After about a month of joining Changing Stars cohort, Luciens' storm fragment counter had finally reached the limit of 2000. He spent most of his morning in agonizing pain as his third soul core formed inside him. Afterwards, he was left with a feeling of strength like never before.
By the time he left his hut, the preparations for the hunt were almost complete. Effie was standing right outside, a second away from banging at his door. Behind her, he could see over a dozen sleepers preparing for the hunt.
'Ah right, the joint operation.' Lucien thought groggily; he had forgotten about that.
"You look like shit."
Lucien glared up at Effie, his body still aching from forming his core, "I feel like shit."
The huntress looked down at him, a hint of concern in her eyes, "You sure you can handle the hunt today?"
"You kidding?" Lucien straightened himself up, ignoring the stiffness in his body. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."
"There's the Lucy I know!" Effie grinned, "Come, join us."
The unusual hunting party left the outer settlement at noon, heading east, to the massive ruin of a collapsed lighthouse that was situated at the edge of the city. There were almost twenty of them gathered together, all carefully making their way through the deadly maze of narrow streets, with Effie serving as the chief pathfinder and Lucien and Sunny helping her by scouting ahead.
The plan was as straightforward and simple as possible. However, nothing was really ever safe in the Dark City. Everyone was prepared for the worst. And pretty soon, their fears came true.
Halfway to their destination, a sudden sound made Effie freeze in place. Raising a fist to signal everyone to stop, she peered into the fog, a dark and foreboding expression on her face. At the same time, Lucien frowned and closed his eyes. There, he could sense it, a mass of profane lightning rapidly approaching them. His eyes opened wide.
"It's a Fallen." He warned, and a wave of unease and fear fell over the hunting party.
For a few moments, they remained silent in the fog, hoping it would ignore them and just leave. But then Effie's pupils widened, and she shouted: "Scatter!"
As soon as the word left her mouth, the experienced hunters dashed in different directions. The world slowed down for Lucien, and he looked up to see the dark mass heading straight for them. He gripped his sword with both hands and twisted the handle. The tiny needle swiftly pierced his palm and retreated into the blade. The dark pink, nearly purple, blood drenched the grip of the blade, which drank it up greedily. A deep purple glow began emanating from the blade, and lightning danced on its surface.
By then, the world had moved enough that the fallen monster was finally visible. It had a pale body and massive bloodstained wings. Its terrifying beak was open, revealing rows of jagged fangs, and a bright red tongue. A Spire Messenger
That was his cue. Dropping his sword, Lucien poured more of his storm into his body and jumped away from the monster. It crashed down, squishing all those who were unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity. The clouds gathered above, and purple lightning fell. At the same time, Storm Blade disappeared in a shower of sparks, sent back to Lucien's soul sea.
The falling lightning struck the spire messenger head-on, forcing it to its knees for a second. Yet, a moment later, it was back on its feet. Glaring at the party of hunters.
After that, everything happened incredibly fast, but also felt like an eternity. The hunters had a simple choice to make: either separate into smaller groups and retreat into the ruins, risking encountering something equally as or even more terrifying, or stand their ground and try to drive the Fallen Beast away. Without having to discuss it, everyone chose the second option.
No matter how dangerous, a familiar enemy was always better than the unknown.
The surviving hunters attacked the abomination with all they had. Even though their Memories had no chance of breaking through the skin of the terrible creature, each strike still hurt it. Those who had Aspect Abilities capable of dealing direct damage immediately used them, hoping to at least disorient the beast.
Of course, no Ability of a Sleeper could ever hope to wound a Fallen Beast. However, if their assault was ferocious enough, the Messenger could retreat to search for easier prey.
If it only made the abomination angrier, however, most of them were going to die. More than anything, trying to resist creatures of this rank was nothing but a gamble.
Lucien chose not to use too much of his aspect ability. If the worst came to pass, he'd have to get his cohort and run.
For several seconds, it wasn't clear which way the situation would turn. The Messenger easily shrugged off the rain of attacks and lashed out with its beak, piercing one of the hunters clean through despite the man's mighty build and heavy armor. Another was almost torn apart by terrifying talons, but at the last second, Caster managed to pull the young man away thanks to his incredible speed.
Each hit from Brom disoriented the monster for a second, but as time passed, it too was getting used to the vibrations. It wouldn't last for long. Lucien and Ash peppered it from a distance with lightning and arrows, hoping to hit its eyes or the inside of its beak.
But in the end, it was Effie who dealt the decisive blow.
Summoning her weapon, she leaped forward. Lucien could see her lean, powerful muscles moving like wire ropes under the olive skin. As though turning into a spring, her whole body tensed and then exploded with momentum. There was enough force behind her attack to split a mountain apart.
Miraculously, the tip of her weapon managed to break the pale hide on the Messenger's chest and stab deep, causing a stream of blood to shoot out. The creature screamed and then lashed out with its powerful paws at the huntress.
A large round shield appeared on Effie's left hand. Digging the soles of her sandals into the ground, she leaned forward and received the terrifying blow. The cobblestones under her feet cracked, but the huntress remained standing.
Spitting a mouthful of blood, she grinned crazily and twisted her weapon, causing more damage and pain to the Messenger.
It seemed as if the Fallen Beast did not expect to meet such fierce resistance from a bunch of ants, not to mention actually being hurt by them. Letting out another scream, it waved its wings to send the Sleepers flying back, picked up the dead hunters, and jumped into the air.
Soon, the abomination turned into a dark spot in the skies. All that remained behind were puddles of blood, broken stones, and the moans of battered humans.
Somehow, they had survived… well, most of them.
Effie straightened, dismissed her shield, and glanced down.
"Damn. I think my arm is broken!"
With blood running down her chin, the huntress laughed and leaned on her weapon, visibly exhausted.
Lucien narrowed its eyes at the black dot in the sky. His thoughts were elsewhere. They had wounded a fallen abomination. They could kill it. And if they can kill that, they could kill the Fallen terror.
'And that was with me barely doing anything.'
A small smile slowly crept up his face. As time passed, the idea of claiming the gateway became increasingly more possible.
But then, the very next day, Sunless left the settlement. And Lucien was faced with a terrible truth.
That day, when he had gone to fetch Sunless for their hunt, he was nowhere to be found. He used his aspect ability to scour the outer settlements before he saw them. Sunless and Nephis, in a remote alley far away from the settlement, where no one could hear them.
Lucien frowned, 'What's this about?'
Fortunately for him, the alley was drowned in shadows, which made it easier to hide from the two as he listened.
"...a cretin like me was able to realize that the person he wanted to save didn't need his saving. So please tell me, Neph, why is it that you, with all your intelligence and clarity, can't seem to do the same?"
Sunless spat out, a strange emotion reeking from his words. Anger? Confusion? Lucien didn't know how to describe it.
"Are you implying that I lied about my intention to help these people? If so, you are wrong." Nephis said with her calculated apathy.
"...Fuck you, Neph."
Lucien recoiled, the sheer spite and anger from those words…
"What?"
"I said go fuck yourself with that bullshit… Saint Nephis. You might have fooled everyone else, but I know you. I know you better than anyone else. So I don't buy your whole savior act even for a second."
"Help these people? Please! What are you going to help them with? Help them turn into corpses? You and I both know how this ends. Cassie already told us. Fire and rivers of blood, right? Is this what you're planning?"
A cold shiver went down Lucien's spine. The seer had foretold of rivers of blood? Would that be the consequence of daring to kill Gunlaug? The city would burn, and the blood of the people would flow like rivers.
"...Fine. You got me." Nephis finally said.
There was a moment of silence after that, in shock perhaps.
"What? Was I supposed to deny it? Why should I? You are the one who is obsessed with lies, Sunny, not me." Nephis had shed herself of all pretense of nobility.
"Actually, I have to thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would have never learned how to deceive people so easily. I had a very sheltered upbringing, for obvious reasons. Communicating with others had always been something I knew very little about."
"How fortunate it was to meet you, of all people, on this forsaken shore. Lucky me. Right?"
Sunless remained silent through it all. Perhaps he was too stunned to speak.
"No one survives in the Dream Realm alone. I knew that I won't be an exception to this rule, so I watched Cassie and you and tried my hardest to learn from you both. That's when I noticed that nothing you ever said — or did — was true. Wasn't it?"
Nephis scoffed. "No matter what happened, you somehow always managed to keep your real thoughts, desires, and reasons hidden. I've never seen anyone so adept at deception. Congratulations, Sunny! The mind games you played with us were almost as devious as the mental hex of the Soul Devourer. It was nothing short of inspiring."
'The Soul Devourer?' Lucien frowned. That tree on the other side of the crater? They had encountered that? How the spell did they come out alive?
"You can even easily turn truths into lies. How… brilliant. I never even knew that such a thing was possible. Silly me. I didn't know a lot of things before I met you."
Anger slowly began seeping into her voice.
"So, you see… while you were learning how to use a sword from me, I was learning how to use people from you. So please, Sunny, accept my sincere gratitude. I could not have wished for a better teacher. Without you, none of this would have been possible!"
She sounded almost manic now. Was that the real Nephis? Beyond all the masks and half-truths?
"So where do you get the audacity to blame me for doing the same thing you do to everyone you ever meet?"
"That's not the same…" Sunny said lowly. Lucien had to strain to hear that.
"How is what I am doing different? I haven't told a single lie to these people. I gave them just enough truth to make them deceive themselves, just like you taught me. But what, now that it was turned around on you, it is suddenly not fair? Now you won't settle for anything less than the whole truth?"
"Fine. I'll tell you. Yes, you are right. There's going to be fire and rivers of blood. That is my plan. So what? How is it worse than this pathetic, hopeless existence? It isn't. I am going to kill Gunlaug. After he is dead, the Bright Castle will become engulfed in a civil war, with each of the five lieutenants vying for the throne. I am going to kill them, too. And when I am the last one standing...I will gather those of us who remain alive and make a road of bones for the lucky few to reach the Gateway. That is my promise. That is the salvation I offer to the people of Dark City — a chance to return to the real world or die like a human should, standing tall and with a sword in their hand, instead of living in fear like a rat! I thought that you, of all people, would understand."
Lucien stared at the shadows in grim silence. This…this was unexpected. Just who had he made a deal with? She would stop at nothing to reach her goal. No matter who stood in her path, she would cut them down.
"Is it really so terrible to live here? Is Gunlaug really so bad that you would rather see all of us die than let us remain under his rule?" Sunless whispered, his voice seemed devoid of hope, almost pleading with Nephis to reconsider.
With cold contempt ringing in her voice, she said: "Gunlaug has done many despicable things. But I won't judge him for those. Who knows if any of us would have done any better? Keeping a thousand hopeless people alive in this hell is the kind of task that can turn a saint into a demon. No… there is only one crime he committed that I can never forgive."
"Which one?"
"It's that he gave up. It's that he never even tried to reach the Gateway. With so many years to prepare and hundreds of powerful fighters under his command… do you really think that there was nothing he could do to enter the Crimson Spire? No… no, he simply changed his mind. Why return if he can live like a king here, in the Dark City? He abandoned his duty as an Awakened and submitted to the Spell."
"Don't you think that, maybe, he just wasn't willing to see hundreds of people die? All these young men and women living in the outer settlement and the Bright Castle… how many of them are you ready to sacrifice to achieve your goal?"
Without pausing for consideration, Nephis said : "All of them. Of course."
Lucien stiffened. 'What?'
All of them. She would sacrifice all of them just to achieve her goal. His mother, Effie, Brom, Ash…She would sacrifice all of them to achieve her goal.
Time slowed to a crawl. A terrible purple glow surrounded Lucien's body. He peeked out of the corner. Nephis and Sunny stood face to face, Nephis in the sunlight and Sunny in the shadows.
It would be so easy to kill her right now. Sever her head before she has a chance to heal. Lucien looked down at his spear; he had summoned it at some point. One hit, one cut from that would eliminate the threat that is Changing Star.
He paused and took a deep breath to calm himself. No, not now. Not until she acted on her words, not until she did something to gain his ire.
He glared at Changing Star.
"I swear on my true name, if your ambition comes at the cost of the people I care about. Then I bring down the Hour of Calamity upon you."
Time resumed its normal pace and Lucien hid behind the corner once more.
"What can be so damn important? What can be so valuable that you are ready to condemn everyone here to death?!" Sunless nearly yelled in his desperation.
"Don't tell me that it's some stupid crap like bringing the glory of the Immortal Flame clan back. Duty of the Awakened? What, you gave a terrible oath to become the first human to conquer the Fourth Nightmare, like your father conquered the Third, and your grandfather the Second? Or even worse, is it something even more foolish? Are you planning to save the damn world?!"
A few moments of silence passed, then Changing Star softly chuckled. "Save the world? No, I'm not going to save the world, Sunny. I'm going to destroy it."
Lucien's grip on the stone spear tightened. Destroy the world, huh?
"This world, Sunny. This cursed place. The Dream Realm. No, I won't be the first one to conquer the Fourth Nightmare. I will be the first one to conquer every Nightmare. I'll go through them one after another, destroying anything and anyone who stands in my way. And when I get to the heart of the Nightmare Spell, I'm going to obliterate every part of it, I'm going to rip it to shreds, I'm going to decimate and bring it to ruin."
"You think Gunlaug can stop me? You think a Fallen Terror can stop me? Those three ghouls can stop me? No, Sunny. Nothing will stop me. Anyone who dares will die. I'll kill them all."
Then Sunless asked with a hint of anguish in his voice, "Why? Why do you want to destroy the Spell so much?"
"Because I hate it."
That was her simple answer. She would destroy the world simply because she hated the spell. Lucien glared at the ground, 'I will not let you destroy my world, Changing Star. I will not let you bring ruin to this world.'
"You are actually insane."
'My thoughts exactly, Sunless.'
"What does it mean to be insane in a world that has gone mad? I would be wary of anyone who remained perfectly sane in this hell."
Then she sighed.
"So, are we done here? Or do you have more questions? The sun is almost gone, so you'd better hurry up and ask them."
"...Yeah. Yeah, Neph. I'm done." Sunless said with his voice hoarse.
With that, he took a step towards where Lucien was hiding.
"Where are you going? Come back here."
"Sorry. I have an errand to run. We'll... talk some other time."
"I said come back, Sunny! This conversation isn't over! Come back here right now!"
By the time Sunless reached the end of the alley, Lucien was nowhere to be found. Yet a trace of purple lightning lingered for but a moment. Sunless didn't have it in him to be surprised anymore; a lot had happened that day.