Five weeks later Cassie was standing in a room in Ravenheart with notes strewn all around her.
Sunny's time in the Chained Isles was going to take about six weeks. Of course, with his increased power and foreknowledge he would be able to breeze through the actually substance of what he wanted to do.
Even the case of Mordret should only take a few days if Sunny properly threatened him to behave. They had planned to scare Mordret with the possibility of killing his shadow permanently. This would allow Sunny to simply walk into his prison with a mirror and leave with Mordret as long as Mordret didn't rampage. It would also help Nephis keep him on a leash along with her flames in a soul duel.
Still it would take him a month to fall through the sky to reach the Ebony Tower. At least this time he had packed better provisions than the Coffer's flesh.
Cassie had spend the time in Ravenheart practicing weaving, trying to divine the future, and learning as much as she could about Ravenheart.
She could form a memory in about three times the time it used to take as well as give the most basic enchantments such as 'increase sharpness' or 'more durability.'
Divining the future was harder. She no longer slept as much given that sleep was only available in the Dream Realm and she could meditate to avoid it. The Dream god's influence was stronger entering her dreams quicker and with more aggression. However, [Weaver's Mask] made dealing with it much easier to the point that the ease of escape was easier than before.
But escaping gave much less clues for the future. Cassie had only been able confirm that Sunny would join them in Ravenheart and was able to gleam her and Sunny in a cold tundra as Masters, surrounded by other Masters and many awakened.
'I guess it just confirms that the Chain of Nightmares is coming and we need to be there,' she thought annoyed at the lack of new information.
The notes in her room had to do with the information she was gathering on Ravenheart. Ravenheart had a lot of information if you knew where to look, and Moonveil and Stalker and Kai had been telling her of any and all memory descriptions for the past few weeks while she stayed close to the Jade Palace and mostly avoided combat with one arm.
She sympathized with Effie's drive to gain a new body post-second nightmare.
She turned to her notes.
Her starting point was that obviously the Jade Queen had ruled here long before the Spell descended. Cassie learned how the Jade Queen had turned this place into a renowned city and trading hub, where diplomats and merchants and wanderers could come and go freely under the protection of her court. The Jade Palace had been the center of it, the bridge between the palace and the outer settlement had been perpetually busy, and somewhere in that outer area there had been a great library.
The library had been apparently enormous, a structure in the outer settlement that had housed scrolls and books and records covering a vast swath of knowledge. But now all of it was long destroyed. At some point in the years between the Jade Queen's time and now, the library had gone, and nothing Cassie had found yet could give a clue exactly when or exactly how. She had to assume that when the Jade Queen fell the area also fell to ruin.
What she kept coming back to was the northern side of the volcano.
The volcano sat past the outer settlement, its northern face the one that pointed toward the more dangerous reaches of this territory. Even now, the nightmare creatures up there were tougher, the terrain was rougher, the snowy forest got thicker. Almost no one ventured there due to the fact that there was more promising areas to explore.
Years ago hidden in that territory, according to vague hints in the memories of arrows received by Kai and Moonveil, was an enclave of Shadow creatures. The kind of creatures and warriors that had originated from the Shadow god, which meant they weren't exactly nightmare creatures.
From what Cassie could tell there were human-like Shadowkin that hunted with partnered Shadow creatures. The bond between the two was strong and indestructible, the bond between master and shadow. However, Cassie could tell both acted as each others' master and shadow at the same time.
She briefly grit her teeth thinking of her frustration with the incomplete information. Maybe if she had the full picture she would have another piece of the puzzle in trying to remedy or ease the Shadow Bond she shared.
She brushed the thought away by studying the habits of the enclave more. They had worked with the Jade Queen. They had maintained the northern approaches, and kept the dangerous creatures from coming down through the passes where the diplomats and traders traveled.
She had not seen or heard of a single clue that the enclave still persisted.
She assumed that again they eventually fell when the Queen fell to corruption.
She thought back to her prior life's knowledge. She knew that the daemon Ariel had given the Queen the gift of forbidden knowledge, Cassie had some personal history with forbidden truths knowing that it must be avoided or handled with care. Cassie suspected that the knowledge may have played a part in the Queen's downfall.
She stopped her studying and looked out the window at the Jade Palace. The second nightmare seed was here somewhere.
The lack of visions about it was troubling.
'It will be fine. Probably.' she thought with an internal sigh.
She also thought about how she was planning to convince Ki Song to let them challenge the seed.
It was not feasible to outright defy the status quo of a Sovereign, even if they were still hidden from the public. Besides, she and Sunny had discussed trying to covertly coerce the Sovereigns to aid in the fight against the Dream god.
Ki Song held more promise, while Anvil seemed too apathetic to even care. But if they agreed to join and allow more Sovereigns, then an group of Sovereigns, even with power spread among domains, would put an group of Saints to shame.
'Manipulating a Sovereign directly as an Awakened is truly a headache,' she thought.
She looked forward to waking into the real world. She had been honing her martial arts, glad that she would hopefully be more of a combatant repaying a lifetime of debt to her friends.
But first she grabbed a deck of cards and went downstairs.
Three weeks earlier.
The northern forest had a problem with Snow Chasers, which was that by the time most awakened saw one clearly, they were already being slashed by claws.
The Fallen Devils were fast. Not in a sprinting sense but in a slipping through space sense. They had an ability akin to spacial displacement, or something close to displacement. They could move through space as long as it were snowing. They tended to hunt in pairs or trios.
Moonveil had been tracking three for a little while in a light snowstorm. Her white hunting leathers providing stealth and protecting her from the winds, while providing space for a quiver by her right leg and her saber by her left.
"They've stopped," said Kai from above her, about fifteen meters up, threading the canopy gaps with ease.
"Do you think they know we're here," she said.
"Maybe," he replied.
"Would you like to reassess whether you wanna fight this?" she asked.
"No." Kai said drawing an arrow made of shadows out of white sparks.
Moonveil looked back towards the Chasers.
"Me neither, you crippling the one in the back with that?" she asked.
"I can insure that we only start against the other two." said Kai flying below tree coverage as to be in the shadows.
Moonveil remembered when he got the memory on a previous hunt. The arrow's enchanment only worked if the user was in shadow, but it made certain that the arrow was undetectable and made it deadlier.
She drew her own arrow memory, incidentally she had received it from a prior solo Chaser she and Stalker had hunted. It's enchantment [Horseshoes and Hand Grenades] would distort space once in the vicinity of the target embedding itself in weak areas of the target.
These arrow could guarantee them each a hit before the battle started, a true feat against a Snow Chaser.
She stepped into an opening between trees as they fired their arrows simultaneously.
Kai's arrow pierced through the furthest Chasers right leg shattering its knee.
Moonveil's arrow had been avoided by the Chaser dodging with it ability, and yet still found itself lodged in its chest and causing a grievous wound.
Moonveil raced along the edges drawing her bow and laying down barrages as Kai danced in the sky doing the same.
Most of the arrows missed.
An uninjured Chaser was trying to climb and extend it claws into the sky with surprising range. Resulting in Kai being forced away from the fight.
The other had arrived to Moonveil who had riddled it with arrows. It went to lash out with its ability. She ducked under it and activated her ability preventing it from adjusting to her dodge.
Her dormant aspect allowed her to suppress the enemy's ability as long as it bled. This did, however, suppress her awakened ability.
She grabbed the chest wound with her right hand painting it in blood.
The Snow Chaser tried to displace again, and nothing happened, and it skidded in the snow and turned with confusion.
She put an arrow through its right shoulder at eight meters. She saw a vulnerability open on the right side of its neck.
She licked her hand ingesting the blood and drew her saber. Then she ran at the Chaser's left flank. She stopped the suppression, the Chaser didn't notice and chose to try and slam at her.
She displaced.
Her awakened ability allowed her to use a weakened form of another's ability, but she had to use greater essence and ingest its blood.
She appeared above its right shoulder and her saber found its neck. She heard the Spell sing to her.
She looked up to she the other Chaser jumped off a tree at Kai who flew at it unflinchingly. She saw him dance to avoid it like a matador with a bull.
The Chaser fell 20 meters into the ground. Before it could get up and before Moonveil's saber could strike, an arrow made of shadow shattered its skull.
The last Chaser was farther away and taking one look at them distorted away. Kai's eyes narrowed and he sighed.
"We probably won't catch it, even with it crippled," he said.
"That was a nice move using the distortion against it, how much can you use it?" he asked.
"Depends on how much blood I get. The less I ingest the weaker it is and it doesn't last like this. If I really drank more I might hold it for a couple minutes closer to full strength."
"That's a remarkable awakened ability," he said.
"Thanks," said Moonveil. "Most people think drinking blood is really weird."
"I don't know vampires were into that and they are popular in media at least," said Kai with a shrug.
"I-I guess," she said with a blush.
Kai's eyes got wide.
"I umm... didn't mean it like- you know like a weirdo," said Kai embarrassed.
Moonveil laughed.
Back to the present.
The place Cassie was staying at was cozy and had more than enough space for the three of them.
"BS," said Moonveil.
Kai turned over his cards. Two jacks, as claimed. He looked at Moonveil.
"I said it preemptively," she said. "Out of reflex, it shouldn't count."
"That's not how the game works." said Kai.
"It is if you say it before I put the cards down." she complained.
"You didn't say it before I put them down." he retorted.
"I said it as you were putting them down." she argued.
Cassie was watching this while holding four cards she was planning to claim were all twos. Three of them were twos. The fourth was a seven.
She used maybe a half-second of future sight and saw Kai open his mouth. She knew what he was going to say and she knew how she was going to play before he said it. She put three cards down instead.
"Three twos."
"BS," said Kai, immediately.
Cassie shook her head turning the twos over, to which Kai groaned.
"You're cheating," said Moonveil.
"I'm playing with the information available to me." said Cassie innocently.
"That's a cheating person's explanation of cheating." Moonveil said.
"Is that right." Cassie said with a tone of genuine wonder.
"Whatever." said Moonveil with an eyeroll.
Cassie had been open about her abilities including the sight a few seconds into the future. She had also lost multiple times this evening, so if she was cheating she wasn't doing it too much.
"How are you cheating?" he said. "You've been losing."
"I've been losing the hands I forget to cheat on," said Cassie said jokingly.
He shook his head at the two of them.
Moonveil won the next hand and felt unreasonably pleased about it.
They'd been doing the hunting, the card games, the camaraderie for about five weeks. Moonveil had started with the expectation that it would be temporary, that Cassie and Kai would fit into Ravenheart and then she'd see them occasionally and it would be fine. Instead she'd found herself looking forward to seeing them both. They were good company.
Cassie was watching her now with the expression she sometimes had that Moonveil still didn't fully understand.
"There's something we wanted to ask you," Cassie said.
Moonveil looked at her and waited.
"The second nightmare. I wasn't entirely joking when I said I wanted to challenge it with you."
Moonveil put her cup down.
"You've been an awakened for a little over a month," she said raising an eyebrow. "Are there even any in Ravenheart? I've asked my mother and she said there isn't."
"I haven't found one yet, but I am pretty sure I know where one is ," said Cassie, she glanced at Kai. "The three of us, plus Stalker if she's willing. We think the timing is right."
Moonveil looked at her. Then at Kai, who was watching with the expression of someone who had already worked through his own thinking on this and was waiting to see what she did with it.
The thing was, she wanted to. She'd wanted to challenge a seed for a while and her mother said there was always a reason it wasn't yet time.
"My mother would have to approve it," she said. "Not just for me. For anyone challenging a seed in Song Clan territory, that permission has to come from her. It's not exactly a lax policy."
"We understand that," said Cassie. "I have a feeling I can convince her."
Moonveil looked down at the card table.
"I'll have to think about it," she said, then she looked up. "But if you can convince mother somehow, then I'm very likely in."
Cassie nodded with a smile and they continued the game.
A few days later.
Two hundred meters up in the air wasn't just nice because the air felt good. It was also the right distance for scouting. Below that the nightmare creatures in the trees started paying attention to him. Above that the nightmare creatures that hunted at higher altitudes started paying attention to him. Two hundred meters was where neither set of things cared about him.
Kai had been at this for about an hour.
His awakened ability was enhanced vision and perception, which had made his archery even more accurate and deadly. He could also view detailed terrain and read individual features on the ground with the kind of clarity most people got only up close. He could also peer much farther on the horizons. He was looking for what Cassie had asked him to which was black grass, peaceful dark water, shadowy trees.
'What did a shadowy tree even look like.' he thought.
While he looked he thought. Instead of running to process his thoughts Kai had turned to flying. Here, as an awakened in Ravenheart it was more feasible than in the Forgotten Shore.
His mind went to his friend with an affinity for shadows. Sunny had asked him a question in the Dark City, what were his true feelings and what did he actually care about? Kai had thought about it honestly, which meant he'd sat with the discomfort of realizing he hadn't fully asked himself before.
Before the spell Kai truly cared about his pop career. He knew people thought of it as the shallow part of his identity, but the reason it had mattered to him wasn't the fame or even the music, though he'd worked hard at the music. The reason it had mattered was the people he effected.
The joy he saw on their faces or how they were able to resonate with a song.
He'd made that happen. When he reflected on the question he realized his true feelings were that he wanted to be proud of his own contribution and fulfilling a duty he held himself to. A duty to make humanity's spark brighter.
However, he now knew that humanity's spark was in danger. Of course, it had always been in danger and the Spell was the first sign of increased danger. But Sunny and Cassie believed that their situation was more dire than anyone else believed.
He also wielded more power than most of humanity and even among awakened he knew the Forgotten Shore had honed him to be sharper than a lot of awakened.
He sighed.
Duties were not static, the dynamically changed with the circumstance. His knowledge, his strength, and the state of the worlds moved his heart making the duty he expected from himself more.
'It is daunting but if I ignore my true feelings, I will not really be able to live feeling a sense of fulfillment and happiness,' he thought as he flew through the air.
He banked slightly east and the terrain below changed. It was subtle enough that he almost adjusted his course before his vision caught a hint of shadow-like black.
He circled back and looked properly. The snow was the same depth. The trees were the same density. But the grass underneath the snow, where the slope was steep enough for it to show through, was black.
He continued and the snow retreated revealing a small patch of land where the grass were black. The trees had obsidian bark and black leaves with tiny sparse white flower. There were lakes that seemed to be a shade darker, but not in a hostile or dangerous way, but in one that suggested that bathing in one would give endless solace.
He stayed high and looked carefully at the center of the affected area. Then he saw it and felt a slight call. A skeleton of a fallen warrior that had turned into a nightmare seed sat at the edge of the horizon of his vision.
His scouting had finally paid off.
He turned and flew back swiftly.
Cassie was going to want to know about this today.
A Few Hours Before That.
Kai was not hard to follow. He was flying, which meant he was visible from a considerable distance if you looked up.
Following Kai without attracting the attention of the nightmare creatures he was flying over required a bit more.
Her dormant aspect rendered herself effectively undetectable to anything up to corrupted rank, which in practical terms meant she could move through almost any nightmare territory in the Ravenheart area without being perceived. The limit was higher class corrupted such as a terror or titan if it was paying attention. Any Great creature or beyond would also be able to detect her. Everything below that, she was essentially absent as far as their senses were concerned.
To avoid the more dangerous creatures she had to add actual stealth. Kai was moving deeper into the wilderness nearby areas that inhabitants of Ravenheart knew to belong to those more dangerous nightmare creatures. So she moved carefully, while still keeping pace with his flight.
She'd decided to follow Kai because she didn't trust the situation and she only trusted herself to decipher it.
The decision had been building for a few days and had resolved itself into action this morning after she'd seen Kai going on solo scouting missions a few times in the past couple weeks.
Cassie had asked Kai to look for something, but Stalker didn't know exactly what.
Moonveil trusted Cassie. Stalker was still unsure.
The trust wasn't about whether Cassie was a good person. Stalker was good at reading people and her hunch said that she probably was.
But this was about whether Cassie's good intentions were driven by goals that were ultimately against Clan Song and in particular Stalker and her sisters.
Kai she was more comfortable with. She could tell he was earnest and she had personal respect for that quality.
Moonveil had been hanging out much more with Kai and Cassie for the past three weeks. Of course she was much more of a social butterfly than Stalker, but anyone besides her sisters she typically kept at arms reach. But Kai and Cassie were becoming part of Moonveil's inner circle.
Stalker wasn't opposed to this. She just wanted to understand the full picture before she decided how she felt about it.
Above her, Kai slowed and began to gaze in one direction.
She stopped and looked at the terrain ahead. The change was visible at the edges, even without enhanced vision. The quality of the grass under the snow, the quite danger that radiated beyond her normal senses. She'd thought she had been to all the unique areas in Ravenheart save the forbidden parts belonging to nightmare creatures.
She hadn't realized that they had ventured to the northern edge of the volcano, an area far enough away that there was little reason to ever come here.
Kai stayed at altitude, gazing with his enhanced eyes, then turned back the way he'd come.
Stalker stayed where she was.
She couldn't see the seed from here. Her eyes were good but they weren't Kai's. But she understood that he'd found something significant to Cassie. Whatever the significance of the northern area was she knew it was not benign.
She needed to go to the palace tomorrow.
Ki Song was going to find out regardless, and Stalker knew she'd get a better picture if she brought the conversation to her mother instead of being left in the dark.
She turned and walked back through the trees at her own pace.
The throne room was cold and dark. A beautiful woman in a red dress sat on the throne with a sword that emitted supreme power pierced through her chest.
Cassie bowed.
"Ki Song." she address the Supreme respectfully.
"Do you talk to the dead so frequently that my state does not make you uncomfortable," said Ki Song seeing not an inclination of reaction of her condition from the blonde girl.
"My powers lean towards partly being an oracle, forgive me if I'm a bit privy to information I shouldn't be," said Cassie.
Ki Song looked at her for a moment with what might have been amusement.
"You want to challenge the seed north of the volcano," said Ki Song.
Cassie was not entirely surprised, Ki Song was exceedingly powerful and it would be unusual for her to not know that occurrences in the heart of her territory.
"I do," said Cassie. "I want to get stronger. I want to recover what I've lost." She gestured briefly at her arm in the sling.
"Both reasonable things," said Ki Song. "People want reasonable things all the time. I don't let them challenge seeds in my territory because they want reasonable things."
"I'd like Moonveil and Stalker to come with me," said Cassie. "And Kai."
"I do plan for my daughters to challenge the second nightmare within the year," said Ki Song. "You proposing to attach yourself to that is not the same as me agreeing to it."
"No," said Cassie. "It isn't."
Cassie braced herself and then said something Ki Song wasn't expecting.
"It would be a shame," she said, keeping her tone conversational, "if what really happened to Broken Sword found its way out."
The room got colder. The Sovereign's attention turning fully in one direction. Two corpsed rose near Cassie. She didn't look at them. She kept her eyes on Ki Song.
"That," said Ki Song, "is a very bold thing for an awakened to say in this room."
"I know," said Cassie. "I'm not trying to be reckless. I'm trying to be honest about my position."
"Your position."
"If something happens to me, that information goes to people who will do things with it that will throw the power structure into chaos." She paused. "That's not a threat. I'm not trying to threaten you. I don't want that information to go anywhere. I'd strongly prefer it stayed buried. Though I'd wish that you properly explain yourself to Nephis."
Ki Song looked at her for a long time.
"Then what do you want."
"For now, permission," said Cassie simply. "To challenge the seed. With Moonveil, Stalker, Kai, and one more person."
"For now," Ki Song repeated.
"After we conquer the seed, I would like you to be open at some point at reconsidering the current arrangement you and Anvil of Valor maintain." Cassie said, Ki Song's eyes narrowing. "I wish the save humanity, and I would like humanity to be armed with as many weapons as it can muster."
"I am just one person, with my friends we are stronger maybe strong enough, but the aid of two veteran Sovereigns would be a great help," Cassie continued. "And the status quo will lead to both your demises and that of humanity's."
The two shapes near Cassie were still present.
"You're trying to save humanity," said Ki Song amused.
"Something like that."
Ki Song was quiet for a moment.
Cassie wasn't sure if that was good or bad. She waited.
"Five of you," said Ki Song. "My daughters, your Nightingale, and the other will challenge the seed. As to the other request" Her tone became icy. "We will reassess your opinions on ruling if you survive."
"Thank you," said Cassie.
The shapes near her settled back into the ground.
She bowed again before she left, and the dead woman on the throne watched her go.