"Whatever, you should rest now. We're going by the break of dawn," Effie said, before turning around and dropping onto the makeshift bedding, she and Ray had been using earlier.
She sprawled onto her back without care, stretching her arms behind her head. "And don't even think about sneaking off or doing anything stupid. I'm a heavy sleeper, but if you wake me up for no reason, I swear I'll throw you off the damn wall."
Ray let out a tired chuckle at that. "Just sleep already."
Effie responded with a lazy wave of her hand before closing her eyes.
Meanwhile, the trio was still standing near the fire, their postures tense with unspoken thoughts.
Nephis was as composed as ever, her silver eyes reflecting the dim glow of the embers, now they just showed the normal calmness she usually radiated. Her face betrayed nothing - just quiet, unshaken indifference. The revelation that they were trapped here, possibly forever, had seemingly left no visible mark on her.
Sunny, on the other hand, looked… lost. He sat down slowly on the cold stone of the city wall, his expression unreadable, his dark eyes slightly unfocused. It wasn't the usual sharp cynicism in his gaze, nor his calculating wariness. Instead, it was the look of someone watching the future they had planned crumble before their eyes.
Cassia shifted uncomfortably. "But… what about the creatures? I mean, we're in the city, right? You said most of them are of the fallen rank. Won't they-"
Ray cut in, shaking his head. "We're on the walls. This is as safe as it gets in the Dark City. Well, aside from the castle, of course. Nightmare creatures don't tend to climb up here, and even if they did, we'd see them coming long before they reached us."
Cassia nodded hesitantly but didn't seem fully convinced.
Nephis finally moved, lowering herself to sit on a flat section of the stone. Her movements were slow, almost deliberate, but there was no hesitation in them. She rested her arms on her knees, her face calm, indifferent - as if the continuous revelations were already fully settled in.
Sunny exhaled, rubbing his face with one hand before leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. His eyes were locked onto the distant ruins below, barely visible in the dark.
Ray observed them for a moment before speaking again. "Effie's right. Get some rest. You're going to need it tomorrow."
Nephis nodded wordlessly. Cassia hesitated before finally lying down, shifting around uncomfortably as she tried to find a decent position.
Sunny, though… he just kept staring into the distance. At some point, he muttered, almost too quietly to hear, "What a joke…"
Ray didn't respond. There wasn't anything to say.
Instead, he lay down himself, resting his head against his arm as he into the direction of the crimson spire. Its shadow lingered fully over the city, filling it with a nearly suffocating feeling of dread.
Ray chose to ignore it for the time being, though, as there was nothing he could do. Therefore, he turned his gaze away and began to fall asleep as well.
Tomorrow, they would bring them to the castle.
---
The night was as short as most were on the forgotten shore. As early as the dawn arrived and the sea retreated, the small group of five began gathering everything of importance up and began their way.
The journey was mostly as tense as always. When Effie and Ray hunted, it was possible to be a bit more at ease in some areas of the dark city, but when it came to the center and the usual routes towards or away from the castle, that wasn't the case.
Therefore, Effie guided them like the veteran she was, giving orders and explaining some phenomena to the newcomer trio. More or less, simple things like, always staying clear and far away from the more dangerous creatures, or never looking directly at most of them, because some can sense such things.
Aside from this, there was only the usual instructions like being absolutely silent and so on.
Because the small group had no one incompetent, they were able to reach the mountain the castle stands on, without too much difficulty. There were only the occasional nightmare creature encounters in the distance, though, they didn't seem to have noticed the group, because otherwise they would have had some gigantic problems, most likely.
Regardless of the way till they reached the mountain, as soon as they had reached the outer reaches of the Slums, Effie and Ray said some quick goodbyes, before leaving in the directions of their huts.
They knew, that if they were away for too long, some of the slum dwellers could become greedy and too brave, for their own good. Luckily, this time, that wasn't the case.
As Ray was entering his small home, which now, after nearly a month of living inside of it, looks more like something, he thought about something he just told the trio, before he left.
---
As they reached the open space, surrounded by the makeshift houses, which were uniformly called slums, Ray turned to the three after taking a few steps towards his hut.
"Hey, I guess, you're going to stay in the castle for a week, at least two of you, right?" Ray asked, making them turn to him again.
Nephis, with her usual indifferent face nodded to answer the question.
"Alright, then, in case you get in some trouble in there, or maybe even if you just want to get some information, look for a very handsome guy with auburn hair. He's called Kai, and something like a friend to me. Though, it could be, that he isn't present right now. He's often doing some work for the host, to earn some extra shards."
Leaving these words behind, Ray began walking again and just gave them a lazy two finger salute.
Sunny, Nephis and Cassia then went back to their talk, while keeping the tip in the backs of their minds.
After a few exchanges, it was decided that Sunny would accompany Cassia inside the castle to find information on the bright king and his legion, while Nephis would do the same here in the slums.
They said their temporary farewells and parted ways. Sunny with Cassia towards the castle, and Nephis momentarily standing around, before choosing a random direction to scout the area.
---
Now was just the thing, if Kai was currently present in the castle, and if so, would they even meet each other inside the castle? The whole bastion was gigantic after all. From the outside it may doesn't even seem that big, but when one was inside, they could very easily loose their way.
Still, in the case that Kai was there, and they tell him that they know Ray, he could probably give them some tips or advice.
But that wasn't Ray's problem. He gave them more than he was supposed to already, and didn't care any farther right now. As long as they don't piss of some of the lieutenants or the king himself, which is very unlikely, as they rarely ever even appear, they should be good.
Just as Ray was having these thoughts, his mind paused for a second. On second thought, with Sunny's personality, it may very well be possible that they land in some kind of trouble.
But…
They should find some way out of there, if things go south.