"Hah~ Thanks."
"No problem."
After Cassie had finished her impromptu feast, the Constellation set down two mugs of hot cocoa.
Without much to do, Cassie absentmindedly poked and prodded at a large marshmallow floating in the cup while studying Audun's profile, something that he didn't seem to mind.
Taking a delicate sip from his mug, Audun cleared his throat.
"So... is everything going according to plan?"
Cassie nodded, tracing the rim of her mug with her finger.
"Yep. There haven't been any deviations so far."
A wry smile spread across his face.
"That's good. At the very least, it looks like your siege will be a lot more successful than ours..."
Audun trailed off towards the end.
Cassie sighed.
"After all our preparation, I'd hope so."
Audun took another sip.
"Just remember to have the me of your time take a trip back to the cabin to grab all the soul shards I had stashed there. If you use them to saturate the cores of the soldiers, things will probably go a lot smoother."
"Will do."
The two fell into a comfortable silence, one occasionally broken by the faint sounds of sipping.
Soon, though, Cassie spoke up.
"Hey, uhm- I've been meaning to ask... How exactly was all of this supposed to end?"
The Constellation thought for a moment.
"The outcome honestly wasn't too bad."
Setting down his mug, Audun stared at its contents as he continued.
"Originally, I would've never taken Sunny on as a student, much less Neph, or helped with the instruction of the army. In fact, I ended up going back to my cabin in the labyrinth out of sheer spite for the way Neph was running things."
"Of course, I still kept in touch with you via the rings, but for the most part, as you guys continued to build your reputation in the Dark City, I remained disconnected. It wasn't until you guys went out to gather the shards that we made contact again, and well, I can't exactly say that it was on the best of terms."
Audun chuckled.
"Long story short, I killed Caster, handed you guys the Dawn and Dusk shards, and sent you back on your way. After that, I went about my business for a few more months before you convinced me to return for the siege, but... during the siege, we encountered a bit of trouble."
"Simply put, the sleeper army wasn't equipped to fend off the horde the forgotten shore threw at us, and we lost over half of our army in the battle. After seeing the casualties, I stepped in and held off the wave while Neph regrouped the soldiers, and thankfully, after another push, we broke through and managed to kill the terror."
The Constellation's purple eyes settled on Cassie's face, a tiny smile tugging at his lips.
"Some stuff did happen at the top, but... we all made it out safely in the end."
Cassie nodded, accepting his words without much thought.
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The date of the siege was rapidly approaching, a fact that sent ripples of tension throughout the Bright Castle.
Many of the younger and newer residents of the Forgotten Shore had full faith in the capabilities of Changing Star and her cohort, but the older, more jaded inhabitants found it hard to dispel all of their doubts.
Regardless, this veil of anxiety was proving to be a rather vexing issue for a certain swordsman.
"Ah- Welcome, sir. Lady Changing Star will see you shortly."
One of Nephis's guards bowed respectfully at Audun's stoic figure.
Ok.
After giving Audun the news, the guard reassumed his position in front of the door, his gaze unyielding as he stared down at the floor tiles.
(A/N: I'd just like to say, I've changed some of the previous chapters where Audun is speaking perfectly fine in a large crowd of people to better reflect his flaw. He'll still talk normally in front of the members of the cohort, but he'll resort to alternative methods when confronted with people he isn't acquainted with. When you see bolded words without quotes, just assume that he's writing his responses with aura.)
Standing in silence, Audun repressed the sigh building in his chest.
'Gee, I kill one guy, and the entirety of Gunlaug's old cronies refuse to meet my eyes.... well, actually, that's probably a good thing.'
Soon, though, after a couple of minutes had passed, the faint sound of footsteps echoed from behind the door.
The guard held open the door as a crowd of hunters walked out, each one bearing minor traces of battle.
A few of the sleepers extended greetings to Audun, but he ignored them and walked straight into Nephis's office.
Shutting the door behind him, the swordsman locked eyes with a visibly exhausted-looking Changing Star.
Audun frowned.
"I thought your workload decreased. What's going on?"
Nephis shrugged.
"There's been a bit of unrest in the Castle recently, so I recalled all the hunters to quell any internal issues while we finish our last preparations...."
She trailed off towards the end.
"... But, I doubt that's what you came here to see me for. What do you need?"
"Actually, one of the things I needed to talk to you about is related to the recent unrest."
An apologetic look spread across Audun's face.
"The army has been rather anxious these days. If they were using that nervousness and fear to fuel their growth, I would've ignored it, but our combat strength has dwindled considerably, and their focus is split."
This time, it was Nephis's turn to frown.
"... So?"
The swordsman scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"So, I need a bit of help. You know I'm not really well-suited for problems like these. If you could maybe give a speech or something to get the soldiers motivated, that'd be great."
Changing Star thought for a moment.
"I don't mind giving a speech, but let's hold off for now. It'll be far more effective if we do it right before the siege."
"Fair enough."
Nephis glanced out a window, noting the time.
"Let's move on. I've got another meeting in an hour that I need to prepare for."
"... You should really tone down on the work and take the next few days to rest before the siege."
"You know I can't do that."
Audun sighed.
"You do you, I guess..."
Coughing into his fist, the swordsman continued.
"Ahem- sorry, I got a little sidetracked. The other thing I wanted to tell you was that I'm gonna be gone for the next two days. Cassie reminded me of all the stuff I left back at my little cabin in the labyrinth, and I thought there were a few things that would be useful given our current situation."
Nephis waved him off.
"Go ahead, I'll just have Sunny assume your duties. Anything else?"
"Yeah, one more thing."
White sparks lit up the room, a small book manifesting in Audun's hands.
Handing the book to Nephis, the swordsman flashed her a grin.
"I wrote down some stuff I thought you'd find helpful. Thought I'd drop it off before I leave."
Slightly taken aback, Nephis idly thumbed through the book, noting the dense text covering each page.
"... How long did this take you to make?"
"A few days. Why?"
"Just curious."
Tearing her attention from the book, Nephis gave Audun an appreciative nod.
"Thank you, teacher."
The swordsman scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"No problem. If you get stuck on anything, feel free to give me a call."
Nephis nodded.
"Will do."
"Well then, I'll leave you to it. See you in a few days."
Turning her attention back to the notebook, Changing Star barely spared Audun a glance as he began to walk out, merely giving her teacher a faint wave.
A small, sad smile spread across the swordsman's face as he walked out the door.
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(A/N: Sorry for the delay, I was feeling a little burnt out and decided to write a new fic to take a bit of a breather from Shadow Slave.
I'll be alternating between writing the two, but it shouldn't affect my upload schedule at all for this fic.
This was a bit of a shorter chapter, but they should get longer from here on since I'll be starting the siege.
Leave comments and gimme power stones, ykyk.
See you guys in the next chapter!)