Sunny was slowly growing fond of having conversations in the dark. Without the burden of light, people were more relaxed and honest. It reminded him of the frequent blackouts that used to sweep through the city when he was a little kid. His family had no choice but to huddle together and spend a few hours doing nothing but talking to each other.
Now, these dark hours had become some of his most precious memories.
He was silent for a few moments and then said:
"Since we're going to be depending on each other, should we share what abilities and Memories we have at our disposal?"
This was a logical suggestion. If they were going to fight side by side, knowing each other's strengths was more or less vital. Still, he noticed Nephis glancing in his direction with a guarded look on her face.
Luckily, he was obscured by darkness.
"I'll start," Sunny said, both to show his sincerity and to reveal information about himself in a controlled manner.
If he took the initiative to talk, he still had to tell the truth, but how much and to what extent was still for him to decide. If they were to ask and he had to answer, however… things would become unpredictable.
"My attributes give me an affinity to shadows. I also have a strong affiliation to divinity. And the more insane and mad i am the stronger i get. Lastly, I am prone to finding myself in unlikely situations."
Cassie listened carefully, and then lowered her head, as though embarrassed.
"Uh… he is telling the truth. Not that we doubted your honesty."
"huh why not? Im pretty sure im quite trustworthy."
Nephis was one to answer
"People could always lie and make half true lies."
'Oh... Sounds exactly like me.'
Sunny cleared his throat and smiled
"Anyways, That's good to know. But… why are you so sure that I am being honest?"
The blind girl shifted a little.
"Oh! That's my Ability. I can "see" people's Attributes. Sometimes, I also receive, uh, "visions". They can be about the future or the past. I mean, that's what I think… it only happened a couple of times."
Sunny swallowed, but then relaxed.
'So, she is an oracle of sorts. And huh "see" and "visions" those two words aren't meant for a blind girl.'
He finally realized how the blind girl had known about his birthday. The question was whether she had seen it in a vision of the future or in a vision of the past. If it was the former, was it safe to assume that he would certainly be able to celebrate at least one more birthday?
Or did knowing the future actually affected and changed it? For example, after learning that he was definitely going to survive, Sunny might have naturally relaxed and lowered his guard. Then, he would die as the result of it. It surely seemed possible, right? That's assuming that the future could be changed. But maybe it wasn't? Then…
Feeling his head hurting, Sunny decided to avoid this line of thought for now.
"And my aspect is already known if you saw the rankings, but for Cassie who didn't exactly see... Ahem, my innate allows me to damage being's soul and mind they also will fear and dread me which i believe i didn't say before my dormant ability is basically somewhat immortality and my flaw isn't really special to me so i don't mind revealing it basically the more i use my aspect the less human i am and i also lose my sanity and i am constantly insane and mad."
Nephis looked extremely confused but it didn't show her face was ever so slightly confused and asked.
"Huh, earlier the shadow how did you do it?"
"Oh that was my attribute."
Nephis looked at Cassie who obviously didn't see but she did notice the quietness and said:
"I didn't check what else it did i just thought it was a normal attribute i only looked at his Attribute name and description."
"Sunny have you ever used that Asp- Attribute of yours in the academy?"
"Of course i have obviously i needed to practice on how to use it!"
They just nodded understandly Sunny continued:
"Anyway, that's my Ability. As for Memories, I have three. One is an armor, one is a sword, and the last one is a really loud whistle which i believe scares off any creature weaker than a awakened... It's pretty useless i might as well have gotten a really loud bell instead."
(Im actually regretting changing that but whatever im just gonna get him to trade that aztec death whistle for the bell 🤷🏻♂️)
Now it was their turn to share. After a short pause, Nephis spoke:
"My attributes give me an affinity to light and fire, as well as a strong affiliation to divinity. I have two Memories: a rope…"
While she was speaking, Sunny was looking at Cassie, trying to read her expression. From what he saw, Nephis was telling the truth — but also, not the whole truth. And judging by how hard the blind girl was trying to hide her true feelings, the secret hiding among Changing Star's Attributes was not at all trivial.
'Interesting.'
"...and a sword. The rope is very sturdy and can change its length. The sword is very sharp and can protect its wielder against souls attacks, to a certain extent. My Ability… can be used to heal."
Sunny didn't miss the wording of the last part. "Can be used to heal"... does this mean that its main purpose was something else? He was pretty sure that Nephis would not reveal all of her cards, just like him. However, healing abilities were extremely rare. Having one that could heal, but was not limited to healing — that would be simply unheard of.
But then again, she was Changing Star — one of the few people in history to receive a True Name in the First Nightmare. If Sunny were to consider his own Aspect Ability, nothing seemed impossible.
'I wonder what's her Aspect rank is.'
Outwardly, he pretended to be excited.
"You're a Healer? That's great! Having a Healer among us is incredible luck!"
Cassie nodded and smiled.
"Neph is also an amazing fighter! You should have seen her dealing with those scavengers. Well… I also did not actually see it. But it sounded very scary."
Sunny didn't need anyone to tell him how formidable of a warrior Nephis was. He had seen it with how own two eyes. Literally, he used his own eyes and not his shadow eyes?
Meanwhile, Cassie sighed.
"It's my turn? Uh… my attributes are nothing special. I guess I have an affinity to revelations and fate. My Ability is like I told you before. It's not very useful. About my Memories, I have three: the bottle, the wooden staff and this armor. You already know about the bottle. The staff can create wind. The armor is actually of the Awakened rank… uh, Neph gave it to me when we met. It has a very powerful protective charm."
'So… she's not only carrying Cassie on her back, she even gave away her only clothes? An Awakened-rank armor, at that? What… what is Nephis thinking about?'
The blind girl turned away and added after a while:
"I used to be a pretty decent fencer… before. Now I can't really fight."
The last two sentences were obviously related to her Flaw. Sunny and Nephis, however, both chose to keep theirs secret. Despite the fact that knowing your companion's Flaw was also important for cooperation and having each other's backs, sharing something like that demanded a very high level of trust.
Right now, there was no trust between them.
After a while, he said:
"Good. That's good. I think we have enough tools to survive, provided we use them right. I guess it's time to sleep?"
In the darkness, Nephis tilted her head, listening to his words with a distant look.
"Alright. I'll… take watch first."
Sunny decided to be helpful and said:
"Actually, my shadow doesn't sleep. It can wake us up if something happens."
Changing Star slowly smiled.
"I'll take watch first."
Feeling a bit of coldness in her voice, Sunny sighed and shrugged.
'Suit yourself. What are you going to watch, huh? You can't even see anything! Whatever. Just don't blame me when something giant swallows us in the middle of the night…'
Then he suddenly shuddered.
'Wait... that was not a death flag, right? Right, of course not. No way...'
(Its currently 6:30 PM and i started around 6:10 PM)
Sleep was avoiding Sunny. For a while, he sat silently in the darkness, listening to the calming rumbling of the waves. In this rare moment of respite, memories of the past few days came flooding into his mind. However, he was too tired to seriously think about anything. He was warm, full, and relatively safe. For now, that was more than enough.
Soon, the rhythm of Cassia's breathing changed, indicating that she fell asleep. Nephis was guarding the camp, motionless and, as always, a bit distant. With her silver hair and fair skin, she looked like an alabaster statue.
Sunny sighed. He struggled for a bit, and then said quietly:
"Hey. Can I ask you a question?"
Nephis glanced at him and shrugged. The lack of an audible response clearly indicated that she remembered about his ability to see in the dark.
"Sure."
'Would it be too personal?'
Sunny hesitated.
"I thought you Legacies come into the Spell with a whole inherited arsenal of Memories. I mean, that's supposed to be your main advantage. How come you only had three?"
Nephis was silent for a few moments.
"Actually, I only had two. The rope came from Cassie."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh. I see."
Realizing that her answer wasn't really an answer, Nephis thought for a while and added:
"We lost most of our Memories when my father passed away. The ones that remained were sold one by one over the years, to keep the family afloat. This sword and armor came from my First Nightmare."
So that's how it was. Sunny realized that the fall of the Immortal Flame clan might have been more thorough than he had thought. Still, something about it didn't make sense.
"Surely, with your clan's reputation and standing, there were other ways to make money."
Without any strong reaction, Nephis simply said:
"There were other reasons."
Then, she unexpectedly turned her head in his direction.
"Can I ask you a question in return?"
Sunny swallowed.
"Yeah, go ahead."
Nephis tilted her head.
"How did you know that I'm a Legacy?"
'What? That's it?'
"Simple. I heard Caster mention it. He was scolding other Sleepers to make them treat you with respect."
She gave him a nod and turned away. What thoughts were hidden behind her calm grey eyes, Sunny did not know.
Some time had passed before he gathered enough courage to ask the question that he really wanted to ask. Before doing it, though, he made sure that Cassie was sound asleep and lowered his voice.
"Can I ask another question?"
Without getting a negative response, he continued:
"Why did you help her even though you didn't know her at all?"
A corner of Changing Star's mouth curled up slightly.
"Why? Wouldn't you?"
Sunny smiled a genuine smile, an happy smile, an exaggerated smile and an ridiculous smile.
"I would... You know you have probably heard it before im from the slums i had an happy and slightly decent family it was good until... Our parents died. I mourned obviously cried every single day it was hard... I had a sister she was everything to me my entire world until i put her up for adoption. I was selfless or selfish, actually i was both. selfish because i put her up for adoption because i couldn't pay for food to eat back when she was still there i had to steal from others it wasn't fun everyday i had bruises all over me it hurt really badly but i persevered just for her. And then i killed someone not out of malice or self — defense i just did it for myself for her i killed the man abd sold his body mainly the organs for food i didn't eat or bought anything that entire week i just fed her but bot myself i couldn't bring myself to eat something i gained after killing someone. And then selfless because i put her up for adoption i didn't deserve her why did i, when did i she deserved more than what i could give her i literally cried all day and then after that i had so much built up anger that i lost her I killed again not for survival but because i could. Big difference right? And then i continued you know i used to cry whenever i killed even a bug but after she was gone i had nothing left i thought to myself. "Maybe she was the problem." She wasn't i was i usually slap myself if ever i did that i mean who am i if not a person trying to change and give a better life for his younger sister. I was nothing without hope or light i only hid in darkness because i thought i could find solace within it but never it never once worked just made it even worse so remember that flaw of mine? Whenever i think of rain all my humanity comes crawling back and after that i would come back to the darkness like i didn't comprehend anything yesterday when i killed those carapace scavengers i was probably the closest to losing everything i had i lost everything that i was in the end i had to come crawling back to the light I've not left yet and i think ill try my very best not to come back too the darkness. Your probably wondering how this correlated with your question so here's the answer. Cassie reminded me of my sister. You could say that it's quite dumb only protecting someone because they looked like your younger sister and your absolutely right..."
Nephis listened to everything sunny said but sunny already answered some of her questions except for one.
"What's your sisters name?"
Sunnys smile looked like the one when he was still innocent as a child he was quite literally grinning like a child.
"Rain, her name is Rain i personally named her myself you can probably understand what inspired her beautiful name."
Sunny was incredibly happy with his little conversation with Nephis.
"You know you never actually answered ny question yet, Nephis."
After a few moments she smiled slightly and answered.
"Because i want to."
'Because she wants to, huh. That's probably truthful maybe there are also a few hidden motive but surely it was as real as realistic could get.'
That was not the response Sunny expected to hear. He was pretty sure that she would either lecture him about virtue and compassion or disclose some obscure way to make Cassie's seemingly weak Ability incredibly useful.
However, she did neither. But maybe she didn't have to maybe she already did but she's probably talking about the former and not the latter maybe later in the latter could be explained with her minimal words but sunny could probably get his philosophical brain to start running.
At first, he dismissed her response as a non-answer. But the more he thought about it, the more disturbed he felt.
Because, maybe, it was actually the truth.
Due to the circumstances of his life, Sunny had never really done things because he wanted to. Most of the time, he was doing them because he needed to. It was never a question of "want"... it was always a question of "must". For him, this was a basic rule of life. But he did say he wanted to save cassie hypothetically if that situation happened he would not because he was kind but because she looked like Rain.
(If you guys find anything wrong please inform me English isn't my first language.)
But was it really? Or was it just a matter of perspective? Nephis had certain advantages in her upbringing, but they weren't as ample as he had imagined. She had no wealth and no arsenal of relics to empower her. However, she did have a mentality that was different from Sunny's.
And maybe being different is for everyone's betterment and maybe that was why he cared so much about Rain.
It wasn't impossible for her to have the audacity to disregard need in favor of something as frivolous as desire, and do things that a normal person like Sunny would never do.
Like helping a blind girl simply because that was what Nephis wanted to do.
Perhaps, that mentality was the greatest advantage of all.
Perhaps, that was the real barrier that separated Legacies from the rest of them.
That was a lot to think about. However, before Sunny could gather his thoughts, Nephis suddenly spoke again.
"My turn."
'Uh… does she mean it's her turn to ask a question?'
Indeed, that was what she meant. Changing Star once again turned to Sunny and, after a long pause, suddenly asked:
"Do you know the legend of Odysseus?"
'A what… who? What sort of a weird question is that?!'
Bewildered, Sunny shook his head. Then, remembering that she couldn't see him, he said:
"No."
Nephis sighed and turned away. A few moments later, she softly said:
"Odysseus was a hero in an ancient war. In the legends, some humans back then had powers akin to the Awakened. Achilles with an Aspect of indestructible body, Diomedes that was so ferocious even the God of War was wary of him, Ajax who was as strong as a giant. Odysseus was not the strongest, and not the bravest. However, he was the most cunning."
Sunny blinked, staring at the silver-haired girl.
'What? Where did this come from? Why is she suddenly so eloquent?'
Meanwhile, Nephis continued:
"In the end, Odysseus's cunning ended the war, and he prepared to sail home. However, the gods cursed him to endlessly wander the seas, never to return. Over the years, he survived one horror after another and lost all of his companions. Then, shipwrecked, he found himself on an island where the beautiful fairy, Calypso, lived."
Changing Star's ethereal, strangely wistful voice resounded in the darkness, creating an enthralling atmosphere. Sunny couldn't help but listen with the utmost attention.
"Calypso fell in love with Odysseus and invited him to her palace. For many years, they lived together in harmony. The island was like a paradise, filled with all kinds of wonders, delicacies and delights. As long as loving Calypso was by his side, Odysseus was even immortal. But… the longer he stayed, the more time he spent sitting on the shore, looking at the sea with bleak eyes."
Nephis smiled.
"In the end, Odysseus built a makeshift boat and abandoned the island, leaving all its delights, the beautiful fairy, and even his immortality behind. So, my question is… why did he leave?"
Sunny blinked.
'What?'
What kind of a mind game was that? He even considered that Nephis was mocking him, but it didn't seem to be the case. It looked like she was sincerely interested in the answer.
'Weirdo!'
He thought for a bit, and then said without too much conviction:
"Maybe it was because he was far away from home?"
A fleeting smile appeared on Nephis's face.
"Far away… from home. Hm. Alright."
After that, she turned away and lowered he head, becoming like a statue again.
It seemed like their conversation was over.
Grumbling internally, Sunny lay down and tried to fall asleep. However, the image of bleak-eyed Odysseus kept appearing in his mind. After a while, he whispered:
"Well? Did he make it back home?"
Soon, Nephis replied.
"Yes. He returned to his wife and son, and they lived happily ever after."
Satisfied, Sunny smiled and turned on his side.
When he was already half-asleep, he heard Changing Star's quiet voice one again. This time, it was barely audible and aimless, as though not directed at anyone.
"Odysseus was the first human to break the will of gods."
Sunny spoke one last time before sleeping.
"And let me guess you want to do that too?"
Nephis just smiled and nodded.
***
In the morning, Sunny and Nephis were the first to get up. While the sun was rising and the sea was retreating, they made a fire and began preparing a simple breakfast.
With Cassia still asleep, they did not talk to each other much. It was like the last night's conversation did not happen. However, after some time, they somehow ended up discussing the plan for the next few days. Nephis had some ideas.
"With what you told us about scavengers crowding to the west, the logical step would be to start moving east as soon as we can. Of course, north and south are also acceptable, but that won't put as much space between us and the enemy."
Sunny nodded, agreeing with that logic.
"We have explored to the east a little, but not enough to confidently make it to the next high point in a day. That's why the best course of action would be to spend today scouting a path to that group of cliffs over there and move the camp tomorrow."
He sighed.
"Do you have any idea where we are? Would there be a human Citadel to the east?"
Nephis shook her head.
"I've never heard of a region that fits the characteristics of this place. In any case, we have to move to find out more. We'll either find a Citadel, encounter an unconquered Gateway… or die. East is as good of a direction as any. Plus, it's the safest, because there's a horde of monsters to the west."
At that point, Cassie suddenly sat up straight. Her eyes were wide open, and her face was a little pale. She looked nervous and excited.
Nephis frowned.
"Cassie? What's the matter?"
The blind girl turned to them and smiled.
"A… a vision! I had a vision!"
'Like… a prophetic dream?' Sunny thought, trying to come to terms with this new reality of someone being able to see the future. Or the past.
Meanwhile, Changing Star stretched her hand, as though prepared to summon her sword.
"Are we in danger?"
Cassie energetically shook her head.
"No, it's not that! People… I saw a castle full of people!"
She smiled at pointed with her finger.
"I don't know how far it is, but I'm sure that it's in that direction!"
Sunny and Nephis looked at each other, not knowing whether to be glad or petrified.
Cassie's small, delicate finger was confidently pointing west.
'Oh you gotta be fucking with me.'