The exhaustion from the brutal battle with the Carapace Demon weighed heavily on Kane. He decided to let his guard down for a while, allowing himself the luxury of a much-needed sleep, knowing they would need to travel the next day.
Kane's sleep, however, was far from peaceful. He found himself in a strange, ethereal place where multiple silver threads loomed ominously above him, shimmering with an unseen energy. Then, a woman's voice, soft yet urgent, echoed through the dreamscape, followed by a sudden, violent jolt. Kane was momentarily stunned. 'Is this a dream? Isnt a vision specific to Cassie?' But then, the voice bore a striking resemblance to Cassie's. She sounded frightened, almost panicked. "Kane, remember, it's threads."
Suddenly, a violent shock ripped through his dream, jolting him awake. Kane's eyes snapped open, and he immediately saw Sunny and Nephis, but Cassie was nowhere in sight,she was sleeping. He looked up, his gaze piercing through the canopy of scarlet leaves of the great tree. The sky was hidden by the dense foliage, but he could easily tell that the sun was still high, indicating he had only been asleep for a few hours. There was no immediate threat anywhere in sight, yet an unsettling feeling lingered. He frowned, turning to Sunny. "What exactly happened?"
Sunny, his eyes wide, was looking even higher, beyond the visible branches. Kane instinctively began to switch his aspect, preparing to perceive the unseen, but then he stopped himself. 'Why am I using the aspect now?' A memory surfaced, a fleeting echo of the first time he had experienced a dream in the Dream Realm. 'Am I imagining things? How can I dream? I'm not a diviner.' But the uneasiness persisted, a gnawing certainty that something crucial was missing, something he couldn't quite grasp.
He watched as Sunny started to climb, his eyes still fixed on something above. Kane pointed to Nephis, silently instructing her to watch over the still-sleeping Cassie, and then followed Sunny. Leaving the girls behind, Sunny and Kane moved forward, their destination the edge of the island where the branches of the colossal tree were not as thick, and the sky could be seen through the openings in its crown.
Reaching the eastern slope of the Ashen Barrow, Sunny carefully looked up, still hidden in the deep shadow of the great tree. Up above, in the vast, grey sky, a small black dot was circling around the island. Kane's chest tightened with a sudden wave of wariness. He remembered the terrible winged beast that had first appeared weeks ago; it had looked exactly like this from a distance.
Leaving Sunny's shadow behind, both of them returned to their companions. Kane briefly recounted their discovery to Nephis and Cassie. "Right now, it's just flying above the island. I don't know if it's the same creature or not, or when it's going to land."
Changing Star frowned, her gaze thoughtful. "Last time, it wasn't very interested in searching for live prey. Perhaps it's mostly a carrion eater, and thus is only interested in the Carapace Demon's carcass."
Cassie offered her own opinion, her voice soft. "Maybe we're too weak and little to satiate it? After all, it never came for the corpses of the scavengers we had slain. As if eating mere beasts is beneath it."
Sunny shook his head, his expression grim. "Back then, it did come for the carapace centurion's meat. But it took a few scavengers with it as well before leaving. So it'll be too optimistic to think that this abomination will not try to devour us too if given a chance."
"Better to stay away from its line of sight," Kane added, his voice firm.
Nephis considered their words for a while, then gave him a decisive nod. "You're right. The best course of action would be to stay away from the Carapace Demon for now and hide when it decides to land." Then, looking up at the circling dot, she added, "But first, we must observe it to make sure that it's the same creature and confirm its intentions."
Not having an argument against this logical approach, Sunny and Kane led the girls to the spot where Sunny had left his shadow. There, they sat on the ground, their eyes fixed on the black dot as it circled endlessly around the Ashen Barrow.
Three Black Dots
Observing the flying creature left them deeply disturbed and unsure of what to do. The black dot drew closer a few times, allowing them to discern that it was indeed the same terrible monstrosity they had encountered a few weeks before, or at least a creature of the same terrifying type. However, it never got too close to the crown of the great tree, as though hesitating to land in its shadow, as if some unseen barrier or ancient instinct held it at bay.
What was worse, as the hours slowly passed, the single black dot was joined by two other abominations of the same breed, each as horrifying and repulsive as the first. Now, three ominous black dots circled in the skies above their heads, filling Kane's heart with a cold, creeping dread. One of those creatures, with its corpselike white body and raven-black feathers, with an unnatural mess of powerful limbs protruding from its wide chest, each ending with a set of terrifying talons, was enough to wipe out their entire group. The chilling memory of how easily the creature had broken through the adamantine shell of the carapace centurion with its massive beak was still fresh in his mind. He suspected that these abominations were at least as powerful as the Carapace Demon was, or perhaps even more so. And now there were three of them.
'We'd better hide well,' he thought, cold sweat running down his back, a stark contrast to the oppressive heat of the ashen land.
However, the flying monsters seemed to be reluctant to approach the Ashen Barrow for some reason. They just circled around it, sometimes hesitantly approaching, but then gaining height again. Their behavior was strange and deeply disturbing, a silent, aerial dance of caution and unfulfilled predatory instinct.
After what felt like an eternity, Cassie quietly broke the tense silence. "Maybe they're not hungry?"
Sunny blinked, then spoke, a hint of his usual irreverence returning. "I don't know about these albino chickens, but I'm hungry as hell."
This was undeniably true. The four of them had not eaten anything since yesterday, and the intense battle had only amplified their hunger.
Nephis glanced at Sunny, a faint, almost imperceptible curve to her lips. "Want to eat some grilled chicken?" she asked, her voice surprisingly light.
Sunny's eyes widened, and he hissed, "Don't even think about it!"
Kane looked at Nephis, a genuine smile touching his own lips. "So the Star knows how to joke, huh?"
Nephis turned to him, and to his surprise, offered a full smile. But instead of being comforting, it sent a shiver down Kane's spine. It was a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, a forced, almost unsettling expression. "Your smile is getting degraded," Kane said, a touch of unease in his voice.
Immediately, her expression shifted, reverting to her regular, stoic composure.
Cassie, ever the mediator, spoke up. "You are way too harsh, Kane."
In the end, their worst fears did not come true. After the sun began to roll toward the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple, the three flying abominations finally made a decision. They left the skies above the Ashen Barrow, flying west in a loose wedge formation, their silhouettes shrinking against the fading light. They never descended low enough to notice the three Sleepers, let alone landing on the surface of the large island.
Kane immediately spoke, his voice laced with palpable relief. "They are gone."
The blind girl exhaled with a deep sigh of relief, the subtle frown disappearing from her face. "Thank Heavens. Sitting here and waiting was five times worse than hiding from one of them at those cliffs."
For some reason, Sunny flinched a little, a quick, almost imperceptible twitch. "What… what did you say?"
"I said that waiting for them to land was very tiresome," Cassie repeated, oblivious to Sunny's reaction.
Kane looked between them, a silent question forming in his mind. 'What was that about?'
Sunny quickly recovered. "Oh, yeah. You're right." Then, he turned to Nephis and asked, "What do you want to do now?"
Changing Star looked west, where the black dots had disappeared from sight, and said after a short pause, "Let's check the western edge of the island and decide on the next high point to reach."
Kane shrugged, not having any objections. The idea of moving, of progress, was appealing after the tense hours of waiting.
Cassie smiled, a renewed sense of optimism in her expression. "Good idea! Who knows, maybe we'll finally see the walls of the castle!"
The Western Edge
Soon, they had crossed the island and approached its western slope. Here, the ground was raised just before plunging down, forming a natural rampart that hid the landscape beyond from their eyes, a final barrier before the unknown.
Nephis was the first to climb up and reach the top. Kane was just behind her when he felt that something was profoundly wrong. Changing Star's posture was somehow strange, stiff and rigid, as though she had suddenly turned to stone, her entire body radiating an unbearable tension. Kane's heart sank. 'What bad news are we about to face that could make her that stiff?'
Stepping onto the ashen surface of the natural rampart, he worriedly looked at Nephis and noticed a grim, almost resentful expression on her face. He had never seen her in such a state before, her usual composure completely shattered.
Turning his head, Kane looked west, following her gaze, and then narrowed his eyes. His face instantly darkened, the last vestiges of hope draining from him. His thoughts were filled with a profound despair; for the first time in a long while, he was completely clueless, utterly without a plan. The only thing that echoed in his mind, a desperate, hopeless refrain, was: 'How the fck are we going to go?'*
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What type of Lineage Should I give to Kane
1.Daemon Lineage
2.God Lineage