Chapter Summary: Love is temporary, cringe is eternal.
Author Note: I recommend rereading chapter 10 to get some of the references in this chapter.
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It was curious how easily the world could turn into a blur when Nephis was thinking.
Nephis watched as streets and buildings passed by, reduced to a gray blotch as the PTV advanced toward their destination.
Amid the sound of rolling tires and the low hum of the engine, her mind was abuzz with thoughts. Of the past, the present, and the impending doom that awaited her at the end of the journey. At least it was still ten minutes away, enough time to steel her will.
Or to come up with an escape plan. Setting off the fire alarm looked like a promising plan.
Right at that moment, one of the billboards caught her gaze as they passed by. It was announcing the movie she was going to attend the premiere of, after all.
The poster depicted a pale, black-haired man and a silver-haired woman with alabaster skin. Both of them wore armor, cracked, burnt, and shredded in places, which only served to bolster their heroic aura. Their faces were set in stone, and they held blood-stained weapons toward each other. However, if one paid enough attention, it became obvious that they were aimed toward some enemy whose presence could just barely be discerned at the edges of the poster.
On top of it, written in silver and black font, the title was visible: A Song of Light and Shadows: Clash of Fates.
Her, and most of the cohort's, darkest nightmare had come true. The sequel to that abominable movie was done, and once more she was being forced to attend that charade. This time, it was her overbearing "mother" behind it, rather than the Government.
"Why would we give up such a chance for easy PR?" Ki Song had asked, her eyes tingling with amusement. "Besides, I managed to get an early look, and I'm sure you'll love it."
Nephis, despite how often she was accused of having a poor handle on human emotion, had not failed to notice the way the Sovereign was barely restraining herself from laughing. That alone convinced her of the need to kill the Ghoul.
"At least I'm getting paid to attend this crap," she heard Sunny mutter.
He was seated beside her, a grimace on his pale face as he looked at the same billboard before it was left behind. He was wearing the [Puppeteer's Shroud], the sight alone so nostalgic that she could almost smell the salt and stagnant water of the Forgotten Shore.
"Don't worry, big brother. I'm sure it's going to be great," Rain said playfully.
The other girl was seated at the other end of the vehicle. She wore a black armor set with frilly white ribbons that, in her opinion, made her look adorable. She had also applied some makeup and dyed her hair with a Memory, which made her look different enough to not be easily recognizable. Just because Song knew about her didn't mean they had to publicize who she was.
"Of course," Effie added sagely. "Can't wait to hear what speeches they came up with for him to say. And to think our noble cockroach could be so heroic and brave."
The huntress was seated at Rain's right, wearing an archaic bronze armor, the very same that she had worn while inside the Forgotten Shore. She, too, was looking at Sunny playfully.
"Any bets on how many times he will say 'Damnation'?" Cassie added with a faint smile.
The blonde woman was to Effie's right and Sunny's left, also wearing the same armor she had worn while in the Forgotten Shore and, in Nephis' opinion, far too amused with the whole thing.
"No, but at least I will get more screen time in the first scene than you will in the whole movie," Sunny shot back immediately.
Cassie looked at him impassively. "I'm sure that's a good thing. The less I show up, the less they can butcher my character."
The huntress patted the Seer's shoulder condescendingly.
"It's fine. You can just say you are jealous. I'm sure your boring exposition scenes will be vital to the plot."
"And I'm sure your fanservice scenes won't," Cassie retorted.
"Beats giving a speech every two minutes," Nephis interjected. She was still irritated by that.
"But I liked your speeches, big sis," Rain complained, her big eyes and innocent look giving her a perfect pleading expression.
It was a trap. The last time she had been convinced to recreate one, Effie had secretly been recording, and the damn thing had ended up on the net. It was still a meme to this day.
"Just for that, I will make sure they give you a scene in the next one."
The look of horror on Rain's face almost made the whole ordeal worth it. Almost.
Before their bickering could continue, they noticed the noise of the engine being replaced by a much louder one. That of a crowd murmuring fervently in preparation for something.
Slowly, almost mechanically, Nephis turned her head back to the window and despaired at the sight.
They had arrived.
The cinema awaited before them, a magnificent building that looked less so while surrounded on all sides by reporters and paparazzi. She had seen Nightmare Creatures less ferocious than those people looked. And it wasn't even close.
Nephis would never admit how tempted she was to pull on her tether and disappear from this place. At least Sunny looked the same as she did. Misery loved company, after all.
Shaking her head at the stupid thought, she decided to get it over with. So she steeled her will, the same way she did before facing an insurmountable challenge, and opened the door.
A wall of noise hit her the moment she did, and immediately, the flashes of hundreds of cameras started going off one after another.
Nephis endured it all with stoic composure. If she could stare down a former goddess, she could also endure this.
Then she noticed the mischievous look on Sunny's face, and her blood cooled.
Before she had the chance to react, he pounced, and it was too late to do anything about it. More cameras flashed, and the noise rose by a whole order of magnitude.
In his eyes, she saw the truth loud and clear.
"Sweet, sweet revenge," they seemed to say.
Sunny was holding her hand, their fingers intertwined, silver and black rings resting against each other, while smiling at her warmly. It was the kind of scene she would expect to see in a rom-com.
The reporters went into a frenzy at the mere sight.
Nephis glared at him, which only made him smile even more lovingly. The smugness and vindication in his eyes were reaching never-before-seen levels.
Well, two could play at this game.
He noticed her intentions half a second before she acted. In any other situation, he would have been fast enough to react, but he had been kind enough to put himself into the perfect position to be held down by taking her hand.
Nephis returned his warm smile, slipped an arm around his waist and leaned against him in a way that made their surroundings go silent for all of one second before erupting into somehow even louder murmurs and brighter flashes.
She noticed the cohort's reactions next. Cassie looked happy, genuinely happy for them, while Effie and Rain looked conflicted between being happy too and being uncomfortable at the sight. Some wounds weren't closed so easily, after all.
That too, was a work in progress. She saw it and accepted it. The day she flinched away from challenges, was the day she stopped living.
And Sunny? Contrary to expectations, he did not back down at that, looking at her challengingly instead.
Nephis had inadvertently turned it into a competition. One that she wasn't going to back down from that easily. Not this time, at least.
The conversation of the day before still lingered in her mind. Pleasant at times, and unpleasant at others. And while she genuinely regretted having forced the issue the way she did, she didn't regret the outcome. Or the fact that a week from now, they would be going on their first date.
She had made a promise to him, and she intended to keep it.
-------------------------------------------
Sunny let out a sigh of relief the moment he sat down.
The room was spacious and classy, with wood paneling, decorations in red and black, and a big crescent-moon-shaped sofa placed in the middle of it for people to sit on while they watched. There was a table before it, filled with snacks and beverages. At the other end of the wall, there was a pane of glass through which they could view the projection screen.
The viewing booth their status had gotten them was blessedly silent, refreshingly cool, and, most important of all, private. Only the cohort and three of the Song princesses were present.
He had thought himself ready for all of the attention, the cameras, and the crowds that were expected at such an event. He even had a silencing Memory that would make him unable to hear anything, shielding himself from his flaw. And yet, he had still underestimated just how bad it was going to be.
The amount he was paid to attend this premiere was nowhere close to being enough. That was for sure.
"You'll get used to it, juniors," Revel commented.
She, along with Seishan and Eunbin, was attending this charade too. They sure had free time after he and Neph took over the leading business of the Clan. He still felt scammed about that.
"I don't want to get used to this," he complained.
"Neither do I," Nephis added while massaging her temples.
"Just between you and me," Beastmaster leaned forward conspiratorially, her voice dropping lower, making them all do the same in interest. "Mother has given some suggestions for the final scene."
For some reason, he shivered.
"Why does that sound so ominous?" Rain asked, echoing what he was thinking.
"Because you have a brain," Seishan answered dryly. "Mother's taste in movies is... questionable."
"I think you meant to say 'peak,'" Revel retorted, looking a little offended.
"I know what I said."
"Oh, sorry. I forgot your genre of movies is the silent, brooding vampire kind."
The gray-skinned woman rolled her eyes. "Couldn't you come up with something more cliché?"
"I actually can. There is this one anime—"
"I'm not interested."
"You always judge without listening to me first!"
"Because you have the taste of a moody teenager who thinks she's not like all the other girls."
"You take that back right now!"
"When you stop saying I like vampire romances."
Sunny got to watch in astonishment as the normally serious and business-minded Seishan became progressively more irritated and childish in her arguments with her sister. Somehow, this qualified among the oddest things he had seen, which said a lot.
"Don't mind them. They always get like this when it's movie night," Eunbin commented with an indulgent smile.
"You mean to tell me that I have been missing this all along?" Effie asked, sounding heartbroken. "How could you deprive me of this? I thought we were friends, Beastie!"
"I'm sorry, Eff-Eff. It just has been a while since we had one."
Since when did they have nicknames for each other?
He noticed the look on Nephis' face next. She was looking at the scene with a combination of amusement and incredulity. If he were to read her thoughts, they would probably be something akin to "And they are the elites of a Clan I have been preparing myself to fight for so long?"
Fortunately, she was saved from continuing to reconsider her life choices by the dimming of the lights, signalling that the movie was about to start at last.
Sunny leaned back on the sofa and made a shadow tendril pass him one of the buckets of popcorn on the table. Rolling his eyes, he did the same for everyone else when they sent him a pleading look. Rain, the little gremlin, still stole from his bucket.
The things he tolerated for love. He stole right back from her, though.
The screen turned dark, and soft, melancholic music started playing before he could plan his next move. Before it truly started, however, someone in the public shouted "Fuck Caster" and was quickly followed by a whole chorus repeating the same.
Sunny had no idea why such a thing happened, but had no reason to oppose it, so he joined in too. Quite amusingly, Nephis did too.
It was a dark and stormy night. Thunder rumbled above while rain battered the ground relentlessly, making visibility almost nonexistent. The camera was high above, showcasing the ruins of what looked like a cyclopean Tower. The camera panned and very slowly started approaching the ground.
Amid the pitter-patter of rain and the roar of thunder, another sound started echoing. Faint at first, but more noticeable by the second. Until finally, the sound of a shovel hitting the ground became clear enough.
The camera finished approaching, revealing a dark shape digging into the ground. Nothing could be discerned about it besides the fact that it was wearing battered armor and that its hair was long.
His intuition screamed at him right at that moment. Something terrible was incoming.
Cassie snorted then and just barely managed to stop herself from giggling like a little girl on a sugar overdose. The foreboding sensation immediately grew worse.
The figure kept digging, its movements slow and exhausted, but relentless. Lightning struck at that moment, illuminating the shape long enough for a good look to be taken. It was a teenager with pale skin, black eyes, and long dark hair. But most noticeable of all was his height...
Sunny groaned, hiding his face behind his hands.
The others reacted in various ways. Some were more dignified, like Seishan, who only looked mildly amused, while others were less so, like Effie, who started laughing outright.
The problem? Well, the actor was obviously the same one who had played him in the previous one. However, that kid must have hit the biggest growth spurt ever, as he now stood taller than even Effie.
He already hated this movie.
Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to look at Nephis, who gave him an encouraging nod.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I love your height."
Why did he feel so happy at such a simple, idiotic statement!?
Grumbling beneath his breath, he turned back to the screen while trying to ignore the continued snickering.
Sunless kept digging, repeated lightning strikes showing that the hole was already incredibly big, yet he seemed intent on continuing for as long as it took to be satisfied. Time seemed to speed up then, as days were shown to pass by quickly while he worked tirelessly despite being constantly battered by the elements.
One day, the storm finally ceased, as shown by Sunless looking up and smiling for the first time. He summoned a light Memory then, revealing more of his surroundings.
So they were already going to ignore that he could see in the dark?
The hole was gargantuan in size, and within it, more of them could be seen, in the perfect shape to be used as graves. Sure enough, at his back, there were hundreds of skeletons, likely those belonging to the Sleeper army that had assaulted the Crimson Spire.
Sunless wiped away the sweat from his brow and stabbed the shovel into the ground, then stretched up a little.
"It took me a few months, but I did it," he said cheerfully while looking around.
A few months and the corpses were already skeletons? That was just lazy.
Sunless took a look toward the great hole before nodding proudly and turning back to start carrying the skeletons to their place of repose.
Once he was done, he took one last look at them before placing down a massive memorial stone before the graves. On it, one could read, "Here lies the best of humanity. They fought bravely, gave their all for a better future, and paid the ultimate price so that others wouldn't have to. Let it be remembered for all of eternity that on that day, the sun broke before they did."
"Did you really write that?" Rain asked curiously.
"Of course I didn't," he denied immediately. "You think I'm that corny?"
"Well..."
"Well what?"
Rain wisely chose not to answer.
He could do without the snickering that followed, though. Attending this thing had been such a terrible idea.
Sunless started piling dirt over them. The melancholic music started playing all over again, cello notes playing over a piano in clean, sharp notes that punctuated every stroke of the shovel, as if to reflect the grief he felt over what he was doing. Hours later, he was done.
"I'm sorry, fellow Awakened. For I have failed you all," he said solemnly. "My star and I promised you a better future. Salvation. A way home. Going to bed without fearing what the next day awaited. And I could not deliver."
Sunless closed his eyes then, his expression full of remorse for but a moment before he visibly steeled himself and opened them again. From his pocket, he retrieved a small piece of jade, visibly broken in half.
"However, I can promise you something else. I will conquer this place. Conquer all of the Dream Realm if I must. But I will return. To the Waking World, to my star, but most importantly... to humanity. I was born in the shadows, but my only purpose is to bring the same light that saved me from a life of delinquency and poverty to all others. For as long as we keep fighting, humanity shall never be defeated!"
The melancholic music, which had slowly been rising in tempo, turned into a full-blown, glorious orchestra. The screen turned dark again, and slowly, the title started appearing on the screen in big, bold letters dyed in a silver color.
"I already love this movie," Revel muttered while sipping from a can of soda.
Just like that, his opinion of the dark princess plummeted to the ground.
"It could have been worse...?" Eunbin tried to console him.
"How?"
"...No idea."
Sunny groaned like a dying animal. It had barely started, and he was already embarrassed beyond words.
And why did they have to insist on making him call Neph "my star"? It was too damn lazy! If he were to pick a pet name, he would find something better; that was for sure!
For some reason, Nephis shivered right at that moment. Probably because of how damn bad the movie was. Yeah, that made perfect sense.
The black started fading to white. At the same time, an orchestra started playing a regal, austere song. Soon, a clean, padded training room came into view. It was occupied by two women, one of them with silver hair and gray eyes, while the other was a giant of a woman with brown hair and hazel eyes.
Sword clashed against spear in a dozen exchanges, sparks raining around them as the high-speed duel continued and the music grew in tempo. Until finally, an opening was found, and the sword sneaked past the spear and stopped right at the bronze-skinned woman's throat, while the spear fell short of reaching her.
"Are they really going to ignore that a normal spear has far more reach than a sword?" Effie complained, genuinely offended. "At least get your facts straight for such a simple thing!"
Honestly? He couldn't even tease her for that. It irked him too.
"You are getting better," Nephis complimented emotionlessly. "But you leave too many openings and don't employ strategy at all. Remember, Athena, a sharp mind is our best weapon against the tides of darkness. You must employ it as much, or even more, than any Memory."
"Booooring," Athena retorted with an exaggerated expression. "I'll leave the thinking to you. Just point me in the direction you want me to smash things."
"I hate this movie," Effie complained vehemently.
Sunny pointed at the projection screen. "Effie. Smash."
He ducked beneath the can of soda she threw at him, then blew her a raspberry, much to everyone's amusement.
Nephis and Athena finished the sparring session and stored their respective practice weapons. While Athena loudly proclaimed that she was hungry enough to eat a Nightmare Creature whole, Nephis briefly looked aside toward her shadow with a melancholic expression.
Sunny heard the real one groaning beside him, but he was too busy glaring at the screen.
Unintended as it was, he hated the very idea of being seen as nothing more than her shadow. And the way it was framed, as though it was a romantic thing...
Sunny took a deep breath and released his death grip on the bucket of popcorn. It wasn't at fault for his problems with the damn movie, after all.
A loud crash could be heard just outside the door, making both occupants turn toward it, then toward each other with exasperated expressions. Even Nephis' emotionless mask broke long enough to show it.
They walked toward the door and opened it. Sprawled before it was a beautiful blonde woman, wearing a blue blindfold over her eyes. She was massaging her back with a sheepish expression.
"Sorry, I thought I remembered everything correctly this time, but I ended up tripping on something." She chuckled, then gave an innocent expression. "Don't worry about me! I might not be of much use, but this isn't enough to hurt me!"
While there was a brief moment of silence as movie Nephis helped movie Cassie get up, they all turned toward the real Cassie, who was silently staring forward. The public chose to start laughing right at that moment.
An odd noise started coming out of her, akin to the grinding of teeth. Then she raised a hand and pointed toward the projector screen.
"Effie. Smash."
Sunny snorted, followed by everyone else immediately after.
"I wasn't joking."
They laughed again, though in a more uncomfortable way.
"Please, stop going off on your own." A sweet, almost angelic voice could be heard, followed by steps descending the stairs.
Kai entered the scene, looking so handsome that the room literally became brighter. He was throwing a reproachful stare at Cassie for running away, though fondness was also clear in his expression.
Sunny had spotted the real one in the front row and talked to him briefly before the movie started, but he had rejected the offer to join them in the private booth.
He was a little disappointed by that, but he understood.
"Is it time already?" Nephis asked seriously, the music growing more intense in turn.
"Yes, Lady Changing Star," Kai replied quickly. "The Gate will open shortly, and we should arrive with spare time."
Nephis nodded at him, white flames already starting to burn in her eyes.
"Very well, then. Athena, Kai, arm yourselves. Cassie, call the other Firekeepers and make sure to stay safe when the fighting starts."
Sunny felt a little bad for Cassie. Being depicted as useless so much must have stung. Just a little. A tiny bit. Maybe if you squinted enough.
Yeah, not at all. It was great!
"Understood!" They all saluted.
Seemingly noticing a hint of reluctance, she beat a fist against her chest and looked fiercely toward a photo of Smile of Heaven and Broken Sword hanging on the wall.
"Why are you doubting, my comrades? Why is it that I notice fear in your eyes? Why is it that your spirits are so low? Look at us! We are strong! We are brave! Our blades are sharper! Our minds are more cunning! And our will is unbreakable! As long as all of that is true, humanity shall never fail!"
This time, the one to groan like a dying animal was Nephis.
"It's alright, big sis. I bet the net will love this speech," Rain consoled her.
"I will set you on fire if you ask me to repeat it," Nephis threatened.
Rain looked hurt for all of one second before she realized she wasn't convincing anyone and just shrugged.
"I don't know, it was pretty good in my humble opinion," Revel interjected. "Though there should have been a mention of Sunless in there. Something like, 'He's still fighting, and so should we.' Extra motivation and advancing the ship in one sentence. Win-win!"
Somehow, his opinion of Dark Dancer kept growing worse.
The scene changed, showing the forces of Changing Star standing before the soon-to-open Gate. There was fighting music playing in the background, and all of them looked determined, as if ready to face any and all challenges that it could throw at them.
The Government forces arrived next, led by a beautiful woman with icy blue eyes. She took a quick look at them and snorted, clearly looking down on them.
"I'm Master Jet, and that's all you need to know." She summoned a vicious-looking glaive. "I will say it only once: stand between me and justice, and you'll meet the wrong end of my weapon."
The director of the movie was fortunate Jet had refused to show up.
He talked to her the day before for Song-related business, and she had said there weren't enough credits in the world to make her attend this thing. Sunny was regretting not having listened to her now.
The fighting against the Gate started, accompanied by more of the fighting music. Gruesome scenes were shown: blood-stained, broken asphalt and toppled lamp posts, Nightmare Creatures cleaving soldiers in two, a man losing his leg and crying while slowly dragging himself away from a salivating mantis-like creature, civilians running in fear at the sight, the defenders slowly being pushed back by the tide of abominations. Until...
The music picked up a frenzied pace, just in time for a pillar of white fire to be born in the middle of the battlefield. Silence overcame the scene as the Awakened looked on in admiration, and even the Nightmare Creatures briefly faltered at the sight of Changing Star standing proud over the incinerated remains of a dragon-like creature. Even Master Jet, who had been battling a Fallen Tyrant, looked at her with a hint of respect.
Nephis charged into the battle with renewed focus, healing the soldier who had lost his leg before killing the Mantis, then continuing, healing all humans that came within reach and killing the Nightmare Creatures that did so too.
Slowly but surely, the tide was pushed back; the abominations pressed tight against the Gate until, at last, Changing Star and Soul Reaper Jet killed the Tyrant at the same time the music hit its climax. There was a pause then, as the humans looked on in silence and the creatures in fright. Then cheers erupted, and the Nightmare Creatures fell dead to the ground, never to rise again.
"I'm not one to be wrong often. But when I am, I admit it," Jet said icily, then nodded at Nephis and her entourage encouragingly. "Stand proud, Changing Star. Humanity is safer thanks to you."
"Thanks to all of us, Master Jet," Nephis replied seriously, raising her arm into the air. "Be it soldiers, Awakened, the medical staff, or even the people sitting behind desks. We all perform a vital duty in the fight against darkness. Never let anyone forget it, for no effort is in vain when humanity is at stake."
Cheers followed her proclamation as people started exchanging handshakes and hugs, happy to have triumphed and lived to see another day.
"I hate this movie," Nephis said in a deadpan voice.
"You are kind of cute in it," Eunbin commented lightly. "All of that conviction and determination are just adorable."
"Why does that sound like the most condescending 'there, there' I have ever heard?"
Eunbin looked aside. "No reason."
Sunny snorted and patted Nephis' shoulder in comfort.
The scene changed again, elegant piano music playing in the background as a room that belonged inside a palace appeared. Inside, two women were calmly chatting.
"Changing Star shows promise," Eunbin said in a sultry voice. "She might be worth recruiting as a fellow princess."
"She does have plenty of potential, maybe more than anyone our clan has ever seen. Although I would have much rather recruited her cute little boyfriend." Seishan licked her lips, showcasing her long canines. "I could just eat him up. What a pity he refused my offer back then. I could have given him the night of his life if he just wasn't so taken by Nephis."
Beastmaster rolled her eyes. "Stop trying to steal our future sister's boyfriend."
"I can try, though I promise nothing."
Something cracked very loudly.
They all turned in unison to see the shattered fragments of Seishan's glass of wine hitting the floor.
"I hate this movie," was the only thing she said by way of explanation.
Revel pouted. "At least you got a scene. I didn't even get a mention."
"You want to be a seductress? Because I'm willing to exchange," Seishan replied dryly.
"Are you crazy!?" she shouted exaggeratedly. "I like living, thank you very much."
Sunny pretended to have noticed nothing. It was very hard, especially on account of the way Dark Dancer started wiggling her eyebrows in his and Nephis' direction.
The scene changed, focusing on a room that looked like it belonged to a medieval castle. Inside, a middle-aged man and a woman who looked to be in her twenties were speaking.
"I'm glad to see that she's doing so well," Madoc said warmly.
"So well? If not for Master Jet, she would be dead and buried," Morgan replied arrogantly, vermilion eyes narrowed in condescension. "Her hype is bigger than her skill, that's for sure."
"Now, now, little Morgan, no need to be so harsh. Who knows? Maybe in another life, if Broken Sword hadn't died, you two could have grown as sisters," he chastised.
"Sisters? Pfft! Like I need such a distraction. Power is the only thing that matters in this world," she proclaimed, then looked menacingly at a picture of Nephis. "You hear that, Changing Star? Become a Master soon, so that I can show the world just how inferior you truly are to me."
Saint Madoc let out an exasperated sigh, then looked toward the camera, as if trying to tell the audience, "What can you do?"
"Who's that?" Sunny asked, scratching the back of his head.
"Morgan of Valor," Cassie replied calmly. "She led the group that was fighting us when you returned."
"She did?" Sunny blinked, looking at the woman on the screen. "Doesn't ring a bell."
"She's the woman I crushed in a fight," Nephis added, the faintest traces of smugness present in her voice.
"Ah! The one who looked like she regretted every life choice she made before Madoc rescued her." Sunny snapped his fingers in revelation. "Eh, she was so weak I didn't even bother remembering her."
The Song Sisters snorted at that. The rivalry between the two clans must have made his statement quite funny for them.
The screen turned to black, silence engulfing the theatre as the ambient music stopped playing. Then, little by little, the sound of rain began appearing, drop after drop landing in time with the crunching of boots on wet mud.
A light appeared on screen, belonging to a Memory summoned by the person walking through the great plain. Time had clearly passed since the last time Sunless was on screen, as evidenced by his longer hair and the few impressive scars adorning his figure in strategic places to give him a dangerous, yet attractive look.
Sunny rolled his eyes. He wasn't expecting a propaganda movie of all things to show him in all of his horrendous glory, but this was just absurd. The actor on the screen looked as though he only needed a decent shower and better clothes to attend a date.
Even worse, it was obvious that he was wearing makeup despite being under all that rain.
"What do you think, my loyal knight? How long have we been away?"
Sunless turned his gaze toward the being walking beside him. It was big and bulky, wearing dark, lusterless armor that seemed to be made of stone. It had burning rubies for eyes, which constantly moved in search of any menace toward its owner. And it was clearly masculine...
Effie started laughing uproariously. "They turned your girlfriend into a boyfriend! This is too good!"
He already hated the movie before this, but they even dared to gender-flip his adorable, loyal Saint?
That was unacceptable!
Sunny was going to personally make sure the director was punished.
The melancholic music played louder, almost drowning out the sound of the rain as Sunless looked down. His already black eyes looked darker still, as though he had lost all hope.
"Yeah, I think it has been a year already too," he said, despite the knight making no sound. "It has been a rough time, hasn't it? Yeah, it has. At times... at times, it feels like I'm going nowhere. Like I will keep walking forever and find nothing. Like all the blood, sweat, and tears I pay every day to survive are being wasted. Do... do you think anyone remembers me at this point? Have my friends found new ones? Has my star met someone else worthy of her love? Has humanity become strong enough to not need me anymore? I... I don't know. But if they have... then I hope they are happy."
As the days passed, he kept trudging through the mud and the rain, his gaze becoming more and more listless with each moment.
Down in the theatre, he heard people shouting words of encouragement, asking him not to give up and to keep going.
Sunny was too busy gritting his teeth at the dark memories the scenes were digging up. He had asked himself many questions like that countless times while he was in the Tears, and had never been satisfied by the answers he had come up with. What if he still was there? What if he was just imagin—
A warm hand caught his, and Sunny was startled out of his reverie. Its grip was strong yet gentle. He turned and saw Nephis looking at him, her eyes full of support.
Another hand caught his remaining one, and this time it was Rain. His little sister was smiling at him encouragingly.
Neither of them said anything, and the others didn't either. He was more grateful for that than he was willing to admit.
The melancholic music continued playing as Sunless advanced through the endless great plain. However, there was something new added to it. A violin could be heard, faintly at first, almost nonexistent, but more and more prominent by the second, until each sharp stroke sent shivers through the screen.
Sunless looked up at the clouds then, just in time to see them start to part for the first time. The screen visibly glitched, pixels breaking down and rearranging themselves in incomprehensible patterns as the clouds parted, and Sunless' gaze was filled with horror at what he saw. The violin had already overtaken the orchestra, its tempo slower now, every stroke like a heartbeat that seemed about to stop.
Still looking up, Sunless looked at the monstrosity and opened his arms wide.
"Do it," he demanded calmly. "End it all. I am far away from home, from my friends, from my love, from the humanity I cherish so much. What more can I lose at this point? Just end it all, so I can be born again and do better in the next life."
Neither Nephis nor Rain said anything despite how tightly he must have been gripping their hands. Instead, they squeezed back in silent support.
How? HOW!?
How did they know this? His request to be killed? He hadn't included it in the report, and even Effie wasn't so careless as to share something so personal with people they didn't trust.
Did the bastards just guess and get it right by pure luck?
Sunny glared at the screen. Nobody dared make a sound while he did.
The creature rumbled, the clouds trembled, and the rain started pouring with even more intensity. The violin was even slower now, the heartbeat almost going out.
Then, images started flashing through the screen. They were from the first movie. Sunless sharing his last piece of food with two starving dogs. At the Academy, training intensely. At the Forgotten Shore, fighting back-to-back with Nephis against Nightmare Creatures. The Dark City, with him trying to prove himself. Finally, the Crimson Spire, the battle against the Crimson Terror and the kiss shared with Nephis before he pushed her into the Gateway. That image remained frozen in place for a moment, before time seemed to wind back, returning to before they arrived at the Dark City.
Sunless and Nephis were sitting side by side on a small hill, the last dregs of a bonfire before them and a sleeping Cassie resting close by. The rays of the setting sun were shining on them, making Nephis' hair look like molten silver, while Sunless looked like a porcelain doll.
Sunny would have facepalmed if his hands weren't still caught in Rain and Nephis' grip.
If they were going to insert a flashback, then at least they should hide the fact that he was taller than Nephis was!
"How do you do it, Lady Nephis?" Sunless asked quietly, his deep, reverberating voice at odds with the image he was trying to portray. "How can you be so courageous in the face of all that we have faced so far? How can you be so fearless?"
Changing Star turned to him, her gaze clear and void of any concern or fear. In them, only determination shone, as if to tell the world that it had nothing capable of making her flinch.
"That is simple, Sunless. I am afraid too," she admitted evenly, her gaze never once wavering from his. "I am afraid of the Nightmare Creatures. Afraid of the Dream Realm. Afraid of the tides of darkness threatening to swallow the world whole." She closed her fist then, white flame starting to burn inside it. "But most of all? I'm afraid of failing. Myself and humanity both. So I refuse to. I will fight, simply because I fear failing myself more than I fear fighting a measly Nightmare Creature. I fight because humanity needs us to fight. All of us. It is alright to be scared, Sunless, but you must be greater than what you fear."
Sunless fell silent, his mouth agape. A red tinge colored his cheeks as he looked in admiration at Nephis, who at that moment had stood, the setting sun behind her head almost looking like a halo of fire.
A moment of silence passed between them as they looked at each other's eyes.
"Besides," she added coquetishly, batting her eyelashes at him. "You were plenty brave when you confessed to me."
The flashback ended with the image of Sunless sputtering indignantly.
Sunny did his best to ignore the laughs, both from the public and the booth. If he didn't acknowledge them, they weren't real.
At least Nephis was suffering too. Misery sure loved company.
The screen returned to Sunless staring at the Unholy. However, there was something different now. The violin started picking up, each stroke coming faster and faster in time with a smile slowly spreading across his lips.
"Is that all you have, foul creature?" he asked confidently, a look of disdain on his face. "Scream a little?"
In answer, the rumbling magnified, so powerful that the earth started quaking and the sky seemed to split.
"I shall repeat again: is that all you have?" Sunless opened his arms grandly. "You are scary, I'll give you that. Maybe even the scariest thing I have ever faced. But you know what? I fear the idea of never reuniting with my star ever again far more."
The abomination hesitated, seemingly intimidated by his confidence. The music was frenetic now, the violin joined by the whole orchestra as each second passed and the tension rose.
"Nothing? Are you that cowardly?" he mocked. "Come and fight me! But know you are not fighting me, but humanity itself! Our strength! Our courage! Our unbreakable spirit! Do you think yourself powerful enough for that?"
Behind Sunless, ghostly figures started emerging. First, the Sleepers who had died in the assault on the Crimson Spire, then famous Awakened who had died in recent years, until finally, legendary figures appeared too. Broken Sword, Smile of Heaven, Immortal Flame, Warden of Valor, Song Jiwon, and more. All of them were staring at the Unholy, challenging it to dare fight them.
The Unholy hesitated one final time, and the rumbling stopped as the creature returned to hiding behind the clouds.
Sunless looked back as if he could see the ghostly figures watching his back and nodded at them. The phantoms brought their fists to their hearts as if to say, "We leave it to you now!" before disappearing. Sunless looked at their place of departure for a long time before smiling once more and turning back in the direction he was walking.
"I must thank you, foul creature. Without you, I might have forgotten what I feared most," he said before continuing his march.
He was going to kill the director.
The sheer second-hand embarrassment he felt at the whole scene was more effective than any mind hex he had ever suffered. Had the guy read anything of the fucking report he had written!? Vaelkar had done nothing to him because he was a damn mosquito in comparison to him!
"Any chance you can deliver that speech to another Unholy? It would be very useful," Rain said playfully, attempting to lighten his dark mood.
"No." He snapped back.
She wisely chose not to continue the conversation.
The scene changed. This time, the camera was high in the air, showcasing a floating island with a tall ivory tower at its center. The camera panned to its interior, where a Nightmare Seed could be seen. Nephis and her followers were standing before it, faces grim as they observed the source of corruption.
"Are you ready?" Cassie asked fearfully. Her shoulders were trembling, and she looked seconds away from bolting.
There were murmured assents to that, but none of them loud enough to be sure if they were telling the truth or not. Until Nephis chose to speak.
"I am." She took a deep breath and looked around, taking in the faces of each and every one of her followers. "I was born for this. Trained my whole life for it, even. And now that I'm standing before the next step in this journey? The only thing I feel is eagerness. To conquer the challenges of the Spell. To become stronger. To be the pillar of hope for humanity that my family has always hoped to be."
"I wish I were as courageous as you, Lady Nephis," Kai murmured quietly, looking aside nervously.
Athena smacked his back hard enough to make him stumble. "What is there to fear, pretty boy? We go in, smash some Nightmare Creatures, and come back stronger. Easy enough. Might even be back in time for dinner. Heard there will be chicken this time, and I'm already salivating at the idea."
"I really, really hate this movie," Effie muttered to everyone's quick assent.
"Let me tell you something, Kai. You are courageous too. All of you are, no matter how afraid you might feel. For you are standing here with me. Standing for all of us. And that is braver than anything else you can do."
The moment she finished speaking, Nephis strode forward, entering the seed without a moment of doubt. The others looked at her back disappearing, the doubt apparent in their faces for a second longer before steeling themselves and following.
"This one is not that inaccurate," Nephis commented idly.
"Cassie also looked like she was about to run away in the real thing?" Eunbin asked, looking amused at the idea.
"Well, I wouldn't say that much, but..."
"Please, don't finish that sentence," Cassie pleaded, looking very embarrassed.
Effie patted -softly- the oracle's shoulder. "It's fine, Cass. Anyone who can enter a Nightmare Seed without fear is just a psycho. No offense, Princess and Doofus."
"Offense taken," they replied at the same time.
The scene changed, following Nephis as she traveled through the Chained Isles of the past. She looked just like herself, and as time passed, it was clear that everyone else did too.
"I understand not wanting to confuse the viewers by changing all the actors, but couldn't they at least try to make us look a little different?" Nephis complained.
"In this kind of movie? All the budget is spent on the CGI," Revel said while shaking her fist at some imaginary culprit. "You have no idea how bad some of them are in this."
"You sure it's not just your terrible taste?" Seishan asked, still irritated from their previous discussion.
"Don't make me bring up that sparkly vampire you liked as a teenager," Revel threatened.
Seishan immediately fell silent.
The plot quickly progressed from there as the cohort started looking for a clue to the purpose of the Nightmare Seed. It didn't take long for them to find the likely plot. They ran into devastated island after devastated island, their settlements burned to the ground, with corpses strewn everywhere and what looked like marks of ritualistic sacrifice.
The culprits were discovered soon after: a group of Ascended warriors simply known as "the Sinister Seven," who worshiped a Nightmare Creature of unfathomable power like a god. The warriors were terrorizing the land in its name, killing and pillaging, and there were implications of darker actions being committed by them.
Upon finding out this information, the cohort sought to find allies, as such a numerous group of Ascended was beyond what a relatively small squad of Awakened could handle. On their way, they recruited a foul-mouthed red-haired man with a peg leg who was twice as ferocious as anyone else. Next, they met a man wearing a white kimono whose skill with the sword had no peer and who swore to be a time traveler. A young man with green eyes who could turn into different creatures. Four young monks who fought by using strange artifacts. A woman who proclaimed herself to be the best sorcerer of the land, and more. All of them had their own personal reasons to fight the "Sinister Seven" and bring them to justice.
Sunny looked unimpressed, and so did everyone else.
The details of the cohort's Nightmare hadn't been made public, so it made sense that they had to come up with something original. But that assemblage of heroes looked absurd, and the bad guys were so comically evil that it looked cartoonish.
Time progressed quickly as they assembled the group, and the day before the fight arrived at last.
In that quiet night, Nephis found herself unable to sleep as she turned and turned in bed. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into an hour with no sign of sleep being within reach. Finally, she seemed to give up on sleep and got up to take a walk under the moonlight.
Her feet ended up carrying her to a beautiful garden, where another person was drinking tea while watching the moon. It was one of the heroes recruited by the cohort, a kindly-looking old man, fat but still formidable with his fire-based Aspect.
"Cannot sleep either, young lady?" he asked softly.
When Nephis shook her head, he smiled at her and filled a cup of tea for her. Nephis accepted it silently and sat down beside the man to gaze at the moon together. Seconds passed by in silence, with nothing but the soft, soothing music to break it, until finally, the old man decided to speak.
"You are far too young to have that look in your eyes."
"What look?"
"That of someone who has lost something too precious to be put into words," the old man replied, his gaze never moving away from the moon. "I won't pry if you don't want to speak, but there is tea aplenty and more than enough time left before the sun rises."
Nephis was silent for a long time, her face impassive as she stared at the moon while sipping the tea. She said nothing even when she finished it, and the old man refilled her cup. The moon quickly started to move, from being high up in the sky to starting to wane.
Without saying anything, Nephis summoned a storage Memory, and from inside it, she retrieved a locket that she passed to the old man without saying anything. He accepted it gratefully and opened it. Inside, two photos rested. The first was a couple that looked like younger versions of Broken Sword and Smile of Heaven. The second, accompanied by a small piece of jade, belonged to Sunless, looking the same as he did while in the Academy.
"The couple are my parents. They died years ago," she explained emotionlessly, her grip on the teacup growing tighter.
"My condolences."
"Thank you. And the boy... It's funny. We never defined what we are." She shook her head. "He kissed me and then pushed me out of hell while he had no other option but to stay back."
"Maybe I'm prying where I shouldn't, but I think that what you feel is called love," the old man said kindly. "I only have to listen to your voice when you speak about him. Why, I spoke the same way when I was your age and met my delightful wife!"
"Maybe it is," Nephis agreed silently. "I... I miss him. There is no day that passes in which I don't think of him. In which I don't worry if he's alright. If he's still moving despite it all. I used to be able to check if at least he's still alive, but... I cannot from here. And I keep worrying that he might have died."
The old man was quiet for a while. He closed the locket carefully, as though the little object contained something fragile, and handed it back to her. His eyes remained on the moon.
"Ah," he said softly. "So that is the trouble."
Nephis frowned faintly. "Trouble?"
"You are trying to mourn someone who has not yet been lost."
"I don't know if he is alive."
"No. You don't." The old man took another sip of tea. "And because you do not know, your mind has decided to be very helpful and imagine every terrible possibility."
Nephis's expression hardened. "He could be dead."
"He could."
His answer was so simple that it seemed to irritate her. "But he could also be alive."
The old man smiled. "When we love someone, young lady, uncertainty can be more painful than grief. Grief has an ending. Uncertainty keeps knocking on the door every morning."
Nephis lowered her eyes to the tea. "I should have stayed."
"Perhaps."
Her gaze snapped toward him, and the old man chuckled softly.
"Do not look at me like that. I am an old man. I have survived long enough to learn that there are very few decisions in life that can be judged properly while we are still standing in the middle of them."
He poured himself more tea.
"You made the choice you believed you had to make. So did he. Perhaps neither of you was given a good choice."
Nephis stared at the surface of her cup. "He pushed me away."
"Yes."
"He knew what would happen."
"Yes."
"And he still did it."
"Yes."
Her fingers tightened around the cup. "I don't understand his decision. All humans should be willing to sacrifice themselves for a greater cause, but why do it now? Why condemn himself to almost certain death when I'm more likely to survive?"
The old man smiled sadly. "That is because you are trying to understand him with your fear. Your fear tells you that he sacrificed himself because he believed he would die. Perhaps he did. But there is another possibility. Perhaps he pushed you away because, in that moment, he wanted one thing more than anything else."
"What?"
"For you to live."
Nephis looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "I should have stopped him."
"Maybe."
"I should have found another way."
"Maybe."
"I should have—"
"Ah, ah, ah." The old man raised one finger. "That's a rather dangerous word. 'Should.' People use it to punish themselves for not possessing knowledge they only gained afterward."
Nephis was silent while the old man leaned back, letting the warmth of the tea settle in his stomach.
"I spent many years wishing I had made different choices. Wishing I had spoken different words. Wishing I had been strong enough to prevent things that were never entirely within my control." His smile became wistful. "And eventually, I learned something very important."
"What?"
"That regret is a very poor substitute for action. If this boy is alive, worrying about him will not make him safer. If he is suffering, your suffering will not lessen his. And if he is dead..." He paused. "Then destroying yourself with guilt will not bring him back."
Her expression became colder. "That sounds cruel. Callous. I cannot just stop worrying like that."
"No," the old man said gently. "Cruel would be telling you that you should simply forget him." He shook his head at the mere idea. "You should not forget him. Remembering someone is not the same as being trapped by them, after all."
A brief moment of silence passed between them before he pointed toward the sky.
"Look at the moon. It is beautiful tonight, and yet the moon does not remain full forever. Tell me, young lady, does that make it less beautiful?"
"No."
"Does the fact that it will eventually disappear make tonight meaningless?"
"No."
"Then perhaps you understand."
She stared at the moon for a long time, and the old man smiled warmly.
"People we love are rather like that. We wish we could hold them forever. We wish we could protect them from every darkness. But that is not our gift."
"What is?"
"To love them while they are here." His voice softened. "And when distance comes, to carry that love with us."
Nephis looked down at the locket in her hand. "What if he never comes back?"
"You will mourn him. Cry. Break something perhaps. It can last from a second to years, but one day, you will wake up, and the pain will be less than the day before. And with each passing day, the pain will become more and more tolerable. It might never go away, but you will at least learn to live with it. Just like I did."
"…and if he comes back?"
The old man smiled broadly. "Then you will have wasted an impressive amount of tea worrying about him."
For the first time that night, the corner of Nephis's mouth twitched.
Sunny could not help but be impressed.
Maybe it was just the fact that all the other scenes had been utterly atrocious, but this one almost looked good. An opinion that the rest seemed to share, too.
The battle that followed that conversation was spectacular. There were explosions, enormous monsters, people leaping through the air while swinging weapons that would have been completely impractical in any situation where gravity was involved.
Aspects illuminated the battlefield in every color imaginable, swords clashed against claws, spears pierced armored abominations, and at one particularly memorable moment, a warrior rode upon the back of a gigantic bird while firing three arrows simultaneously at three different creatures. The accompanying orchestra seemed determined to convince the audience that the fate of the world itself depended on every single sword stroke.
The entire thing lasted nearly fifteen minutes.
Not a single person in the viewing booth spoke. They simply stared at the screen until, eventually, Sunny leaned forward and rubbed his temples.
"Who taught these people how to fight?"
"Nobody, apparently," Nephis answered.
One of the heroes performed an elaborate backflip over a Nightmare Creature, twisted in midair, threw a dagger, summoned a second weapon, landed on one hand, and continued fighting upside down.
Sunny stared with a deadpan expression. "I could have killed all of them myself if they did so many stupid acrobatics. As a Sleeper."
Effie snorted. "Like that's saying much. I could have done it while in a wheelchair."
The battle continued, and eventually, the Sinister Seven were defeated through a combination of teamwork, friendship, several speeches about hope, and an explosion whose scale defied the laws of physics.
"You know what? This is a relief," he said seriously.
"Why?" Seishan asked curiously.
"Because there is no way they can do any worse than this. They have officially hit rock bottom, and from here there is only up."
"You know you just jinxed it, right?" Nephis asked, looking unimpressed.
Sunny opened his mouth to retort, but then the next scene began, and he immediately regretted it.
"I do."
Sunless stood before a colossal temple carved into the side of a mountain. Two enormous statues guarded its entrance, each holding a weapon large enough to flatten a building. Beyond them, guarding the entrance, were hundreds of Nightmare Creatures, waiting in the darkness and illuminated only by the occasional strike of lightning.
Sunless looked toward his black-armored companion for several seconds, then smiled confidently.
"You and I, friend." He summoned a gleaming sword. "One more time."
The knight raised its weapon, a promise of victory singing in the stone-like steel.
Sunless pointed toward the enemy. "Tonight, we either dine at home, or we dine in hell. I would prefer the former, but my pride as an outskirts rat makes it quite tempting to steal the devil's dinner."
The orchestra exploded into a frenzy as each instrument seemed intent on sounding as triumphant as it possibly could. With the music at his back, Sunless charged toward the Nightmare Creatures.
Sunny stared at the screen in disbelief.
"Why am I doing that?"
"Because you're brave...?" Rain offered.
"No. Because whoever wrote this scene apparently thinks planning is for cowards."
On screen, Sunless was already halfway across the courtyard. He dodged a massive claw, vaulted over another creature, spun three times for some reason, and landed on the shoulders of a monster before jumping off again.
Sunny's expression became increasingly offended. "I wouldn't do that."
"You would if you thought it would look good," Effie commented.
"Nobody asked you."
"We are friends. You don't need to ask for my marvelous commentary."
"Kill me now, please."
Sunless continued fighting. He used the walls, statues, corpses, weapons, enemies, and, at one point, his own weapon as stepping stones. Finally, after an impressive amount of acrobatics, he reached the temple entrance and snuck inside before the Nightmare Creatures could pursue.
The orchestra rose to a crescendo as he stood before the Gateway, each note more and more vivid with each step he took. His foot finally landed on the glass platform, and light began pouring out from it. Then, just as the light was about to become blinding... the orchestra fell silent.
Sunless looked at the Gateway silently while reading the runes that appeared before him.
"Only two can activate it." He paused, his voice breaking halfway. The camera moved closer to his face. "If I had trusted my star enough to ask her to stay with me..." Another pause, and the camera came closer. "If we had both stayed..." Sunless's face darkened for all of one moment before he smiled. "If I had known this... I would have still done the same."
The orchestra returned, tentative at first, but more upbeat by the moment.
"She is safe. That is enough." He turned away from the Gateway. "I will find another." The orchestra erupted again. "I will find a hundred if necessary! I will cross every hell this world possesses before I surrender!"
Sunny stared blankly at the screen. There were no words that could do justice to just how annoyed he was.
He was too tired to even be angry anymore. At this point, he only wanted the damn thing to end already so that he could be free.
Unfortunately, two people beside him found the scene considerably more entertaining. Revel and Effie were shaking with suppressed laughter, their faces red from the effort.
Sunny slowly turned toward them. "I will remember this."
Neither stopped laughing.
The next scene opened on a barren plain, flooded by rain, at whose center stood an enormous tower. It looked ancient, but still formidable, as if capable of weathering any and all challenges.
Before it rested a Nightmare Seed, pulsing steadily, while the air around it warped and darkness spilled from its surface like smoke. Sunless approached it cautiously, his face grim as he saw the way it was quickly becoming more and more unstable.
"This seed is about to explode and turn into a Gate." He looked toward it with a grimace. "If it does, the casualties will be catastrophic."
His hand closed around a small piece of jade as he thought. He looked around helplessly, clear on what his next step should be, but unsure whether to take it or not.
"I'm sorry." The music softened, turning almost remorseful. "My love, I may have to risk everything." He looked toward the Seed. "For humanity." Then toward the jade. "For you." His eyes hardened. "For myself." He took a deep breath. "I'm coming home."
The music became triumphant as he stepped inside the Seed without fear.
Of course they turned it into a selfless, noble act instead of the desperate Hail Mary the real thing had been. Sunny didn't even have the energy to be angry anymore.
Eunbin leaned forward, her eyes shining with delight. "Please tell me that's actually how it happened."
Sunny slowly looked at her. "What do you think?"
Rain raised her hand as if she were in class. "I think you were planning to enter epically, but a monster attacked you, so you ran away, tripped over something, and accidentally fell inside."
Cassie nodded thoughtfully. "Seems about right."
Sunny buried his face in his hands. "I'm going to sue this movie for defamation."
Inside the Nightmare, Sunless experienced one temptation after another.
In the first, he returned to a peaceful childhood home where nobody knew his name and nobody expected anything from him. He could eat whenever he wanted, sleep without fear, and wake to sunlight every morning. He walked away.
In the second, he possessed limitless wealth and lived in an enormous estate surrounded by servants, gardens, and more food than he could possibly consume. He walked away.
In the third, he was surrounded by his cohort and Nephis, living a life of comfort and bliss that never seemed to end. This one, he doubted for a long time before walking away. "I'm sorry," he said before leaving.
Another dream offered him power, another offered fame, a life in which nobody had ever looked down on him, and more. So much more as the dreams passed by in a blur and he rejected them all.
Sunny watched silently.
He hadn't given details of the dreams he had faced while inside his Nightmare, and still, they were so close to the real thing that he couldn't help but reminisce.
Sunny forced himself to stop thinking before he could walk down that path again. What-ifs were a particularly cruel poison.
Eventually, Sunless entered the final dream.
A woman waited for him there. She was impossibly beautiful, dressed in a flimsy robe that barely covered enough to hide her more private parts while still leaving her curvaceous body in clear sight.
"What more could you possibly want?" She asked while approaching him slowly. "I can give you anything. Love." She smiled. "Wealth." Another step. "Power." Another. "Immortality." She stopped before him. "Stay with me, Sunless, and you shall never suffer again."
Sunless looked at her, then smiled coldly.
"Can you protect humanity?"
The woman tilted her head. "Of course."
"Can you give me a future where Nightmare Creatures no longer threaten everything I care about?"
"Of course."
His expression remained cold. "Can you give me my beloved back?"
The woman smiled, and her appearance changed immediately. Silver hair replaced dark strands, gray eyes looked back at him, and the face of Nephis stared into his own. Slowly, her hands rose to caress his face lovingly.
For one brief moment, Sunless looked tempted, then his expression hardened as he brought out the dagger hidden in his sleeve and plunged it into the fake Nephis's chest before she could react.
"You may look like her," Sunless said quietly, "but you are not her."
The creature staggered backward while the orchestra picked up.
"You don't possess her conviction." Another step back. "You don't possess her courage." The dream began to crumble. "And you certainly don't possess the compassion required to accept someone like me."
The woman's beautiful form twisted as skin stretched thin and bones cracked until the illusion disappeared, revealing a grotesque mass of flesh and eyes.
Sunless looked at it with contempt and lunged at it. The Corrupted Terror, weakened by the many consecutive dreams shattered in a row, was not capable of resisting his assault and died soon after.
Minutes later, Sunless stood amid the ruins, breathing heavily, looking down at the remains of his enemy. Then he smiled.
"Looks like I'm finally coming home."
Sunny did not react. He simply sat there with both hands covering his face.
After several seconds, he muttered, "I should have told them what actually happened."
Seishan glanced at him. "Would that have helped?"
"No, probably not." He sighed in resignation. "They would have made it worse."
Sunless awakened inside a bunker beneath Nephis's mansion and looked with confusion at his surroundings.
He rose slowly, though not slowly enough, for his newfound strength shredded his clothes accidentally. Fortunately, enough of the trousers remained for his dignity to survive.
Sunny groaned. "Couldn't they have just ignored that part?"
"Absolutely not," Revel said with absolute conviction. "It serves just too many purposes at once. The changes that being a Saint made to your body. Your new strength. Sunless finally seeing himself as someone attractive. A touch of comedy after so many grim scenes and—"
"You only like it because of the fanservice, don't you?" Rain asked flatly.
Revel didn't answer.
Time flowed backward to show the events that had taken place before Sunless's awakening. The forces of Valor arrived before the Immortal Flame manor, and the two sides greeted one another cautiously, then settled into an uneasy alliance. For a brief moment, everything seemed peaceful.
Then the Gateway trembled, and a hairline crack appeared in the air. A translucent tendril slipped through, followed by many more until there were dozens dancing in the air. They moved silently among the soldiers, penetrating into their heads with no one the wiser.
One by one, the eyes of the Valor forces started changing as a thin crimson ring appeared around each pupil. There was a moment of silence, as though the forces of Changing Star could detect that something was wrong with those of Valor before the infected warriors turned toward their former allies.
Madoc was the last, his body trembling violently as he fought against the control of the Nightmare Creature with a horrified expression.
"Changing Star..." He said with all the force he could muster, his voice shaking. "Please, stop me."
The orchestra exploded into chaos as the battle began. Nightmare Creatures descended upon the battlefield while the corrupted Valor warriors attacked from within, and Nephis's forces fought desperately.
They were overwhelmed quickly, and one after another, her Firekeepers were defeated, pushed back, and paid in blood, sweat, and tears to stop the Nightmare Creatures and corrupted warriors from escaping the perimeter and harming anyone else. Nephis herself fought at the center of the chaos, her flames burning brighter with every passing second.
Then, just as everything seemed lost, the music changed as the battle drums began to fade and a slow melody began instead. All at once, the battlefield was drowned in a tide of ink as a man stepped out of the shadows.
Sunless looked around once. His eyes settled upon the corrupted soldiers first, then on the Nightmare Creature controlling them.
He let out a tired sigh. "No rest for the wicked, huh?"
He vanished, and the next few seconds became a blur almost impossible to follow. One warrior fell, then another, then five more. Sunless moved through the battlefield like a shadow given human form, dismantling the corrupted forces one after another while safely immobilizing the humans being controlled.
In a matter of seconds, he stood alone amid the aftermath of the battle. The Gate had been defeated, the Nightmare Creatures slain, and the Valor soldiers liberated from the mind control. Sunless looked tired, but also reinvigorated, as though being back in the Waking World was intoxicating in and of itself.
He turned next, gaze sweeping across the battlefield. He noticed his friends first, to whom he offered a warm smile, then the Firekeepers, at whom he nodded approvingly.
Then he spotted someone, and he froze, everything else seeming to disappear for him. The music grew quiet, leaving only the sound of his breathing and his quickening heartbeat behind.
Nephis was standing before him, looking at Sunless with as much longing as he was looking at her. Soon, the sound of her heartbeat joined his.
She took a step forward, and he did the same. Another, then another. Neither seemed entirely certain they were seeing reality. Then they started moving faster, and the distance between them disappeared.
They collided in an embrace, arms wrapping around each other with desperate strength. Neither spoke. They simply remained there, as though letting go would somehow make the entire moment disappear.
The music returned, softly at first, almost tentatively, louder next, and finally, triumphant.
Eventually, they separated just enough to look at one another. At the same time, they retrieved their piece of broken jade and put it together, making it whole once more.
Neither needed to say anything. They just leaned closer, and their lips met in tune with the orchestra as it reached its climax.
The screen faded to black, and the credits started playing.
For several seconds, the theatre remained silent. Then the audience erupted into applause.
Sunny sat completely motionless.
His eye had started twitching somewhere between the moment he had torn apart his clothes and when he had started fighting like a maniac. The whole damn thing was recorded! Why the Spell did they feel the need to come up with their own version!?
And why did it have to end like that!? For Spell's sake, they hadn't even touched each other! What about the hanging threads, like Song trying to recruit them or the apparent rivalry between Morgan and Nephis!?
Sunny was annoyed on so many levels that he couldn't even focus on a single one.
Effie wasn't the kind to give him time to come to terms with his own thoughts.
"So... what did you think?"
He stared at the black screen for a long time, then at Nephis, who looked just as done with the whole thing as he probably was, then back at the screen.
Finally, he sighed.
"Hey, Neph." She looked at him. "Do you want to go set the director's house on fire?"
There was a long pause as she considered the question with complete seriousness.
"...yes, please."