1 year ago
Nephis stared at his face silently.
She was sitting on the ground, knees hugged to her chest and chin resting on them. Their duel was replaying in her mind over and over again, especially the words they had exchanged and the way it had ended.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, voice so low that she didn't even hear herself. A sarcastic reply should have come, maybe a witty remark or one of his annoyed stares.
Instead, all that answered her was silence. His face was peaceful, the body completely unaware of what the spirit had gone through. Of what she had done.
She stared at him for what could have been minutes or all of eternity, her mind going over and over again over their last moments together. Guilt and shame ate at her from the inside out.
"It should have been me, not you," she whispered once again.
And once again, she got no answer. She stayed there in the silence, wallowing in regret until she heard steps slowly approaching.
The door opened, and in came a petite blonde, her steps shaky and unsure. A relieved expression appeared on her beautiful face when she saw her, only to be replaced by a sorrowful grimace when she also saw the boy sleeping in the pod.
"Did you do it?" Cassie asked, her voice wavering.
"Yes," she answered coldly, her gaze never leaving the face of the boy. He looked so small, so innocent, so vulnerable; it was hard to reconcile the image with the deadly killer she knew was hiding underneath the fragile exterior.
She heard Cassie taking a seat at her side but did not turn around to look at her. She was afraid of seeing the same guilt that was gnawing at her in her friend's eyes.
"What happened?" Cassie asked, her voice low and afraid. She wanted to know the answer and yet, at the same time, she was afraid of what she was going to hear.
Nephis stayed silent for a long time, her fists slowly starting to tremble in anger, both at herself and at the girl along her. It was with a herculean effort of will that she stilled her shaking hands. Belatedly, she realized that her palms were bleeding from how tightly she had clenched them.
The pain did not even register in her mind; it was nothing in comparison to what her Flaw could inflict, and even more insignificant in comparison to the bleeding wound in her heart.
"Only one of us could leave, so we fought. I was going to let him win." She spoke at last. She heard the hitch in Cassie's breath but paid it no mind. "But then, right as he was about to deal the finishing blow... I did it. I used his true name."
The horrified eyes, the pained laugh, the betrayal in his voice. All of them and more played once again in her mind.
"I realized it immediately — whoever uses it becomes his master, their every order absolutely binding. It should have made it easier: just tell him to go and he would have to do it. But then... I was weak. I was in so much pain, afraid of dying out there, afraid of never fulfilling my objective." She continued, her voice cold as ice. "So instead, I ordered him to stay there and left." She finished, voice still perfectly calm and controlled.
"You did what was best for yourself. Nobody can blame you for that," Cassie said. Despite her words, her tone made it clear that not even she believed it.
Nephis did not answer.
The seer kept talking, trying to comfort her as much as she was trying to comfort herself. Nephis stopped listening at some point; it only made her feel worse, guiltier.
Cassie eventually realized that she wasn't convincing anyone, least of all herself. A tense silence settled among them, a silence that was broken when she heard a concealed sob, followed by progressively less and less discreet ones, until finally, the blind girl started crying openly.
Nephis felt arms wrap around her desperately, a head resting against her shoulder and tears slowly wetting her clothes. She wrapped an arm around her; the action broke any barriers left in Cassie as she started crying even more, her grip strengthening to an almost painful degree.
She still did not say anything. She was afraid of what would come out of her mouth if she spoke.
Eventually, the girl stopped crying, the sobs slowly abating until none remained. They stayed in the same position, embracing each other. It should have been comforting, holding a friend was supposed to bring warmth and joy to one's heart.
It only made her feel colder.
-------------------------------------------
Present day
Nephis looked at the ship in front of her with a mix of pride and wonder.
It had taken them months to perform the repairs, and now it was finally done. What had once been a pitiful sight was now a magnificent vessel that looked like it could handle anything the Dream World threw at it. She hoped it could live up to that expectation; it would have to survive crossing the Hollow Mountains, after all.
"Soooo... how is this thing going to fly?" Effie asked, munching loudly on a piece of roasted meat.
"I have explained it more than three times already. This week," Cassie answered, voice composed — or that was what she probably intended. Instead, it was obvious that she was clenching her teeth in irritation.
"You did?" was Effie's answer, munching even louder.
Nephis had to hide a smile when she saw the seer's reaction. Cassie was closing and opening her hands repeatedly, probably wondering if she could get away with strangling the annoying huntress. She hoped she wouldn't; the others would be disappointed if she did — nobody had bet on this month being the one in which Effie would finally break her composed mask.
Fortunately for them, Cassie managed to control herself, although she was still glaring daggers at the woman.
"What a beautiful ship. I wonder how it feels to fly on it," Kai said, a mirthful smile on his enchanting face. He was pointedly looking away from the scene as if it wouldn't be real as long as he didn't acknowledge it.
"You fly all the time, is there any difference?" Effie asked. She had moved at some point and was now beside Cassie. She tried to rest her elbow on the seer's head; however, she was so tall and Cassie so short that she couldn't quite pull it off, which made for an amusing sight.
"But of course! I have never boarded a ship, much less one that can fly." He answered, already floating a few meters into the air to take a better look at the magnificent vessel.
"What about you, Princess? Did you ever board a ship?"
The memory of a gigantic tree came to mind — of red fruit, of spending weeks in a stupor, completely unaware of anything happening around her. Then came the memory of a short shadow, desperately trying to get them out of there. She half-remembered building a boat from the bones of the Carapace Demon, the desperate scramble to get out of the Ashen Barrow, followed by hours of tense silence as they traversed the Dark Sea.
"Lost from Light. When the moment comes, you can use it against him" She remembered that part too, Cassie revealing those accursed words to her, back when she still believed that Sunny might be an assassin sent to claim her life. How wrong she had been.
"I did," she answered, not a trace of what she was thinking to be found on her face or voice.
"Wow, a full two words in a sentence. You sure are talkative today, Princess," Effie said with an annoying grin.
She was currently hunched so she could rest her elbow on Cassie's head. The posture must have been very uncomfortable, and yet she still did it just to irritate the seer, who looked like she was seconds away from murdering the huntress.
"Effie, stop annoying Cassie," Nephis said. As amusing — though she would never admit it — as she found it, they still had things to do and were already behind schedule. She had lessons with Rain in a few hours and didn't want to be late.
The woman pouted and begrudgingly straightened her posture, pointedly ignoring Cassie's glare.
Kai, not so coincidentally, came back then, looking giddy to get started with their first flight in the ship. An emotion that most of them seemed to share, including the firekeepers, all of whom had been doing their best to pretend not to notice the interaction between Effie and Cassie.
A somber mood came upon them. They had spent months repairing the ship; it had been arduous and difficult, more than a few of them believing that it was a pointless endeavor. However, they had persevered, and now it was finally done.
Next, it only remained to test it, and if it worked, they would descend into the Sky Below, where a tower was supposed to be found. The tower would then give them the means to access the Ivory Tower high above, where a Nightmare Seed of the second rank awaited.
All of them, including the firekeepers, were going to enter; only a few — who willingly chose to — would stay behind to keep the manor safe and also keep watch over Sunny. For many, it would be the last step. Becoming a Master was already a monumental achievement, and they had neither the will nor the skill to try and go further.
For her? It was just a stepping stone. She was going to conquer that seed. No ifs or buts. She had decided that she would do it and that was it. Then she would come back stronger, strong enough for the ghouls to think twice before sending more of their minions against her. After that, she would start looking for a Nightmare Seed of the third rank. She would conquer that one too, there wasn't a single shred of doubt in her mind.
Her gaze turned north toward the Hollow Mountains. There was someone awaiting her beyond them, and she wasn't going to make him wait a second more than necessary. She was Nephis, Changing Star of the Immortal Flame Clan. She had decided to save Sunny and mend what she had broken with her own hands.
And nobody was going to stop her from doing so.
"Well then, shall we board the ship, Captain Princess?"
Of course Effie had to ruin the mood.
-------------------------------------------
Nephis only saw darkness around her.
The test had proven successful; the ship was capable of flying even better than they had hoped, and they were currently cruising in the Sky Below to make sure that it could handle prolonged flight. They weren't going to descend all the way yet, both because they wanted to perform more tests before taking on the long journey toward the hidden tower, and because they were still missing a member of their cohort.
She felt conflicted about the last part. Cassie had assured her how important it was to recruit the man she named Mordret, but she still wasn't convinced. For once, she would be the one to put her faith in someone else. She trusted Cassie fully, so if she said he was indispensable, she would believe her. It wouldn't stop her from watching the man closely. What little the blind seer had told her about him did not exactly generate a good impression.
She let out a tired sigh. Why couldn't life be more simple? Being constantly on watch for betrayals, while doing her best to promote herself as the future of humanity and at the same time having to deal with the machinations of the ghouls, was utterly exhausting.
She was sure that Sunny was having an easier time.
[Slave: Lost from Light.
Shadow Cores: 4/7.
Shadow Fragments: 3882/4000]
Speaking of him, he was close to becoming a Tyrant. She wondered what kind of adventures he was living. What creatures did he face? What were the sights? Was he still on the Forgotten Shores or had he left? She had those and many more questions to ask.
Soon, she promised herself.
The bickering between Effie and Kai pulled her out of those thoughts; they were arguing about some nonsense she hadn't been paying attention to. She was going to approach so she could watch the spectacle closely, but then she saw Cassie giving her a gesture to indicate that it was time.
She turned around and left toward the stern of the ship, an action that Cassie followed after leaving a firekeeper in charge of steering.
The stern was vacated; everyone was either on the prow or inside the ship, but they still summoned a silencing Memory and activated it just to be safe. Once they were sure that nobody could be listening, Nephis summoned the [Covetous Coffer], and from inside she retrieved a shard of glass.
She stared at the glass, doing her best to avoid being seen by it. She still had doubts, but she had already decided to trust her friend and as such stayed silent.
"Greetings, Mordret," Cassie said, voice completely calm. They had agreed that she would be the one to talk since she could use her Awakened ability to predict every answer he could give.
A few seconds passed without an answer, the oppressive silence of the Sky Below fraying their nerves.
"My, my, I must admit that you caught me unaware. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" A calm and pleasant voice answered at last.
"I will wait to see if we can come to an agreement before introducing myself," Cassie replied without missing a beat.
Silence engulfed them once more, the man on the other side clearly pondering whether he should keep talking or cut the connection and ignore them.
"Well then, go on. What is your offer?" the voice came once again. It was still calm and pleasant, but now there was also an edge of curiosity in it.
"You want to destroy Clan Valor, and you also want to challenge the Second Nightmare," Cassie said with complete certainty.
"Guilty," the voice answered in amusement.
"We want the same things, so it only makes sense to ally ourselves. This is our offer: we will rescue you from the Night Temple—"
Cassie was stopped when she heard the involuntary hiss of Mordret. It must have stung to have his situation laid out so openly.
"My, my, you sure know a lot about me. It only makes me more curious about who I'm talking to." The amusement had vanished, leaving only a cold edge.
"Accept the deal and you will. As I was saying, we will rescue you from the Sanctuary of Night and challenge the Second Nightmare with you. In exchange, you are to help me to the best of your capabilities in destroying Clan Valor."
Silence engulfed them once more; Mordret was taking his time before answering.
While they waited, Nephis couldn't avoid having second thoughts. If he were to accept, they would have to storm the citadel and kill everyone inside. They couldn't afford to leave anyone alive, not when a single survivor might be enough to reveal their actions.
What would follow in that case was obvious: Valor would forget about any reluctance and strike them down. They wouldn't survive, not when a single Saint —and Valor had twelve of them— would be enough to kill them all.
Was she ready to do such a thing? She had been thinking about eradicating the Valor and Song clans for as long as she remembered, but now that it was time to convert those thoughts into action, she found herself hesitant. Then the memory of the one time she had allowed her will to falter came, and her doubts were mercilessly crushed.
She intended to destroy both clans. What difference was there if she started now?
"Well, I doubt I'll get any better offers than this. So I will have to accept, my mysterious benefactor," Mordret said at last, sounding oddly wistful.
A mix of relief and regret settled in her stomach. Their path was set; now it was only a matter of following through.
"I knew you would listen to reason," Cassie said, a small smile present on her beautiful face.
"Now, may I know the name of my benefactor? Oh, also the name of the lady who hasn't talked yet?" he asked.
So he was somehow aware of what was around the glass. She would keep that in mind.
"I'm Cassie, and my partner here is Nephis. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. You already know, but my good manners won't allow me to leave it at this."
The voice paused, then continued: "I'm Mordret of Valor, Prince of Nothing, and the man who will kill Anvil of Valor." The voice finished elegantly, proudly announcing his intentions.
Killing Anvil? He would have to beat her to it if that was his intention.
"Now, may I ask when you intend to rescue me, as you so elegantly put it?" Mordret asked. That was probably what he was most interested in knowing.
"In approximately a month, we will assault the Night Temple. We will warn you before, so be ready," Cassie answered.
"Excellent." He said, his voice full of glee "I have just the feeling that we are going to be the best friends ever."