After Sunny's chat with Rain, he set off to the Ivory Tower. Or rather, one of his incarnations set off. Gloomy was always the go-to shadow that resided with Nephis, but he was busy collecting materials for Nephis's latest project. He had just finished a trip to Godgrave and was returning back to the Tower to rest.
As Sunny climbed the stairs and opened the door, he called out,
"Honey, I'm home!"
"Welcome back dear, how was work?"
"Exhausting, the trip made me want to kill something. At least the trip back I had something to look forward to."
Nephis was sitting at her desk, looking over a couple of documents in her hands. She looked up with a smile on her face, already conditioned to Sunny's verbal antics. "Well, what were you looking forward to?" She fished for an answer, knowing his flaw.
"Just a pretty lady waiting at the door."
"Shall I call for Cassie?"
"If you would like to."
"Oh?"
Sunny paled as he reminisced on how much different Nephis was from her younger self. The verbal sparring she could now perform could end up leaving Sunny with one less incarnation. "You are enough for me."
"Then shall I move my desk to the front door?"
"If it means that the first thing I see is you, then I am perfectly happy." Sunny was happy to bow out the match with grace. "So how is the Dreamscape situation unfolding? What's Saint Thane's progress?"
"He has prepared my Dream Gate for the realm. All we need now is your portals to transport everyone to my Dream Gate," Nephis replied.
"Perfect. I'll have the multi-entrance portal memory completed in a week. I just finished gathering the materials"
A few days was all Sunny needed, but he also wanted to run a couple of experiments within the Dreamscape realm all by himself. His curiosity was towards the unknown interactions caused by Saint Thane's ability and the fundamental rules of the world.
However, Nephis suddenly spoke, "How about making that week turn into four days?"
"Huh? What's the point in rushing?"
"Nothing. It's just that… after you've finished with your work, I may have a lack of scheduling for three days. Uninterrupted." Nephis looked at him with a gleam in her eyes.
'?' Sunny took a moment to fully register her words. Then, his eyes widened and his lips curled up at the sides. 'Guess I'll have to shove three days of experiments into one.'
"I believe I can finish my work in four days."
"Perfect. And also," Nephis turned away. "I believe I will need extra assistance during that time. How about I borrow another body of yours?"
Sunny suddenly found that his brain decided to reboot like an old communicator from the waking world. He ended up staring at the turned away, slightly flushed Nephis. 'Damnation. Is this Effie's influence spreading to Nephis?'
It was a couple of minutes before anyone in that room ended up moving again.
———————
Rain started kicking her brother in the shins. He was supposed to be explaining the new tournament's rules and whatnot, when he just started staring blankly into the distance and slumped backwards into his chair.
"Hey. HEY! Stupid. Oppa. What. In Damnation. Are. You. Doing." Rain's repeated shin kicking had no effect on Sunny. Rather, it kinda hurt the more she kicked.
"Huh? Oh, Rain? What are you doing?" Sunny unexpectedly woke back up and did a quick shiver and shook his head, almost like a dog.
"What do you mean? You just started staring into the distance as if you blacked out. You were stuck like that for a couple minutes."
"Blacked out? Ah, I guess I did black out. Sorry Rain, hope I didn't make you worry." Sunny apologised, sheepishly looking around with a slightly dazed look in his eyes.
"What happened to you? You told me that you never really get tired because you have a body that goes to sleep. Are you not sleeping enough?"
"I'm ok. Although, I might not get any sleep soon." Sunny looked away.
'?' Rain thought that sounded a little ominous, but she decided to not push into her brother's life. Who knows what type of Great monsters he might have to deal with daily. "You were talking about the Dreamscape Open?"
"Oh right. Basically, you remembered the Dream Tournament right?"
"Yeah, I watched it when I was younger. It was really exciting to watch. Shame that I can't remember who won last time though." Rain reminisced on the final battle between Queen Bee and a masked guy who, for some reason, she couldn't remember. All she remembered was that he was a complete nobody who took the tournament by storm.
There was a strange look on Sunny's face. "Well, the new tournament will be like the Dream Tournament. A battle royale into a traditional bracket stage. Nephis will be using the Dreamscape Open as a recruiting ground for her Fire Keepers. The top finishers will be personally recruited by her."
Rain was now intrigued. Becoming a Fire Keeper and being able to stand behind her idol Nephis sounded like a wonderful reason to join the Dreamscape Open. It also allowed her to get closer to Nephis outside of being Sunny's sister. 'I can get to know s-sister-in-law better. Hopefully before she gets corrupted by my rascal of a brother.'
"Hey, I know you're thinking something rude about me." Sunny's voice interrupted her. "Also, you are not becoming a Fire Keeper."
"What?! Why?"
"Too many unexpected variables that come along with being in any cohort with Neph. You are not ready to fight Corrupted beasts yet. You are definitely not fighting Great Nightmare Creatures. And you are for sure not sticking your face out there for the untamed masses." Sunny had a serious look on his face. "If you want to get closer to your future sister in law, I have a different approach for you."
"Okay…" Rain felt dejected. She wanted to be part of a cohort like the one with Tamar, Fluer, and Ray. Because of the fall of Song, they were going to become a part of the Human domain, most likely becoming integrated into the Fire Keepers. "It's just that, my cohort are most likely going to become Fire Keepers and I'd like to join them. They are my only friends after all."
Rain's face showed a hint of gloominess and loneliness. As her older brother, Sunny couldn't let this go on. "Alright, I'll handle this. Rain, you'll have your cohort back. I'll set something up okay?"
Rain turned towards her brother. She slowly said, "Okay. I'll trust you big brother." She wasn't sure how he was going to snatch her friends away from the prospect of becoming Fire Keepers, but she somehow believed he would do something. He was the Lord of Shadows for a reason.
"Enough with your friends. Listen closely," Sunny leaned forward.
"Back to the DSO, there are going to be prizes given to the podium finishers. Some of them shall be crafted by the remnants of the Anvil forge masters. A couple will be crafted by yours truly. I'm not saying that I don't believe in you, but finishing even 3rd overall with all the awakened running around after the Chain of Nightmares is a very daunting task. I'd like to reward you for your placement, no matter where you end up in the tournament. I would prefer you try your hardest though."
"Does big brother not believe in his dear sister?"
"I believe that you can make it out of the battle royale. Your entire training to become awakened easily overlaps with the battle royale. Winning one on one fights is a much different task."
"Fine. What loot am I getting?" Rain inquired curiously.
"Depends on how well you place. New gear, some super rare loot, whatever your heart desires as long as you finish somewhere I can be satisfied about."
"Deal." Rain was ready to prove her big brother wrong. She was ready to snag both swag from her brother as well as the podium loot.
"There's also a matter with your flaw. We are going to have to double check the interactions with Saint Thane, but I also already have a solution in mind." Sunny suddenly pulled a memory out of thin air and smiled.
"Let's make you an alter ego." Sunny grinned as Rain's eyes widened as she stared at the face of a demon.