Sunny grunted in acknowledgment. He tightened his grip on the hilt of his tachi, knuckles whitening as another creature swooped low enough for him to feel the rush of air from its wings. His shadow writhed at his feet, eager but constrained, ill-suited for aerial prey.
Not for the first time, he found himself wishing for a bow, a throwing spear, anything that could reach into the sky and drag those pests down.
'Damn it,' he thought bitterly, eyes tracking a circling monster. 'Why does Neph get all the luck?'
The thought barely finished forming before guilt followed close behind. He remembered her Flaw. Remembered the price she paid for every use of those beautiful, merciless flames. Remembered her past, the weight she carried without complaint.
He exhaled slowly, jaw tightening.
"On second thought," he muttered to himself, slashing upward at a diving shape and forcing it to retreat, "maybe we both have it bad."
In the end, they made it out.
The moment they crossed an unseen threshold, the pressure above them vanished as abruptly as it had begun. The swarm wheeled overhead one last time, releasing a chorus of shrill, hate-filled shrieks that echoed across the broken land, before peeling away in a chaotic spiral. Sunny slowed, then stopped entirely, eyes following their retreat with barely concealed resentment.
Some of the creatures doubled back, circling the stretch of ground where the earlier skirmishes had taken place. He watched, jaw tightening, as they descended to the scorched earth and began tearing into the charred remains of their fallen kin. Wings folded, claws ripping, they fed with grotesque enthusiasm, crunching and gnawing at blackened flesh still faintly steaming from Nephis's flames.
"Hateful bastards," Sunny muttered.
His face twitched in disgust, and he forced himself to turn away before the sight etched itself too deeply into his mind. Cannibalism among monsters was hardly new to him, but something about the casual relish with which they devoured their own left a sour taste in his mouth.
Instead, he focused on what lay ahead.
The Dark City.
Up close, it was even more imposing than it had appeared from afar—but not in a grand or awe-inspiring way. It was oppressive, suffocating. The massive walls loomed overhead, built from black, inky stone that swallowed light rather than reflected it. The architecture felt wrong, less like a place meant for the living and more like an enormous mausoleum that had outgrown its purpose. Every surface seemed to drink in warmth and sound, leaving the air unnaturally cold and heavy.
Sunny couldn't help but wonder how many souls had once lived within these walls. How many had laughed, argued, loved, and dreamed here.
And how many of them were still around.
"Let's go," Nephis said, breaking the silence.
Her voice was steady, resolute as ever, and it pulled Sunny out of his thoughts. As usual, she was the first to move, setting the pace without hesitation. Cassie followed at her side, guided by the golden rope, while Sunny brought up the rear, shadow stretched long and alert.
Step by step, they advanced, passing beneath the vast shadow cast by the city walls. The temperature dropped perceptibly the moment they crossed into that shade, as if the sun itself hesitated to intrude here.
Sunny's gaze drifted upward, and that was when he noticed it properly.
Rising some distance within the city was a massive cylindrical structure, dark and monolithic, reaching high into the sky like a colossal finger pointing accusingly at the heavens. It dwarfed the surrounding buildings, its surface smooth and uniform compared to the crumbling stone around it.
"Think that's the Citadel?" Sunny asked, nodding toward it.
Nephis followed his gaze, her grey eyes narrowing slightly as she assessed the structure. "Perhaps. The Spell does have a habit of assigning Citadels to the most spectacular or unique building in an area." She paused, then added, "Still, we shouldn't assume. We'll explore the city to be safe."
They spent several minutes circling the outer wall, moving cautiously along its base. The black stone was cold to the touch, seamless in places and fractured in others, as though time itself had grown tired of trying to wear it down. Eventually, they found an opening—a breach where the wall had collapsed inward, leaving a jagged passage just wide enough to squeeze through.
Nephis and Sunny flanked Cassie, each taking one side as they carefully guided her over loose rubble and uneven stone. The air beyond the wall felt different—stagnant, untouched.
On the other side, the city greeted them with silence.
They stood in what appeared to be a residential district. Narrow streets stretched out between rows of houses in various states of decay. Some buildings had partially collapsed, their roofs caved in and walls reduced to skeletal frames. Others stood eerily intact, windows dark and empty, doors hanging open like mouths frozen mid-scream.
Not a single living soul was in sight.
A cold wind threaded its way through the streets, slipping between buildings and down alleys, weaving an eerie, hollow tune that raised goosebumps along Sunny's arms. The sound carried whispers of absence, of abandonment so complete it felt deliberate.
Sunny exhaled slowly, scanning the empty streets and shadowed doorways.
For the first time since leaving the Coral Labyrinth, he found himself almost missing it.
At least there, the danger had been loud.
They moved on without any real sense of direction, simply pressing deeper into the city, guided more by instinct than intention. The streets gradually narrowed, the buildings crowding closer together as though conspiring to hem them in. Black stone rose on either side, looming and silent, its surface scarred by time yet stubbornly intact.
Sunny's shadow went into overdrive.
Gloomy flitted from wall to wall, slipping through cracks, climbing façades, darting ahead to peer down intersecting streets and alleys. Through its senses, Sunny searched relentlessly for movement, heat, intent—anything. Yet there was nothing. No lurking silhouettes. No skittering shapes. No distant echoes of claws on stone.
Nothing at all.
Given the sheer scale of the Dark City, perhaps that should not have been surprising. And yet, Sunny felt more uneasy with every step. Since when had monsters ever been absent? Since when had the Dream Realm allowed such a stretch of peace?
Nephis felt it too. Sunny could tell, even though she gave nothing away overtly. Her posture was still upright, her pace steady, her grip on her sword relaxed but ready. Yet the faint tension in her shoulders, the subtle way her gaze lingered on corners and rooftops a fraction longer than necessary, told him everything. The calm was wrong, and she knew it.
After a stretch of time that felt neither long nor short—one of those strange intervals where minutes blurred together—Sunny suddenly raised his fist.
They stopped at once.
"There's a strange structure up ahead," he said quietly. "Want to check it out?"
Cassie tilted her head toward him. "What's it like?"
Sunny hesitated, then answered plainly. "Underground."
"No."
Nephis's response was immediate, her tone sharp and unyielding.
"Fighting underground in cramped spaces is the biggest taboo for any warrior," she said firmly, "especially for someone like me. I need space to maximize the effectiveness of my flames. If I lose control down there, I could bring the roof down on top of us."
Cassie remained silent, but her expression shifted subtly, her lips pressing together in agreement. The blind girl did not need sight to understand the danger of enclosed spaces in the Dream Realm.
Sunny shrugged inwardly. He didn't particularly care either way. A pit was a pit—dangerous, yes, but not inherently more so than the city itself. He was about to nod and suggest moving on when something caught his attention.
Or rather, Gloomy's.
Sunny frowned as he focused his mind through his shadow's senses, sharpening its attention on the object that had snagged it. Nestled near the edge of the pit's entrance, half-buried among broken stone, was a faint glow.
Small. Jagged. Irregular.
A crystal.
Sunny's eyebrow rose slowly. "A Soul Shard?"
The muttered words were enough to draw the attention of the two girls. Nephis and Cassie both frowned.
"What did you say?" Nephis asked.