The sun never did rise on the Forgotten Shore again. In this land plagued by eternal night, a silent soldier was kneeling in front of four hundred of his kin, forever watching over them. The sleepers who died in the siege of the Crimson Spire had finally been put to rest. Their nightmare was over.
Far away from where the Crimson Spire used to be, two figures were running across a massive crater. The light from their lantern memories lighting up a small part of the world.
'Someone who can see in the dark would be very useful right about now.' Lucien silently complained as they descended down the crater.
Not everything was bad, though. One of the side effects of the sun exploding was the fact that it killed all of the nightmare creatures on the shores. That made their journey so much easier.
With the death of the Crimson Terror, came the undoing of the Coral Labyrinth. The blood red maze that once dominated this place was gone, leaving behind nothing but ashes.
The Forgotten Shore had become the safest place in the world.
Lucien did not know how to feel about that. He should be happy that these threats were gone, that the terrors of the Forgotten Shore would never plague him again. But for some reason, he wasn't.
Rather he felt…mournful. The artificial sun, the Dark Sea, the Coral Labyrinth, and even the Crimson Spire, were what made this land what it was. Now stripped bare of them…it felt almost foreign a complete wasteland. It was not the place he had grown up in anymore, that land was dead.
'What am I doing?' Lucien sighed. Why was he mourning the death of these monsters, they had done nothing but harm. Without them, the sleepers of the Forgotten Shore would never have been stranded here, and maybe he would've been able to reach the human world. How different would his life be then?
'No use thinking about it.' He shook his head as they crossed over the edge of the crater.
Close to the center of the crater, the ground had turned into black glass, and at its very heart, a round hole led into the depths of the earth.
Lucien slowed down as they got closer to it, a part of him wanted to go down there and explore.
"What is it?" Nephis asked, stopping beside him, "Did you find something?"
Lucien took a moment to look away from the hole. "No, it's nothing. Let's keep moving."
They had no time to waste after all.
Still, Lucien took a moment to break off a chunk of the black glass before continuing their ascent.
As he ran alongside Nephis, a part of him dove into his soul sea to observe the glass. For once, the inside of his soul sea was brighter than the outside.
Under the light from his storm cores, Lucien got the chance to observe the black glass. The purple light momentarily chased away the darkness in the glass, leaving a swirling mass at the center. A moment later, that darkness lashed out, devouring the light and reclaiming the crystal.
"True darkness." Lucien whispered, new ideas already blossoming in his mind.
Back in the real world, they were approaching the edge of the crater. A part of Lucien's mind split apart from the rest to ponder over the crystal. The things he could make with it. The remaining part focused on the world.
As soon as they crossed the edge, Nephis froze and slowly turned her head towards something beside them. Intrigued, Lucien followed her gaze to a tall hill covered in grey sand, the same sand that now enveloped the Forgotten Shore.
Atop the hill, was a gargantuan tree that seemed to have no end. At least not within the range of their lantern memories.
Of course that didn't stop them from recognizing what it was. The Soul Devouring Tree.
Lucien had heard stories of the tree from the other sleepers. This insidious tree enticed anyone that got close to it, providing them food and shelter, enthralling them to the point where they would gladly give their life for it. Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie had barely escaped its clutches last time.
The world was suddenly bathed in white and purple light as two divine aspects activated. Having come to a silent agreement, the two of them wasted no time in getting as far away from the tree as possible.
All around them was nothing but a sea of ash, littered with the corpses of nightmare creatures.
Which was slowly dwindling as Lucien kept putting them inside his storage memory. They'd eat those that looked most edible, while the rest…Lucien had other plans for.
It was strange to think that they now had a choice between which nightmare creature they wanted to eat.
In the end they decided to camp out in the open. The only other landmark in the area, a gargantuan skeleton, was already miles behind them. This too was strange, camping in the middle of the coral labyrinth with nothing to protect them from the elements.
Setting down their illuminating memories, a torch in Lucien's case, the two of them prepared for dinner. Tonight's victim was an abnormally tall fox. The spell called it a Lesser Teumessian.
Among all the nightmare creatures Lucien had fought, this one was the most annoying. Not because of how strong it was, or its unique powers. But because of how slippery the bastard was.
Seriously, it took Lucien a whole day of chasing to catch it. By the time he did, his reserves of storm essence were nearly depleted.
The first thing he did was to carefully skin it. In the dim light from the lantern memories, it was tougher than usual, but the hide of a fallen abomination was too valuable to be thrown away.
Only after he was finished, did they start cooking the meat. A being of this size should sustain them for at least a few days.
Not a word was exchanged between them as they waited for the meat to cook. Lucien was lost in his ideas about the dark crystal. So far the best idea he had was to use it to make a spear. He was already working on one before they left for the hollow mountains. However, he'd need to learn to work with glass before he did that. It'd be a shame if he wasted it.
It was only after they had finished eating that Lucien broke the silence.
"I've been meaning to ask," He had said, glancing at Nephis through the corner of his eye. "What exactly was your plan if I hadn't returned when I did?"
Changing Star frowned, and after a while shrugged.
"I don't know. I hadn't thought that far yet."
She had other things on her mind back then.
"Well, imagine I never returned. What would you have done then?"
Nephis turned her head toward him, and raised an eyebrow inquisitively, "Why do you ask?"
Lucien shrugged, "Humor me, we've gotta pass the time somehow."
Nephis turned away and stared at the featureless black sky.
"I guess, I would go back to the Hollow Mountains to try and find you."
"Really?" Lucien asked, he wasn't expecting that answer.
She nodded, "We have better odds with the two of us."
"You would still head toward the desert, why?"
Nephis stared emptily at the sky for a few seconds. "To look for a citadel, and if that didn't work out, a seed of nightmare."
"The second nightmare." Lucien said, "You would challenge that as a sleeper? Why?"
She glanced at him, a hint of confusion in her voice, "You know exactly why. Did you not eavesdrop on my conversation with Sunny?"
"Ah," Lucien turned away, "Yeah, something like that did happen…"
A moment of silence passed between them.
"What if…" Lucien began, slowly turning back to her, "What if I told you there is another citadel here, under the Hollow Mountains?"
Nephis frowned, of course there was a citadel under the Hollow Mountains. Every region in the Dream Realm had one. Why would he be telling her that? Unless…
Her eyes widened by a fraction. "You… found it."
"Well, find isn't exactly the word I'd use." Lucien said with a grimace. "It was more akin to a…escort."
"The transcendent," Nephis said, receiving a nod in reply. "Is that how you awakened?"
"Yes," Lucien said slowly, He had never told her about that. Granted they could usually sense a difference in rank. Or maybe Nephis had just kept a quiet eye on him, gauging his strength.
Nephis nodded, as if she had just confirmed a suspicion.
Then, without another word she got up and summoned her sword.
Raising an eyebrow, Lucien tensed, prepared to activate his aspect at a moment's notice.
"Did you see something?" He asked, knowing full well that there was no one around them for miles.
Nephis didn't respond and only pointed her sword at him. "Fight me."
"Excuse me?" Lucien asked incredulously, keeping a wary eye on the pointed end of the blade so close to him.
"We're sparring. I've been meaning to try something out."
"..." Lucien sighed and finally got up. The Storm Blade manifesting in his hand a moment later.
"Of course I'm her test subject." He muttered under his breath before lifting his head and saying:
"No aspect abilities I assume?"
Nephis simply nodded, and instantly attacked him.
The image of her dashing towards him, sword raised for a strike, burned into his mind as he dove into his soul sea. This was his biggest advantage in any fig-
"What the hell?!" He whispered out loud in the confines of his soul sea. Changing Stars form was almost perfect.
Without his aspect, he couldn't hope to catch her off guard with his speed.
But he was still an awakened, a whole rank above her. His own innate strength was stronger than hers. He would have used his essence to further boost his body but that'd be cheating. And Lucien was no cheater.
Time returned to its normal flow as soon as he left his soul sea. Nephis had almost reached him by that time.
With no time to think, Lucien parried her blade, his storm blade ringing as it came into contact with her steel blade.
With his free hand, he grabbed Nephis and threw her away. Nephis twisted mid-air and landed on her feet. She didn't even take a single moment to rest and immediately launched herself at Lucien again.
All emotion left Luciens face, in combat only one thing mattered. To win.
The two clashed again, and this time Lucien deflected her blow with such force that her arm was thrown to the side. If there wasn't an opening to take advantage of, he'd simply make one.
The dark blade swam through the air, using its own momentum to circle back to Nephis.
Unable to deflect the strike, Nephis instead dodged into Lucien.
Caught off guard by her sudden movement, Lucien dismissed his memory and stumbled back. The blade dissipated right before coming into contact with her shoulder.
A moment later, cold steel pressed onto his chin.
Nephis stared at him from the other side, a strange white spark in her eyes.
"Really Nephis, walking into my blade?" Lucien scoffed. "Have you finally lost it? This is a spar, not a battle to the death."
Though he wouldn't be completely opposed to that idea.
"The essence of combat is murder Lucien. If you cannot follow through, I will." She raised her blade, "Again."
"..." Lucien stared at her for a moment before sighing. Once again the dark blade manifested itself out of thousands of tiny sparks.
Under the starless sky of the Forgotten Shore, the two clashed again and again, and the ash grey sand soon took on a red hue.