Sunny grew silent and tried very hard not to look at the huntress, who was glaring at him with murder in her eyes. Did he hear it right?
He glanced at Lucien, who was waving at him solemnly. It was the look you had when you knew the other person was going to die.
'Crap.'
Forcing himself to turn away, he looked at Nephis.
"Uh… excuse me? Keep her safe?"
Nephis gave him a nod, then hesitated for a few moments and sighed.
"I guess I owe you an explanation."
With a frown, she glanced at the map of the Dark City. Her gaze was fixed on the symbol of a tower drawn in its center with white paint.
The Bright Castle.
After a few moments, she said:
"You asked why Gunlaug hasn't killed us all yet. This is a good question. However, the answer is… complicated."
Changing Star turned her head and looked at Sunny.
"Partially, it is because I have not challenged him openly yet. I also haven't done anything to justify an intervention. Everything we have accomplished for the benefit of the outer settlement not only fell outside the purview of his reign over the castle, but also strengthened the human position on the Forgotten Shore overall. Officially, he has no grounds to accuse me."
Sunny scoffed.
"It's not like Gunlaug really needs justification. He only needs the pretense of one, and even then just barely."
Nephis slightly frowned.
"You are right. If he really wanted to escalate the situation and bring about an open conflict, he could have easily created a reason. Alternatively, he could have sent Harus under the cover of night to make me disappear without a trace. But he didn't. And… we are not entirely sure why."
Sunny blinked.
"You don't know?"
Glancing at Caster, Neph shook her head.
"There are several possible reasons. Perhaps he is uncertain if Harus will be able to dispose of me. Perhaps he is using the growing status of the outer settlement as a deterrent against his lieutenants' ambitions. Perhaps he is just confident and patient. Whatever the case, Gunlaug more or less tolerated our existence for these past four months."
Caster sighed and added:
"Of course, there were still challenges we had to overcome. If we weren't cautious in how we dealt with these provocations, things would have been very different."
Changing Star nodded.
"Indeed. There were several attempts to taunt us into confrontation already. Nothing too bloody, though. However… things seem to have changed. We received word from the castle that Gunlaug is going to act against us soon. This time, he is aiming at one of my companions. The attack will be a serious one, and the target is Effie."
Sunny glanced at the unruly huntress and raised his eyebrows. He had a lot of questions.
"Why her?"
"Because this lump of fuck ignored all tact and got into a rather vulgar argument with a bunch of guards. Those guards are now missing." Lucien said, glaring at the huntress.
Effie glared back, "I didn't kill the guards."
"But they think you did. And now you've become a prime target." Lucien scowled.
A teasing look replaced Effie's glare, "Oh? Are you worried about me?"
"Of course I am, I don't wanna lose you."
Effie blinked.
"I wasn't expecting sincerity."
Lucien just glared at her in response.
"Uh, I might know something about those guards." Kai suddenly said, shifting the attention to him.
Kai enthusiastically went on to describe how he was kidnapped, put in the well, and then rescued by a mysterious stranger — who turned out to be Sunny. He explained to them how the guards must have been killed by the black night. A fallen abomination that guarded the cathedral.
After he was done talking, Caster sighed.
"Thank you, this is a very valuable piece of information. Sadly, it doesn't change anything. Effie is still in danger. The Bright Lord is going to use her as a hostage and force Lady Nephis to challenge him. If she does, he will kill her. If she doesn't, Effie will die, and our reputation will be ruined. Either way, he wins."
Turning to Nephis and Caster, he asked:
"How do you know all this?"
'Seishan,' Lucien wanted to say, but she had insisted on absolute secrecy. And Sunny was no longer a true member of the cohort.
"We have an ally in the castle." He said, "Don't ask who it is. We can't tell you that."
Sunny nodded. He understood why; he had left the cohort after all. There was just one last question he wanted to ask.
"I see. Well, there is this one thing that I don't really understand. You said to keep Effie safe for a week. What is going to change in a week? I doubt that Gunlaug will magically forget everything after a few days."
A heavy silence descended on the room. No one seemed to want to speak first.
After a few moments had passed, Nephis finally broke the silence. Looking in the window, she leaned back and said in her usual even, indifferent tone:
"In a week, we will be ready to leave the city."
Soon, another map was spread on the table. This one was drawn on a piece of crude parchment made out of monster hide, and much less detailed than the one hanging on the wall. This map depicted the entirety of the forgotten shores. After months of painful expeditions, they had finally finished it.
At the center of it, a straight black line depicted the Crimson Spire. The Labyrinth flowed from it, devouring the parchment like an ocean of blood. To the east, a small circle of black ink with a symbol of a white tower inside of it marked the Dark City.
The city was perched on the edge of another, much larger circle; the crater, On the other side of the crater, almost exactly opposite the Dark City, a symbol of a tree depicted the Ashen Barrow. Some distance to the east of it, on a straight line, there was a mark in the shape of a red cross.
Another red cross was drawn inside the crater just outside the eastern side of the Dark City. The third one was about a week's worth of traveling time to the north, near a symbol that looked like a grotesque, misshapen skull. The fourth one was halfway between the ruins and the Crimson Spire.
The fifth one lay to the south, about the same distance as the third, drawn atop the symbol of an arching bridge.
The last red cross was at the very edge of the parchment, far away to the south, beyond the Labyrinth. Near it, two symbols were drawn: one was a crown, and the other one was a question mark. Each cross represented one of the headless statues. They had spent countless hours searching for them, and it had finally paid off.
Frowning, Sunny glanced at the map and said:
"So let me get this straight. You want to leave the Dark City, cross the Labyrinth, reach the edges of the Forgotten Shore… and then return?"
Nephis smiled.
"Pretty much, yes."
He sighed.
"If we somehow survive the months of traveling through the Labyrinth and actually manage to escape it, why the hell would we return?"
"The mountains aren't something we can cross." Lucien suddenly said. He looked up to find Sunny staring at him.
"Why?"
"The first bright lord did try to escape that way; he led an expedition to the mountains. But they never returned. Remember, these are the same people who fought and killed a spire messenger. For them to disappear like that…" Lucien looked down at the crown marked on the map. "Only death awaits us there."
Sunny scratched the back of his head. "So you aren't really looking for a way out… you're looking for the remains of the cohort of Sleepers that had conquered the castle fifteen years ago?"
Nephis nodded.
"There is an item that they took away from the castle. If we find it… we'll have a chance in the fight against Gunlaug."
Sunny fell silent for a moment, lost deep in his thoughts.
Feeling his hesitation, Nephis added:
"The way to the mountains is not as dangerous as you think. There is… a method we can use to reach them comparatively safely. But once we're there... That's where we'll need your talents. Having you with us will make a lot of things easier."
Sunny looked at her with doubt.
"How do you know all this? It's not like there's anyone in the Dark City who was alive back then."
"Really?" Lucien deadpanned.
"You were too young to remember." Sunny shot back.
"Did you forget I have a mother?" Lucien said in a neutral tone.
Sunny blinked. Right, he did mention someone like that before.
Nephis sighed, "Aletta gave us most of the information she remembered. Along with Cassie's visions, we have all we need."
The cohort waited in silence as Sunny contemplated his options. It was understandable; expecting him to go on such an expedition, especially considering their circumstances, might have been too much.
As for Sunny? He was tempted. If Changing Star made this plan, it meant that she had good reasons to believe that it was doable. Of course, there would be danger. Nothing on the Forgotten Shore was ever safe or easy. But there was a rare opportunity in all of this, too.
Outside the walls of the Dark City, Nightmare Creatures were generally of a lower rank than those inside. The efficiency of his hunting would be much higher, which would land him more shadow fragments and Memories to feed to the Stone Saint.
Especially if powerhouses like Nephis, Lucien, Effie, and Caster were fighting alongside him. But more importantly, if Cassie was there to warn them of the dangers that they had no business trying to fight.
On top of that, his and Lucien's abilities complemented each other in such a way that they never faced anything beyond their capabilities. His hunts with the divine aspect holder had gone incredibly smoothly because of that. Well, except the first one.
So he was not immediately against the idea, more so because he would be additionally compensated for the efforts.
But… there was something else that he had to consider.
Looking up, Sunny glanced at the people gathered in the room and cleared his throat.
"Uh… I would like to talk to Nephis alone. Please."
Most of them just stared at him without moving. But after Changing Star gave them a look, they reluctantly stood up and left the room one after another.
Lucien did not linger for long. With the meeting done, he returned to his home. It had also changed in the last three months, albeit not as significantly as the lodge. The biggest difference was the fans that were attached beside each bed. In the forgotten shores, it wouldn't get hot very often, but when it did, there was nothing to soothe it. Now he could sleep peacefully on those nights.
The stone table had been replaced by a bigger wooden one that stood at one corner of the room, right below one of the lights. On top of it lay a half-constructed spearhead with a storm shard embedded in it.
He had not stayed idle these past few months. Even though he hunted more often, he still found the time to tinker with his creations.
The lights and fan were easy to make; the only issue he had with them was the power source. But after he discovered he could make storm shards, he quickly got to work.
His first goal was to create a safe. Somewhere to put his most valuable possessions. Including his inventions. If Gunlaug's men raided his home when he was out on an expedition, they would certainly take them.
And so after two months, he had made a safe with a five-digit combination lock. It took a while to figure out the principle behind it, but after talking to some of the other sleepers, he found a way. The safe was made out of stone and nearly as wide as his bed. Of course, Gunlaug's men could simply break it open. So he kept it hidden. He shaped the safe to perfectly mimic the blocks of stone he used to make the inner lining of his home and hid it amongst them. Apart from him, no one knew which exact block it was; it would take hours to find it.
Of course, making the safe took its toll, but it was nothing Lucien wasn't already used to. He sighed. If only he could control his soul essence, then he'd be able to make so much more than those mundane items. But he had to awaken for that. He did not know how he would do that.
Normally, sleepers awakened when they left the Dream Realm and returned to their bodies. But he was already in his body; he always had been. He could not awaken by normal means; he'd have to find a different way.
A few days later, he decided to head into the Dark City to look for the cathedral in which Sunny lived. It wasn't hard to find; it was massive. Even if it wasn't already infamous for the Fallen Devil guarding it, Lucien was confident he could've found it.
He wasn't concerned about the guardian of the cathedral; Sunny had already told him how to avoid it.
No, what he was concerned about was the sounds of battle coming from nearby. Normally, he wouldn't be too concerned about it, but something was off about those sounds.
Living in the Forgotten Shores, he had grown accustomed to the sound of metal hitting metal, but this was something else. This was a type of noise he hadn't heard since his first nightmare.
Metal hitting stone, again and again.
Lucien frowned. Was Sunny hitting a rock? But why would he do that? It made no sense. He hadn't seen any stone-based monsters in the Dark City, never once in these two years. But then again, he never delved too deep into the city.
Slowly, he made his way towards the noises, the two presences soon making themselves known inside his storm sense.
'Strange, neither of them are corrupted.'
Was Sunny sparring with Effie?
And then he saw it, Sunny defending himself against an armored woman in black. Her stone sword clashed against his steel sword and was promptly deflected away from Sunny's body. At the same time, the woman raised her shield and bashed it towards him.
Sunny, who seemed to know it was coming, managed to adjust his body just enough to mitigate the damage. Yet he was still thrown back, and the woman retreated before standing still.
Lucien narrowed his eyes; something about the woman was extremely familiar. The design of its armour specifically reminded him of something. He glanced down at his own stone armour.
…
It was nearly identical.
He had gotten it from killing the Stone Goliath in his first nightmare. One of Nether's creations.
Could the woman be one of his stone children? But she didn't look like one. Her skin was inky black instead of the stone grey nethers children had.
As he was examining her, the armoured woman suddenly moved her head, and stared right back at him.
Lucien wasn't sure if he imagined it, but he could swear he saw a glint of recognition in her crimson eyes that burned like an open flame.
Sunny frowned.
"What is it?"
He stared in the direction she was looking; there was definitely someone there. He could see a hunched silhouette hiding behind a broken wall. Silently, he sent his shadow ahead to scout. In the darkness of the night, it would be impossible to notice it.
Lucien walked out from behind the wall, into the dim light. "It's just me, don't attack."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"Why were you hiding?"
"I was watching her," He pointed towards the armoured woman. "She reminded me of something."
"Say," He turned towards Sunny, a strange look in his eyes, "Is that by any chance a Stone child?"