2 weeks after Sunny and Nephis entered the 2nd nightmare
2 weeks after Cassie, Kai, Effie, and Mordret entered the 2nd nightmare.
***
In the darkened halls lined with lamps, a tall oak door stood, adorned with golden symbols of two crossed swords. A messenger hurried through the halls, his iron boots scraping against the crimson carpet, then paused in front of the imposing, enormous door. After taking a deep breath, he opened it to reveal a windowless room, brightly lit by a chandelier at the center. At the far end, a king sat upon a golden throne.
Kneeling, the messenger spoke with reverence, "Your majesty, I came to report an urgent message from Saint Tyris of the white feather clan."
The room was filled with tension and silence before the king, whose face was covered in shadows, spoke with a booming and commanding voice, cold to any emotion.
"Speak."
Calming his rapidly beating heart, he spent no time thinking and recited everything important the Saint had told him to speak to the king about.
"Cassia and her cohort have now entered the second nightmare, 2 weeks ago, an incident occurred a week before at the night temple. Mordret seemed to have escaped during a shift change during Cassia's visit, and Saint Cormac suspects that Cassie managed to break him out during her visit and is demanding a trial."
The king went into deep thought while the messenger continued to kneel and keep his head low. After all, how could a mere Awaken look at his highness?
"Tell Cormac that no trial is to take place, that I know what I'm doing." Frightened, he nodded his head, paid his respects, and left, never once looking toward the king's throne from the moment he entered.
The king raised himself as his metallic armor clinked as he walked towards a door behind his throne. Inside the room were the Masters and Saints who were all discussing a war plan, one that would help him win the war to come against the rival clan.
The Awakened in the room weren't as cowardly as the Awakened from before, as they all looked at the king with respect, but they did not bow.
"Well, look who decided to show up after all." A loud old man said in the corner, holding a wooden cane that was unblemished and seemed to be ordinary.
"These walls are practically pieces of paper since I could hear the conversation outside your highness. Perhaps you should get soundproofing before marrying." The old man continued, to everyone's dismay, as he chuckled.
Not paying any mind to the old man, he looked at the map, which showed his kingdom in the west with black markers, while on the east was another kingdom littered with red markers."Awakened Cassia has now entered her nightmare, and if things go as planned, then my forsaken... son... will not return alive." Everyone's shoulders unknowingly relaxed as small smiles appeared on the Saints' faces.
The outlier was none other than the old man whose mood turned sour at the mention of Cassia. He had always had a disdain for seers since they would always ruin his jokes! And maybe perhaps because he found it dishonorable that every seer worshiped fate and never once tried to combat it or even try to change it, but it was definitely more the former!
'Either way, even the king seems a little more lively now that our problems with the bastard son could finally disappear.'
He knew the reason for wanting his son rid of once and for all was because of the war that was soon to come. In private, he had told him that he had planned for Mordret's escape with Cassia; he had made it mandatory for shifts to be implemented in the Night Temple to watch over Mordret.
The idea was as simple as it was cunning, in time, the soldiers will grow relaxed as become more laid back. People switching shifts will take a moment longer each time, and it will eventually lead to a window opening for Cassia to take Mordret out as soon as the shift change commences. As for why they simply couldn't allow for Mordret's escape by telling the night temple was because there would be a chance someone would reveal the plan of letting Mordret go, and knowing it was a trap, would not go with Cassia.
No one knew exactly what Mordret was capable of, at least, not after being personally cared for by the Dreamspawn. Cassia was the perfect candidate to take in Mordret, as he wouldn't be able to infiltrate her mind and take her body, as she was blind, and she would be able to keep the glass containing him until her nightmare. Mordret, enticed by the promise of a new body and ascending, will agree to go into the second nightmare with her.
Of course, Mordred will definitely try to kill Cassie and her friends once they enter the nightmare, but she was prepared to fight him with what the king had forged for her in order to finally kill him. Her friends had also received charms that would make them invincible to his body-stealing ability, which she had requested and been approved for.
'If that little girl is successful in killing that bastard, I'm sure all the debt she's accumulated with her requests will be wiped clean. Heh, perhaps he'll even raise her rank and give her a pool of contribution points for her to buy whatever her heart desires.' The old man smirked, his lively mood returning.
'And if she fails, then she won't need to worry about paying back her debts as she will already be dead.'
"Sir, the plan is halfway done; however, we still need about a year to finish it." A Master spoke up as the king's cold gaze looked upon him.
"I understand, I will take my leave now as I have work to do, as you all do as well; this meeting is finished."
"Yes, King Anvil."
***
A week after the King's meeting, in the cold mountains where the center of Clan Song was located.
In the cold throne sat a beautiful dead woman, and running down the hall was a messenger. Coming to a stop, the messenger opened the enormous wooden door that opened up to an open space filled with columns. At the other end of the hall sat the dead woman whose skin seemed as cold as ice, suddenly awake and looking up towards the messenger.
"What is it, Ivor?" She spoke with contrasting softness.
"We have received a message from Master Orum regarding the situation with the prince of Valor and their battle plans for the upcoming domain war." He said confidently as he felt at peace due to the queen's presence, which was a stark difference from what she was now, merely being someone who could control dead people like a puppeteer.
"He said that their preparations and planning will take about another year to finish, and regarding the prince, he has accompanied Cassia of Valor into the Second Nightmare; most members in the clan are oblivious to this or think that Cassie helped him escape. While true, it was in compliance with the king's wishes as he planned to get rid of the madman, which we suspect is so he doesn't end up joining us in the future." At the end, the queen merely nodded."Yes, I suspected something like will happen soon, and it just turned out fate had the perfect person for Valor to use. From the previous report its said she had requested items to be made to combat the prince, so I have no doubt that there might be a chance they do kill him, but I have hopes that they will not. After all, that kid was trained by the Dreamspawn, and I have no doubts he is beyond his rank. Send a letter back thanking Orum and to send an update three months from now."
"Yes, my Queen," Ivor said before taking his leave, making sure not to make any loud noises due to the tendency of noises being echoed.
Ki Song intertwined her hands together into deep thought before a smirk appeared on her beautiful face.
'Anvil, oh how I'll enjoy our battle when the day arrives.'
***
NQSC
Inside the gorgeous city that was kept from the outside world, which was in ruins was an ordinary house with a huge window showing the lawn. Inside, there was a teen girl listening to music while doing her homework for algebra on the bed.
"So, I divide 2x by 2 to get x=7... okay the next one should be..." She muttered under her breath as she worked.
*Ding*
Looking up from her math worksheet, she paused the music before tapping on her communicator to see that she had received a notification about today's news. Out of curiosity, she scrolled through the news before stopping on an article that had a flashy headline.
CONFIRMED, SONG OF THE FALLEN, ALONG WITH NIGHTINGALE AND RAISED BY WOLVES, HAVE ENTERED THEIR SECOND NIGHTMARE!
"Whoa," Rain managed to bring out as she brought the communicator closer to her face, as she started to read the article detailing how she managed to find a nightmare seed in the Chained Isles and chose to team up with her old cohort to challenge it.
After the Dreamer army had escaped the Forgotten shores and after the movie about Changing Star's journey, which, before it, she had shipped Kai and Nephis, but afterward, became a devoted Sunny and Nephis shipper, people had moved from worshipping Nephis to Cassie. Although the media was still flooded with Changing Star fans singing her praises, the hype of her sacrifice and her heroic speech of humanity has since died down. However, Cassia or Song of the Fallen had taken the spotlight instead of her since she was both beautiful beyond reason and had a true name.
'Afterall a good sister would root for her brother!' She thought to herself confidently.She herself liked both of them as her idols, so she often found herself on the fence whenever her classmates debated who was better.
Sighing, she thought about what adventures Nephis was having with her brother wherever they were trapped. She had been worried whether or not he would survive, but Cassia and Jet had assured her that he would survive no matter what. It had also surprised her when Cassia told her about her brother visiting her in secret one rainy night through the window, showing the lawn. For her, that day had been a regular day with no importance other than her burning her breakfast.
Sighing, she lay down on her bed and looked up at her blank white ceiling for an unknown amount of time before a knock sounded from her door.
"Hey, it's me, Jet. We'll be leaving in 5 minutes." She said before going away.
'She must be tired now that Cassia is gone and is the only one able to protect me. Well, enough monologuing, I suppose I should get ready now.'
She walked into her walk-in closet and picked out a black hoodie and pants that complemented her hair. There was no need to be so formal as to wear a dress for where she and Jet were going. After putting on some plain accessories so as not to look too casual, she flew down the stairs before meeting Jet, who was wearing a simple attire of a blue jacket and black pants that were a little too tight for her.
They walked out before entering her PTV as they went down the quiet streets, as Rain looked out the window, yet her eyes weren't focusing on anything in specific. They drove in silence, aside from the usual small talk of school and her training, before slowing down and parking in front of Awakened Academy. After being let in through the gate on their left was a shrine for Changing Star, filled to the brim with candles left behind by the Dreamer Army. She had always found it amusing that the shrine was built to show that as long as the lights were burning, then Changing Star was still alive.
'What fools we all are when we are left with nothing but hope.' She remarked as Jet handed her a lit match after she finished lighting up her candle. She took it and stepped forward before lighting up her candle that was next to Cassia's; however, she didn't extinguish the match just yet. Moving towards the side of the shrine was a picture showing a gaunt young boy who looked no older than she did, with three candles in front of it. The candles were from Jet, Cassia, and herself, who had taken the time to make a small side shrine for her brother. She crouched forward before lighting up each of their candles as she took a step back and admired the burning lights that seemed ethereal.
They didn't linger long as they were off towards the building housing the sleeper pods before registering at the front desk. Afterwards, they made their way towards Nephis's room, where, upon opening the door, they could see a sleeping white-haired girl with a peaceful face. She always felt a little nervous seeing the dormant princess of the Immortal Flame clan, as she had no real connection to her, but Cassia said it was fine and encouraged her to visit her since she wouldn't have minded.
She walked up to the pod before laying a hand on it, her hand slightly shivering from the coldness.
"H-Hello Changing Star, I hope you're doing as well as you can possibly be out there in the Dream Realm. I hope my brother isn't giving you a hard time and that you both return safely."
She murmured; however, she could see out of the corner of her eye Jet having a small smile.
After finishing her small speech that was more like a prayer and plea, they soon moved towards Sunny's room, which they located easily as it wasn't their first time coming. Upon entering, it was noticeably less fancy and prestigious than the room that was given to Changing Star, which was not to say that it looked terrible or was run-down.
The room was about 20 percent smaller than Changing Star's room, the pod was of an older design with signs of wear, and the room was only dimly lit. However, other than that, it was the same as any other room.
She felt a little guilty at least three times for not being able to provide a better room for her brother, but all the other better ones were occupied with other sleepers. Aside from that, she almost fainted upon seeing the price of renting out a sleeping pod to put inside her home, so she decided not to bring up the idea to her parents.
They had also gotten a DNA test with some blood drawn from his sleeping body, and it was confirmed that they were indeed directly blood related, even though she found it a little unnecessary since from the looks alone they were almost too identical not to be siblings. Her parents wanted to adopt him after he woke up; however, they would only offer it without pressuring him, since it was necessary.
Taking a seat next to the sleeping pod, she looked over her brother's body, which seemed a little malnourished and quite small for his age. She wondered what Sunny had suffered through just to get to this point, having been orphaned at such a young age and being alone for most of his teenage years, living on scraps of food and synthetic toothpaste. How hard it must've been to let go of his yearning to connect with her after seeing how happy she was and eventually being infected with the nightmare spell.
Only then to have a month and a half to train for the winter solstice, where he was transported into a death zone where the average mob was an Awakened Beast. Then, having to participate in a bloody civil war for the bright castle. Afterward, they only had a few days to prepare for the siege of the Crimson Spire, where hundreds of Dreamers lost their lives, rushing through the Spire while dealing with crimson golems that were weak yet regenerated, before deciding to stay behind with Changing Star.
'Wow, now thinking about it, my brother truly did get the rough end of life.' Her mood was darkened by the realization that while she was living a peaceful life, her brother had to fight tooth and nail to survive the dangers that threaten humanity for their survival and humanity's.'Brother... when you return, I promise I'll be the best sister you could ever have, and you can tell me all about your adventures!' She thought internally before forcing a smile.
After all, at least one of them had to be happy, or else what was the point of his brother's suffering?