Breakfast was a livelier affair than Ash had anticipated.
Effie had prepared a thick soup with dried meat and some vegetables they cultivated near the settlement —a luxury that didn't exist when Ash left three months ago— and everyone had gathered around the stone table on the ground floor of the house.
Well, almost everyone.
Sunny was still absent.
Ash observed the group as he ate: Nephis at the head of the table, serene as always but with something in her eyes that he didn't remember seeing before; Effie to her right, devouring her portion as if she feared someone might steal it; Caster to the left, eating with an elegance that contrasted with the surroundings; and Cassie beside him, small and quiet, her fingers occasionally touching Ash's arm as if to confirm he was still there.
It was Cassie who broke the silence first.
"Ash... did you really go to a death zone?"
All eyes turned to him. Ash set his bowl down on the table and leaned back against the wall.
"Yes."
"And... how did you survive?" Effie asked, her mouth still full. "Because, look, I haven't been to death zones. They're not places you just walk in and out of like nothing."
"It wasn't like nothing," Ash replied. "I was there for about two weeks before I left."
"Two weeks?" Caster raised an eyebrow. "But you left almost three months ago."
Ash nodded.
"Most of that time I was traveling toward the Hollow Mountains. Besides, that place isn't just one place."
"What do you mean?" Cassie asked.
"In simple terms, it's like an onion. It has layers. The surface was populated by a deadly mist, lethal even for corrupted nightmare creatures, even for those of the Great rank, which makes it dangerous. But beneath that, there are dangers of its own —not as much as the surface, but they're there. Below, there are deeper and deeper layers."
"And how far did you go?" Nephis asked.
Her voice was calm, but Ash noticed how her fingers tightened around her wooden cup.
"To the Underworld."
Effie whistled.
"The Underworld! Damn. And what's down there?" she asked curiously.
Ash paused. Images of his journey passed through his mind: the enormous amphitheater, the darkness, the mist, the carvings, the bones.
"In the Underworld lies the place where the First Lord of the Castle died."
The silence that seized the room was only broken by Caster's question.
"The First Lord of the Castle? The one who discovered the Dark City?"
"Yes. His retinue had gone to the Hollow Mountains. Through some sacrifice of its members, they reached the Underworld, where the First Lord died. His skeleton was sitting on a rock."
"And what were you looking for?" Caster asked.
"This." Ash summoned the Crown of Dawn.
"It's a memory with a single enchantment. Powerful, but interesting."
"Before you ask, this enchantment strengthens other memories over an enormous range," he said, activating the enchantment. Everyone felt their armor and weapons grow significantly stronger.
This impressed the entire cohort. A memory like this would be immensely useful for battles.
Ash dismissed the memory, returning it to his soul sea.
"That's great and all, but how did you know about the existence of this crown?" Effie asked.
"In a library. There are illustrations of those who created this city thousands of years ago, and in them were seven weapons. So I put two and two together."
"You just looked at some drawings and figured out everything about this place?" Caster asked.
"Yes. In fact, I did it the same night we arrived at the outer settlement with my latent ability —if you know what to look for," he explained.
"Let me see if I understand. You found some drawings in a library that told how this place was created, you looked at the weapons they were holding, and you simply deduced they were relevant."
"That's a good way to sum it up."
"But what do those memories have to do with all this?"
"They're to open the Crimson Spire." This time it was Nephis who answered.
"The reason the two previous attempts failed was because they lacked these memories. By gathering all seven, we'll be able to open the Spire and use the portal."
"Are you sure, Princess?" Effie asked.
"Yes. It's the only gamble we have. If we fail, we'll have to take the second option."
"And what would that be?" Cassie asked.
"To undergo our Second Nightmare to ascend and become Masters. With my ability, I can guide you toward a Nightmare Seed to challenge it. Though that's only if we can't open the Crimson Spire."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing the only two options they had at that moment.
"Think about it," Ash said, leaving to get more food.
---
When night fell, Ash walked among the ruins. Around him, an enormous amount of mist swirled like a phantom sea, disorienting the nightmare creatures that wandered lost within it.
Ash advanced slowly, but steadily. Unperturbed.
As he approached his target, the mist began to thin, as if his very presence repelled it, until it became a faint haze that crawled along the ground like a submissive mantle.
Finally, he passed through the crumbling arches of what was once an imposing structure. His boots echoed on the cracked flagstones with a resonance that seemed to announce his arrival. The path led him to an open courtyard bathed in the pale light of the phantom moon of the Dark Sky.
In the center lay the shattered corpse of a carapace centurion. Its broken plates glowed faintly, silent testament to a recent battle.
Two for the price of one, Ash thought, though his eyes were already fixed beyond the body.
Sunny stood there, tense as a cornered animal. His posture was one of maximum alert, his hand on the hilt of his sword, and his cautious eyes —those eyes Ash knew so well— scanned the mist with a mixture of hope and distrust. Beside him, the Stone Saint stood motionless, her petrified armor fused with the shadows around her, ready to defend her master.
Ash stopped at the edge of the courtyard, right where the haze ended and the light began.
He said nothing. Made no move.
He simply stood there, letting the silence stretch. The mist at his back did not advance. It lingered, dense and swirling, like a barrier separating the outside world from what was about to happen. The phantom moon filtered its tenuous light through the remnants of the structure, bathing his silhouette. His cloak stirred with a breeze that no one else seemed to feel. Fragments of his armor caught pale glimmers, as if the darkness itself had polished them. And in his eyes gleamed something that hadn't been there when he left: the stillness of one who has descended into the depths and returned.
Sunny stared at him. His lips moved before his mind could process it.
"...Ash?"
The name escaped his lips like a whisper, as if speaking it aloud might shatter the illusion.
The corner of Ash's mouth curved upward. Slowly. Easily. Like a man returning home after a long journey who finds exactly what he expected.
His figure fully emerged from the mist, and the gray veil behind him seemed to close like a curtain falling at the end of an act.
"It's been a long time, Sunless," he said, and his voice resonated through the empty courtyard with a calm that needed no elevation to be heard.