Nephis woke up into the sound of the alarm, now completely accustomed to her new room. She quickly did her morning routine, trying to be early on breakfast.
Although the start of her day looked like any others, today was special.
It was her last day on the Earth as a Sleeper.
Funnily enough, it wasn't her first last day.
But after all, she was an exception from the other Sleepers.
The cafeteria was emptier than usual, even in the early hours. Nephis walked over to her usual table, enjoying the pleasant silence.
Out of all present people she was probably the only one who felt at ease. All of her peers couldn't tell if they will ever come back alive, to their families, or if they perish in the Dream Realm in the maw of some terrifying nightmare creature.
Although she couldn't know if she would come back either, for her it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was only another challenge to overcome. She was actually quite looking forward to it.
Sunny and Cassie hadn't come yet and she had a lot of time on her hand. She ordered the pancakes; the same ones she ate on her first day here. They were as bad as before, but she enjoyed them, nevertheless.
She reminisced about the past weeks. So many things have changed since day one. For example, her condition had improved enough, to be on par with the most common creatures inhabiting the Coral Labyrinth. Now, the only way she could make a significant progress was to fight in serious battles.
Without being able to immerse herself in her food properly, an uninvited guest interrupted her.
"Lady Nephis, it seems like our time at academy has finally ended."
What do you want, freeloader?
Despite seeing each other every day, Caster hadn't talked to her since their first spar. Perhaps it was foolish from her to hope it would stay this way forever.
"Hello Han Li Caster. I hope they managed to teach you how to hit properly," she nodded at him politely.
Caster's hand twitched as he forced a smile. "You are humorous as ever, my Lady. Nevertheless, I hope our upcoming journey will turn out as best as possible."
Isn't it a contradiction?
"I hope you will be alive when I get into the waking world as well."
He chuckled politely, not knowing how to continue.
They stared at each other for few seconds, until they were interrupted by Cassie who came for breakfast.
"Hi, Neph! Uhm, who are you talking to? It's not Sunny," she broke their awkward silence.
She was here alone without her social worker, orienting only with a cane. It was because she couldn't grow dependent on others, since in Dream Realm it would mean death sentence.
Not that anybody believed she could come back on her own. Her only chance to survive was to appear in the Citadel or near a powerful Awakened willing to help her.
But her presence immediately helped Nephis to become more relaxed. "Hi Cas, don't worry. It's just some acquaintance of mine from the class. He came to wish me good luck."
Cassie smiled facing towards an empty chair, next to Caster. "Really? That's great! I'm delighted to hear that Neph has another friend."
Caster coughed, making Cassie fix her glance embarrassedly.
"Yes, I'm glad too. You are truly a noble person, Lady Nephis. Taking care even for powerless. You really are worthy of the name of Immortal Flame."
He bowed slightly to them and headed towards his table.
"Another thing Caster," Nephis stalled him, with voice devoid of any emotions.
"Yes?"
"I'm not a selfless charity worker. I would never help a useless person. And I am worthy of my name no matter what you say."
He seemed a bit caught by the surprise, but he regained his composure immediately.
"You are right. You truly are," he smiled and then he quickly walked off.
She worriedly glanced towards Cassie. It looked like Caster's small remark hit her deeply.
Thanks to Sunny, she now had no problem with lying and she had even used to be able to read true desires of others. Although it still was uncomfortable, she could deal with people on daily basic.
But when it came to true emotions, she was lost. Whenever it was expressing herself or finding the best way to console others, she was lacking in what was natural for the majority. Who knows? Maybe if she had expressed her feelings more, Sunny would have never run away.
Opening her mouth, she tried to comfort Cassie, but she couldn't find the right words.
"What does the bastard think to talk like he's above us? I bet he says that only because he wants to hide his own incompetence!" Sunny had suddenly joined their duo, with a cup of coffee in his hand.
Cassie cheered up a little. "Sunny! Since when are you here?"
"Oh, I just came."
The answer confused Cassie as she furrowed her eyebrows in bewilderment.
Neph's mouth twitched.
Did he listen to the whole thing from his shadow?
"Whatever. Let's just eat our breakfast. There is no point in letting that degenerate to spoil our last day here," he grinned at them, but Nephis noticed a hint of uneasiness hiding in his tone.
But before the solstice it was only natural to feel anxious. There was no need to panic yet.
The best thing she could do is to pretend that today was normal as any other day.
"By the way, Sunny, this is the first time I have seen you with coffee here. How do you like it?"
She was curious. In outskirts he shouldn't have a lot of opportunities on drinking coffee. Was this perhaps the day he had fallen in love with it?
Sunny scratched his head. "It's not as bad as it was without sugar and milk."
The reply threw her out of composure.
This is... not the answer I was expecting. Just please don't tell me you actually hate pancakes. Then my understanding of the world would truly turn upside down.
Cassie meanwhile giggled. "You just have to give it some time. I felt similar. As a child, I couldn't understand at all why everybody loved it so much."
"I guess you are right," Sunny took another sip and grimaced.
"Also..." Cassie hesitated for a moment. "Happy birthday!"
Sunny choked. "H-how do you know when my birthday is?!"
"W-well, it is my Aspect ability. I sometimes receive visions of the past or the future. It's useless though, since I can't control it," her mood immediately darkened as she recalled the bleak situation she was in.
"Don't worry. I'm sure... you will manage to master it, with enough time. Just because right now it has no use, doesn't mean in the future it will be the same," Sunny stumbled upon his words as he tried to make her feel better.
"A-anyway, thank you for thinking about me. It has been several years since anybody wished me a happy birthday. So, I appreciate it. Really."
Nephis watched their conversation unfold, waiting for the right moment to intervene. She was glad that Sunny was here to console Cassie.
Every time she tried to make others feel better or clarify some delicate dispute, she messed up. So, she avoided such complicated matters by all her might whenever there was a chance.
After she concluded that it was safe, she joined them too. "Then what about having a little birthday party? Although I have to apologize, since I don't have any gift for you."
Sunny stared at her for a bit, dumbfounded. "Party? For me? Here? And right now?"
"Of course, right now. When and where else would you want to party? In the Dream Realm?"
"No, here is fine. But really? Do you truly want to party with us on your last day here?"
She smiled. "Why wouldn't I? Or, if you want, we could sneak into the dojo together. At least I would have one last chance to beat you up."
"You can have plenty of reasons. But, if you are serious, then let's go with the first option," surprisingly, he preferred the partying over a thorough beating.
I wonder what the reason could be.
"But how do you even party?" Sunny brough up a crucial question.
"I don't know," without considering balls held by the legacy clans, the only time Nephis did something what could be considered partying was when Effie kidnapped her into a shady night club.
Sunny was stunned. "Then why did you even brough it up?"
Nephis utilized all of her knowledge of human rituals.
"Don't worry, there should be nothing hard about it. When partying, people usually go through a set of intricate movements, while searching for potential mates. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to unravel the exact pattern behind them yet, so we will have to leave it out," she educated her clueless pupil while trying to remember all of the vital points.
"But there are lot of other things you can do; for example, eating delicates, drinking good drinks, wearing luxurious clothes and debating over profound topics. If you follow these steps correctly, then you should have fun. However, I have to warn you that partying leaves one extremely vulnerable, so you should do it only in heavily guarded areas."
He hung on every word of her.
"Ah I see. This is very interesting. People from the city have truly unique forms of entertainment. Although I can hardly understand how anyone can find this kind of activities fun. Except eating delicates of course. There is no way I could get tired of it," he analyzed the subject.
Cassie meanwhile just listened to the whole speech with a weird look on her face.
Is there perhaps something wrong with the Sunny's observation? In my opinion he summarized the whole issue almost perfectly.
"Um, Nephis? You are overcomplicating the whole problem a bit. There is no need to go to such lengths just to celebrate Sunny's birthday."
"Is it not?" Nephis was doubtful, but she decided to believe Cassie for now. "Then what we are supposed to do instead?"
"It's easy. Let's just sit together, snatch some nice food and talk about stuff. Nothing hard," Cassie patiently explained.
"But it's Sunny's birthday! Such special event can't be so… so…" she paused, since she didn't know what to add.
"Simple? Or halfhearted?" Cassie completed the sentence. "Those all things you were talking about are just some extras. We don't even have any means or time to achieve them right now. The most important thing is to have a good time together. It doesn't matter how exactly do we do it."
Nephis wanted to retort, but in the end, she was forced to acknowledge that Cassie was right.
After some time, Sunny spoke up. "Then if there is nothing else to discuss about my birthday party, can we go? I still want to pay a visit to my teacher."
Cassie nodded. "Let's go together. I have nothing to do anyway."
When teacher Julius saw them, he was almost moved to tears.
"Dear children, so you remembered your old teacher even on your big day. What a great students!"
"Thank you for your time, teacher. Your lessons were priceless," Sunny sincerely expressed his gratitude.
"Heh heh. It is the duty of the elderly to pass their knowledge on to the younger, inexperienced generation after all. You don't have to thank me," the teacher said not so modestly.
"But do you have a little time? Since you two were my best students this year, I can spare one or two more advices for you."
Nephis wanted to decline his offer, as they had only a few hours spare and she knew teacher Julius well enough, but Sunny was faster. "Of course, teacher, we would be grateful for it!"
Hey! Do you even want to celebrate, or not? Wait. Don't lose your composure. There is still a slight chance that we can get over it quickly.
Thinking about the most convenient ways to wriggle out of this predicament, Nephis gradually calmed down.
But the teacher was already in motion.
"Wonderful, just wonderful. Wait a moment. I will bring some cookies and tea. This is our last day together after all," he immediately rushed into his office for snacks.
Fine. Now it's time to panic.
There is no way that she could withstand the full assault of her teacher's enthusiasm.
She looked at Cassie in desperation, who ignored her. Not that it was something to be surprised about since her flaw considerably complicated her perception of non-verbal signals.
Although she still foolishly held a little spark of hope that they would somehow manage to have the party on time, the odds were slight.
Sunny and the teacher deeply immersed themselves in discussion and Cassie also attentively listened, while munching on cookies.
But the worst thing about it was that Nephis also unknowingly started to enjoy herself. It was as if it was just another normal day, with no winter solstice inevitably approaching. Tomorrow, there would be just another lesson, following up to where the last one had ended.
She found herself participating in the debate more and more.
It felt a little humiliating.
Ultimately, it was teacher Julius who pointed out their lack of time, ending their whole session.
When all the emotional goodbyes were done, the teacher sent them off and now they were waiting in the foyer for the next instructions.
Nephis, who was in silence since they got out of the wilderness survival classroom, finally spoke up. "I'm sorry."
Sunny looked at her in surprise. "What are you apologizing for?"
"Your birthday party. We messed it up. I wanted you to have a great birthday, but I failed. So, I am truly sorry."
He blinked in bewilderment. "Why are you disappointed though? We ate delicates, drank good drinks, wore luxurious clothes and debated over profound topics. Except for that weird dance we did everything you wanted, Neph! So don't be sorry."
Now it was her time to be dumbfounded. She completely forgot that they had grown up in an entirely distinct environment. His understanding of luxury and fun was also utterly different from hers.
The mentality of other people had been always an unsolvable riddle for her. Even if she managed to make connections in human behavior, she could rarely grasp the true reason behind it.
So, although she never enjoyed the social events, she subconsciously convinced herself that this was a definition of fun for all mundane people no matter of their origin or personality.
Maybe Cassie was really right, and fun isn't only about all those shallow things. After all, Nephis ended up enjoying their small tea party with Julius too.
She wistfully thought about all those times when she crossed her sword with Sunny in friendly match. That was fun too.
But that was future Sunny. The one beside her couldn't even hold his sword properly.
There was no use in contemplating about the past when there was a future still ahead. Although in her case it sounded a little ironic.
But she haven't managed to think about the absurdity of the fate for too long, because instructor Rock already arrived to give them a final goodbye.
The winter solstice was here and there was nowhere to run.
It was 19:00 NQSC time.
Far away in the dream realm, in a ruins of an abandoned city a tall huntress was lurking on her prey.
And in a castle in the middle of that city, a beautiful archer was examining two armors, deciding which one he should buy.
And a golden king was giving a long speech to his subjects in a throne room.
And a gaunt boy in a slum below the castle was desperately searching for food.
And a group of experienced hunters was coming home from an unsuccessful hunt, in a foul mood and fewer numbers than they left.
And in the waking world, at the Academy, a blind girl was sitting on her knees in a small room while uncontrollably sobbing.
In the next room, identical to the previous one, the treacherous Lost from the Light determinedly glanced on his shadow, as he walked over to a sleeping pod.
And finally, in a different, more luxurious room, Changing Star was standing in front of her sleeping pod.
She had her usual impassive look on her face, but her hands were trembling slightly.
Why so nervous? You have already done it once before.
Slowly, a smile crept on her face.
And I could do it a thousand times for all they care. I won't back down and I will never have enough.
It was 19:01 NQSC time and the true fun was finally starting.