punch or a kick, that's how fast Caster was going. But as he pumped more and more storm essence into his body, Casters' movements became slower and slower. Until finally, they were both moving at the same speed. Tendrils of lightning danced above his skin, occasionally lashing out.
Caster turned to him, his smug look replaced by one of shock. Lucien was moving as fast as he was. That shouldn't have been possible. He had seen the boys' aspect ability. It allowed him to control lightning and gave him a minor speed boost.
He had originally assumed the boy had received an ascended aspect just like his own. His aspect allowed him to move incredibly fast, at a terrible cost, for Lucien's aspect to do the same thing and allow him to control lightning.
'I was wrong, his aspect is at least Transcendent– no Supreme.'
He gnashed his teeth. Why? Why had he, a legacy, received an inferior aspect? Why had this dreamspawn received a stronger aspect than his own?
That did not go unnoticed by Lucien. He narrowed his eyes at the legacy. 'Seems like I hit a nerve.'
Schooling his expression, Caster smiled and asked, "Your speed is truly incredible. Might I ask what rank your aspect is?"
"Oh, it's Divine." Lucien said casually, "And yours?"
Caster screeched to a halt, his aspect shutting down. His mouth hung open slightly. D-Divine, he had a divine aspect. No, he must be lying. But…that would explain his strength, how Lucien's speed rivalled his own.
"Caster?" Lucien said, deactivating his aspect ability.
"Huh?" The legacy seemed disoriented. He blinked before finally reacting, "What?"
"You didn't answer the question," Lucien said, "What rank is your aspect? I mean, a legacy such as yourself must have a strong aspect, no? At least a Supreme aspect, right?"
Hearing that, Caster made a strange expression, one of indignation, anger, and shame. Forcing himself to look composed, he looked down and quietly whispered, "It's ascended."
"Oh, I see," Lucien said. The corner of his lips twitched; he was enjoying this. He glanced to where Sunny and Nephis were watching them. Nephis had an amused expression on her face, while Sunny was chuckling quietly.
"It's fine, the rank doesn't matter that much anyway, right?" Lucien said, sympathetically patting his back. Inside, he was struggling not to laugh.
"Right," Caster said through gritted teeth and walked away, his head hanging low.
The next day, seven humans were standing at the edge of the vast canyon as the twilight of dusk drowned the world in shadows. Far below them, the black waters of the cursed sea were raging, rising from the depths in a terrifying, obliterating wave.
In a few minutes, all light was going to be completely gone. And then, the flood of darkness would wash over the world, destroying anyone left standing in its path.
…And yet, the humans were not rushing to get away. Instead, they just stood there and waited.
Looking down into the canyon, Sunny gritted his teeth and shivered. Then, he glanced at Nephis and licked his dry lips.
"Are you sure about this?"
Changing Star did not spare him a look and simply nodded. Despite the fact that the rising black water was quickly approaching them, her face was calm and composed.
A moment later, the last vestiges of sunlight disappeared, leaving them in utter darkness. The silence that surrounded them was broken only by the sound of waves rushing against the walls of the canyon.
Getting closer and closer.
"Prepare yourselves."
Lucien tightened his grip on his spear, his signature purple glow encompassing him.
Suddenly, a blinding burst of white light pierced the darkness. Holding the incandescent sword in her hand, Nephis closed her shining eyes for a second…
And then raised the sword high above her head, as if calling the monsters of the depths to come take her.
The canyon had disappeared, consumed by the rising surge of the black water. Now, the cursed sea was flowing over its edges, ready to swell and flood the narrow passages of the great Labyrinth in an unstoppable wave.
The cold water of the dark sea lapped at Luciens feet and he shivered in response. The rest of the cohort reacted exactly the same: deeply unnerved by the closeness of the encroaching sea.
Lucien stretched out his storm sense to encompass as much area as he could. If something was approaching them, he'd know. Sadly, he could not sense the gargantuan statues; there seemed to be no thoughts present inside those husks.
Granted, they were decapitated.
After a few moments, Nephis called out to Sunny, but he still had not seen the walker approaching.
The water had already reached their shins and was rising swiftly. If it did not appear soon, they would be in deep trouble.
Then, Sunny suddenly turned to look towards something, staring into the darkness.
"...It's here."
Lucien tried to look towards where Sunny was looking, but all he saw was darkness.
Nephis gritted her teeth and somehow made her flames burn even brighter, forcing the darkness to retreat another dozen steps.
Seeing that, Lucien raised his spear and poured his essence into it, wreathing it in bright purple lightning. The darkness was pushed back just a bit more, and he could finally make out the silhouette of the walker.
A few moments later, the furious sounds of a massive body moving through the dark water reached their ears. The creature was a true giant, easily towering above the waves, even though it was walking on the bottom of the canyon.
Lucien silently stared at the headless statue as it approached them. He had heard of it from his mother, but this was the first time he'd be seeing it.
Out of all the seven headless statues in the forgotten shores, this one was the most intriguing. Because unlike the others, this one moved. It walked across the coral labyrinth to the foothills of the hollow mountains.
This was their shortcut to the mountains; riding on its severed neck, they could make the journey much faster than on foot.
Raising one colossal arm, the statue easily destroyed the protruding remnants of the ancient bridge that got in its way. The debris rained into the black waves, disappearing into them without a trace.
Beside him, Sunny shook his head and yelled:
"He's coming!"
The black water was already to their knees. The members of the cohort tensed and prepared themselves for what was about to come.
They only had one chance to do this. Failure meant death.
A few moments later, the massive shape of the stone colossus entered the circle of light created by Nephis and Lucien. Its shoulders rose above the waves, close enough to the now invisible shore of the flooded canyon for them to see every tiny crack on the surface of the weathered stone.
Not wasting any time, Changing Star ran forward and jumped. A moment later, the blade of her sword hit the surface of the statue and slid deep into it, as if melting the ancient stone. Using the sword as purchase, Nephis started to climb to the giant's shoulder.
Lucien followed behind, leaving a streak of purple in his wake. Using his spear to stab into the statue's cracks, he climbed up to its neck in what seemed like a second.
A moment later, Caster appeared beside him, and Lucien could swear he sent him a nasty glare. Kai was carrying Cassie in his arms, flying to the top of the colossus with no problem at all.
Only Sunny was having trouble. With him not being very tall and the water level rising with each second, he found it hard to gain enough momentum for a proper jump.
However, before he could do anything, Effie simply grabbed him by the collar and tossed him into the air.
Then, he landed on top of the giant statue, rolled, and barely prevented himself from falling back into the cold embrace of the dark sea.
Effie landed beside him not a moment later, and the colossus began moving, making everyone stumble and fall.
Leaving the ruins of the bridge behind, he turned around and indifferently began walking away from it.
Towards the Hollow Mountains.