Sunny took the opportunity to leave the two as soon as he could, well, especially before Sandra got mad. He didn't want to create any more friction in the group than he already had; luckily enough, Ike seemed to understand his intention in keeping Kade alive.
Sandra did too, of course, but that did not mean that her heart agreed with such logic.
'She's way too emotional.' Such ignorance of the mind could leave one astray and killed if followed too closely. He had firsthand experience of watching the arrogant Auro not kill him when needed, simply because he didn't want to.
When he should have, logically speaking. If he had done that, he would have lived instead of ending up as tyrant food.
Darting between the shade of the crimson coral and the masses of rock, Sunny evaded the scattered family of scavengers that infested the cursed place. He was after Changing Star and Cassie, the two ladies who were very pleasant on the eyes.
It only made him think back to Sandra. 'She wasn't very pleasant on the mind...' Sunny grumbled, internally comparing his interactions with his female peers, or what to expect, of course, from the two new arrivals.
Sandra was competent, naive, emotional, and bossy. He could appreciate how hard she worked in battle; she was, after all, one of the most skilled Awakened in their cohort. But still, he swore he felt more pain from her repeated nagging than from any blow the carapace scavengers had failed to land.
Then there was Dawn, wherever she was.
A girl who was definitely easy on the eyes, not that Sunny would ever think about saying such a thing aloud... If he could help it.
'I can already imagine Kade trying to beat me up.'
She was kind, surprisingly respectful toward him, and carried herself with a confidence that didn't quite match how unprepared she seemed for what the spell had in store.
Sunny could see why Kade seemed into her… But why would she be into him? That, he couldn't understand. Not one bit.
'I'm letting myself get distracted; I should hurry up,' Sunny reminded himself, shifting once again from shadow to shadow, homing in on the duo's location.
Thirty minutes later, Sunny arrived before the two. Figuring out how to approach the girls without alerting them too much, he was down to get this over and done with, but preferably without having a sword shoved in his face.
Sunny separated happy from gloomy, sending his joyful shadow ahead to play puppets.
-
Helping herself with the wooden staff, blind Cassia slowly approached the middle of the clearing and extended her hand, finding Nephis and touching her on the shoulder.
"Why did you stop?"
Nephis supported the blind girl and glanced at the sky.
"It's getting late."
An awkward pause hung between the two girls. After some time, Cassia asked,
"We will have to find a place to sleep, won't we?"
Nephis blinked and cleared her throat.
"Yes."
Sunny was a bit amused by their exchange.
'Does she have a word limit on her speech?' Sunny mused, It should be about time to send his shadow to the limelight. Happy parted from the rocks and placed himself in front of the two.
Nephi's eyes immediately pierced the intruder. The shadow froze, startled.
Cassia took a step back.
"Neph? What is it?"
Nephis didn't answer immediately, carefully observing the shadow. Then she simply said,
"There's a shadow."
Cassia's doll-like face paled.
"A shadow? Scavengers?"
The tall girl tilted her head a little.
"No. It's a human shadow."
This was clearly not what Cassia expected to hear. With an expression of surprise, she asked,
"A human shadow? What… what is it doing?"
Nephis hesitated. After a while, she answered in a flat tone:
"...It's waving at us."
After a whole minute of silence, Cassia finally found the words to react.
"What?"
"I said, 'It's waving…'"
"Yes, I know! I mean… why is it doing that?"
Nephis opened her mouth, then closed it again.
"I don't know. Maybe it's a distraction to lure us into a trap."
At this point, Sunny decided that it was time to talk. He inhaled deeply, then said in the friendliest tone he could muster.
"Actually, I just sent it ahead to make sure that you don't stab me with that sword before realizing that I'm human."
Immediately, Nephis turned her head, pinpointing the exact location where Sunny was hiding in a blotch of shadows. Her sword slightly shifted, aiming at the new threat.
"If you're human, why are you hiding in the shadows like a creep?"
'I'm not a creep!'
Sunny choked. But his flaw was merciless: he had to provide an answer, and a truthful one at that.
"Your Changing Star, I kind of expect to be beheaded if I surprised you enough."
Nephis did not answer. Because of her hard-to-read face, it was almost impossible to determine whether she believed him or not. However, he included her True Name in his answer for a reason: if he were some monster pretending to be human, he wouldn't have known it.
Luckily, Cassia was more expressive.
"Sunny? Is that you?"
Sunny smiled. Meanwhile, Nephis glanced at the blind girl.
"Do you know him?"
Cassia nodded.
"I recognize his voice. His name is Sunless. He was in second-to-last place in the rankings, right above me. He was at the table with me, Dawn and Kade!"
The tall girl frowned, as if trying to remember. Then she asked,
"The pervert?"
The smile disappeared from Sunny's face, replaced by exasperation.
'NOT AGAIN, DAMMIT!'
Cassia hesitated and didn't answer. A positive defense dying on her tongue.
"That is not the case at all! I just have loose lips that people get angry at. I promise you, I've never gawked at any woman in the last 29 minutes!"
Nephis raised an eyebrow, silent for a few seconds, and then finally dismissed her sword.
"Okay. You can come out."
Sunny wandered out of the shadows, summoning his own back. Gloomy, shaking visibly, the bastard was laughing at him... Happy wasn't much better; he covered his phantasmal mouth from cackling, but Sunny could tell that the respect was an illusion.
Stopping a few meters away from Nephis, he raised his hands, showing that he didn't mean the girls any harm. Changing Star eyed him down.
"What do you want?"
Sunny offered.
"I was scouting out for you two. I spotted you guys from a bit away and decided to integrate into the little group I managed to join."
Cassie lit up. "There are other people!"
"Yeah, three, including myself, Ike, and Sandra... Wait, also four, but Kades is kind of half dead anyway, so it doesn't really count..."
Nephis widened her eyes, while Cassie paled. The last daughter of the immortal flame questioned.
"How is he? What happened?"
Sunny shrugged, ""He tried to save a bunch of sleepers from scavengers, ended up burning eight of them alive… then burned himself out, body and soul."
Nephis squinted her eyebrows, the shadows words making a dent in her normally emotionless face.
"Eight, you say... But his aspect shouldn't have to do anything with fire."
Sunny shrugged, "How should I know what his aspect is? I wasn't there; I just got the aftermath explained to me after I clocked him out."
"Why would you do that?!" Cassie blared. Still pale as a doll.
"Because he killed a girl right in front of me! Very gruesome, mind you. I'm just surprised I didn't lob his head off instead."
Nephis' expression faltered, barely--but Sunny noticed, especially at her, the tightening grip around her sword. Cassie, in the meantime, could have died from shock right then and there.
Luckily, she didn't.
"No... He wouldn't, I can promise you; he is a conflictual person. But he would never kill anyone like that!"
Sunny sighed.
"Yeah, I know—or thought he did it anyway. Just… let's shut up about it until we can ask him ourselves."
Cassie bit her lip, while the stern legacy nodded reluctantly.
"Ok."
-----------------------------------
The trio embarked on their way back to the rocky outpost. Avoiding any scavengers along the way thanks to Sunny's shadows. Nephis inquired more about the state and ability of the sleepers of the group and was left pleasantly surprised by Sunny's response.
'Maybe she expected more deadweight like Cassie.' The blind sleeper was making the trip take twice as long back; she tried her best. But such a flaw didn't help at all when traversing the very uneven ground of the crimson coral forest.
Thankfully they still had enough time in the day, or Sunny might have had to ditch the two before ending up washed away and then swallowed by some random corrupted abomination.
Eventually they made it to the base of the rocky outcrop. Nephis quickly tied Cassie to her while she ascended the rocky heights. Even with the added weight, the legacy climbed with efficiency and utmost skill, keeping up a great pace.
Not that it was enough to match Sunny, he trod up the height like it was nothing, monkeying his way through bits, or simply just using physical prowess to make the climb shorter.
With two shadow cores and two shadow helpers, Sunny found the ascent quite easy; even his relatively feeble body had strength that made him surprised. Like that one time he caught a scavenger's claw by accident.
Like that one time he'd caught a scavenger's claw by accident, instead of being flung like driftwood, he'd only sprained his wrist.
As such, he dominated Nephis in the race up, and he could feel her stare dig into his back. It was pretty unnerving to experience, yet he pushed on as if nothing changed.
'Who's the pervert now?" Sunny grumbled, jumping for the next grip.
She was staring at him way too much; it couldn't be just because he was a good climber, right? 'Maybe Jet was right about that whole flower boy thing...'
Gaining a second core did help his looks after all; Sunny found himself a lot easier on the eyes after the trial.
Was she looking at him like that???
A pebble shifted loose from above, caught by the breeze… and smacked Sunny squarely on the head.
"OW!" Sunny grumbled, quickly rubbing the top of his head through the messy black hair.
'I get it [Fated]. I'm not foolish enough to think that would be possible at all.'
Him and Nephis?
Truly he had lost it; he had to control his thoughts before they thought anything more stupid.
Shortly after, Sunny reached the edge, met by the expectant looks of Ike and Sandra. They didn't have to wait long; Nephis and Cassie appeared soon after, confirming that he'd found them.
------------------------------------------------------------
Nephis grabbed the top of the outcrop and pulled herself up with Cassie. Fatigue burned away at her muscles, threatening to pull her down. But she had experienced fire far more obliterating, pushing past the exhaustion to finally arrive at the resting place.
Along with the meeting of other sleepers.
Untying Cassie, she quickly sized up the two unfamiliar sleepers.
One she could assume was Sandra, with bright orange hair, a slender yet athletic frame, a youthful face, and sharp eyes. She had fought this sleeper on her first day dueling; she seemed quite skilled, along with having a useful aspect.
Not that she lasted very long in the duel against her, although she was fast, skilled, and brave. She was naive in a sense; her passion and desire for her attack leaked through her almond-colored eyes.
Easy to read enough for her to end the fight quickly.
Ike, though.
'I've never seen this man in my life...'
Ike's features were solid, yet relaxed. Straight nose, relatively angled jaw, and storm-grey pupils He held a patience in his body, like that of a monk, not moving a single inch when unneeded. Most alerting of all was a subtle warmth in his eyes.
Receiving attention from it was distracting, to say the least; it irked her. She brought back her sword by her hip and focused on the individual that received most of her questions.
Kade.
He lay flat on the stone, his expression devoid of the peace sleep was supposed to bring. Instead, he looked upset and ill.
Sunny was somewhat right about him being half dead; large amounts of his skin were charred black, while others were only slightly burnt, along with countless bruises, some so swollen it was clear he'd suffered broken bones.
Cassie sat in the distance, silently listening to the others rapport.
Nephis kneeled down in front of the lying sleeper, ...assessing him further, then asked.
"He's been asleep for how long?"
Sunny spoke up, rubbing his chin.
"About... 9 and a half hours?"
A silence permeated
Sandra rubbed her brow, slightly irritated.
"I'm sorry, Changing Star, Sunless might have hit him a bit too hard, and sent him into a coma."
Cassie flinched in the distance, only seen by the concerned gaze of Ike.
"Hey, I did not! --Well maybe, I don't know!" Sunny responded. Giving a frustrated glance back at Sandra. The tension between the two sleepers met, clashing against each other.
Nephis ignored the childish behavior. And focused back on her fallen ally.
'I am needed,' Nephis concluded. She took in a deep breath, letting the cooling winds of the afternoon air fill her lungs, and reached her arm down to the sleeping brawler.
Sunny and Sandra broke from their feud, both glancing at Nephi with confusion. Ike as well suddenly shifted his attention to the legacy and put her hand slowly on his chest.
"What are you doing?" Sunny and Sandra asked at once, leaning closer to the Legacy.
Their question was left on deaf ears. Nephis turned inward, reaching for the eternal, ever-burning flame of her Aspect. Her fingertip glowed a bright, glimmering white, and she braced herself for a world of pain.
And under the falling sun of the forgotten shore.
Kade burned.