(from now on the shadow augmentation will only be ×4. I was rightly told that 'tenfold' is a bit too much)
After retrieving the memories and saying goodbye to Jet.
Nephis, Cassie, and Yuki went to his room to hear Nephis's explanations about Caster's matter.
This obviously didn't help Sunny very much in dispelling the rumors about him being a womanizer.
'No, but am I an idiot? Why didn't I think of going back to the gym when it's still empty at this hour?'
But now it was too late to correct his mistakes.
Entering his room, Sunless sat on the desk chair, Cassie and Yuki sat at the foot of his bed, while Nephis remained standing in front of them to give the answers.
All eyes were on her.
"So, Nephis, why did Caster consider me a rival a while ago?" Finally spoke Sunless, his tone serious.
"Because our families got us engaged." Answered Nephis.
Cassie's and Yuki's eyes went wide open, amused by her answer.
Sunny, who already knew this from the conversation he'd overheard between Nephis and her brother, feigned surprise.
"I see." Said Sunny.
Nephis continued: "I was betrothed to Caster when I was only twelve, but I never accepted the proposal. My father wanted to use me as a means to unite the Immortal Flame Clan with the Valor Clan. My older brother was originally supposed to be married to Morgan, the princess of Valor, but the elders of their clan rejected the propose. So it fell to me!"
"..."
Sunless sensed that he was missing something in what Nephis had just said.
Knowing the system, it would have made much more sense if William had been betrothed to Morgan and not Nephis to the future offspring of a minor Clan.
On the other hand, he was happier this way.
Now he knew that he could hang out with Morgan.
"And why you and not your brother?" Sunny tried to ask her to clarify his doubts.
"You don't understand. Our clans have a patriarchal system. If my older brother had married Morgan, he would have been the leader of the new Clan. Taking advantage of the fact that our Clan was in decline, they rejected the first proposal and used me to bind the two Clans."
Sunny blinked, even more confused.
But hey! Now he knew that he could hang out with Morgan.
"Let me get this straight! Your father accepted just like that? Without batting an eyelid? What about your clan's honor?" Asked Sunny with his hands put before him.
Nephis nodded; for the first time, Sunless seemed to see a hint of emotion on her face.
Rage. But also...
Sadness.
It was small, well hidden, but not unseen.
Not to the shadows, at least.
"No honor. Will's proposal was also his idea. If my brother hadn't interfered, using the excuse of waiting until the 'future couple' had overcome their first nightmare before meeting, I would now be nothing more than a tool for my father's ambitions."
She took a deep breath before her flame enveloped the entire room.
A thing that Sunny thanks her very much for.
But hey! Now he knows that he can hang out with Morgan.
Sunless had his priorities.
"Did all of you already know about what happened in America years ago, right?"
Sunny and Yuki nodded, while Cassie asked: "A gate of the fifth tier opened and caused the entire continent's doom, right?"
Nephis turned to her, then to all three of them. She nodded.
"Yes. When the category five Gate opened in America, my grandfather and my mother joined the campaign to halt the stampede of nightmare creatures. My father didn't go with them, because at that time he was searching for something."
"What thing?" Asked her Sunny, who probably already know the answer.
"To explain this to you, I have to first tell you about the Clans and their secrets. So, if you didn't want to be involved in this, I suggest you get out of here now."
Nephis looked to each one of them, waiting for their answer.
Yuki nodded.
Cassie seemed to tremble, but she nodded too.
Sunless simply said: "Get out of here? We're in my room! Go ahead!"
And he gestured for her to continue.
Nephis took a deep breath.
What she was about to reveal were not innocent secrets, like a girl hiding her crush from the boy she likes.
No! these were high-classified secrets.
Something mere sleepers weren't allowed to know.
By revealing them, she was risking both her life and theirs.
It was a gamble.
A gamble Nephis was willing to take.
Because she needed allies; she couldn't do it alone.
She hated to admit it, but she could never do it alone.
During this time she had learned that these three were the best allies she could ever ask for, even before braving the Dream Realm.
Satisfied with their answer, she spoke: "Do you know about the gods? Each one of them left their lineage behind in the form of drops of ichor. Five of the six lineages have already been claimed. My family holds the Sun God's lineage, Clan Valor holds the War God's lineage, Song holds the Beast God's lineage, the House of Night holds the Storm God's lineage, and the Heart God's lineage is in the hands of a single man named Asterion. Unlike the others, this one doesn't have his own Clan."
Hearing the Dreamspawn's name, Sunless shivered, remembering that this dude could enter their minds just by saying his name.
Doesn't she know this?
He is not eavesdropping on their conversation now and noticed that Sunless has the missing Shadow lineage, right?
Right!?
"What about the Shadow lineage?" Asked Cassie.
Nephis shook her head.
"That one has never been found. Entire clans, the government, and my own father have spent years searching for it, for since the spell descended into this world, it has been the only unclaimed lineage."
Hearing this, unnoticed, Sunless covered his mouth to hide his laughter.
He laughed at the image of Broken Sword and the other Sovereigns learning that after years, money, and resources wasted searching for the Shadow lineage, he had achieved it without doing anything.
Actually, no!
He spent an entire month in his First Nightmare inside a temple of the Shadow God learning an ancient ritual consisting of a dance/battle art.
Still, the idea that he obtained it just like this, provided free of charge by his Legacy aspect, was hilarious.
"Broken Sword was not a member of the Immortal Flame Clan; he was adopted into it when he married my mother, so he was never accepted by our elders. I don't know why he began searching for the last lineage, perhaps to prove himself worthy, but after the death of my mother and grandfather, his search became an obsession."
Nephis breathed, as if by telling this she was re-opening a wound closed long ago.
"After the death of my grandfather, Immortal Flame; by marital right, he took the control of our Clan. Obviously, the elders did not agree to leave the Clan in the hands of an outsider and tried to hinder him. So he joined his cohort, formed by the current clan leaders, and faced the fourth nightmare in the hopes of being accepted."
There was another break, then Nephis continued:
"The time I spent with my father was almost nonexistent. I never really knew him. The only family I ever had was my older brother and my granny. When Broken Sword returned victorious from his fourth nightmare, our Clan was now in disarray.
Each elder tried to take control, fighting each other, only to leave the Clan in worse shape. Embittered to not keeping his oath, he left us. Meanwhile, my brother and I were raised by our granny. After her death, we were left alone; the servants only came to clean and cook, never speaking to us. Years later, he came back and told us that he chose to unite our clan with Valor to save what was left. After my brother's engagement got rejected, I was chosen as a sacrifice."
'Something doesn't add up here.' Thought Sunny, hiding his doubts.
Nephis's story was full of holes.
There were too many things that didn't make sense.
For example, even though Immortal Flame and his daughter died, his widow was still alive at the time.
Was it possible that she was so incompetent as to keep her Clan standing without her husband?
And as for Broken Sword, even though he was from the outskirts, he was still one of the first to complete the third and fourth nightmares.
Were the elders of the Immortal Flame really so stereotypical as to ignore anyone who wasn't of noble blood?
Either Nephis wasn't telling the truth, or she herself is unaware of the shadows in her own story.
But this Nephis most likely didn't spend her whole childhood under constant threat of assassination by some mercenary hired by the Clans. She lacked her trained sense of doubt.
"Everyone knows about the existence of the sovereigns and the transcendants, but have you ever wondered why almost no one knows anything about them? Why no attempt has been made to complete the fifth nightmare too? Or why there are so few saints and no new supreme has appeared after all this time?"
Sunless raised an eyebrow at her.
Indeed, Awakened and mundane ones were literally two worlds apart. For the latter Saints and Sovereigns were legends in their eyes. Simply entering their citadels was a privilege reserved only for those who were at least Sleepers. Even obtaining basic information about them was impossible for those who had not been chosen by the Spell.
"Let me guess! It's not about the difficulty of finding the right seed or clearing it, right?
Nephis nodded to him.
"It's because the Clans are preventing the birth of new Sovereigns."
"Why?" Asked Cassie.
"I don't know for sure. I just know that they are up to something, and new pieces in the chessboard could ruin their plans. So, they're monopolizing all the seeds of the nightmare to prevent future problems. The same goes for the Saints; they will be crucial, as after the Supremes, they will be the ones who will determine the course of the events. That's why there are so few Saints, because if you want to face the third nightmare, either you'll join a Clan or you'll be eliminated immediately afterward."
The rest of the story continued with Nephis explaining how Broken Sword had been a terrible father to her and her brother.
How she had been forced to be betrothed at twelve; when William helped her escape to avoid the engagement; how she later chose to hide within the domain of Clan Song; when she chose to create her own battle art from scratch to deny her father.
Sunless, listening with his arms folded, couldn't shake the strange feeling that she wasn't telling the truth.
That of Nephis seemed a bad written story, made just for the sake of it.
Silently, he glanced at Yuki and Cassie sitting on his bed to see if they had felt the same way.
Oddly enough, from what he could sense from their shadows, they seemed convinced by her story.
Could this impression be because he had read a different story in his past life?
It's hard to understand.
After a while, Nephis finished her story.
The room became quiet; Sunless decided to break the silence.
"And in all of this, what are your intentions?"
Sunless's question lingered for a while.
Nephis was brave, very brave.
What she just told them must not have been easy for her.
Her childhood wasn't easy!
To say it was painful would be an understatement.
The loneliness she felt was painful.
If it wasn't for her brother, she wouldn't be the same girl who is standing before the three of them now.
Sunless felt empathy for her because he understood.
In fact, if he hadn't met Jet years earlier than in the canon, he would now be as shy and distrustful as the original Sunless at the beginning.
So, even though Sunny had doubts about her story, he preferred not to force her.
For now.
When Nephis feels up to it, she'll tell them her story properly.
He hoped for it.
Nephis looked silently to each one of them.
Her eyes started to burn with determination, then answered: "I want to burn that wretched spell to ash."
She said it!
She has just reveal her dream to them.
A goal she'd set for herself since she was a child.
Destroy the spell.
Because ever since she was a child, she has hated that damned thing.
Something that sealed the fate of her life before she was even born.
A wretch who took away her family, her mother, her father's affection and left her and her brother to raise themselves alone.
Nephis has no regrets for what she just said, and never will.
She silently watched the three sleepers before her, expecting them to judge her.
To tell her what everyone else has already told her.
Do you even know how to do that?
And after that, what?
How do you plan to do it?
After a moment, Sunny raised his hand, and she turned to him.
Nephis expected him to call her crazy, but instead...
"So, where do we start?" Said Sunny.
"What?"
"What?"
The two stared at each other dumbfounded.
"Where do we start?" Repeated Sunny.
"You don't want to tell me that I'm crazy?" Said Nephis.
His words sparked something warm inside her.
She wasn't expecting this.
For the first time, someone seemed willing to listen to her without calling her crazy.
Sunny shook his head.
"Cute? Yes. But crazy? Um... maybe." He glanced at the other two girls for a moment before continuing. "If you gathered us here and spent the last few hours telling us about your melodramatic life, it's probably because you wanted to ask us for help, right? All of you should have realized by now how shameless I am. If a cute girl asks me for help, how can I say no?"
Nephis blushed a little.
Sunless rose from his chair.
"And besides... These past few days, I've seen firsthand how stubborn you can be. So, if you say you want to destroy the spell, I believe you'll most likely succeed or at least fail while trying. I'm in."
Sunless approached and held out his hand.
Nephis stared at him, blinked, and then took his hand.
"Of course I'll succeed, because if this is my will... who dares to stop me!?"
A smile filled with an emotion she doesn't know appeared on her lips.
As she shook his hand to seal the deal, Sunny added: "Oh! But let's be clear: I have my dreams too. And I intend to make them come true, regardless of yours."
Nephis nodded.
"That's fine for me!"
Then she turned to Yuki and Cassie.
"If Sunny says he wants to do it, I'm in." Yuki said.
Sunless raised an eyebrow, looking at her perplexed.
'She is not a Yandere, right?'
Cassie seemed to hesitate, but then she lowered her head, clenched her fists and said: "I don't want to feel like a burden anymore. I've regained my trust thanks to you. I don't know what I can do, but I want to help you, Neph. Like you had helped me these days."
Yuki patted her shoulder to support her and both girls shocked their hands with Sunny and Nephis.
This was a very tender moment for Nephis.
She made it!
She found allies who were willing to help her. Someone who is willing to believe in her.
Now, she knows that she is not alone anymore.