The tone of voice gentleman like as the middle aged man started his introduction, his eyes already scanning the crowd and recognizing his son... a older and more powerful version of his son, "my name is Warden, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Jest was smirking at his late friend, now alive! Truly a surprise, it seems that the dead dad jokes with anvil are over! His back. Already walking over.
Sung jin woo, already amidst introduction. Her beauty one of a kind, surely not replicated by her daughter, she was more busy playing doll house and pretending as if her mom was still alive, even tho she was dead, dead as hell! "My name is song jiwoo, it is also a pleasure!" A kind smile adorned her face.
Learning of who her daughter is, their conversation kept brief as the legendary immortal flame, the first ascended started, "I'm 'immortal flame'(to be honest, not that immortal, they died quite quickly!)" He quickly met his granddaughter and being told of the fortunate end of her bum ahh parents. Shouldn't have been walking around with a broken sword in the first place.
And than, another bastard, his appearance as treacherous as could get, probably already scheming behind the demonic mask of the divine rank as the common crook he was! A fiend worse than his poor enslaved imp, "so that's where the two of you were! I thought that the two of you went to dinner, I expect my workers to be really unloyal and just disappear into the shadows but still!" Some scratched their heads at the words of this guy. His gaze at fiend and Saint. Noctis chuckled, "what a uncanny guy, dark attire and badmouthing his shadows too!" The masked individual just ignored the moon guy.
"My name is lord of Shadows, the lord of those two unloyal echoes..."
He sat down next to rain, who froze over while sitting next to the lord of Shadows... his presence, intimidating.
(I should clear ts up, rain is from when she just met Sunny after forgotten shore so she was a bit at ease with Saint seeing that the Shadow saved her and now she was surprised that someone actually was her master. Sunny(los) is from before picnic with neph.)
He closed his eyes, then opened them again, hoping that the runes would disappear.
Daeron lifted his eyebrow, "surely, it isn't that bad?" His voice, a bit confused.
Noctis chuckled, "Sunny is quite unlucky, you see."
Los sighed... what did all of them already watch... just the first nightmare?
Nephis was near euphoric! What kind of leash would she get- *ahem* what kind of secrets does he have to tell her later on while following her on his free will.
'Please, be gone! Please!'
But the runes were still there, shining slightly, as though mocking him.
Flaw: [Clear Conscience].
Flaw Description: [You cannot lie.]
Mordret gazed at the runes... his face calm, his eyes emotionless, till he burst out laughing...
Immortal flame asked, "what is so funny, may I ask?" His eyes full of conviction.
Mordret chuckled, "he was horrified at that he can't lie. No debuff or nothing, just the inability to lie."
Sunny glared at mordret, "What's your flaw than, warmonger halfbreed?"
Mordret, shook by this sentence muttered horrified, "d-did you... did you call me a warmonger!?" His eyes watering as he hugged noctis, crying into his robe...
"It's fine, he just got a bit angry, he didn't mean it for real..."
Warden looked at anvil, his eyebrow raised. Anvil just shook his head.
Sunny stared at these three simple words, feeling like there was a bottomless abyss opening right beneath his feet. The Spell, which was usually frivolous with its descriptions, decided to be straight and on point this time. There were only three words. They left him no room to maneuver.
'Can't lie. I can't lie? Me? How am I supposed to live if I can't lie?!'
"Acting like it's the end of the world" solvane muttered silently, what a scam, why couldn't she get that?
Los from the otherside of the row, glared! It was the worst flaw of all, what drugs was she on? Well, he was used to seeing fent zombies in the outskirts so probably on none...
Sunny's very survival was predicated on his ability to deceive and outsmart other people. Even the Spell itself congratulated him on his treachery! Without the ability to lie, he wouldn't be able to achieve anything.
Jet looked at the boy, "know that the ability to rely on others in the dreamrealm is crucial. It is handy for you, because the reliance goes two way. One can't survive the dreamrealm alone."
Mordret looked at her, "I could survive alone! But it it true that it can be a bit hard, but that's fine, we can rely on each other and beat them warmongers! Teamwork makes the dream work!"
Los was confused under the mask, tf happened with this guy? Was his past version friends with him or not? Even more with the previous warmonger halfbreed statement?
Warden too was confused... what was wrong with the war God and why did his clan care that much?
Not to mention…
His heart suddenly felt as though it was about to stop.
If he could only tell the truth, how was he supposed to hide his (True Name? Wouldn't anyone be able to turn him into an obedient slave (Blurred))by simply asking a couple of innocent questions?
"What was that?" Asterion asked, very interested... he was seating in a position that very much told how much he was interested, leaned forward.
Fiend looked at his masked master and started to respond, "must... be... wind..."
Eurys sighed, sitting in the monster's lap, "just shut it! Big guy..." The monster's red eyes glowed as it watched the rude skull.
Throwing it up, making the skull scream of disrespect and so on, los grabbing it out of the air. "How peculiar! Not only stinking of a daemon but also having his mask! Disgusting creature..."
Sunny looked at it and tried to squeeze it and crush it... not doing a single thing.
"You are pathetic, a shadow that can't even kill! How annoying... I thought that I might finally die but it seems that someone as pathetic as you can't even do that!" Sunny just sighed...
"Sh…"
Sunny was about to scream and curse, but at that moment, the Spell spoke again.
[Wake up, (Lost from Light)!]
Oh, how surprising, a true name... but what is it, I wonder... how infuriating, censored... why tho...?" mordret sighed... his eyes reflecting the light from the screen...
Windflower smiling nicely, "probably a part of him... an part of his Aspect most likely or an attribute... very interesting tho!"
Sunny felt dozen or so pair of eyes gleaming while watching him, like a bunch of predators watching very tasty prey... nephis in particular, she would surely find him and his children very tasty...
Mordret was convinced of the taste of this prey too!
The black void spun and disappeared.
***
Sunny opened his eyes.
The armored ceiling of the police station's vault hang above him. No one would call its aesthetics beautiful, but to him, it was the most majestic sight. Only now did he realize how much he had missed the real world.
Athena just sighed, "the dreamrealm is better. Ts just ugly!" 14 buckets of popcorn, each bucket put into eachother.
Morgan nodded, "on god! I don't understand someone liking the earth so much... the dreamrealm has everything and more."
Warden confused, gazed at his son. "What's with that? Are you guys trying to create colonies in the dreamrealm and bring normal people there? Is that possible?"
Anvil gazed at his late father, he nodded, "Indeed, as a Supreme one can create portals between the two realms and bring normal people... well saints can take some too as long as they touch them. And a Supreme can help counteract the corruption that comes into the soul and stop it from spreading."
Warden looked at his son confused for him to explain and that he does.
It was safe and familiar. There were no monsters or slavers… well, at least officially. There was no constant fear of torturous death.
Los sighed, "well there's the government."
The skull on his lap cackled, "surely the leaders aren't that bad." The unpenetrable darkness in his empty eyes looking at the screen.
Jiwoo looked at her daughter, "Aren't the great clans still the leaders, like when they came together and created it?"
Ki song shook her head, "too many disagreements. The great clans decided to not to interact with the politics of earth too much, a new principle..."
Jiwoo understood, "a power struggle, huh?"
It was home.
In addition, Sunny felt incredible. The cold that had crept deep into his bones during the Nightmare was gone, taking with it all the pain that his wounded body had been enduring day after day. His feet and wrists were not in agony, his back had forgotten the bite of the whip, and he could even breathe without feeling the sharp edges of his broken ribs cutting deeper and deeper into his lungs.
"I wanted you to suffer a bit more, tho..." Beastmaster, licked her lips. "I thought that maybe you are into some bdsm..."
Sunny was starting to get used to this, los on the other hand was full on creeped out, what the fuck was going on? Has he gone mental? Or maybe all of this is some kind of illusion?
What a blessing!
The sudden disappearance of pain, coupled with the new vitality that permeated his body, almost made Sunny cry.
'I really survived.'
Caster just rolled his eyes, his head slightly looking to the size with an annoyed expression. He seemed more than unpleasant...
"I'll kill the rat myself!" He couldn't take such blatant disrespect, being seen as the most valuable just because of a possibility of him having a God's legacy and favor!
He slowly looked down and then froze, breathless.
On a cheap plastic chair placed beside his reinforced medical bed sat the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"Such a compliment! I would say I'm pretty average if not below among the many Awakened. I appreciate it tho, kiddo."
Sunny was frozen, a soft blush on his mouth, how embarrassing!
Mordret was shook, how unfair! He was alot better than that government slave! He was sure that if he was there instead of her, Sunny would be mesmerized! His love was unbeatable and would remain so!
Nephis was absolutely jealous too, she couldn't leave a Awakened outskirts rat for anyone else, they were too rare, 0.000001% spawn rate! It's like golden loot, like a divine memory found randomly on the ground!
Immortal flame was unsure what to do about her blatant passion... Cassia was unsure too, deciding to just watch the screen.
She had short, raven-black hair and icy blue eyes. Her flawless skin was smooth, supple and as white as snow. Actually, this was Sunny's first time meeting someone as pale as he himself was. However, while Sunny's pallor looked strange and unhealthy, the beautiful stranger was nothing short of striking.
The woman seemed to be in her late twenties. She was wearing a dark blue uniform with silver epaulets and black leather boots. The jacket of her uniform was casually unbuttoned, revealing a black tank top beneath.
"Ohh, my... such a descriptive mind!" Jet said, "what a perv!" Making sure that her body was out of Sunny's sight, pulling her breasts up to make sure they were out of his sight who was absolutely crushed mentally...
But it was alright, now los had a much better sight, unknown by Jet, eurys liked this angle too!
Mordret glared, "he doesn't want your second hand body, I don't even want to know how many times you were passed around."
Jet glared, "I'm dead, a corpse."
"So we have people in our government practicizing necrophilia? How filthy! Keep your red light district body away from my Sunny!"
Currently, she was stretching her arms above her head, clearly bored and sleepy. The gesture forced the thin fabric to tighten, provocatively accentuating her full breasts.
Eurys was missing his hands... having random phantom pain...
Roan on the other hand was looking away, his body held still from moving back to the screen by tyris' menacing glare...
"They... large..." fiend said, his voice final...
Saint by his side, simply nodded. Her pristine face still aloof, tho oddly interested.
Mesmerized, Sunny almost missed the fact that there was a shoulder insignia on the woman's left sleeve. There were three stars on it.
'Three stars, huh,' he thought, distracted. 'Three stars means an Ascended… huh… yeah. Wait. An Ascended?!'
"That's true... what's an Ascended doing watching over a Sleeper?" Naeve asked...
Morgan sneered, "isn't it obvious? The government is understaffed! Pathetic, can't even secure some more Awakened for itself."
Saint cor, wake of ruin just glared. "That's because of you'll, filthy warmonger!"
Warden gazed at his son, "what is he talking about? The great clans are supposed to help the government. I understand that there was a dispute but still..."
But before Sunny could fully digest the meaning of this word, he realized that the woman was staring at him, too.
"What are you looking at?" she said, not a gram of humor in her voice.
"Exactly, what is it you keep looking at?" Jet glared at Sunny, the blush on his face pretty much eternal as he looked away. His face completely red! He wanted to fucking die! He wanted to end it all!
Nephis on the other hand looked down at her breasts... were they good enough...? It made even Cassia next to her self conscious, aiko too... effie did not care, laughing loudly...
Sunny blinked a couple of times, embarrassed, and quickly came up with an excuse. Then he opened his mouth and answered:
"Your breasts."
"Ahh, yes... the flaw... such embarrassing moments are coming for sure!" Noctis had a big smile, this was absolutely great, as great as he himself was... well that might be too much.
Mordret shook his head, 'so you like such bodies, huh?' Well getting one wouldn't be that hard... adapting to one wouldn't either.
A second later, his eye widened in absolute horror.
Because he wasn't planning to say those words at all! His mouth moved on its own!
"How amusing, this is truly great!" Athena, continued eating the popcorn. This was better than most shows she remembered watching. It was actually enjoyable!
A wave of terror suddenly drowned his mind.
The woman slowly smiled with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. Then, without any warning, she moved her hand and slapped Sunny across the face.
Los unconsciously rubbed his mask where the slap, once upon a time landed... eurys on his lap cackled a bit, his eyes gleaming with a hint of understanding!
Mordret just sneered, "how barbaric, what else? Do you have some ties to the filthy warmongers?"
Jet just glared, her icy blue eyes full of hatred. "You are the fucking warmonger halfbreed as your sister said, keep projecting and just slash your throat!"
Morgan furious, "Don't even associate him with us, fucking barbaric bitch and keep killing. How many allies did you already slaughter, soulless whore?"
Sunny whole body was turned around. If it wasn't for the restraints holding him in place, he would have probably flown off the bed. For a moment, he even saw stars.
But it could still be considered getting off lightly. An Ascended, the woman was an Ascended! She could have torn his head clean off with a flick of a finger. Why did he have to offend someone so powerful, of all people?!
Meanwhile, the woman cleared her throat and crossed her arms.
"Are you awake now?"
Sunny held his numb cheek and carefully nodded.
"Good. Let me give you a piece of advice: don't just say anything that comes to your mind. Especially to girls. It's not like you haven't seen a girl before, right?"
Beastmaster just smiled, "you can look at my breasts all you want, shadow boy~~ would you like to touch them too~"
Jiwoo, the adoptive grandmother of the mother just looked with disappointment at her granddaughter...
Ki song just softly stepped with her foot onto Beastmasters soft feet, a surge of pain through her tender foot. She got Instantly silenced by her puppet mother.
'Say "Thank you! I definitely will not!"' Sunny thought.
But instead, his mouth moved on its own, and he said:
"I've seen plenty... but no one as beautiful as you."
Beastmaster was about to say something but decided not to after a single glance between her mother and herself...
Then he flinched back, his face as red as a lobster.
The woman stared at him for a few seconds and then burst into laughter.
"I see you haven't met a lot of Awakened then. By Awakened standards, I'm below average."
Ananke smiled kindly, "you truly are quite humble, young lady." Her wrinkled face looking at Jet.
Jet smiled at the grandma with appreciation for her kind words.
Mordret sneered, "humble isn't the right word, she's just realistic."
"What's that?" Jet glared back.
Ananke simply chuckled looking back at th screen.
Sunny glanced at her with doubt.
The woman shook her head.
"As your soul core develops, the body gets rid of all its imperfections. So it's hard to find an unattractive Awakened, especially among the stronger ones. Live long enough, and you might just become a flower boy yourself."
Sunny doubted that... he a flower boy? What a weird thought. Unrealistic.
Los on the other hand just clicked his tongue, Jet had been right, he was too strong and majestic and became a flower boy, indeed!
Noctis nodded, "Indeed, look at how majestic I am! Truly none compare to my sheer beauty!"
Solvane sneered, "sure... whatever helps you sleep."
Then she gave him a thorough look and added:
"Well… maybe. In any case, since you're awake — welcome back to the land of the living. Congratulations on surviving your First Nightmare, Sleeper Sunless."
Mordret started clapping, "you truly are the greatest, Sunless! My best friend! and my second half..."
"What was that second part?" Sunny asked, looking at mordret unsure.
Mordret smiled, his smile predatory and unnatural. "Nothing, don't worry about it..."
***
Sleeper Sunless.
That was how people would address him now, at least in the short span of days until the winter solstice — after that, he would either return from the Dream Realm as an Awakened or not return at all.
It felt strange to have a title put before his name. In the past, Sunny was rarely even addressed by name. People mostly called him things like "boy", "punk", "brat" or "hey, you!". But now he even had a title.
"I can address you as master~!"
A voice heard by all, where from tho was unknown...
Seishan gave her sister, Beastmaster an side eye... conveying a simple message to her. 'Was that you?'
Beastmaster simply smiled vaguely.
Los was on he other hand, very uncomfortable.
Sleeper Sunless…
Actually, the correct term was "Dreamer". But humans had their own set of words for those infected by the Nightmare Spell. Carriers who had just finished their First Nightmare were called Sleepers because of how they interacted with the Spell.
Eurys just shook his hand, "What's the point? The Spell told the correct term."
Los just looked at the skull, "Why not? It's like the same, telling more about the abilities one holds and, more of an opposite to the creatures like devil-saint, and tyrant-sovereign.
"What a pain!"
Basically, once his spirit enters the Spell, his body was going to fall into slumber. That slumber would continue for days, weeks, or even months — however long it takes him to escape the Dream Realm. Hence the term "Sleeper".
Once he escapes and becomes an Awakened, he would live his life normally during the day and return to the Dream Realm every time he falls asleep. The Awakened were called the same by the Spell and the humans. That word was also sometimes used as a general term for all carriers.
"Atleast this!" Noctis says, his voice relieved, "an Awakened is an Awakened even in the modern age there, better than nothing"
Daeron just sighed, "what does it matter, one and the same..."
Windflower chuckled at her father, "they are just being annoying for the sake of being annoying."
Then, if he were to decide to enter a Second Nightmare and managed to survive, he would become an Ascended — people called them Masters. Masters could enter and exit the Dream Realm as they wished. Some even chose to never come back there at all. More than that, they traveled between the worlds physically, not just in spirit.
"Than what about the master? What is that supposed to mean?" Solvane asked, her voice confused.
Los looked at solvane... "great question, it could mean either that their control over essence is much greater, talking about the passive 'mastery' being much greater and being able to go to the dreamrealm whenever they want or simply because of their abilities becoming more environmental and much more mastery based rather than a boost or whatever that can be easily used."(oh right, los' flaw like most are overwritten in the theater. The same like I said with jet. He can thus say whatever.)
Eurys snorted, "what a handful! Ascended is much better."
And then, above the Masters, there were Saints — those who had conquered the Third Nightmare and earned the right to call themselves Transcendent. They were as powerful as demi-gods, and even more rare. Not only could they travel between the real world and the Dream Realm, but they could also take others with them.
Eurys continued, "I can give you this one! Rolls better and faster off the tongue than transcendent."
Los just shook his head. "You're talking as if this is some rivalry..."
"It isn't?" Noctis asked, surprised.
But coming back to Masters…
The beautiful woman stood up and approached the reinforced medical bed. With practiced moves, she began to undo the restraint holding Sunny in place.
The mysterious voice appeared once again, "I can tie you up, anyday!"
Sunny was frozen, what the absolute fuck did he just hear?
Mordret muttered to himself, "not if I do so first!"
Nephis couldn't believe how many rivals she had, but she knew that she would win and prevail, because if she willed it, who would dare stop her?
"I am Ascended Jet. You can call me Master Jet. These past three days, I was on watch duty due to your Nightmare."
'Right… before I fell asleep, the policeman told me that an Awakened would arrive in a few hours to monitor my condition. To kill the Nightmare Creature if… if I die and let it through.'
Sunny was unwilling to open his mouth, terrified that all sorts of truths would come spilling out. But there were things he simply had to know.
Mordret whispered into his ear, "you can tell me all of our truths, Sunny just shivered.
Los was looking at his past self, in none jealousy at all, he could keep thos weirdos and he would keep chasing the women that calls him a willingful slave, doesn't remember him and he forgives her because she is an autistic blowtorch.. he didn't get even blown off by her either(understand this however you want.)
"Master Jet? I have a question."
"Go on."
"Why would a Master be put on watch duty? Isn't it… below your pay grade?"
"The government can't find workers indeed, how pathetic..." Morgan sneered, her voice full of mockery.
Jet decided to keep silent and not fall for the bait again...
Jet gave him a dark look.
"You're smarter than you seem. Recently, there was a lot of Gates opening in this sector. Most of the local Awakened are either wounded or occupied with the clean-up. Or dead. It's always like that close to the winter solstice."
"Why than? Why not everyday?" Eurys asked, confused...
Sunny snorted, "the spell doesn't create executions, so probably to let people get ready..."
"Well, the boy doesn't seem to have much to than."
"Unlucky."
She opened the final restraint and took a step back.
"Plus, there's not a lot of Awakened who, like me, directly work for the government. It's by far the least lucrative or glorious carrier one of us can choose. Would you abandon wealth and fame to work abysmal hours and risk your life, fuelled only by altruism and sense of duty?"
"No."
"Nope."
"Couldn't be me."
"What kind of retard..."
Eurys, Sunny, los, and mordret all said together at pretty much the same time, which one said which is for your interpretation.
Jet just snorted, well, obviously, she didn't want to either!
Sunny wanted to say something flattering. Instead, he looked Master Jet right in the eyes and smirked.
"Of course not. I'm not an idiot!"
"Exactly Sunless. Don't be an retard. It won't do you any good."
Warden said, his tone gentlemanly, "wouldn't you lot sacrifice yourself for the world."
Immortal answered this one, "a lot of the time greed surpasses such things. Greed can after all be instinctual, putting ones life on the line isn't."
Noctis chuckled, "it isn't that easy, it's more of an matter of having someone or something to protect, be it a person or ones pride. Somebody or something so important you would face a world ending threat for. I do not hold a person so dear. And It isn't just facing something or not because of instinct, if it was than most bloodthirsty humanly preds would attack, yet they do not even if their instincts tell them to, most of the time, instincts are secondary. they don't because they have morals and conviction that they use to stop themselves, proving that most do not solely listen to theirs instincts."
"There is a contrary argument to that tho," Los said, "sovereigns."
'Damn this damn Flaw! Damn!'
She stared at him with a humorless expression. Sunny thought that he was going to get slapped again.
But instead, Jet smiled.
"See, I was right. You really are smart."
Sunny smiled, atleast he wasn't getting slapped!