Bab 13: Silenced Light
Sunny cast a gaze at Nephis, both nodded once their eyes met.
Cassie was ready to talk.
"Hey, would you pass me some water? Take a sip too while you're at it." He said to Cassie as he extended his hand towards her.
The young oracle summoned the Endless Spring, took a greedy sip and passed the beautiful bottle made of patterned blue glass. She began sharing her vision as Sunny was drinking from the Memory.
"I… am not sure. It might have been just a nightmare…" She said with her head down.
The other two simply stared at her with a somewhat unconvinced look, so she continued.
"It's all in fragments. It's sort of blurry, I don't remember much."
Sunny put on a gentle smile on his face; although she could not see it, he was able to carry it through the tone of his voice as he spoke.
"That's alright, you can just tell us what you remember. We'll try to make some sense out of it together."
After hearing his comforting words, Cassie sighed and reflected on what she remembered. Following a two or so minute long deliberation, she began.
"At first, I saw a… a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something truly vast was stirring in the midst of that darkness. I felt like if I directly looked at it, I would lose myself and my mind. As I watched, terrified, those seals broke one after the other, until just one remained. And that one eventually broke, too."
The girl trembled a little.
"After that… I am not sure. It was as if my mind shattered into thousands of shards, each shard's reflection showing a different image. Most of them dark and terrifying. Some I have already forgotten and the others…" Her words trailed off.
She fell silent for a moment, attempting to remember more details.
"I… I saw the human castle again. This time during the night. There was a lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly engulfed by flames, with rivers of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden armor sitting on a throne, its shadow beheaded; a mighty woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer attempting to pierce the descending sky with his arrows."
Her head turned upwards and her eyes were filled with terror.
"In the end, I saw an enormous, absolutely terrifying crimson spire. At its base, seven severed heads were guarding seven locks. At the spire's summit a giant shadow was falling, silencing the brilliant light of a bleeding angel. When I saw the angel's light extinguishing, I suddenly felt as if… as if something incredibly precious that it can't be described with words was being drawn away from me… From us."
Her voice grew softer as she continued.
"After that, I felt an indescribable guilt and rage. The sorrow and pain brought by those events consumed the remains of my sanity. And then… I woke up."
All three of them fell completely silent, they were trying to make sense of what Cassie had just told them. Sunny was especially perplexed after hearing her out, he did not understand the meaning of this new prophecy. Why was a giant shadow falling? And why did the angel's light wane?
He was more or less certain that this angel represented Nephis. However, he was confused by the fact that her presence was growing weaker. He traveled all the way back from the future, obtained a new Aspect that no longer made him into a slave. There was no need for him to leave Nephis behind, in fact, Sunny would unquestionably make sure that she does not get left behind, not this time.
'Just what is Fate planning?'
***
Some time later, Nephis and Sunny were watching the two Carapace Centurions heading away with the two transcendent soul shards. The ones that were used as an offering to the Soul Devourer. They agreed to have his shadow follow the two monsters.
In the evening, Sunny attempted to do something he had deemed pointless to try any longer.
He tried to circulate his essence.
With the knowledge he gained in the Tomb of Ariel, he knew that it was possible to awaken without help from the Spell. It was actually the original way of the Path of Ascension. Nowadays, the Nightmare Spell acts as the medium for powering up, using the Nightmares.
After a couple of weeks of trying, Sunny was able to feel the essence within his body; however, he was unable to circulate it nor control it. He never understood that was happening, he felt a certain imaginary wall that stopped him from utilizing this mystical energy. And he was never able to climb over that wall as a Sleeper, or as the Spell would call it: Dreamer.
The word 'Dormant' gained a new meaning to him - not only was it a rank, but also a word that could describe his Shadow Essence. It was hiding inside of him, waiting for him to climb the wall. But he could not even grasp what that wall was.
Was it due to his lacking Shadow Fragment count? It was common knowledge that as the individual Sleeper saturates his core - either by absorbing soul shards or slaying powerful foes and grasping a part of theirs - their innate potential grows as well.
Sunny was unable to use soul shards to gain fragments, or it might be more fitting to say: refine his core. So the only possible way for him is to kill powerful Nightmare Creatures and other Awakened.
There was also the possibility of consuming unorthodox amounts of the essence-filled fruits from the Soul Devouring Tree, but that had its own set of troubles.
First of all, in no way would he be able to gather enough fragments before reaching the harrowing tree, because he did not intend to stay there for months or possibly years.
In fact, he would rather avoid the horrid Nightmare Creature entirely. Although, that would not be possible due to a plethora of reasons. Most importantly, he had to obtain Blood Weave from the spawn of that vile bastard of a bird, and build the ship to even reach the Dark City.
Sunny was not entirely certain, but there was a chance that if he formed a second Shadow Core, he would perhaps be able to embark on the journey of essence circulating. But until then, it was most likely a waste of his precious time.
The night was approaching soon, Sunny stopped thinking about his essence problem and decided that it was time for sleep. Thankfully, Nephis already trusted him enough that they were able to all go to sleep and leave Sunny's shadow on guard instead of swapping every few hours.
Just before he was about to drift off into the dream realm of his mind, Cassie had a question for him.
"Sunny?"
He tilted his head slightly, getting a perfect view of her exquisitely beautiful face.
"Yeah, what's up?"
The young oracle hesitated before continuing.
"Do you… do you think we'll be able to return home?"
'This has to be Fate's doing…' He thought.
"Yes, we will."
Cassie smiled gently.
"You're so confident… Why do you think that?"
Sunny chuckled and gave her his answer.
"Because you have probably the two most powerful Sleepers in both worlds right next to you. That's why." A cheeky grin appeared on his pale face after he said that.
The girl giggled and commented on his statement.
"I know you're strong, but aren't you a little too full of yourself? You didn't even reach the top 100!"
"Huh? Top 100?" Sunny asked curiously, the fact that he had placed higher this time around completely slipped his mind.
"Yeah, the Academy rankings. Don't tell me you seriously forgot about that!" Cassie started laughing after hearing his response.
"Haha, seems like I did..." He laughed awkwardly, he was mildly embarrassed about the fact.
After a few moments, Cassie's joyful face turned into a sad one, with her head held down she shared a bit of her mind with him.
"I... I really miss my family."
There was a deep desire and sadness seeping out of her voice and face. Nevertheless, she was not done sharing.
"My parents must be super worried about me right now… Scratch that, they must be heartbroken. They probably think that I am already dead."
Sunny peered into her blind eyes and sighed.
"You really love them, don't you?"
She glanced at him, or perhaps through him, with a slightly baffled face.
"Well, of course I do? Wouldn't…" Her eyes widened as she realized that she was about to ask the wrong person about that.
Sunny was still staring at her and with a gentle, yet determined tone in his voice, he proclaimed.
"Neph and I, we'll get you home to your family. I promise."
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
WhoKnowsTheWriter
WhoKnowsTheWriter hmmm, what does that mean? i do wonder...
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