In an average house located in a good district of NQSC, two fourteen-year-old girls were having a pillow fight.
Currently, Rain was losing—and losing badly.
"That's not fair!" Rain shouted as she dodged a pillow to the face.
Ellie, for her part, was having the time of her life. "No one said it had to be!" she shouted back, preparing her next attack.
Rain couldn't avoid the impact and ended up falling onto the mattress. Turning her head quickly, she found another pillow and grabbed it immediately.
Ellie, seeing what her friend wanted to do, launched one of her pillows directly at Rain's face.
Again, the attack hit Rain, but laughing through it, she managed to grab the new pillow, and now the positions were reversed.
They both stood facing each other—Rain with two pillows, Ellie with only one.
Drops of sweat ran down their faces, but neither of them cared, as wide, genuine smiles were present on both.
They stood still, analyzing the situation with narrowed eyes.
They were playing pillow war, and currently, Ellie was winning 4-2, with the match going to whoever reached five first.
Points were scored when someone ended up falling onto the mattress, which meant Ellie had the momentum to make the last two points.
Still standing face to face, the first to move was Rain.
Running forward, she brought one of her pillows forward while using the other as a shield.
Ellie, for her part, lowered her center of gravity and positioned herself to receive the strike. However, at the last possible moment, she spun on her axis and, with the momentum, aimed her pillow at Rain's head.
Rain obviously anticipated the attack, so she protected her head with the one she was using as a shield and aimed the other at her friend's legs. Ellie canceled the strike at the last second and took a step back.
They both stood as if nothing had happened.
Breathing rapidly, both still had wide smiles on their faces, but now the competitive spirit of both was starting to show more and more.
They were fairly evenly matched, but Ellie, even with only one pillow, had a slight advantage. She had been training longer and was more disciplined than Rain. But at the same time, the latter had a ton of talent and learned at an alarming speed.
Rain began to analyze her friend's posture—how her legs were positioned to explode at any moment, how her arms were ready to make flexible movements and react according to her reflexes.
Ellie, for her part, managed to analyze the orientation of Rain's waist. How it had a more adaptable center of gravity, ready to go on the offensive with the slightest movement.
Both were reflecting the fighting styles of those who had been teaching them over the last few months.
Ellie adopted a more neutral posture, more based on reflexes and perception than on predicting attacks by reading the opponent. It was Arthur's style, which she had learned through Sylvie.
Rain, on the other hand, had a more offensive posture, one more focused on adaptability. It was Nephis's style—or Nectis, as she knew her teacher.
After seconds of tension, Rain made the first move.
She ran toward her friend with both pillows raised, then lowered her right one in a vertical arc while using the other to protect her legs.
Ellie took a step back and, at the last moment, covered herself from the overhead strike. Then, taking advantage of the space created, she lowered her center of gravity and spun on herself.
Rain was surprised by this movement and hesitated for a moment. That hesitation was what prevented her from noticing that Ellie had never aimed at her. Her target was always to steal her pillow.
She realized it, but a few seconds too late.
In that moment, Ellie, with her free hand, grabbed Rain's free pillow with all her strength and pulled.
This caused her friend to lose her balance, and Rain hesitated again—between letting go of the pillow or pulling back.
Sadly, she chose the latter option. So the moment Ellie felt the resistance, she decided to let go of the pillow.
Rain lost her balance, and Ellie took advantage by bringing her pillow down in a vertical strike that ended up hitting her friend's shoulder.
Moments later, Rain ended up falling onto the mattress for the third consecutive time.
Victory for Ellie.
The latter smiled widely and, with one hand, pointed at her friend and began to laugh openly.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Rain turned her head and pouted.
This caused Ellie to laugh even harder, to the point that tears started forming in her eyes. She let herself fall onto the mattress and began holding her stomach from laughing.
Rain turned to look at her friend, and the pout on her face changed to a genuine smile. Then she decided to start laughing along with her.
Minutes passed with them laughing like that until Ellie stopped and, wiping away her tears, said, "Ah! That was fun!"
Rain stopped laughing and, still with a smile, replied, "Yes!" Then her smile diminished. "I don't like losing, but that was a good match."
Ellie nodded and went to grab her communicator. Checking the time, she said, "I have training in an hour. What a drag!"
"Can't you skip it? Just say you got sick or something."
She shook her head. "No, my Master can tell from a distance if I'm sick, and I'm clearly not."
Rain looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"That's kinda creepy."
Ellie shrugged. "I trust her, so I don't mind." Then she dared to ask, "Can I take a shower here?"
"Yeah, sure," Rain replied as she went to get her communicator.
Ellie said, "Thanks," and headed to the bathroom with a backpack that had all her things.
While Ellie showered, Rain went to the kitchen and got the food her mother had left prepared for them. She put it in the microwave, and minutes later, two plates of fried rice with vegetables were ready to eat.
Then she went to the fridge and took out a carton of apple juice and a couple of oranges.
Grabbing the latter, she went to the juicer and made orange juice for herself, while the apple juice was for Ellie.
When everything was ready, she brought it all to her room and left it on her desk.
At that moment, Ellie came out of the shower and went to the desk.
"Thanks for the food," she said as she pulled out a chair.
Rain replied, "My mother left it ready before she went to work." Then, on her private computer, she started looking for videos to watch while they ate.
Ellie smelled the aroma of the food and let out a happy noise. "Your mother's cooking is really good."
"Yours is really good too," Rain finally replied once she found a video of a tournament in the Dreamscape.
The video was of Leo Striker, but neither of them was very impressed by the famous duelist's level.
'My master is vastly better,' was the thought of both.
After they finished eating while watching the video, they started looking at comments on the movie: *A Song of the King and His Flame.*
"Look at this comment, Rain" Ellie said.
She stopped reading the other comment and focused on her friend's.
[Mati765-LadyNephisMyQueen: The relationship between Lord Arthur and Lady Nephis feels very forced! Lady Nephis deserves something much better, which is why I offer myself as her future partner!]
Rain let out a noise of disgust while shaking her head. "What a crazy guy. As if Lady Nephis would go out with a nobody!"
Ellie didn't know how to feel because the comment had actually insulted her brother…
"Do you ship my brother with Nephis?"
Rain looked at her innocently. "Well… your brother is handsome… why not?"
"You should know that not everything in the movie is real," Ellie said with a raised eyebrow.
Rain shrugged. "What can I say? Artphis is the future."
For her own mental health, Ellie chose to ignore the name of the ship between her brother and Nephis and continued looking at comments.
After a few seconds, Rain found another one and told her to look.
[LynceTk: The movie was horrible. The government went overboard with the propaganda and ended up ruining a movie with a lot of potential.]
Both nodded. "He's kinda right."
Then they looked at another comment.
[Mia67@ArthurWife: How dare they pair my King with that nobody!? Autistic Star doesn't deserve to stand next to my Arthur!]
[LadyNephis-n1fan786: What did you say, you filthy? Don't you dare say bad things about my Queen! Your fourth-rate King is trash next to her!]
[Mia67@ArthurWife: Bumphis fans are deplorable! Your nobody is alive thanks to my King's kindness, you vermin!]
[LadyNephis-n1fan786: Fraudthur fans are worse! The guy showed up after my Queen did all the work and took the credit!]
[Mia67@ArthurWife: I'm going to dox you, you idiot.]
[LadyNephis-n1fan786: You couldn't handle the truth, and now you want to dox me. Typical of Bumthur fans!]
[Mia67@ArthurWife: **********************]
"Wowowowow, that's enough!" they said together, and upon noticing it, they both started laughing again.
After laughing for a few seconds, Rain turned off the computer, and Ellie checked her communicator to see what time it was. Noticing that half an hour had already passed, she stood up from her chair and said:
"I have to go, or I'll be late."
Rain got sad but understood the reason perfectly—she had suffered several times herself for being late to training.
She suppressed a shiver as she remembered when her master made her do 1,000 repetitions of a single movement for being 5 minutes late.
"Okay, I'll walk you to the door."
After grabbing her things, they both headed to the exit, and once there, Ellie could already see the PTV waiting for her in front of her house.
Saying goodbye with a hug, she went to the PTV, and the driver gave her a small bow.
"Lady Ellie, the PTV is ready to take you to the compound."
She smiled at the man. "Thanks, Greg, but don't call me 'Lady.' Just Ellie is fine!"
"I'm sorry, Lady Ellie, but that is something my position does not allow," the driver replied, holding her door open.
Ellie let out a sigh and got into the PTV. Then the driver got into the driver's seat and began the journey to the compound.
She—as she always did—closed her eyes and decided to take a nap.
Half an hour later, she woke up to the noise of the PTV stopping.
Stretching as she yawned, the driver opened the door for her.
"Lady Ellie, we have arrived at the destination."
"Thanks!" she replied as she got out with her backpack and noticed that her masters were already waiting for her in front of the compound.
The first was Sylvie, and beside her stood Seishan.
Her two masters for months now.
Obviously, at first, she didn't know who these two beautiful women were and assumed they were just friends of her brother in the Dream Realm. But for a couple of months now, she had learned who these two Awakened who had offered to be her masters really were.
The offer had been extremely strange at first because they asked for nothing in return. In fact, her parents wanted to reject it because it didn't make much sense.
After an afternoon of conversation—over a cup of tea—her parents and they reached an agreement. Ellie hadn't been present at that talk because supposedly she wasn't old enough for adult matters.
Even so, she was grateful that her parents had accepted. Sylvie and Seishan had become great figures to her. Both were exemplary Awakened. Both belonged to a clan of great importance—she found this out by researching who they were on her own—and mainly, both had True Names—though Ellie only knew Sylvie's; Seishan did not make hers public.
Running toward them, Ellie gave a small jump, and they ended up in a triple hug.
Both women let out an "Ellie" between smiles and returned the hug.
After a few seconds, they separated, and smiling, she greeted them. "It's good to see you, Sylv and Shan."
"We are also happy to see you," said Sylvie, extending her hand toward her.
While grabbing Sylvie's hand, she didn't notice that Seishan had done the same, and the breathtaking woman said to her, feigning a hurt tone:
"And you're not going to grab my hand?"
Only then did Ellie notice and immediately grabbed her hand. "Of course I am! I didn't see it."
Seishan smiled, and the three of them entered the compound.
Walking through the hallways, they began to talk about what had happened to the women in the past week.
Since they were preparing to challenge the Second Nightmare, the training sessions with Ellie had to be reduced, so they hadn't seen each other for a week before today.
Minutes later, they arrived at the training hall, and it was completely ridiculous.
The first time Ellie came to this place, she almost fainted at the magnitude of the structure and all the tools and things there were.
The training hall stretched dozens of meters high, its walls lined with wooden weapons and different tools. Lengthwise, the hall was approximately multiple dozens of meters, with different sections dedicated to different purposes.
Once there, the three changed into outfits designed for training, and it began.
The day's training consisted mainly of improving decision-making in different situations. Using different tools, they created situations where Ellie had to make the best decision within seconds to survive.
Obviously, there were many more things to consider—such as whether she was alone or if she had to save her companions as well. Different terrains and structures, how to take advantage of them in different situations, and when to avoid them.
Thinking not only about the present but also about the future. Not making a decision that brings you closer to the goal today but pushes you two steps back tomorrow.
It was a practical and theoretical training session.
One that stopped when an Awakened from the clan politely entered the training hall and went directly to speak to her two masters.
Ellie didn't manage to hear what they were talking about, but she could tell it was an important matter by the way the two women reacted.
While they talked, she noticed how Sylvie opened her runes and, after a few seconds, shook her head, letting out a sigh. After that, the Awakened bowed and left the room.
Both women stood talking to each other for a few seconds, then turned to look at her.
Seishan made a gesture for her to come over, and Ellie left the machine she was using. Walking with nervous steps, she positioned herself in front of them.
Sylvie smiled at her and, with her hand, began playing with her hair—something Ellie always pretends to be annoyed by when she does it, though she actually likes it.
"Let me go!" she protested between laughs.
Both women laughed, and it was Seishan who spoke next. "We have good news and bad news, Ellie." Then she asked, "Which do you want to hear first?"
"The good one," she replied after thinking about it.
Seishan looked at Sylvie, and the latter spoke. "Well, the good news is that your training is going to end early today."
Ellie raised an eyebrow.
"But I like training with you."
Both of their smiles grew even wider, and Seishan thanked her. "Well, we're glad to hear that, dear Ellie."
Sylvie continued. "Unfortunately, training with us is going to stop for a few months, probably." Ellie was about to speak, but she continued in a softer tone. "Let me finish." A little pause. "The training is going to stop for a few months because we are about to challenge our Second Nightmare."
Ellie's eyes widened, and she took a step back. "Second Nightmare!? Why? You two are already strong enough!"
"Calm down, Ellie. We're going to be fine, okay? Exactly because we are strong—you said it yourself," Seishan replied.
"But… but why take the risk? I don't want to lose you too!" she said, looking down and gripping the edges of her shirt.
Both women looked at each other, and a clear sign of understanding passed between their gazes.
This wasn't exactly about them. Obviously, Ellie valued them and wanted them to be okay, but this reaction was about someone else. Someone who wasn't among them, and someone who hadn't returned either.
The Awakened who had entered a few minutes ago had just notified them of this. Sunless had somehow returned, but alone. Without Arthur. And this reaction of Ellie's was related to him.
She didn't want to lose anyone else.
Both took a few steps forward and lightly hugged Ellie.
In a soft voice, completely full of empathy and love, Seishan whispered:
"Don't worry about us. We are strong, and we know what we're doing. We understand that Arthur was also strong, and he hasn't returned yet, but doesn't that fact also give us hope?"
Sylvie continued. "It means that in the future, he will. And when he does, he will be even stronger than before! So we have to do our part and become strong along with him, don't you think?"
"But… I don't know," Ellie murmured, on the verge of tears.
Seishan began to stroke her hair while continuing in the same tone. "It's okay not to know, Ellie. No one knows everything. That's why we have to challenge this nightmare and become stronger, so we'll be prepared for anything that happens…" Then she asked her, "Isn't that why you accepted our training?"
Ellie, wrapped in the hug, nodded slightly.
Sylvie added with a smile, "Then you understand us perfectly. We can't let Arthur come back and be stronger than us, can we?"
"Do-do you think… he-he will come back?" Ellie asked tremulously as a tear ran down her cheek.
Both replied simultaneously.
"Obviously."
"There's no doubt about it."
Then they broke the hug, and with the sleeve of her shirt, Seishan began to wipe Ellie's tears.
Ellie smiled slightly and accepted both answers with a nod.
Then Sylvie looked at one of the clocks inside the training hall and said:
"We have to go, Ellie. The Awakened from before is going to personally escort you home, okay?"
She accepted and went to change.
Sylvie and Seishan stayed watching her leave, then went to change as well.
Minutes later, Ellie was on her way home, while both women were on their way to the Academy, accompanied by a King Warden and a Handmaiden.
Once the PTV stopped at the gates, they both headed to the reception to schedule a conversation with Sunny, while Anton and Felise stayed behind.
Sylvie perfectly remembered the time Anton challenged Arthur to a duel at the Bright Castle after the latter killed Tessai. She remembered it because she had to heal the wounds the duel caused him. After surviving the Siege, the King Warden decided to follow Arthur to the Song Clan, and he was one of the leaders within the same group.
When everything was agreed upon with the receptionist, they went to Sunny's room and, in front of the door, ran into him just as he was about to enter.
Once they stood at a good distance, Sylvie was the first to speak.
"Awakened Sunless, I'm glad to see you safe and sound."
He nodded his head. "Thank you, Sylvie."
Then Seishan spoke:
"As my sister said, I'm glad to see you again." She greeted, and then requested, "If it's not too much trouble, we'd like to steal a few minutes of your time. This is not for the purpose of recruiting you or similar objectives."
"Thank you, Lady Seishan," he replied, then added, "It's the least I can do." He gestured with his hand down the hallway. "Lead the way."
Both smiled and began walking toward one of the nearby rooms. The Academy had provided them with one just for this.
Minutes later, they were sitting in silence, the three of them around a sound-canceling Memory.
It was Seishan who broke the silence. "We hope you don't take this impromptu meeting the wrong way, Sunless. We know you'll want to talk to the members of your cohort, but you have information about Arthur, and we'd like you to tell us what you know."
Sylvie added, "We're not going to ask you anything specific, so you can choose what to tell us and what not to, but we would appreciate it if you told us most of it."
Sunny was silent for a few seconds and, with a raised eyebrow, asked Sylvie.
"I assume you know about it too, don't you?"
Sylvie immediately understood that he was talking about his Flaw, so she nodded. Then, using her Dormant Ability, she manipulated the mana in her surroundings and drew something behind her back.
Now that she had Awakened, her Dormant Ability now allowed her to change the visibility of mana when she manipulated it—giving her the option to make it visible to anyone.
Sunny let out a sigh and began to tell everything. "Well, after we stayed behind when the Crimson Spire collapsed, we decided to create a tomb for all the Sleepers who died. Then we went to the Dark City and spent a few months there."
Then he hesitated a little but, seeing another signal from Sylvie telling him he could trust Seishan, he continued. "Then we found something that took us to another place, and we spent the rest there" He paused and then added: "Then we had to fight a Corrupted Tyrant and its minions to escape."
At the mention of a Corrupted Tyrant, both women were completely shocked, and their eyes widened. This effect was obviously worse for Sylvie, since she knew Sunny couldn't lie. Seishan took it more lightly, thinking he was exaggerating, but she still stood paralyzed.
"The fight against the Corrupted Tyrant's minions was difficult… oh! In fact, the minions were Fallen Terrors, actually."
Both women went completely pale.
"That time we spent there, we were killing Fallen Terrors to survive."
Sylvie had to summon a Memory to take a drink of water, and Seishan began to have a more lost look. Even so, Sunny continued.
"After that, we had the war against the minions and the Corrupted Tyrant. I must say it was ugly and very aerodynamic!" Sunny smiled mischievously.
Seishan ended up closing her eyes, and Sylvie spat out the water she had drunk.
"The war ended with Arthur sending me through a portal and staying behind to face the rest alone…" Upon finishing the story, Sunny ended with a sadder tone, and both noticed it.
Even so, it took them a few moments to recover, and Seishan was the first to speak.
"Forgive my language, but… WHAT THE HELL?"
Since it was an open question not directed at him, Sunny didn't have to answer, so he just shrugged.
Then, when he noticed Sylvie had recovered, he asked her, "You could see Arthur's runes, right? Do you know if he is… you know…" He finished with a timid voice, as if afraid to ask the question.
Sylvie took another drink of water and managed to calm down completely, then replied:
"He is alive. I don't know what condition he's in, but at least he's alive."
He let out a deep exhale.
Seishan then asked: "Per chance you don't know where he could be?"
Sunny shook his head.
She then stood up, a little trembling from the chair, and said, "Well, if that's all, then we'll leave you free, Sunless."
The rest stood up as well, and Sylvie dismissed the Memory. Then she thanked him,
"Thank you for your time and information, Sunless."
He smiled at both women and said, "You can call me Sunny if you want. And there's no need to thank me. You could say I'm still alive thanks to him, so this is nothing."
"Okay, see you later, Sunny. Good luck in your future," said Seishan, and Sylvie simply nodded.
When they both separated from the group, Sunny stopped and, turning around, asked, "Sylvie, if you don't mind… why don't you have your horns?"
She stopped and turned to look at him, bringing her hands involuntarily to where her horns would be, and replied, "I learned that some people are uncomfortable with them, so I had to hide them with an aesthetic memory."
Sunny tilted his head. "Well, if it's any consolation, I thought they were very cool! And I think Effie thought the same!"
Sylvie smiled at the compliment.
"I only hide them when I leave the compound and when I'm not in Ravenheart. Thanks for the compliment. See you later."
He nodded, and they again went in different directions.
Leaving the Academy and heading toward the PTV, they found Anton and Felise sharing an ice cream together…
'Oh! It's time for my revenge!' Seishan thought as she watched Felise share the ice cream.
She clearly remembered how the Handmaiden had found her when she snuck into her room that day Arthur kissed her on the forehead. Since that moment, she had been looking for an opportunity to get revenge on her, and she had just found it.
Smiling wickedly, she approached the duo. And without being detected, she positioned herself next to them.
"Is the ice cream good, Fel?" she asked in a silly tone, staring at her.
The Handmaiden paled and took a step back. Seconds later, when she recovered, she said,
"Oh! Shan… it's—yes, it's very tasty!"
"I see. I hope you're still talking about the ice cream, huh," she said as she got into the PTV, still staring at her.
Felise felt true terror. Then she looked at Anton, and the idiot was smiling happily.
Hitting him on the arm, she said, "What are you laughing at, idiot! Get into the PTV right now!"
"I'm going," the King Warden said between laughs.
***
A week passed since that day, and right now, Seishan, Sylvie, Ceres, and Siord were in Ravenheart training for their future Nightmare.
Actually, they had been training, because they had just received a beating.
The training was the four of them against Moonveil. And the Saint had completely wiped the floor with all four.
Even so, Moon was satisfied with their performance.
"I would say you are ready," she said.
The four women lying on the floor, breathing rapidly, smiled.
"Go take a shower, and I'll see you at the door of the throne room. You have twenty minutes," Moonveil ordered.
The women accepted and moved immediately. They definitely didn't want to know what would happen if they took even a minute longer than necessary.
Exactly eighteen minutes later, the four women were standing in front of the throne room, and before it turned nineteen, Moonveil appeared behind them.
Touching the door of the room, it opened slightly on its own, and the five entered.
Inside was Ki Song, who was for Ceres and Siord their sovereign and queen, while for the others, she was their mother.
The five knelt before her, and Moonveil spoke again.
"Mother, I have been supervising the training of these four over the past week, and under my judgment, I would say they are ready to challenge their Second Nightmare."
The queen remained silent and began to observe the four women attentively. Seconds later, one of the dead children at her sides nodded, and the other spoke.
"I trust your judgment, Moon. If you believe they are ready, then they are." Then the original body spoke. "Stay in Ravenheart for the rest of the day, and before a new nightfall, all the preparations will be ready."
The five women stood up and, after a bow, left the room.
Exactly before nightfall, they were on top of one of the queen's puppets, which was flying them toward the seed.
During the trip she opened her runes and went to see Arthur's. The same day Sunny came back, he gained a new attribute and increased his knowledge in the Destruction branch.
Now they looked like this:
Attribute: [Godstep]
Description: [Your consciousness opens to the branch of the aether of space (Spatium). You can move through incredible distances within an instant.]
Aspect Legacy: [Weave of Existence]
Description: [A silent weave, where every thread of life and reality is bound.]
Legacy of Life: Unearned.
Legacy of Aether: Earned.
Knowledge of Vivum: [2/?]
Realmheart: Completed: Allows the attribute's power to increase and reduces its cost
Destruction: Incomplete.
[1/4]: Fracture Completed.
[2/4]: Collapse Completed. Relic: Claimed.
When she realized that he had acquired a relic that day, she began to search for it in his memories or perhaps in another attribute, but then she looked down and found something she didn't know could exist.
Arthur had a new section in his runes, one she was sure was something completely unique to him. Just like theirs companion section
Under his echoes–which he didn't have any–a new section appeared.
Relic: [Regis].
She tried to look for the relic description, but she couldn't, or maybe Regis didn't have any. Anyway, she's happy that he is safe–or as safe as anyone could be in the dream realm, alone– and keeps getting stronger.
The plan was to become a Saint fast, and try to go through the mist of the hollow mountains to reach the Forgotten Shore, but now that Sunny came back, Sylvie and Seishan didn't know what to do.
In the end, they only could try to grow stronger and pray that he could come back soon, since he isn't in the Forgotten Shore anymore…
She closed the runes and went to take a nap.
A day later, the four stood in front of the seed they were going to challenge. They already knew more or less what to expect once inside—Ki Song had told them the history of the place.
At the far right stood Siord. She was a seductive woman with a strangely malicious half-smile drawn on her lively face. Her short black hair at shoulder length, accompanied by her pale skin and completely green eyes, made her impossible not to look at.
Then there was Ceres. She was a woman of average height with a beauty similar to Siord's. However, her sky-blue eyes created a completely hypnotic look, especially considering her white hair falling down her back.
And finally stood Sylvie and Seishan with their personal beauties.
The four were ready to become Masters. And for that reason, they took a step forward.
[Awakened! Prepare for your Second Trial…]
[Four brave ones… welcome to the Nightmare!]