!! Important news !!
I just noticed that in the chapter New horizons I forgot to publish like a thousand words worth of story, it's about sunny finding the girls , his memories from Julius and his first fight
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In the heavy, suffocating silence that followed, the smile that had lingered on Cassie's face slowly faded, her expression morphing into one of confusion. The sudden tension in the air seemed to press down on her, and she couldn't help but voice her unease, her voice soft but sharp with concern.
"Uh… what's wrong?"
Sunny let out a long, weary sigh. He ran a hand through his hair, his gaze flicking briefly to the distant horizon, his thoughts clearly drifting.
"No, nothing is wrong. It's just that... that direction is the one we wanted to avoid."
His words hung in the air for a moment, and Cassie, sensing the subtle shift in the atmosphere, watched him closely. Sunny's eyes darkened a little as he continued, his voice steady but tinged with a hint of caution.
"That's where I came from yesterday. There's a lot of scavengers down there."
Cassie's face, bright and hopeful just moments ago, now fell into an expression of quiet realization.
"Oh."
Nephis, who had been quietly observing the exchange from the sidelines, regarded Sunny with an inscrutable look—her sharp gaze never wavering—and then, without missing a beat, she spoke in her usual calm, deliberate manner.
"Tell us more about the castle."
Sunny gave her a sideways glance, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Neph is right. Did you see anything else?" His voice was casual, but there was an unmistakable curiosity in his tone as he searched for more details.
A flicker of excitement returned to Cassie's eyes, like a spark rekindling in the dark, and her posture straightened. She nodded seriously, as though she were about to impart something important. The change in her demeanor was almost palpable. She inhaled deeply, and then, with a look of deep focus, she began to describe the vision that had been haunting her dreams.
"I dreamt of a vast, ruined city, built from ancient stone that had been weathered by time and neglect. It was surrounded by towering walls—tall, imposing, and seemingly impenetrable. As I walked through its narrow, winding streets, I could see monsters,wandering aimlessly, their twisted forms a far cry from anything normal. But in the very heart of the city, there was a hill." She paused for a moment, her eyes alight with something like awe. "And on that hill stood a magnificent castle."
A soft smile graced her lips, as if she were remembering the beauty of the vision rather than the danger that surrounded it.
"But there were no monsters in the castle!" She continued, her voice growing more animated with every word. "Instead, it was filled with people. People who were... I think... no, I'm sure they were Awakened. Some were guarding the walls, others were simply living their lives as though everything was normal, carefree. There was food, safety, and laughter… Can you imagine?"
Her eyes sparkled with the kind of hope that seemed almost too pure for the harsh world they lived in. If this castle truly existed, all their problems, all their struggles, could be solved. A sense of longing settled over the group, but it was Sunny who broke the spell with a harsh reality.
"No way those were Awakened," he said with a dismissive shake of his head. "The Forgotten Shore is a complete unknown. No one made it back."
He didn't wispre or try to hide his thoughts,He knew better than anyone that his blind little doll had an uncanny ability to hear things that others couldn't.
"Did you see anything else?"
Cassie frowned, her brows furrowing in concentration as she tried to dredge up the fragments of the vision from her memory. Her fingers twitched in agitation, the silence stretching for just a heartbeat before her face cleared, her features lighting up with recognition.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, a renewed energy flooding her voice. "I saw Sunny leading me through the gates of the castle! That means we'll make it, right?"
A brilliant, almost childlike smile broke across her face, her joy so pure and overwhelming that Sunny couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips in response.
But inside, his mind whirled with a certain detail from her vision that kept him on edge. The blind girl had only mentioned the two of them reaching the castle. Was there some deeper meaning in that? Was it just a slip of the tongue, or did it signify something more? Did they split up?
He glanced over at Nephis, wondering if she had picked up on that small, but significant, discrepancy. Her unreadable expression gave him no answers, as usual.
Changing Star, ever enigmatic, remained as composed as ever. She paused, her eyes distant as though she were weighing something in the silence, before giving a slow, deliberate nod.
"Okay," she said, her voice calm and steady. "Then we will go west."
'*'
As the sea slowly retreated, the once thunderous waves now whispering their departure, the group sat down to have their breakfast. The salty air still clung to their skin, the scent of the ocean a constant reminder of their precarious position. After the meal, they spent some time carefully planning the next leg of their journey and preparing to dismantle their temporary camp. Their movements were methodical, quiet, each of them focusing on their tasks with practiced efficiency. It was a moment of calm before they would plunge back into the uncertainty that awaited them.
During this brief reprieve, Sunny found himself in the rare position of being able to observe the girls a little more closely, to really get a better sense of who they were, beyond the immediate tasks at hand. As he did so, something inside him shifted—something that nearly made his mind implode from sheer bafflement. What he realized about Nephis was so jarring, so utterly unexpected, that it almost felt like the ground had shifted beneath his feet.
When they had first met outside the Academy's gates, Sunny had formed a very specific impression of Nephis. She had struck him as someone confident—distant, almost cold, and maybe even a bit egotistical. She carried herself with a sort of quiet, intimidating grace that gave her an air of self-assuredness, as though she existed above everyone else. And as the days had passed, and as he had learned more about Changing Star from Caster, that initial impression only deepened.
As Caster had once said,:"Changing Star seemed to exist a bit apart from the world." She was mysterious, aloof, and undeniably cool in a way that drew attention. Her taciturn nature, her odd speech patterns—everything about her seemed to make those around her feel off balance. People found themselves unnerved in her presence, often revealing more than they had intended to. The less she spoke, the more it seemed she knew. Her silence was like a weight, her quiet confidence as arresting as it was overwhelming. It was the kind of aura that made others feel small by comparison.
But, as Sunny soon discovered, he couldn't have been more wrong.
The truth about Nephis had nothing to do with aloofness or cool detachment. It wasn't about being an unapproachable figure, one that stood apart from everyone else. After spending more time around her, observing her interactions with Cassie, and remembering that strange night with the Terminals, Sunny felt as if the ground had been ripped out from under him. It hit him with such force that it nearly left him reeling: Nephis wasn't mysterious—she was simply... awkward. Ridiculously, painfully, almost tragically awkward.
It was as though she had no idea how to talk to people. Every time she tried to speak, her words would falter. She'd either stumble over them, or she'd cut herself off mid-sentence, leaving an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. Her tone would never quite match the words she was trying to convey, and more often than not, she'd forget to use the right intonation—making questions sound like statements or vice versa, as if she couldn't quite figure out how to express herself.
And it wasn't just the awkwardness in her speech. Nephis was someone who, like many introverts, struggled with showing her emotions. It wasn't that she lacked feelings—it was just that she was absolutely terrible at expressing them. Her face, usually neutral and cold, gave nothing away. She wore an expression so impassive that it was easy to believe that she didn't feel anything at all. But Sunny knew better. It wasn't a lack of emotion; it was a failure to communicate it, to express the storm that might be swirling inside her.
Because of all this, Nephis rarely spoke. When she did, it was either in short bursts or not at all. Silence was safer for her, a refuge where she didn't have to face the anxiety of fumbling through her words or the possibility of miscommunication.
All of this—her awkwardness, her inability to show emotion, her strange behavior—had combined to create a façade of someone who was untouchable, an enigmatic ice queen. The reality, though, was that Nephis was simply shy—terribly shy—and utterly incapable of connecting with others in any meaningful way.
The realization was like a slap in the face. Sunny couldn't stop himself from staring at Nephis, his gaze now laden with new understanding. He studied her with a mix of disbelief and confusion, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he had misjudged her so completely. He barely managed to keep the shock off his face, but inside, his mind was screaming.
'What the hell? That's how she should act? How much did I get wrong?'
In his mind, Nephis had always seemed like the kind of person who was destined to be the protagonist of any story—like one of his former *Big Brothers* from the Celik crime family, the bosses and teachers who carried an aura of authority with them, people who simply existed and everything else fell into place. They were the ones who stood at the center of everything, with an iron grip on the world around them. People like Caster and Nephis—they were the ones who commanded respect, who held power.
And people like himself and Cassie? Well, they were the ones who existed on the edges, far from the center stage, almost invisible in the background. At least, that's how it had always seemed. But now, Sunny found himself questioning everything he'd thought he knew.
'No… that's wrong too,' he thought, shaking his head inwardly. The fact that Nephis struggled with expressing herself, that she wasn't some effortlessly smooth communicator, didn't mean she wasn't strong. In fact, it probably made her strength even more remarkable. He'd lost count of how many times a weirdo had nearly bashed his head in, and yet Nephis had somehow still achieved everything she had, despite all of her social clumsiness and emotional restraint.
She was dangerous. She was still dangerous.
Even now, as she stood before him, dressed in his shorts,tank top and hoodie that clung tightly to her athletic, lithe body in a way that highlighted her curves in an almost sensual manner, she didn't look the part of someone dangerous. She looked like a snack—sweet,savory even—but Sunny knew better. Her awkwardness didn't diminish the threat she posed. Far from it.
At that moment, Nephis finally noticed his intense stare. Her eyes met his, and after a long, uncomfortable pause, she spoke in her usual flat, emotionless tone:
"...What?"
He blinked, snapping out of his daze, the flood of thoughts crashing back into place. He cleared his throat, trying to pull himself together.
"Uh, nothing. I was just going to ask when we're setting off."
Nephis seemed to take a moment to process his words. Then, after a pause, she turned her gaze away and answered with a single word, as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
"Soon."
'You… you really can't manage more than one word, can you?'
Sunny couldn't help the bewildered chuckle that bubbled up inside him. But he masked it well, hiding his emotions behind a smile.
"Ah. Alright then."
'*'
It did not take long for Sunnless's shadow to encounter some Nightmare Creatures.
He motioned for his cohort to stop,
"Scavengers, six of them."
He said,Short and precise
As soon as the word left his lips, Nephis instantly summoned her sword, the smooth motion almost predatory in its efficiency. She studied the surroundings for a brief moment, her sharp eyes scanning every corner of their immediate area. Then, without a word, she turned her head slightly and glanced at him, the question clear in her gaze.
Cassie, on the other hand, froze where she stood, her eyes widening as she hesitantly lifted her staff, her grip trembling ever so slightly.
*Curses!*
The hulking beasts before them reminded Sunny of the losers of a pack, similar to the one he had slain earlier. However, their injuries were not as severe or grotesque. No, these creatures were a much greater threat than the mangled one he'd dispatched before—bigger, faster, and at least half a dozen strong.
"They're on the path ahead... Slowly moving in our direction," Sunny muttered, his voice grim.
Nephis cast a swift glance forward, the calculating expression on her face deepening as she took in the beasts' movements.
"They're done with the carcass?" she asked, her tone flat but laced with curiosity.
Sunny thought for a moment, the pieces clicking together in his mind, before shaking his head slowly.
"No, I don't think so. But maybe there's not enough meat to go around anymore. The stragglers probably had no choice but to leave with empty stomachs."
Nephis nodded, her face impassive as always. She pointed toward a nearby branching path with a decisive gesture.
"We'll circle around them."
Without hesitation, the three Sleepers moved forward, changing direction with the speed of instinct. They took a wide berth around the group of monsters, the tension hanging heavy in the air. Every sound, every movement was magnified in their heightened awareness. They pressed on, grim-faced, trying to stay on course in the labyrinth, not allowing themselves to get lost in its winding, deceptive paths.
Yet, the next hour was filled with repeated turns—random, evasive shifts as they avoided more scavengers lurking in the labyrinth's depths. The distance between them and the towering statue in the distance wasn't shrinking at all. If anything, it felt like they were going in circles.
At some point, the trio found themselves catching their breath by one of the numerous dead ends that seemed to stretch endlessly within the crimson maze. They had no choice but to wait, crouching low in the shadows as a large group of creatures passed just beyond their hiding spot, separated by nothing more than a long, winding passage of twisting coral.
Sunny sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair in frustration. His patience was wearing thin.
"We can't keep going like this. At this rate, we won't make it to safety before sunset," he muttered, frustration leaking into his voice.
Cassie, who had been nervously glancing around, was the first to react. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
"Maybe… maybe we should turn back?"
It was a reasonable suggestion, one that Sunny could easily agree with, but something inside him resisted. Turning back would mean admitting they couldn't handle the situation.
Nephis, ever stoic, seemed to share his thoughts. Without so much as a flicker of emotion, she spoke, her voice cutting through the tension.
"It will only get harder tomorrow."
Her words were blunt, but they rang with undeniable truth. By tomorrow, there would be even more scavengers, flooding the labyrinth with no mercy. The only choice would be to press forward, no matter the cost.
"Then what should we do?" Sunny asked, feeling a growing sense of urgency.
Changing Star tilted her head slightly, as if deep in thought. For a long moment, she remained silent, her gaze distant. Then, without warning, she turned back to him, her decision already made.
"Fight."
Sunny blinked, staring at her for a moment as his brain struggled to catch up. Fight? Fight against dozens of those monstrosities? Had she completely lost her mind? He had taken down one of them with ease, but it had been wounded and—more importantly—alone. Fighting more than one, in their current state, felt like a suicide mission.
He tried to hide his disbelief, but it was hard to keep the skepticism from showing on his face.
"I know you're skilled with the sword," he began slowly, choosing his words carefully. "But have you forgotten that each of those things is a whole rank above us? We won't survive in a fight against so many."
Nephis gave him a single, deliberate nod, unfazed by his concerns.
"We avoid large groups. Cut down smaller ones."
After a brief pause, she added, "If there's only one or two, there's a chance."
Sunny felt the weight of her words settling in, the unease gnawing at him. He wanted to protest further, but he couldn't find a solid reason to do so. In the end, he relented, though not without a resigned sigh.
"Fine."
Nephis didn't seem to care for his reluctant agreement. She studied him for a long moment, as if reading his thoughts, before speaking again, her voice emotionless.
"Have you studied the corpse of the scavenger you killed?"
Sunny didn't hesitate. His teacher's lessons were fresh in his mind, as clear as day.
"Scavengers have three weak points on their bodies. The first is their joints. The second is where their torso connects to the carapace. If you hit that spot accurately, you can inflict serious damage. But if you want to kill them, you need to sever their spine. The last weak point is on their back, around eye level . There's a slightly concave, discolored cavity in their armor where several plates overlap. The chitin there is thinner, and if you can pierce it, you can directly destroy the brain. That would be a killing blow."
He paused, his eyes darkening with focus. "But that spot is hard to hit. Let me try to sneak behind them first."
With Twin's Bane firmly in his grasp, he knew the Awakened Pesh-kabz, being of the third tier, would make short work of the beasts. The thought of the challenge didn't scare him. It only sharpened his resolve.
Nephis merely nodded, her face unreadable. Cassie, on the other hand, was shifting nervously, hugging herself with one arm, a faint tremor running through her body. The air was thick with tension, and it felt like even the labyrinth itself was holding its breath.
'*'
It wasn't long before they found themselves with no choice but to engage a scavenger in combat. Behind them stretched a long and desolate passage of the labyrinth, devoid of any viable branching paths that could offer a safe escape. Ahead, a small clearing opened up, with only a single passage leading out from it.
Not far within that passage, a massive scavenger was moving steadily in their direction, its monstrous form coming into view.
Sunny swiftly assessed the situation, his gaze flicking between the clearing and the beast's approach. He turned to Nephis, waiting for her input. Without a moment's hesitation, she gave him a small nod of acknowledgment.
"We fight in the clearing."
With that, Nephis calmly walked over to Cassie, gently guiding her to the wall of the labyrinth and helping her find a place to sit, her actions deliberate and composed.
"Wait here. We'll be back," Nephis instructed, her tone as steady as ever.
After a brief pause, she added, almost as an afterthought, "Soon."
Sunny's lips twitched into the faintest of smiles at the awkward yet endearing moment between the two. For a moment, it felt almost... normal.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Sunny said though not paying the fragile girl his attention . His mind, had already started wandering, diving deep into the recesses of his very being . There, it called upon something he hadn't called upon in a long time.
His time with the Celik crime family had been something Sunny prided himself on. He had risen through the ranks faster than most, and at just 17 years old, he had achieved a status many would envy. But it wasn't with clean hands . He had learned early on that killing another human was something that left a permanent mark on the soul. He vividly remembered the body of the young blond, no older than 15, his head slamming into the wall after Sunny's blow. He could still hear the sickening thud of the impact as the boy collapsed, convulsing on the cold ground. They had been in an isolated spot, and Sunny, at just 13 years old, had been paralyzed by the moment. He had run from the scene, heart racing, sickened by what he had done.
That moment had forced him to adapt, to keep a focused and clean mind when it came to his work. The mistake of leaving a body behind could have cost him his freedom, or worse, the wrath of the Remmo.
To deal with the pressure, he had developed—no, found—a way to to achieve that state of consciousness.Banishing his incompetence, and take his feeble emotions in his hands and choke them,to silence them.
That very same technique was what he was calling upon now, pulling it from the depths of his mind.
"Give me an opening, if—when—you get the chance," he murmured to Nephis, his voice barely above a whisper, though his words held a weight that only she would understand.
With a small nod of acknowledgment, Nephis and Sunny hurried toward the clearing.
By the time they arrived, the scavenger was mere seconds from emerging into the open. Sunny's shadow shot out from his feet like a living thing, swirling around him before he melded into the shadows. He took his position, hidden and patient, ready for the perfect moment to strike.
Nephis, on the other hand, walked into the center of the clearing with a calm demeanor that betrayed nothing. Her back straight, her shoulders relaxed, and an elegant longsword materializing in her hands, pointed lazily to the ground. She stood there, a picture of serene confidence, as though facing down a monster was as trivial as a stroll through the park.
A second later, the scavenger emerged into the clearing. Its beady eyes immediately locked onto Nephis, and the shift in its demeanor was immediate—its evil, predatory gleam igniting as it screeched in rage. Without hesitation, the monster launched itself forward with an unholy speed.
Its massive pincers shot through the air, slicing toward Nephis with deadly precision.
But she was already a step ahead.
With an effortless sidestep, Nephis dodged the first pincer, and with a swift leap backward, she put distance between herself and the beast's charge. At the same time, her longsword flashed through the air, cutting deeply into the joint of one of the scavenger's front legs with expert precision.
The change in Position was minimal and fast , that it seemed like a mere blur. But for Sunnless,that moment was enough. His arm moved performing the instinktiv movement with his Twin's Bane in hand, he thrust forward, hitting air.
Azure blood sprayed onto the ground, splattering across the labyrinth floor like ink spilling from a broken jar.
The scavenger, had been in the perfect position, presenting its weakepoint to Sunny—an opening at the back of its head.In that instant he lay his eyes upon it he activated the enchantment embedded in his Pesh-Kabz.
The voice of the spell reverberated in the air, as though offering him a silent congratulations:
[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
[...Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny glanced at the fallen beast's body to confirm it was truly dead. Satisfied, he summoned the runes and checked the number of Shadow Fragments he had collected.
[Shadow Fragments: 16/1000].
It was true. The mighty awakened creature had been felled with barely any effort.
Sunny couldn't help but feel a small, grim sense of satisfaction at the power now pulsing within him. What a strange, deadly world they had found themselves in.
'*'
"Why can't it always be so easy?"
Sunny groaned softly as he rose to his feet.He stood still for a moment, breathing in the heavy air of the labyrinth, and then the words Master Jet had once imparted to him echoed in his mind:"no one can survive in the Dream Realm alone."
At the time, he had understood the meaning of those words in a purely intellectual sense, but now, in the wake of their successful teamwork, the weight of them settled deeper into his bones.
The whole was greater than the sum of its parts. The strength of a group surpassed the individual power of any one member, and that strength was cumulative, not merely additive. To rely on others wasn't weakness; it was a profound aspect of true personal strength.
Lone wolves, no matter how strong, would always find themselves at a disadvantage. That was another lesson learned in the fire of this journey.
'It's not like I had much of a choice anyway.'
With that thought, he turned to Nephis, checking if she was injured. The heir of the Immortal Flame stood unscathed, her posture as composed as ever. She glanced at him, her gaze sharp and calculating, and then simply asked,
"Memory?"
He shook his head slowly, not quite sure how to process everything that had happened.
Nephis let out a quiet sigh. Her eyes seemed distant, almost impatient, as she glanced at the scavenger's remains and then back at Sunny. She spoke without looking at him,
"I need armor."
If Sunny were a gentleman, he might have offered to lend her the Puppeteer's Shroud, but he wasn't. That armor was too valuable, too important to part with. Besides, Changing Star was looking rather… aesthetically pleasing in the plain, worn clothes she had on. The fit, though simple, somehow only added to her presence. He said nothing, though the thought crossed his mind briefly.
Without missing a beat, Nephis approached the fallen scavenger, her movements efficient as she started to disassemble its carapace. Without looking back, she tossed a quick, quiet instruction to Sunny,
"Bring Cassie."
With a long exhale, Sunny turned and left the clearing, knowing exactly what needed to be done.
*clap**clap**clap*
Soon, he found Cassie exactly where he had left her. She stood patiently, her head tilting upward at the sound of his footsteps, her face lighting up with a mix of relief and excitement as soon as she recognized him.
"Sunny! You two made it."
"Yep, everything's fine. We took care of it. It's over. Let's get you to Nephis."
Using her wooden staff, Cassie pushed herself to her feet, turning toward him. She hesitated for a moment before asking,
"Are… are you guys alright?"
Sunny flashed her a grin, his voice light and reassuring,
"Of course! We dealt with that critter in no time. Not a scratch on us."
Cassie's relief was palpable, and she smiled warmly at the news.
"Good. That's good. Oh! The rope… I almost forgot."
Sunny nodded, retrieving the rope and leading her back toward the clearing. As they walked, a familiar, unexpected sensation gnawed at him. With Cassie following closely behind, a wave of nostalgia hit him, and he couldn't help but think of his little sister. She had been so small, always trailing after him like a shadow, unable to do much on her own.
The pain of that memory clenched at his heart. He gritted his teeth and pushed the thought aside. 'It's in the past. It's gone. Don't go there again.'
Back in the clearing, Nephis had already finished her work on the scavenger, its carapace now in pieces. The shimmering soul shard gleamed in her hand, catching the light. She tossed it to Sunny without a word.
He caught it easily but couldn't help the surprise that flickered across his face.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
Nephis blinked, the look in her eyes unreadable. She paused for a moment before answering, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world,
"I don't have pockets."
Sunny blinked back at her, momentarily thrown off by the simplicity of her response. He looked down at the shard in his hand.
"Oh."
Still a bit baffled, he slid the soul shard into his rucksack and secured it tightly.
'But why wouldn't she just absorb it herself?'
he wondered, about to voice the question when she spoke again, seemingly reading his mind.
"We'll divide the spoils later."
"Ah. Alright."
Nephis then turned her attention to Cassie, her expression softening slightly as she regarded the blind girl. After a moment, she spoke, her voice quiet but deliberate,
"I was careful."
Then, she smiled—just a slight curve of her lips, but it was enough to change the atmosphere around them.