In the deep darkness of a vast hall, torches fixed to steel poles burned intensely, their red and orange flames casting an unstable glow that painted the environment with an almost mystical air. The floor, black as obsidian, was marked by dried blood, deep cuts, and ancient engravings on the walls — scars of forgotten battles, silent witnesses to past horrors.
Two lost ones stood guard.
Their bodies were rigid, alert.
One of them was a young woman with short black hair at shoulder length. Her dark eyes seemed to hide an abyss, while her brown skin had the firm sheen of newly forged steel.
Beside her, another woman remained still, equally beautiful. Her hair was as dark as jet, and her burning eyes contrasted with her pale face, slightly flushed from effort. A drop of sweat slowly slid down her temple.
The two stood in silence, lost in thought… until something changed.
Tak... Tak... Tak...
They exchanged a glance for a moment before raising their weapons. Their teeth clenched, veins in their necks subtly bulging, both overtaken by an incessant anxiety.
Without saying a word, they remained on alert. The footsteps grew louder over time.
The dark corridor, its walls drowned in shadows that twisted endlessly.
A figure suddenly appeared.
The women flinched, unable to believe what they were seeing.
A blonde young woman emerged, her face pale and lips white, completely drained of blood. Cuts traced across her skin, making her look like an apparition.
"Stay where you are! Don't take another step!" the dark-skinned woman shouted, pointing her spear at Cassie's throat.
Cassie didn't react and slowly raised her hands. Using all her strength, she spoke, her voice low:
"Please, help me... the demon... attacked me..."
Her dry throat gave more credibility to her words, but the lost ones weren't convinced.
"Go call Master Pierce. Now." the brown-skinned woman ordered, acting as the leader of the pair.
"Right, sister." The lost one hurried off.
Cassie waited, while the other woman's sharp gaze lingered on her with disgust, though deep down there was a flicker of fear and distress.
Soon enough, Pierce arrived, his face calm like a still lake; his massive body made him seem like a walking mountain.
"You..." he said, in disbelief.
"Sir Pierce, help us... please." Cassie groaned in pain, her legs giving out completely.
She collapsed to the ground with a dull thud, her blindfold nearly coming undone.
Pierce approached cautiously, until he noticed everything seemed fine, and helped the girl up.
"Tell me, how are you alive?" Pierce asked, while Cassie was supported by the two lost ones.
"Sunny and I managed to escape the prison because of a crazy lost one..." she began calmly. "We ran and managed to find food... until..."
Her face twisted into pure terror.
"'He' attacked us... we didn't stand a chance to fight, and we could only run..."
Pierce listened without blinking, though internally he was impressed; those two young ones must have had great spirit to endure such an ordeal. But something about the story felt off.
"Then how are you here?"
The blind girl thought for a few seconds, her beautiful face tightening. Her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out.
Ah... Ah...
She gasped and regained her composure.
"My friend... Sunless. He... he has powers that let him hide extremely well."
Pierce looked at her suspiciously, arms crossing.
"You expect me to believe your friend can hide from that abomination? Do you think I'm stupid?"
Cassie stayed quiet, then bit her lips, bringing back a red hue.
"Sunless isn't just any awakened... he... has an aspect that makes him impossible to find! He even managed to hide from a Fallen Devil, still dormant!"
...
Everyone present froze, shock evident on their faces.
Pierce stiffened, then coughed, almost choking.
"Don't joke with me, miss!"
"I'm not joking! Sunny has an aspect that lets him hide from anything!" Cassie's voice grew stronger.
"Or do you really think mere sleepers could survive the Forgotten Shore?! Even Nephis wouldn't have made it without him!"
"But—"
"I don't want to lose my friend..." her voice gradually softened.
"But most of all, I don't want to see that monster using his body."
Everyone fell silent again. And at some unknown moment, Welthe had appeared without warning, listening to the voices.
"Where is he?" Pierce asked, his pale complexion shifting; it was something close to... fear?
"Pierce!?" Welthe shouted, in disbelief.
"Welthe, do you know what this means? If that bastard gets his hands on that boy, we're doomed!"
"But what if she's lying?! How can we trust her?"
Pierce clenched his fists, veins bulging along his forearms.
"Damn it, don't you get it? Are there chances she's lying? Of course! But what if it's true? If we join forces, we can end him now, but if he gets the body of someone with an aspect focused on hiding, we won't find him until the day Cormac arrives!"
"... And if, by any chance, he manages to escape the temple and flee into the real world..."
The sentence didn't need to be finished for everyone to understand the implications and consequences.
Pierce analyzed the situation, his heart cold, not letting himself be carried by emotions like a boat in a storm.
"You two," he said, referring to the lost ones, "take the young lady to room 3 and then inform everyone."
The lost ones nodded, carrying Cassie to the location.
Pierce prepared himself and began to leave. But when he took his second step, Welthe approached.
"I'm going with you," she stated.
Pierce looked at her, then shook his head.
"No way. If you go with me, who will stay to protect the lost? You'd better stay and protect them."
Welthe closed her eyes, then scoffed.
"Good, I'll go i—"
"No, I'm going."
Huh?
Pierce froze.
"It doesn't matter, weeks have already passed. Saint Cormac is about to arrive. Even if we die, I'd rather that than live with shame for the rest of my life for not stopping this monster."
The master wanted to argue, to tell the woman to stay, but he didn't, because he understood her feeling: dying for the clan was more honorable than staying alive.
That was how they had been raised.
The clan drilled beliefs and traditions into them, creating loyal servants in an almost fanatical way. Things like honor, loyalty, family...
All of it was just a tool of manipulation.
Like lambs, they would walk to the slaughter with smiles on their faces, throwing their lives away like straw in the wind.
Blood ties, the sense of belonging — all of it came together to form an invisible cage.
They were like birds that had spent their entire lives trapped, and when freed, their minds remained imprisoned.
That was the cruel reality.
And so, people who didn't fit those molds were judged.
Condemned to ostracism, cast away from everyone.
A person like that was given many names...
Demon, aberration, monster...
In Valor's specific case, that person was called Mordret.
Ah... and he couldn't care less.
Carrying a young woman through the corridors drew the attention of some of the lost.
It had been a few days since Mordret's last attack, the battle against the army of cadaverous puppets. It had been a difficult fight, with two lost dying and three being severely injured.
After that, there were two more deaths, for which no one knew the cause.
So the fact that they hadn't been attacked for a few days was putting the awakened on edge.
At the same time the awakened were more united, they were also growing increasingly suspicious of each other.
Even so, they couldn't stand being alone, despite the risks.
They believed that together, they could overcome anything — no one survives alone in the Dream Realm.
Well, except for a few exceptions.
A certain awakened on guard watched calmly, a vast abyss hidden beneath her eyelids. Then she gave a crooked smile.
'A lonely path, after all...'
Humans were like that, in the end.