'Cassie said that it took her two months to find that sapling, and that she found it deep underground… but if I have Serpent shift into Aidre, it should be easy, right?'
Sunny adjusted the top half of his outfit as he stepped foot onto the Desecrated Grove. The smell of charcoal hit him immediately as ash crunched beneath his boots. Small grey flakes fell from the sky, strong winds having lifted up the ash not too long ago.
Spreading his shadow sense outwards, he took his first steps on the island. Immediately, something shot at him from beneath the ash.
'Annoying.'
Stepping back, he dodged the blow before lunging forward to deliver a heavy punch to his attacker. The beast howled in pain as bones crunched beneath its skin.
Sunny sneered.
'Awakened Beast.'
As the Desecrated Grove was directly connected to the Sanctuary of Noctis, it had been wiped clean of any powerful abominations not too long ago, courtesy of White Feather and the Citadels forces. Now, one wouldn't be able to find anything above an Awakened here.
That would've been fantastic news for normal Awakened, but for Sunny… that meant he couldn't kill them.
So instead…
Manifesting a much larger arm for himself, he grabbed the ankle of the now fleeing Beast. It howled at him, swiping ferocious claws at his face.
But before any of that could land, Sunny tensed his muscles… and flipped the Beast over his head before letting go, throwing it off the island and into the sky below.
Watching the wretch fall into the abyss, he dusted his hands off.
"Good luck."
It wasn't a terrible idea for a Beast, to lurk near the edges of the island in an attempt to ambush any weary travelers hoping to take refuge. But unfortunately for it, on this day Sunny had shown up.
Turning back towards the center of the island, he squinted, trying to take as much in as possible.
'Nothing much…'
This place had been culled only a few months ago, it wouldn't be teaming with nightmare creatures just yet.
'Works for me!'
The less nuisances he had to deal with while he was here, the better.
Nodding, he clasped his hands together.
"Alright Serpent, I'll leave it to you!"
The Soul Serpent emerged from his Shadow with a quieter than usual hiss, which Sunny ignored. A second later, the shadow of Aidre was there, with what remained of its Aspect already being unleashed.
Looking at the endless expanse of twisted and charred trees, he sighed.
'...This is gonna take a while, isn't it?'
***
On the other side of the Desecrated Grove, someone was digging in the ash.
"Ah, is it here? Please tell me it's here…"
Small hands dug at the ground, desperately looking for something. The person did not notice a man landing on the other side of the island, nor did they notice the colossal Serpent appear beside him.
Instead, they clenched their hands and shouted in annoyance.
"It's gone. It's gone!"
The precious soul shards they had buried here, gone! What sniveling little rats had taken it? The person — a young boy, no older than thirteen —- looked around.
There were footprints in the ash. Beastial ones. One of the local abominations had snatched his stash!
The boy was positively furious.
"You… I'll find you! Beastie, come on!"
A perfect copy of the boy appeared beside him, its expression eerily still. Together, they slowly began to follow the tracks, searching for the one who had stolen his loot.
Eventually though…
"Who… who is that?"
From afar, he noticed someone walking atop one of the particularly large dead trees, their arms crossed as they balanced themselves perfectly despite the less than ideal footholds.
The person was quite a ways away, with the boy only being able to spot him thanks to the fact that the man was so high up.
"Is he mad?"
Nightmare creatures would easily be able to spot him like that!
And yet… nothing was happening. The man walked around without a care in the world, seemingly looking for something.
The boy, Mordret, began moving in his direction.
Perhaps it was a bad idea, to approach a man so clearly deranged, but he simply had to know more.
'Strange… I didn't think anyone would come here.'
He had only come here as it was a relatively safe place that he could quietly grow his own strength, as there almost never a reason for anyone to visit this place. There was also the added bonus of that fact that if something truly terrible happened, he could always just run back to the Sanctuary. With Sky Tide around, he was sure to be fine, no matter what horrid creature showed up.
Abandoning his physical form, he vanished into a reflection. A great fire had once ravaged this place, so there were plenty of small glass shards sticking out of the ash, he had plenty of places to go to.
Inching closer and closer, Mordret got a better look at the man's face.
'Who…?'
He had porcelain skin so smooth and pristine he almost thought he was looking at a beautiful doll rather than a human. The man's lightless eyes watched the ground below in boredom as he continued walking around aimlessly. The leather armour the man was wearing didn't look particularly impressive, but it didn't seem like the man was a fighter anyways. He looked much too… he didn't know the word to describe it, but the man looked more like a scout or a scholar rather than a warrior.
But strangely enough, he could see him multiple times at once. There were others looking at him too. Nightmare creatures, hidden within the ash, poking their heads out to get a look at him.
'No…'
He didn't know the man, but surely it'd be a waste for one of the Sanctuary's Awakened to die in such a place?
And yet… none of them attacked. Only watching him closely, seemingly in anticipation.
'How curious…'
Mordret could've sworn he heard something digging deep beneath the ground as well, but there were no reflective surfaces down there for him to look through.
But a second later, his eyes widened.
At some point, the man's gaze had turned towards the glass shard he was occupying.
'Is he… is he looking at me?'
The man smiled slightly before turning away, laughing.
Hesitating for only a moment, Mordret fled.
***
Feeling the presence within the glass shard vanish, Sunny laughed some more.
'Oh that's him alright.'
He did not think he'd manage to find Mordret this fast! To think he was hanging around a place such as this… it made sense though. It was a quiet place filled with relatively weak nightmare creatures, perfect for a new Awakened with a non-combat Aspect. It was only now too that he noticed the numerous glass shards sticking out of the ground.
'Good, good… that's first contact made, I guess.'
He'd somewhat wanted to immediately call him out, but from what he'd heard from the conversations he'd listened in on back at the Sanctuary, Mordret wasn't exactly in the best of states now. The boy had been raised by a monster like Asterion his entire life, and his first contact with what should've been people who loved him unconditionally had gone terribly wrong, so Sunny was quite sure that his mental state wasn't in the best of places right now. The supposed 'incident' that had happened with him back at the Sanctuary certainly wouldn't have helped either.
'I'll have to take this slowly.'
People were complicated, he couldn't just immediately show up and try to befriend him. With someone like Mordret… most likely, he'd have to let him approach first before doing anything.
'That should be enough to get his curiosity…'
Although he only had a couple clues on what this new present Mordret might be like, he did know a thing or two about the one he'd once known in the past. And over the years, he'd noticed something. As much as he tried to hide it, Mordret was like him, always delving into mysteries, always trying to learn more, desperate to satiate his curiosity. Knowledge was power, after all. He was certain this wouldn't be the last time they met. In fact, he wouldn't even be surprised if the boy started following him around in an attempt to find out more about him.
Shaking his head, he turned back to the ground.
"Anything?"
Serpent had noticed something almost immediately the moment it transformed, and was currently digging through the ash in an attempt to reach.
And just now, it had.
In a small cavern deep beneath the ground, Serpent had picked up a root. Observing through his shadow sense, Sunny blinked.
'That's definitely not it.'
Half a second later the root was lit ablaze by his Shadow before being torn apart.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Virulent Root.]
He sighed.
'So there's all sorts of weird stuff hiding underground too then… of course there is.'
Why couldn't it ever be easy?
Sunny swept his hair back and looked up, judging how much time he had left in the day.
"Come on back. Let's try a different spot."
Deep beneath the ground, Serpent hissed in agreement.
***
Stepping back onto the Sanctuary, Sunny looked around. Not as many people as usual were milling about, so the Citadel was quiet. He still had some time to kill, so once he delivered his usual report he made his way to his quarters.
'Hm… I need to mess this place up a bit.'
It was a strange thought, to make his room unnecessarily messy, but if someone were to look in here and notice that it looked like nobody lived here, it would raise some suspicions.
Jumping onto his bed, he manifested some shadows to do the work for him. Leaving random bits of food and clothing around… leaving a pile of nice looking rocks in the corner… all sorts of random things that would make the place look lived in.
Relaxing on his bed, Sunny stared at the ceiling.
He'd wanted to continue working on Transcending, but that sort of thing needed a lot more time than he had now. If he wanted some decent progress, he'd need to free up several hours at least. And besides, he had a better idea of how to speed up his progression, it was a method that would work far better than some measly meditating.
Eventually though, his relaxation was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Groaning, Sunny got up.
'Gods… what is it now?'
A familiar man greeted him at the door, wearing the signature garb of the White Feather clan.
"Awakened Sunless?"
"Yes?"
The man squinted, making sure he got the right person.
"Lady Tyris has sent a summons for you."
Scrunching his eyebrows slightly, he nodded.
"Understood. I'll be going then."
He stepped out of his room, only to be stopped by the man before he could walk past him.
"Wait."
Sunny raised an eyebrow, turning to the man.
"Yes?"
"She said to meet her for lunch, and that you would know where to go."
He frowned slightly.
"Ah. Okay, I understand."
Sunny turned back and re-entered his room. Seeing as Tyris wanted to meet him later, he wouldn't need to hurry back to the waking world.
Bowing slightly to the man, he thanked him.
"Thank you for telling me. Did Lady Tyris tell you anything else?"
'Surely she told him the password? She's not going to make me guess or something, right?'
The man's eyes widened slightly, seemingly just remembering something.
"Ah, right. She also said that it would be 'respite from dream'."
The messenger clearly did not know what that meant, as his expression was quite confused saying that.
Nodding to the man, Sunny began shutting the door.
"Thanks again. Let Lady Tyris know I'll be there."
Not waiting for a response, he immediately jumped back on his bed.
'Tyris wants to meet me again… this can't be good.'
Sky Tide did not exactly seem like the type of person to request a meeting with him for no reason. If she wanted to talk… something must have happened, or was about to happen. And if she wanted to speak with him in particular about it… it could be really bad.
Covering his eyes with a forearm, he groaned again.
'As long as it's not the end of the world, I suppose.'
***
Standing before a familiar blast door, Sunny tapped his foot in slight annoyance.
'Are they gonna open it or what?'
He'd already been standing here for half a minute, and no one had asked for the password yet.
'Any day now…'
Finally, after another half minute, the small slit on the door opened.
"Password?"
Not wanting to cause a scene, he decided not to mention the fact he'd been waiting.
"Respite from dream."
With a loud click, the door opened, its hinges groaning.
Now a bit more familiar with the place, he walked straight in, ignoring the fact that there was seemingly nobody guarding the door. He suspected that there wasn't actually a person guarding the door, but rather it was an Echo of sorts that was immediately dismissed the moment the door opened to give the impression of an invisible guardian.
'Pretty smart.'
Entering the speakeasy, Sunny looked around in slight surprise.
'Huh.'
Rather than a bar, this time around it seemed more like a bazaar of sorts instead. Even the layout and structure of the basement had changed, with dim but colourful lights giving it a vibrant look.
He only took a moment to take in the sights around him, immediately looking for Saint Tyris instead.
'...Who am I supposed to ask?'
Last time, the small paper he had received from Tyris had told him to ask the bartender where the griffin was, but this time there had been no such thing.
'Think… was there anything in that message that could've told me anything?'
Sunny thought back to the message he received early in the morning.
'...She said to meet her for lunch, so maybe a restaurant?'
Sure enough, after looking around he could only really spot one restaurant.
Making his way inside, he searched for Tyris as best he could. After only a few seconds he spotted her, with her still donning the familiar disguise he had seen her in last time. Their eyes met, and she motioned for him to come sit with her.
Politely sitting across from her, Sunny smiled.
"Greetings, my lady."
"Greetings to you as well. Have you eaten?"
Tyris seemed to have just finished her meal, wiping at her mouth with a napkin.
"No, but I'm not very hungry."
The Saint nodded, immediately standing up.
"Very well. Come with me."
Blinking in minor confusion, he immediately stood up alongside her. Tyris began walking for the door, with Sunny closely following behind.
Noticing his confused look, Tyris spoke.
"Don't worry, I already paid."
'...'
That wasn't what he was going to ask, but oh well.
Walking through the streets, he decided to ask her a question, no longer unable to contain his curiosity.
"How come it isn't a bar anymore?"
Tyris only gave him a sidelong glance.
"I would not know. I don't run this place."
"Oh… do you know who does?"
She shook her head.
"All I know is that they are an independent group of Awakened who have survived in secrecy for this long without being caught by any Great Clans, so I trust in their ability to manage a place like this."
Sunny nodded in understanding.
"I see… then where are we going now?"
"You will see in a moment."
He continued following behind the Saint without a word, only taking short looks around in curiosity.
'This place is bigger than I thought… Is it spatially expanded?'
If it was, then his opinion on this unknown group of Awakened would be raised even further. He was still suspicious of them, as the possibility of them being bait set out by the Great Clans was certainly possible, but considering nothing had happened since the last time he'd seen Tyris, they seemed reliable enough.
Not long later, the two disappeared into an alleyway. Stopping, Tyris turned to him.
"Stay still."
She reached an arm out towards him, only for him to take an involuntary step back, bumping into a wall.
"What are you doing? I said stay still."
"S-Sorry."
Tyris took another step forward, leaving him no room to escape. Reaching her arm around behind his neck, she pulled him a little closer.
Sunny immediately froze up.
'W-Wha…'
The Saint was quite a bit taller than him, so he was more than a little scared.
But before he could say anything, he felt the pull of traveling between worlds. They both disappeared a moment later.
Almost instantly, they reappeared in the Dream Realm, and Sunny immediately took a step away, his expression frozen still.
"Pardon me. Your soul is quite a strange one to transport, so I had to pull you a little closer."
'O-Oh… that's what she was doing.'
Not letting any of his inner turmoil appear, he cracked his neck as he looked around.
"I see. May I ask where we are?"
"This is a remote area of the Chained Isles. Try as they might, no one will be able to hear us here."
Sunny's eyes widened.
"Why… Why do we need to be here? Is it that bad?"
Tyris sighed, handing him something. He took it without a second thought, now more than a little worried.
"This is..?"
"It is a map. I'm sure you recognise it."
Sunny nodded. Of course he did. It was… it was a map of the district he lived in.
"What are you trying to say, Lady Tyris?"
Taking off her glasses, the Saint looked at him with her inhuman amber eyes.
"Recently, some of Valor's forces have been combing this area. I have not been informed as to why, but my sources say they are looking for something. I am aware that you live within this district. Do you know anything about this?"
He swallowed hard, gritting his teeth.
"I do."
'Already..? It's barely been a month…'
Tyris raised an eyebrow at his words.
"Do you? I do hope it is not you that they are looking for."
Sunny shook his head, sighing in despair.
"No. Yes. They aren't looking for me, but I have what they're looking for."
"Do you? And what is it they're looking for?"
He grimaced.
'Do I tell her?'
He could try to talk his way out of this, to perhaps convince Tyris that he actually had a rare artifact Valor was looking after, rather than a person.
Looking her in the eyes, he saw no emotion. Her eyes were as eerie and off-putting as always.
But from her shadow… through the usual restraints Tyris put on her emotions, he could feel it. The Saint was quite concerned for him.
'It's worth the risk.'
"It is not a what, Lady Tyris, but rather a who. I am harboring a… fugitive of sorts, you see."
Tyris' eyes widened immediately, suspicions on who it may be immediately forming within her mind.
"Who?"
Sunny smiled weakly.
"The final surviving member of the Immortal Flame clan, Nephis."
Sky Tide's eyes widened even further, more than he had ever seen before. Even hints of emotion appearing on her face was quite rare.
"You… she's with you… I see now. Yes, this makes sense. But… Why you? I did not realise you were related to Immortal Flame."
"I'm not. They left her with me after the death of their head. I… I don't really know why either, to be honest with you. We had only known each other for a couple months by then."
Tyris immediately took a step forward, reaching an arm out, the concern on her face clearer than ever.
"Is she safe? How is… how is that girl?"
"She's safe for now. And she's doing alright. I'm… I'm doing the best I can."
The winds around them picked up, and Sunny could've sworn he heard lightning in the distance. The world was responding to Saint Tyris' anger.
He was a little surprised to see her react this much, but considering the fact Sky Tide had a daughter of her own, it made sense. What happened to Nephis could happen to Telle as well. In a world like this, all it took was one death… if Tyris ever died, perhaps a rival clan or something of the like would end up hunting down her remaining relatives too, just like this.
"Sunless, you…"
Realising what she was doing, she calmed herself down and took a step back.
"I see. What can I do to help, Sunless? This… this isn't something I'll stand for."
Sunny shook his head.
"I don't know. I don't know what to do. I… If she can just stay hidden for a few more months, I think there could be a possible solution, but I don't know if Valor will find us before then."
Tyris' intense gaze fell on him.
"No. There should at least be something I can do."
He paused, thinking for a moment.
"Then, if it comes down to it, could I ask you to take her to the Dream Realm? If it's in the Ivory Tower… I am certain Valor will never find us there."
Finally relaxing a little, Tyris nodded.
"Yes… yes. I can do that. Be sure to let me know if anything happens, and I will assist you in any way I can. I will do my best to keep Valor away from that area, but do not count on it. Do you have any methods of communication that work across realms?"
Sunny nodded.
"I do, but I don't think they would work with you."
The only one he had was the [Wanderlust Communion], and that one was tied to Ki Song and Seishan. He was not the owner of the Memory, so he could not create a connection to Sky Tide with it.
"That is fine as well. I will have my clan procure one. Ensure you are here tomorrow, Sunless."
"I… yes, of course."
With a firm nod, reached an arm around him again, pulling him close. He shuddered as her deep voice brushed against his ear.
"Keep that girl safe, no matter what."
Despite the situation, Sunny laughed slightly.
"If she's not safe, then I am dead."
And with those words, they vanished into the waking world once more.