The question stunned Yoru.
'Well… that's not what I was expecting. But I guess this is better.'
After regaining his composure, he cleared his throat and turned toward Cassie.
"Uh… which one are you referring to?"
He knew exactly which Attribute she meant. In fact, it was surprising that it had taken Cassie this long to ask.
Still, he was reluctant to reveal anything about it.
First, there wasn't much he could tell her to satisfy her curiosity as even he didn't understand the mysterious attribute himself. Second, the only thing he did know was that it probably had something to do with the Forgotten God.
And that was not information to be shared lightly.
Cassie wore a sheepish expression as she replied:
"The one that can't be translated…"
Her fingers tightened nervously around the smooth wood of her staff before she hurried to add:
"I know it's rude, and I shouldn't be invading your privacy like this! But… this is the first time I've ever seen something like that. So please forgive me for being a little… nosy."
She lowered her head apologetically.
"It's completely fine if you do not wish to share. You can forget I ever asked."
Yoru sighed heavily.
"Don't worry. This isn't something you need to apologise for."
Cassie's eyes lit up as she glanced at him.
"Then will you tell me?"
"Nope."
"Oh…"
The look on the poor girls face could break even the strongest of hearts. In an attempt to soften the blow, Yoru quickly added:
"But that's only because I have nothing to tell you. I know about as much as you do."
Cassie's dejected expression slowly turned into confusion.
"You know nothing about your own Attribute?"
Her tone wasn't condescending at all, but hearing it said aloud still made Yoru feel strangely incompetent.
"No… I don't," He admitted, embarrassed.
"Ah! But I've given it some thought. And considering the supposed omniscience of the Spell, I find it hard to believe that the attribute is something it can't describe."
Cassie nodded thoughtfully.
"I thought the same. I think it's something the Spell refuses to translate… rather than something it cannot."
After a few moments of quiet contemplation she said:
"What I don't understand is why?"
'Well, if you knew what it meant, you'd probably become some nightmarish monstrosity and start eating people.'
Yoru shrugged.
"It's probably for the best that we don't know. Knowledge is a heavy burden after all."
Cassie wore a strange wistful expression.
"Yes…"
She seemed to hesitate, as though holding herself back from saying something more.
Yoru didn't encourage her to say it aloud.
Whatever was troubling Cassie was bound to become far more grave the moment someone else learned about it.
Such was the curse of precognition.
***
Some time later, Nephis was preparing dinner, aided by Yoru. Sunny found himself lying lazily on the stones and staring into the sky.
The sky, like always, was grey and unfriendly.
With all four of them equipped with decent armor, they were finally starting to resemble a real Awakened cohort. In fact, Sunny thought that their group was rather eye-catching even by Awakened standards.
In her light tunic and sea-wave cloak, beautiful and delicate Cassie looked like a princess. Lithe and poised, Nephis was like a noble knight tasked with protecting her. Yoru was a bit of an outlier, perhaps a fallen noble that had decided to tag along. Sunny, however…
If he was generous to himself, he would say that he looked like a young squire.
But truthfully, he resembled a page boy a lot more at best. If a random stranger were to see the four of them, that stranger would most likely assume that Sunny was either a lowly servant or a feeble ruffian that had been captured by the noble lady's guard.
'Well, that'll just add to their surprise when I stab them in the back.'
Wait… why would he stab a random stranger?
'Ah, who cares. I'm sure there'll be a reason.'
At that moment, Cassie sat down by his side. Sunny turned his head, looking at the blind girl with a bit of surprise.
She bit her lip.
"Nephis told me that you almost died yesterday."
'Oh, so that's what this is about.'
He shrugged.
"Yeah."
Then, with a silent sigh, Sunny added:
"But don't worry about it too much. It's not my first brush with death."
The two of them talked for a while after that.
Cassie admitted that she often felt useless because of her blindness and lack of combat ability - she perceived herself as a burden on the group. Sunny immediately shut that idea down.
He told her about the unfair circumstances of his First Nightmare, how he had begun it as a slave and had been given the worst possible odds imaginable. Yet he still survived and conquered it.
He explained that in its own twisted way, the Spell was fair. If Cassie had been given such a debilitating Flaw, then her Aspect must be incredibly powerful to balance it out.
That was when she said something which gave Sunny pause.
"I had more visions than I told you guys about."
He blinked, staring at the blind girl with surprise and a bit of apprehension. Her sudden statement really threw him off. Why would she keep something like this secret?
And why tell him now?
Confused, he asked carefully:
"More… visions? Why haven't you told us?"
A fleeting, tired smile appeared on Cassie's face. She lowered her head and remained silent for a while. Then, closing her eyes, she said:
"You probably don't know. How could you know? But knowledge… knowledge can be really heavy. It can be as heavy as the heaviest thing in the world."
Then, a sad smile appeared on her face.
"I am afraid that by telling you, I will actually cause the things I saw to come true."
Sunny tensed up, alarmed by the implication behind her words. If she was afraid of the visions coming true, then their content must have been pretty bad. And if it was really bad…
If something terrible was destined to befall them, Sunny had to know about it in advance.
That way, he would be able to make preparations and deal with whatever happens. As long as he was prepared, many things would become much less dire.
However… what if his preparations would become the very reason for that terrible thing to happen, making Cassie's vision a self-fulfilling prophecy?
This was the danger of knowing the future.
'Damn it, my head hurts. I hate this crap!'
Sunny struggled for a long time, trying to decide if he should pressure Cassie to reveal her visions. Either outcome was going to leave him uneasy, so he was really not sure what to do. In the end, unable to make a decision, Sunny simply remained silent.
Cassie also didn't say anything.
After some time had passed, she finally spoke:
"Can you… can you promise me just one thing?"
It seemed as though this was her attempt to find a compromise between revealing everything and doing nothing. Sunny frowned.
"That depends on what it is."
The blind girl hesitated before speaking.
"Can you promise that you'll take care of Neph? No matter what?"
To his surprise, Sunny felt no unbearable pressure in his head. His flaw had not activated meaning he was unsure.
'But still…'
He liked Nephis. It had even pained him to see her pitiful state last night fighting against the centurion and the winged beast, but what Cassie asked was too steep of a requirement.
To protect someone "No matter what", was far beyond what Sunny was willing and capable of doing. Something like that demanded a bond born of choice rather than necessity. The relationship between him and Changing Star was nothing more than essential. Who knew what would happen once their need for each other was no longer there?
However, the same argument could be made for his relationship with Yoru. The two had luckily appeared near each other on their first night and they had decided to ally themselves. Of course, Yoru provided him a useful Aspect and not being alone in this place was a blessing, so Sunny had incentive to keep him alive. But it didn't mean he had to risk his life for him…. And yet he did.
After thinking for a long while, he finally answered.
"I don't think I'm even capable of protecting Nephis no matter what. If something shows up that even she can't deal with… we're probably both dead."
He hesitated for a moment.
"But… I would try my best."
Cassie's eyes widened slightly.
Then a small, beautiful smile appeared on her face.
"That… makes me glad."
With that, she summoned her staff and walked away, leaving Sunny in a somber and uneasy mood - just like he had expected.
***
The next couple of days passed by in moderate calm.
Whilst the Echo was recuperating in the lightless flames of Sunny's Soul Sea, the group wasn't in optimal condition to continue travelling. So until it was healed, they spent more time atop the hill.
In the evenings, scavengers would climb the cliffside in desperate attempts to escape the creeping approach of the Dark Sea.
Sunny, Nephis, and Yoru dealt with these unfortunate creatures with relative ease.
They would wait patiently until the monsters reached the top of the cliff, and when their balance was unstable after the exhausting climb, the three would strike without hesitation, cutting them down before they had a chance to properly orient themselves.
Nephis spent most of her time meditating.
Sometimes, as she sat cross-legged with her back straight and eyes closed, her expression would twist into a brief grimace. From time to time, a faint white glow leaked from behind her eyelids.
Sunny suspected she was practicing with her Aspect again.
The cockroach himself spent most of his time training with his sword while his shadow scouted the labyrinth below.
Ever since experiencing clarity in battle, he seemed to swing the Azure Blade with a newfound fascination, his movements had grown sharper and deliberate. And for some reason, he occasionally glanced down at his shadow…
Yoru trained alongside him.
Despite finally possessing a proper spear - his preferred weapon - he didn't abandon the sword. Instead, he continued practicing with both.
He thought It better to become comfortable with multiple weapons now, rather than struggle later when a situation demanded it.
But combat training was not the only thing occupying his time.
Yoru had recently begun experimenting with something he liked to call:
Wishcraft.
Now that his essence had fully recovered, it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with his Aspect and possibly gain a few additional wishes.
Turning toward the blind oracle who sat not too far away, he called out casually.
"Cassie, do you wish to fly?"
Cassie tilted her head slightly in his direction.
Before she could even respond, however, another voice interrupted.
"You never ask me for wishes..."
Yoru slowly turned his head toward Nephis.
She was still sitting cross-legged on the ground, her eyes closed - but her voice was unmistakably directed at him.
'…Am I imagining things, or is Changing Star jealous?'
The thought was so absurd that Yoru almost laughed.
He allowed a pleasant smile to spread across his face.
"Oh, sorry. You just don't seem like the type to… care, really."
Nephis frowned, but she ignored the comment.
"Aren't you going to ask?"
"Right. Of course."
Yoru straightened and spoke in an exaggeratedly polite tone.
"Changing Star of Immortal Flame, would you like to fly?"
There was a short pause, then she nodded.
In the next moment, she began to steadily lift off the ground.
For some reason, she remained perfectly cross-legged the entire time, her posture as calm and composed as if she were still sitting on solid ground.
Gradually, she floated higher and higher.
Then her body slowly began to rotate.
Soon enough, she was completely upside down.
Sunny, who had been practicing his katas nearby, stopped mid-movement and stared at the sight with open confusion.
"Uh… is Nephis alright?"
Yoru waved dismissively.
"She's completely fine."
Then he raised his voice and shouted cheerfully:
"Just give me the word and I'll drop you, princess!"
For a moment, Nephis said nothing.
When she finally responded, her voice sounded oddly strained.
"Put me down."
The levitation ended instantly.
Nephis dropped from the air, twisting her body as she fell before landing smoothly in a controlled combat roll. She rose back to her feet in a single fluid motion, as though nothing unusual had happened.
She looked to Yoru with a frown.
"I couldn't control it."
"Hm? Oh, that's because it wasn't real flight… sorry."
If Nephis was displeased by this fact, she showed no outwards reaction. Simply shrugging and resuming her meditation.
This came as a suprise to Yoru, who could feel the sincerity of Nephis' wish and was able to tell that flight was something important to her.
'It's hard to imagine Nephis as a little girl wishing to fly."
Considering her goals, aspirations and personality, it was easy to forget she was an actual human with human desires.
By attributing Cassie's wish to ascend to Changing Star, Nephis believed in the moment that she actually flew, when in reality she was just levitating, hence why she couldn't control herself.
This false perception resulted in the wish being granted and it even earned Yoru three wish fragments.
He stared at the counter with pride but quickly moved on.
His next wishcraft involved memories.
For a while now, Yoru had suspected whether he was able to duplicate memories. But he hadn't been given the chance to find this out as of late, since the group was constantly moving to put distance between the scavengers and themselves.
Now was the perfect time however.
"Is anyone willing to transfer one of their memories to me? Preferably dormant."
They all looked at him with skeptical expressions.
"What for?" Asked Sunny.
Yoru decided not to beat around the bush as he usually did.
"I'm not entirely certain but I might be able to copy memories. I don't think I need to elaborate on how vital that could be."
It was pretty logical reasoning. If Yoru was right, then the potential of such an ability was truly limitless.
After a few moments of consideration, Sunny sighed and extended his hand towards him.
"I better get this back."
Yoru snorted.
"As if I'd want whatever you have in your pathetic arsenal."
The two grasped each others hands in a tight grip, seemingly trying to crush each others fingers. Soon, Yoru felt the strange experience of a spark travelling though Sunny's body into his.
Within his soul sea was a new orb of light hanging idly near his core.
'The sonorous bell…'
This was the first memory Sunny had ever recieved and as far as Memories went, it was pretty useless.
Still, it was good enough as a trial run.
"Thanks. Now just wish for it back."
Sunny complied and Yoru began the process of expelling the memory from his soul sea and returning it.
After a few more moments, Yoru was done tethering the new wish to his miracle Ccre.
After having Sunny wish for a memory once more, Yoru grit his teeth and clicked his fingers.
"Moment of truth…"
Sunny's eyes glazed over and became only half-focused as he entered his own soul sea.
And soon enough, a small crooked grin began to slowly work its way onto his face.
"I have two sonorous bells."
Yoru smiled as well.
This ability was sure to come In handy. Only issue was, he could feel his essence slowly draining.
Yoru frowned.
"The duplicated memory is something I have to sustain with essence. It doesn't consume a lot though. I think it could last for an hour, maybe?"
Sunny nodded.
"Well, it's a pretty useful ability nonetheless. We should see what else you can grant. You know what? I wish for that ascended armour of yours."
There was a greedy grin plastered on Sunny's face that made Yoru's skin crawl.
After a long while of experimenting, Yoru discovered all that he could about his ability to duplicate.
He could replicate a dormant memory just fine, but awakened and ascended memories seemingly refused to be willed into existence. He suspected that he could only produce memories of the same rank as him, which was honestly pretty upsetting.
'I feel like I'm being constantly nerfed, damn it.'
It also seemed that the tier of the memory had an effect on how much essence was used to maintain its existence.
The demand grew along with its teir.
But even with all the tests, there were still things he was either unsure about or just couldn't know. Things like: would it consume his own or the users essence to use active enchantments? Would this be a viable method for Sunny to grow Saint's strength when they eventually reached that point?
These questions flew around in his head but there was no point worrying about them now when they wouldn't be answered anytime soon.
The days went by similar to that until eventually, it was time to descend into the labyrinth again.