Back in the waking world, there was a disturbance in a blue two-story house. A particular blind seer in major distress, 'should I wear the sea-blue dress or violet-red dress, fuck!' Indeed Cassie was stressed about what to wear, after all, tonight was of utmost importance. She...was going to the cinema today with Kai and Effie to watch... a path of light and darkness. Apparently, Kai got Effie and her tickets for the premier today at 7:00 pm so Cassie naturally wanted to look her best. Eventually, she settled for a white dress slip that fit her nicely.
Of course, Cassie couldn't see so her parents helped her get a selection of dressed at the store and leave them out for her in order. Plus all her senses had been heightened immeasurably after awakening. She could "feel" color to an extent, and could also echolocate if the room was small enough and if there was enough noise, and feel someone's presence in a certain area around her. 'Awakening does have its perks,' Cassie chuckled mentally as she then walked outside her room to go see her parents.
They had been worried sick ever since she had been infected with the nightmare spell. And even more when they realized her flaw, all three of them knew her chances of surviving were low. She had learned to accept her fate at the academy but her parents were a different story, they couldn't live with her dying. She was their only child since her mom was certain to die if she proceeded with having another so she had naturally been spoiled. At school she has been on the cheerleading team for football and was very popular...but never had a bf before.
'Who needs a bf anyways when you have a sacred aspect and can see the future anyways.' Cassie said to console her pride as she opened the doors to the living room where her parents were cuddling on the couch.
"Ah, Cassie darling you look wonderful!"
"Yeah, you look stunning daughter."
"Thanks, Mom and Dad I came here to get your opinions so thanks. Also, my friend will be here in a few minutes so I'll go wait in my room, love you both."
Cassie then closed the door and walked back to her room. After entering her room and closing the door silently she sighed heavily. Her mind wandered to Sunny and Nephis as multiple questions popped up about them. Cassie felt guilty for not being able to save her friends and for turning Sunny into a slave. She tried to reason with her decision of turning Sunny into a slave but in the end, she knew she had betrayed him and ruined their friendship. 'I should have been stronger, if only I was better I could've saved them both god damn it!' seething with anger she hit randomly at the wall and made a hole in it, 'whoops.'
Pulling her arm out she turned and found her way to her bed to lie down. 'I do hope they're alright...both of you, I'm sure you both will make it out...' She hadn't gotten any visions of them recently but she had a feeling that they would return, no matter how much time it took. 'Who knows? Maybe they'll even start dating, those two are such blackheads they couldn't even see they liked each other.' Cassie had always told Nephis if she had any feelings for anyone which she adamantly said no, though it never passed her attention that her ears turned slightly red whenever she asked.
Opening her runes she took a look at them scrolling passively before closing them. She had achieved a true name when she escaped the dream realm, Song of the Fallen. It was an ominous name but not wrong as she has seen many people, both in the past and future, strong and weak, all fall eventually. That's one of the flaws of her aspect, she sometimes suffers from her prophecies like the one where the castle was fire and blood poured.
She wasn't the only one to get a true name though, both Kai and Effie received one too. For Effie, her true name was Raised by Wolves, which was a very fearsome name in Cassie's opinion. For Kai his true name was Nightingale, which was funny enough his band's name, maybe the spell is a fan of his. Honestly, she wasn't that surprised as they both had done things no normal sleepers can ever do like kill awakened creatures on a daily. And although Cassie hadn't done much fighting in the dark city, she was still valuable with her prophecies.
Cassie started to think back about the past in the dark city. Where she and Nephis have been gathering and inspiring the outskirt people. How they both manipulated the crowd, lead them to a death march towards the spire. All that was for only Cassie to be the only one to escape from the trio. She hated that, she hated how it turned out, she hated that her plan for Neph to leave with her failed. 'But it's been a month already since then. No point criticizing myself for what's already been done, plus Neph wouldn't allow me to either.'
She then heard a loud knock at the front door. Getting up, she made her way towards the front door before opening it. Using her awakened ability she "saw" a weak, fragile lady in front of her in a wheelchair. Honestly, Cassie wasn't even sure which of them needed the help more but Cassie enjoyed the gesture of Effie coming to get her.
"Hey, Cassie what a lovely dress you look even more like a doll now! Mind if you push me? It took a lot out of me pushing myself over here to come get you, I'll tell you where to go of course."
"Yeah sure Effie, lead the way," Cassie then started pushing the fragile woman as they walked and talked for the next hour. Cassie told Effie how her life was now living with her parents again and Effie told her how her dream realm life was. It was honestly peaceful and so was the scenery around the duo. Violet and tulip flowers flooded the flower beds around them which gave the sterile air a new calming smell, though not as good as the dream realm air.
Cassie had also been researching finding Sunny's sister. She felt it was her duty after escaping the dream realm, the least she could do. She also visited Neph's hollow mother, after all that's what Neph wanted to do after escaping too. She became somber thinking about how she was doing things her two best friends had wished to do once coming back.
"Earth to Cassie? Hellooo?" Effie then waved her hand in front of the blind seer being remembering she was blind, so she flicked her fingers on her head.
"Huh- oh sorry Effie also ouch."
"Good to have you back doll and we're here now."
Indeed, in front of them was a crowd flooding the sidewalk around the movie theater. Cassie had to use her ability to maneuver around the crowd with difficulty, slowly reaching the front. Eventually, they reached the ticket booth where a vigorous young red-haired woman was stationed behind.
"Hello and welcome to NQ #1 movie theater! May I have your tickets please?"
"Yeah here you go," Effie handed the woman two golden colored tickets which shocked the woman
"Oh my god raised by wolves and song of the fallen it's an honor to meet you!! I'm a huge fan you can go right in! Can I get a photo first though!?!"
"Sure that's no problem from me what about you Cass?"
"I have no problem either taking a photo"
So the next 5 minutes were spent taking photos with the energetic woman who was giggling by the end. Eventually, they went inside and went to take their seats after Effie bought out half the snacks...with Cassie's money. 'Damn it Effie now I'm officially broke,' Cassie thought as the woman she was pushing was happily eating her mountain of snacks. After taking an elevator to reach the V.I.P balcony above the theater, Kai did go all out for us, she parked Effie next to her at the edge before sitting next to her. After a few minutes and after more people came in and took their seats, rich people or the firekeepers, the lights started to dim.
Cassie had heard a few things about the movie here and there from people, online forms, and rumors. Apparently, there were going to be three arcs which are the academy, the crimson labyrinth, and the dark city. The main characters were of course the cohort with that uptight legacy caster, and there would be a bit of romantic tension between Neph and Sunny. Cassie may have told the producer of the movie to add that into the story but it wasn't like it wasn't true as those blockhead had feelings for each other for a very long time. Honestly, Cassie had even been debating on whether to tell each other that the other loved them but decided to leave it be.
She also heard that the movie's soundtracks and music were made by Griffin which was a nice surprise so the movie was bound to be good. Slowly the screen started to brighten as appearing on the screen was a young silver-haired girl in front of a broken sword in the kitchen. 'Is...is that supposed to be Nephis! Also, she was born with black hair like Sunny, not silver!'
Right before fake Nephis grabbed the sword a strong, buff-looking man went up to her and took away the sword.
"Now now Nephis, this isn't a toy,"
"But dadddd why do you have a broken sword outtt, and why can't I play with itttt. I also want to fight scary big monsters like you and kick butt to save people!" Fake Nephis said in a whining voice that would never fit with the real Nephis."
"Just because it's broken doesn't mean it's not sharp sweetie. And one day you will also weld your own sword to protect the people you love. Just remember this one thing, we awakened are born to protect humanity, and as long as we never give up no matter how dire the situation is, there will always be hope. Just like this sword, humanity is more resilient than it seems!"
Cassie tilted her head slightly at the message traced behind Broken Sword's speech but more importantly how it was. 'That seems...too Nephis like, I guess I see where she got her speeches from. Like father like daughter, though I guess it was Sunny who taught her how to lie.
The scene then faded into a grown Nephis standing in front of the academy...with a short kid behind her. Grown Nephis was now a languid jade beauty with a slim waist, generous figure, long eyelashes, and mesmerizing gray eyes with her iconic silver hair. The short kid had black hair and even blacker eyes but didn't have the same eyes as Sunny and Neph had murder-math eyes. He wore a tattered tunic and sweatpants and looked like a dumpster rat...which was pretty spot on. Then after the academy gates opened a short montage following Nephis played out.
She proceeded to do some combat training and punched the machine every 15 seconds with the number going up slowly and slowly. She also fought and defeated every other sleeper there with a wooden sword while offering corny wisdom words like "never give up", or "remember your duty as the next generation", and even "we are all defenders of humanity!".
The propaganda the government made was so tacky and laid so thick Cassie couldn't help but cringe. There was only one person no matter how much the number of the punching machine went up couldn't defeat. It was a handsome man young man with very masculine features, broad intimidating shoulders, and a noble bearing... Han Li Caster. Fortunately, there seemed to be no romantic tension between the two though they acted very formal and noble around each other. 'one point for Sunphis yeah!' Cassie cheered in her thoughts as the time quickly progressed in the movie until the day of the winter solstice as they walked to their pods.
Sunny finally appeared and...wow was Cassie's only thought. The actor playing seemed to be a teen, mostly likely 13, portrayed as skinny, weak, but determined to survive. He had also grown a bit of muscle since the gate and had grown less deathly pale and a more natural light brown. Sunny's clothes were all black as he entered his room before getting inside his pod. Caster, Cassie, and Nephis all got shown getting into their pods too before transitioning to the forgotten shore.
Nephis entered the dream realm and found herself on the forgotten shore. The coral labyrinth and the dark sea were recreated with more or less enough detail that it made Cassie and the crowd shiver a bit. 'At least The Forgotten Shores is accurate.' the audience held their breath during Neph's journey to the dark city. On the way, she met a blond, blind seer, Cassie, and a dark-haired, rough kid, Sunny. As the three of them ventured throughout the forgotten shore they faced many dangers like the dark waves of the sea and deathly battles against awakened nightmares. Luckily Sunny and Nephis were shown to have excellent teamwork and were able to take every single one down.
Everyone knew that Nephis would survive but what about her friends? The movie had portrayed Cassie as a weak, timid weak girl who was clumsy and fell a lot, which was true to an extent. But they butchered Sunny's character, removing his viscousness, cunning, and overall strong character who tends to lie. 'But it didn't really matter and Sunny wouldn't have minded since he liked being seen as weak to surprise the enemy.'
There was also a moment shared between the two during their stay on a creature's bones before the ashen barrow. They sat together in peace and silence as they stared at the sunset in each other's presence. Eventually, though the silence was broken by Sunny,
"Nephis...do you think we'll survive and make it back?" Sunny asked in a soft and silent voice which Cassie found weird since he never heard him talk like that. Nephis turned to look at him, and a spark of hope fluttered in her eye as she thought.
"Well...if it's our will then who dares to stop us from succeeding? We will make it Sunny, together, I promise"
She grabbed his hand as she spoke which got an "awww" out of the audience. Sunny let Neph grab his hand as he squeezed it a little which made him smile a bit before then blushing a little and pulling back. 'Yeah that's our Sunny for you, can't take a hint even when it's obvious, but not like Neph is any better.' after that little romance plot they reached the ashen barrow where it got intense for the the audience. They changed how it went drastically as Sunny and Nephis fought the demon 2v1 instead of weakening it. And it was Nephis who had resisted the mind hex by the tree and built a boat for them to escape on in the water. 'Now I'm starting to see how much Sunny had really done for us...for me.'
Cassie sulked for a bit before she heard a loud crash which was when the boat was attacked. Cassie remembered it vividly as she thought she would die when the boat capsized and when she was drowning. Luckily though Nephis had been able to hold off the creature long enough for Sunny and Cassie to reach the statue before Nephis also reached it, though badly wounded, relieving the audience. 'I remember Sunny telling me she was more injured than that. I guess it's to keep the movie E-rated for everyone.'
The fake sun rose above the horizon as the cohort finally reached the dark city before the screen darkened and transitioned. The cohort then met a very tall, athletic, and attractive actress who was playing Effie.
"I wish Sunny was here Cass so I can tease and bully him for his lousy character."
Effie's celebration was short lived as the way they played her...was a sight to behold. The actress went out of her way to portray the huntress as a charismatic, but not very smart and savage, all brawn and no brain. All she did and knew was to fight, eat, sleep, and break lots of things. Cassie turned her head towards Effie before giving her a smirk at her previous remark of Sunny's character being lousy. This was the very first time she's "seen" the boisterous young weak woman...completely mortified.
Turning back around after viewing her reaction she brought her soda to her lips and drank heavily before sighing.
'Kai had the right idea for bringing us out here...I could get used to this and Effie's reactions. If only Sunny and Nephis were still here though...'
Sighing, she turned her head back towards the scene showing the cohort with Effie outside the Bright castle.