The day of extra rest went by as quick as he was decided on.
That morning, Ray and Sunny both eventually showed up. Both arriving before the agreed-upon time, too.
No questions were asked, at least not in a group-setting.
While getting ready to finally return to the bright castle, Effie and Kai asked Ray about that 'something', to which he merely answered; "I just looked for an old friend of us. That's all. It took a bit longer, than I thought, though."
It was an answer, without actually being one, but they did not ask any further. They trusted him enough that was no reason to believe in anything too absurd having happened.
Unknown to them, what happened was; at the same time, exactly as they thought, and a whole lot more absurd, than they could've ever dreamed about.
As everyone was finally ready, and they all started moving towards the settlement, it became quickly apparent that there was a lot of tension in the air, since every single one of them knew what would happen today.
The only ones somewhat unbothered by this tension, were Ray, Nephis and Sunny, with the latter two walking side by side, at the very front of their cohort.
Ray who was at the very back today, could've sworn that they were talking since the moment their group had started walking, all while throwing discreet glances back at Caster, from time to time.
While still being on guard, and taking care of his role, as the rearguard, Ray managed to quickly figure out what their talk must be about, 'Ohh, she's finally telling him… that might make, what is coming next, even more interesting…'
They cautiously navigated through the winding streets of the dark city, though, as if sensing that something would happen today, the streets were eerily empty. Nearly, as if the city was once again, turned into a ghost town.
Nevertheless, the continued onward, and eventually, the foot of the hill, came into sight.
Getting on the track, to ascend the hill, their entire group seemed to turn deathly silent, once again.
Ray, too, could only sigh once; it was time to see, if his preparations, a few months prior, had been sufficient, or if everything would collapse.
Minutes later, and also while they were on the last part of the track, up the mountain, they were spotted, by the first scouts stationed on the make-shift garrisons, they had made a couple months ago.
Word that they were back traveled so fast that there was already a huge mass of people, when they finally walked through the half-crumbled marble arch that marked the outer most part of the settlement.
"Changing Star and her Cohort are back!"
"They really did it!"
"Praise Changing Star!"
Those, and many more cheers were immediately heard, the moment they stepped over that last boundary. Also, while the first bunch of cheers were singularly directed at Nephis, soon, there were cheers for every single one of them.
That is, at least, until they noticed Ray, at the back of the group. Yes, there were even people that still remembered Sunny, but not him.
"Have they found another survivor in the labyrinth?"
"I've never seen his face before… he must be new!"
"That guy must've been blessed by lady luck, for surviving in the labyrinth for that long, and being eventually found by Lady Changing Star."
"Indeed… Ahh! I'm so envious. If I had just been part of this years arrivals, and had still been stuck in the labyrinth, then I, too, could've accompanied Lady Changing Star…"
All of those cheers stopped the second Nephis stepped forward. Her gaze wandering over the gathered crowd once, before she finally began addressing them.
"I am not be good with words, so… please accept my gratitude, Dreamers of the dark city. These past few months have been harsh on me, and my cohort, but so must've they been on all of you. However, we persevered. You, in these cursed ruins, and we out there in the ghastly depths of the labyrinth. But, all of it was not in vain."
With that, she took something out of the bag, which she had taken from Effie, moments prior to her speech, just now.
The moment, the inhabitants of the settlement laid eyes on what she pulled out of the bag, their eyes widened in shock.
It was a terrifying, and jagged black talon. As sharp, and as long as a sword.
She did not stop, though, and merely continued pulling out, one after the other. By the end, there were thirty eight talons laying on the ground.
After that, she continued giving a long, and winded speech, about how there had once been a time, where the dreamers on the forgotten shore, had not given up, and so on. It was to the point that Ray had just one thought, about it all.
'Why did you start your entire speech, with a lie? You clearly are good with words…'
Nevertheless, even while tuning her speech out, he noticed when it finally ended, which was made apparent when she summoned the crown.
Then, finally, Nephis made a gesture, which prompted the gathered dreamers to disperse, with the exception of those, considered as the leaders. Well, they were the leaders of the hunting party that had become those who had, at least a small say in their matters.
With only them present, they immediately chose to head over to their headquarters, originally Neph's own building.
Since everyone present knew what would come next, the tension was nearly visible to the naked eye.
Everyone entered the building, which had been even further improved, and expanded, heading straight for the conference room.
Though, when Ray was about to enter, there were two of these supposed 'leaders' that stopped him.
"Listen, this is only for the leaders of the settlement. Just because you traveled with Lady Changing Star for a while, does not qualify you for this meeting."
"Exactly, so, I propose; you should look for a hut somewhere first."
The moment they stopped him, Ray already had a deadpan look on his face. He had somewhat expected this, but it seemed; the attribute was a lot more thorough, than he had anticipated.
"Listen, either you let me in, now, or you will learn; Why, I even traveled with them, in the first place… You get five seconds."
Of course, the two 'important' hunters took that personally, and did not hesitate to summon their weapon memories, seeing which, Ray could only sigh again.
Thankfully, for them, before anything could happen, Effie came back, and simply pulled Ray along, after having shoved both of these hunters to the side. When he was finally inside, Ray couldn't help it, and threw them a smug grin, gloating to them, before his face took on an indifferent look, once more.
"Say, why is it like, everyone forgot about you?" Effie asked, as they slowly neared the conference room.
Next to her, Ray merely shrugged, "Because they did. Shouldn't be too long, though, until they remember…"
She looked at him with a confused expression, but let it go, since they should not have that much time left, until the host would knock on their door.
Their conference went about as most had expected it to go. It started with status report, about how everything here worked, with the hunters saying that there had been very little acts of the host, during this time.
Suspiciously few incidents, even.
Then, it went over to one of Changing Star's supposed request, after which one of them, pulled out a small wooden box, out of one of his leather pouches, and handed it to her. Following which, she handed it to Caster, who disappeared immediately after, somewhere, no one besides those two knew about.
After that, they continued for a moment, before Nephis suddenly took Effie's bag again, only to completely empty it on the table, causing Ray's eyes to nearly pop out, in turn.
Sure, he knew they had continued to gather their shards, especially Effie, Caster, and till the end Nephis too, with him also putting in a few, but no one said anything about dumping them all out, like a self serving banquet.
Therefore, Ray immediately threw an accusatory look at their 'leader', which she seemed to have noticed, before sighing and throwing over a smaller bag, with his collected shards.
An action that surprised, and confused many of the people present.
There was only one small chuckle, which quickly dispersed in the group. Following which, Ray soon made eye-contact, with the guilty one, holding it for a moment, before stopping it again.
Nevertheless, even with the few dozen shards, kept inside of Ray's bag, there must've still been hundreds of soul shards, laying on the table.
All of the participants of today's meeting were completely shell-shocked, by this absurd number.
No one made any move, until Changing Star talked about how this was not a gift, but merely a reward, and something to strengthen them all, for what would soon occur.
After saying this, she stepped back, and let everyone else loose on the shards.
While everyone was quickly consuming the pile of shards, the bag in ray's hands, also switched its owner. Something that no one had even taken notice. No one, besides a single shadow that remained in the corner of the room, until now.
Consuming these shards definitely did not take nearly as long, as slaying the nightmare creatures had taken, but it still took a while. A while, in which the host had apparently gotten wind of their arrival, and prepared their welcome comity.
Nearly the second, the last shard was used, a heavy knock was heard on the main door.
With their faces grim, and as a whole group, they walked over to it, and Changing Star eventually opened the door, herself.
Outside, were none other Tessai, and his guards, further accompanied by Gemma, and his pathfinders.
The giant, hiding among humans, was a truly startling sight to see. Which was only further amplified, by the convoy, of heavily armored and equipped guards, and pathfinders.
Tessai merely threw a look over the gathered group, before focusing his gaze on Neph, "Changing Star. So, you're alive, after all."
She did not back down, one bit, and while meeting his gaze, responded, "You must be Tessai. To what do I owe the pleasure? This should be our first real meeting, after all."
The giant guard captain, seemed to hold his irritation back, and with a somewhat forced smile continued, "Oh no. The pleasure is mine… after all, I am here to get the one, who tried to assassinate our Bright Lord, before his disappearance. So, hand him over."
Hearing this, most were shocked out of their minds. Even the guards, and pathfinders weren't spared from this, since they had simply received the task of accompanying their leaders here, today.
Before anyone could say, or do anything, though, a young man with gray and black hair, shoved himself through the mass of humans standing in the way.
When he finally reached the front, and actually straightened up, for once, his form was only slightly smaller compared to the guard captain.
"Well, hello there. I take it, you must be looking for me, then. Just lead the way." Ray spoke with an overly friendly tone, and even performed a slight bow, purely to mock the giant.
Tessai did not say anything, and simply gestured for one of his underlings to put cuffs on the young man.
As the guard stepped forward, and was about to put the cuffs on Ray, though, he noticed there already being something like shackles.
When Ray noticed the guard's gaze, he chuckled, "Oh this, don't worry about it, and just continue."
The chosen guard seemed cautious, but continued on. When he was finally putting on the cuffs on Ray's wrists… they simply phased through.
"Oh, I am so sorry. Can happen to the best, can't it."
"That's enough!" Tessai roared, and swiped the cuffs from the guard's hands, before putting them on Ray's wrist.
This time, they remained on.
"Let's go."
After saying that, Tessai shoved Ray into the middle of the gathered troupe from the host, and walked back, towards the castle.
Well, this went not really how Changing Star had envisioned it, but it was one way, to get into the castle. And she would take it.
"Come on! Or, will you all just stand by, as one of our comrades gets sentenced for such a heroic deed, if it isn't just mere fabrications. Today, we will see how, and to whom justice will be served. And, I can promise you; Justice will prevail over the evil, today, and forever."
After that declaration, she marched after the group of the host. And, behind her, every single one of them followed her, lead by the comrades she had fought with, during these last few months.
Today, the destiny of the forgotten shore, shall be decided.