By the time Sunny reached his house, the sun had already begun rising.
'That might be the most I've ever seen of this damn city…'
It was not because the district he had visited was especially far, but because he had stopped to look around quite a bit. The partying districts weren't exactly his scene, but he was still curious to see what sort of activities regular Awakened participated in. Of course, he had not taken part, but the liveliness of it all was quite novel. If someone were to invite him to go, he'd probably decline, but it was still nice to know what that sort of thing would be like.
'All that just to exchange some information.'
He sighed, opening the door and entering.
"Oh, you're back."
The first thing to grace his sight was Jet, who was lounging on the sofa without a care in the world.
A second later, another head popped up from the sofa.
"Sunny!"
Nephis was there as well. Of course, he had noticed a while ago, but seeing as Jet was up he didn't feel the need to rush home. The first day they had spent together had certainly been awkward between the two girls, but they seem to have come to an understanding, perhaps due to the fact that Jet had the same easygoing personality Sunny did.
He greeted the two.
"Hey."
Not giving him any room to speak, Jet waved him over.
"Come sit. I got the day off, so we're watching movies all day."
"Bu-"
"Come sit."
"...Okay."
Despite his initial protest, Sunny sat down without a word.
'Liar.'
He hadn't protested because he didn't want to watch movies with them, but rather because he was almost certain Jet didn't have a day off today. Government agents were extremely busy, and he doubted Saint Cor was the type to just allow random days off like that.
Hiding a smile, he turned to the two.
"So? What are we watching?"
***
A week had passed since his Nightmare, and Sunny was staring at the man sitting across in silence.
"This is… certainly an interesting request, Awakened Sunless."
"I am aware. But I think now wouldn't be a bad time for such a thing, no?"
The man, Teacher Julius, nodded, his bushy eyebrows scrunching as he furrowed them in thought.
"I suppose so. Very well! Come with me, let us go to the library!"
'Yes!'
On this day, Sunny had approached his favourite instructor at the Academy with a slightly strange request.
His request, although strange, was quite simple. He wanted all the education materials someone like him would need to shore up his knowledge on all the things he didn't know about. Of course, he didn't know much about this sort of thing, so he had set up a meeting with Julius to ask for help with it. Utilising the fact that the man knew he was from the outskirts, he had phrased it in such a manner so that Julius would believe it was purely for him. Originally, he had wanted to ask for everything someone aged eight and onwards would need, but he remembered the fact that the Academy was almost certainly monitored by the Great Clan Valor. Even if there was a strong chance such a request wouldn't necessarily set off any alarms for them, it was better to be safe than sorry. Valor would probably find Nephis eventually, but he wanted to delay that for as long as possible.
He had plans, after all.
'If Anvil really placed so much importance on such a task, he'd do it himself.'
Surely a Great Clan would have better things to do then to pour all their resources into hunting a mundane girl? He was planning on finding a way to offer them a deal sweet enough that they'd rather just leave Nephis alone.
'I'll probably have to start with violence though… oh well!'
Noticing a strange look falling on him, he realised Teacher Julius was side-eyeing him.
Having been lost in thought, he hadn't noticed the vicious smile that had crept up on his face.
'Whoops.'
Ah, but he couldn't help it. The thought of getting revenge on those Valor bastards… he looked forward to the day.
Coughing, he straightened his expression.
"Sorry. Just thinking about something."
Not caring that much, Julius shrugged and continued walking.
Not long later, they arrived at the Academy's giant library. Immediately, an unfamiliar looking receptionist greeted them.
"Ah! Professor Julius, welcome!"
Nodding politely, Julius flashed a small card.
"Full access. Awakened Sunless is with me."
"Of course sir, no problem at all!"
The two of them walked in a moment later, and Sunny looked around in slight awe.
'Same as I remember…'
Was he imagining it, but were there even more books than he remembered?
'How does a library shrink? How strange…'
"So, Awakened Sunless…"
Teacher Julius nudged his glasses slightly, turning to him with a glint in his eye.
"Where do we begin?"
Sunny suddenly felt a small chill run down his spine.
'Right, right… this man is incredibly passionate about education, isn't he?'
"I, uh… what do you recommend?"
At those words, Julius' face lit up.
"What do I recommend? What do I recommend?! Aha, I was hoping you would ask that! Now, where do we begin…"
Grabbing his chin, the man looked down in thought as his bushy eyebrows seemed to dance wildly.
'Crazy…'
"Do you prefer the history of the Dream Realm? The waking world? No-, are you even interested in history? Bah! What am I saying? Of course you are! I've read your reports, very good I must say! Very good!"
Sunny coughed slightly.
"Excuse me, sir, but… I thought we were supposed to be quiet in the library?"
People were already looking at them!
Julius blinked, looking around.
"Ah! I mean- ah, of course. My mistake. Now, where were we? Yes, history. So, waking world or Dream Realm young man?"
"Both."
Julius beamed.
"I just knew you would say that! Come, let me show you where all the best material for that is… Ah, wait a moment. Before I forget…"
The man turned to him, holding out his hand.
"Can I have your communicator for a moment?"
Sunny paused for a moment, staring.
'...It's probably fine.'
Teacher Julius was trustworthy. Although he wouldn't trust the man with something like the knowledge of his Flaw, he could definitely trust the man not to do anything malicious like that. He was one of the few Awakened Sunny saw as pure good.
He'd probably done his fair share of terrible things, like all Awakened did, especially considering how long he'd lived as one. But Sunny didn't care about that. The Julius he knew was a kind old man who dedicated their entire life to teaching the next generation how to survive. Whatever he'd done in the past… it no longer mattered.
After a moment of silence, he handed Julius his communicator without a word.
"Let me just… this… here… there!"
From his communicator, a small ding sounded out.
"Here you go, young man. You now have access to… I believe almost every single bit of information in this library! Even the dangerous stuff! Perhaps this is against my better judgement, but… ah I just can't! A talent like you shouldn't be held back by petty rules and regulations! I say screw those!"
"Teacher Julius, people are looking again."
Although the old man had managed to remain somewhat quiet, his exaggerated movements had once more attracted the attention of the library's other patrons.
"Bah! Let them stare!"
Sunny smiled, laughing slightly.
"Of course. Thank you very much. Now-"
"Yes, yes. I know what you're going to ask…"
'...'
He paused, waiting for Julius to go on.
"Where do we start, right? Let's not get hasty, Awakened Sunless. First, let's sit down and discuss just what you want…"
'Huh. I'll be damned.'
That was actually exactly what he was going to say. The Julius of this time didn't really know him compared to the Julius of the past, but he had still managed to get a read on him like that.
'Quite impressive.'
"You are right. So… where do we sit?"
Scoffing, Teacher Julius nudged his glasses upwards.
"Hmph. Come with me, I'll show you where they keep the good seats."
Walking briskly, they climbed a couple sets of stairs, approaching a nice looking door made of what looked like… polished charcoal?
Scanning the small sensor beside the door with the same card he had shown the receptionist, Julius opened the door.
'...He wasn't lying.'
Within the room, rows of polished shelves lined the walls, each of them filled to the brim with ancient books that looked like they would crumble with a single touch.
That wasn't what Sunny was looking at though. Instead, he was looking at the massive leather chairs that were placed in front of a virtual campfire.
'Nice…'
"Nice, isn't it?"
"Yes…"
He could barely stop himself from jumping towards the chairs immediately, instead following behind Julius measured steps.
Both of them sat down with satisfied sighs, relaxing for a couple seconds before they began.
"So, where were we? You want… all the material on the history of the waking world and Dream Realm, right?"
"That's right."
"Yes, yes… what level would you like it at? I understand that you have never been to school, but I am curious to see where you'd like to start."
Sunny nodded in understanding.
"Well, although I do know a thing or two about such topics, I'd rather not miss anything. So, if possible, I'd like to start from the bottom and make my way to the top?"
"..."
Julius froze, not saying a word.
"Sunless, you…"
The old man covered his mouth. Sunny could've sworn he saw him tearing up.
'Wha…'
"You are simply magnificent! I did not think my opinion of you could get any better, Sunless! So many fools come here to try to learn all sorts of things, but the thing with Awakened is that… so many of them are arrogant! Stuck up! Ignorant! They go straight for the hardest stuff, ignoring all common sense! And of course, they fail! This is why there are plenty of Awakened who are even dumber than the layman! They attempt to learn, but when they see how difficult it is, they stop. Had they just put their pride aside and started from the bottom, they…"
'He's… he's really going at it.'
Sunny fought against the urge to back away as Julius continued his impassioned speech.
"...buffoons, truly! But I can see you are not like that, Sunless. It makes an old man so joyous, to see the next generation not fall into the same pitfalls as the previous one did. Thank you, truly."
Sniffling, the old man wiped a tear from his eye.
"Anyways, you said you wanted to learn it all? Magnificent! I'll make you a list of the things you need to get. Now… as we are done with the history part, what else are you interested in? Biology? Physics? Arithmetic? Language? Martia-"
"Yes, yes, and yes. All of those things."
Julius froze and abruptly began sniffling again.
"Sunless, you…"
The man jumped out of his seat, hugging him.
'...'
Sunny froze at the contact, not processing what was going on.
'Okay.'
"Of course. Of course you would be interested in all sorts of things, Sunless! Now, I'm sure you don't want to be here all day, so let's begin!"
Releasing him, Julius took out a communicator of his own and began typing a list of the things Sunny would need.
"Now, first off, the lowest level of history would be…"
As Julius began to list off the things he'd need, Sunny sunk into his chair and relaxed slightly.
'This is gonna take a while, isn't it?'
At least everything had gone well…
***
Eventually, Sunny had to leave.
"Come back whenever you want to continue, Sunless. There is still much to be done!"
He nodded, bidding farewell to Teacher Julius.
"Of course. See you soon, Teacher Julius."
And with that, he left. The sun had already begun setting, and dusk had fallen over the city. Due to a couple unfortunate circumstances, he'd had to leave.
It wasn't because of Nephis. She was perfectly fine at home, training her combat skills with Serpent and Solvane while the gloomy shadow kept them company. Jet should be returning soon as well, so there was no problem at all.
One of the reasons he had to leave was, well… his communicator had run out of storage.
It was complete madness. He had a top of the line model with all of the extra features, and it had still run out of space for all the things Julius wanted him to take back with him.
'I'll have to buy external storage. Or just get more communicators…'
Or perhaps he should get a more robust device for this sort of thing?
'No, no. I already have that… I just need more space for all this data.'
Although the tragedy of his communicator running out of space was sort of funny and all, it wasn't the real reason he'd left. In fact, compared to the other reason, this one was quite minor.
He had felt a slight tug at his soul not too long ago. At first, he had thought it was Aria returning from the Dream Realm and checking whether or not he was still alive, but it wasn't.
It was Ki Song, contacting him through the Memory she had left with him.
'Gods… what does she want now?'
Casually entering a dark alley, Sunny made sure nothing was around before summoning the [Wanderlust Communion].
Within it, he saw a curious message.
[Come to Ravenheart.]
'...What, no context or anything? From the Memory's enchantment, he could see it was from Ki Song, but… normally she would at least tell him why he was being summoned.'
Realising he'd have to become Song Suming again, he groaned.
'This better be something important…'
Sending a message in return saying he would arrive shortly, he sank into the shadows.
***
"Child… you are… too eager…"
Within the underground dojo of Sunny's house, Nephis was sparring with Solvane.
"What do you mean?"
"Control… emotions…"
The girl stopped, glowering slightly.
"Oh…"
"I… know… it is… hard… but… we are… here…"
From the sidelines, Serpent hissed in agreement.
"Yeah… I understand."
"Nephis?"
A voice called her from upstairs, its small face poking out from behind the door.
"Sunny, you're back!"
Nephis wiped the sweat off her forehead before dashing up the stairs, eager to see him. He had been gone the entire day! How mean could he be?
"I thought you were only going for a few hours?"
Sunny smiled apologetically.
"Sorry. The man I was speaking to was… well, he was happy to help me. A little too happy, really."
"Hmph. Are you sure he wasn't just gushing over your reports the whole time?"
The young man shook his head.
"Of course not! He only did that for… maybe thirty minutes? Not too long! Anyways, I made dinner. Are you hungry or should I just ea-"
"I'm hungry!"
Sprinting past him, she ran for the table.
***
Sunny inwardly sighed.
'That girl…'
He shook his head, dispelling his thoughts.
"Serpent, with me. We're going out."
With a hiss, his Shadow vanished into the darkness, reappearing as tattoos on his torso.
A small voice called to him from the dinner table.
"Sunny… when can I get tattoos like yours?"
He coughed, nearly choking on his own spit.
"You… hm. When you're older."
"Tch, okay…"
With a sigh, Sunny quietly walked up to Nephis and ruffled her hair.
"A very scary woman wants to see me, so I'll be going again."
"Whaaat?"
"Uh-huh. See you tomorrow, probably. Jet should be here soon, so don't miss me too much!"
Before Nephis could respond, he vanished.
Of course, he had not actually left just yet. He had only stepped upstairs to change.
Donning the guise of Song Suming, he left his house as a swift shadow.
***
Arriving within the lower floors of the Song Clan compound, Sunny looked around curiously.
This time, Seishan had not come to fetch him.
'Strange…'
Something about this summoning felt a little… off.
'Am I about to receive bad news or something?'
Or perhaps he'd receive some sort of ridiculous mission that would be damn near impossible for anyone else? Ki Song certainly seemed like the type to do that.
Sighing, he entered the Dream Gate.
Appearing next to the Gateway in a castle of frozen obsidian, Sunny looked around.
'Seems normal enough.'
Awakened milled about as usual. A couple curious glances fell on him the moment he appeared, but that was just the standard reaction to someone appearing next to the Gateway. It was pretty much like sitting in a room and hearing someone open the door. The innate reaction of most people would be to look over at the door to see who entered.
Sure enough, the glances did not last long as people went back to doing what they were.
'Good!'
Somehow, he had still managed to overestimate the fame of Song Suming. Not a soul cared that he was here. The last time he was here they were probably only looking at him because he was walking next to Seishan.
Sunny fought the urge to smile as he began making his way towards the throne room. As their Sovereign was currently present, no one around bothered him with any sort of security checks as Ki Song would sense any sort of danger far faster than any random personnel would. This was perfect for him, since it meant no unnecessary questions.
Walking silently through the frozen halls, he found himself a little bored. Every other time he had been here, Seishan had been there to escort him. It was a little ridiculous now that he thought about it. An heiress of a Great Clan acting as his chauffeur? Queen Song really couldn't just send some random butler to pick him up instead?
Now that she wasn't here though, he found the halls terribly quiet without the usual sound of clicking heels next to him.
Sunny sighed, clearing his thoughts.
He was arriving at the throne room now.
'Let's see what she wants…'
Entering the hall, he saw that it was empty save for the breathtaking lady who seemed to be napping on her throne.
Sunny blinked, squinting to get a closer look as he made his way to the center of the hall.
'No way she's actually asleep, right?'
Sure enough, the Raven Queen was still awake. He could only tell due to the rhythmic tapping of her finger against the armrest.
Standing at the central court of the throne room, Sunny cleared his throat.
The queen's eyes snapped open.
"Ah, Suming."
Sitting up on her throne, she looked around for a moment, checking if anyone else was present.
"Sunless. You are here."
He nodded.
"Yep, I'm here. So… might I ask why I've been summoned?"
Ki Song looked around again.
"How strange… Seishan should be here. Where is she?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"How would I know? I thought she just had better things to do or something."
The queen waved him off.
"Bah, forget it. This doesn't concern her anyways. I've called you here today to tell you that I'm leaving soon."
Sunny raised his other eyebrow.
"Okay? And what does that mean for me?"
Ki Song grinned, leaning forward on her throne as she placed a chin on her palm.
"Oh? Don't you want my help in getting Valor off little Nephis' back?"
He sucked in a breath.
"I… guess so?"
He had not seriously considered asking Ki Song for help just yet. He had his own plans to put into motion, but the Raven Queen seemed happy to help?
"Anyways, Vale's recently gotten better at entering the waking world, and so have I, which means that there's more room to negotiate since Earth is more of an even ground for us."
"Okay…"
So far, he wasn't sure if he liked what he was hearing.
"So I was going to ask you if you had anything you think would be worth offering to the bastard."
"Right…"
Sunny thought for a moment.
"Don't you have anything like that?"
Ki Song raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps I do, but don't you think this is your responsibility, since this is your problem?"
He raised an eyebrow in return, not wanting to relent.
"But didn't I just give you a nice Memory, free of charge? And didn't I also just conquer the Citadel of a daemon for your Domain as well?"
Ki Song leaned back, laughing.
"Right! That, you did."
She leaned forward once more, smiling.
"Fine, I'll help. But… I may have lied just now. I don't really have anything to offer him."
"...What?"
Was she joking?! How could a Sovereign not have anything worthwhile enough for that?
"Well, I actually do, come to think of it. But if it's from me, I doubt Vale would be happy to receive it."
"You-"
"Calm yourself! I'll think of something. Before I do though, I'll ask again. Do you have anything you think Anvil would want badly enough to let a sworn enemy go?"
Sunny scoffed at hearing Nephis be called a sworn enemy of Anvil. She was a mundane human, and a child at that. What was with Sovereigns and declaring defenseless people their enemies?
"I believe I do."
"Show me."
"...Fine."
Honestly, he'd really rather not let Ki Song see even a single one of his Memories, but since it was for Nephis, he'd relent.
A swirl of black sparks gathered before him, slowly shaping themselves into a large worktable. Its adamantine surface was badly burned, but it would still work, no doubt. Such was the work of a daemon. It was surely something a craftsman like Anvil would appreciate.
"...Huh. You surprise me yet again, Sunless."
Sunny wanted to kick it forward to allow Ki Song to get a closer look at it, but it was far too heavy for him. Even back when he had been turning it into a Memory, he'd needed Serpent to hold it up for him as he attached the weaves to it, and even then his poor Shadow had struggled immensely against its weight.
"It's quite heavy, so if you want a closer look you'll have to come here, because I can't pick it up."
Ki Song shook her head, grinning.
"No no. I can see plenty from here. This will be enough. Unfortunately, I'm going to be a little busy for the next couple months, so you'll just have to survive until then. I'll be taking this off your hands when the time is right."
"Wi-"
"Yes yes! You will be compensated, don't worry your pretty little face."
Sunny glowered, but said nothing.
"Anyways, there's a particularly annoying Awakened Devil flying that's been prowling around the underside of the bridge. Go get rid of it and you can go home."
"...Got it."
With a small bow, he left.
Although he had not shown it just now, the request had bothered him quite a lot.
'An Awakened Devil… that's weaker than me, isn't it?'
It was time to learn how to deal with his new Flaw.