After the marble arch it was not long before they entered the city.
Nephis was, for once, content with all the progress they'd made — somehow the sight of the city's stark walls and the familiar feel of the streets below their feet made all they had accomplished in these months feel real. They had almost all of the shard memories by now. She was now a thousand soul fragments shy of becoming a devil, whereas Sunny had just formed his monster core. He had unlocked his Aspect Legacy as well, giving him a chance to tap into soul essence... although he had not made much progress on that front yet.
Thanks to the work of future Rain and Sunny, Nephis knew all about natural awakening, so of course she had tried it herself. After hours of rigorous practice she had managed to first feel her essence and then circulate it through her body. It helped that she already knew what the sensation was supposed to be like and there was also the fact that her soul was already much more voluminous than that of most awakened.
Still, she had not quite managed to awaken yet. The empowerment her slow and sluggish essence gave her was a quantifiable one, but not very large. Sunny was the same — he was learning quicker than Nephis had thanks to the Soul Serpent, though.
All in all, Nephis and Sunny were as strong as they could have possibly hoped to be at this point, and rest of the cohort were as well. All of them had now fully saturated their soul cores and besides that, the boost that Dawn Shard gave them made them even more lethal.
Would it be enough? The next few days and weeks would probably tell that.
"Something is wrong."
Cassie's whisper broke the long silence that had settled over the cohort since they had braved the wall and entered into the Dark City. Nephis froze, her eyes darting around. But Cassie's voice did not sound urgent — she merely seemed worried.
"What do you mean?" Nephis whispered back. "Does your vision tell you anything?"
"No. I just sense something..."
It seemed like no further explanation was about to come — perhaps because Cassie could not offer any it, perhaps because she merely decided to keep the information to herself. Nephis sighed. For a millionth time she admonished the fact that the oracle could not just tell them everything she saw... but of course that would be an unwise thing to do. It was rarely a good thing to know the future as she had bitterly learned after her regression.
"Then we just need to be ready, whatever it is", Nephis said. "Let's continue."
They traversed the maze of gloomy streets, sidewalks and corridors with all eyes open, ready to fight at a moment's notice. But nothing else seemed to be out of place... if perhaps not for the fact that there were unnaturally few nightmare creatures around. That information was brought to them by Sunny, who used his shadow sense to map out the area near the cohort.
It seemed like something, or someone, had purged the district from monsters.
What an ironically worrying thought.
Nephis could not shake a sense of unease from her mind. Was it perhaps the same thing that Cassie had felt, only much less pronounced? She checked her runes just in case there would be anything interesting, but nothing new had appeared since entering the city. She softly spoke the Name of Concealing, hiding them from anything that might harm them.
They were almost to the dark cathedral now. But as they turned to the street leading to the plaza before the cathedral...
"What the hell?"
Effie, who had walked first, had stopped in her tracks and others stopped right beside her. The sight that greeted them was indeed strange. So strange in fact that Nephis had no idea what to even make of it.
"What's this...?" Kai asked.
"What is it?" Cassie whispered and Kai leant down, detailing the peculiar scene in front of them. Cassie's shoulders tensed and her breat hitched.
"It's happening... "
Nephis was not at all suprised that Cassie knew something she herself didn't, but she decided it was not time to consult her yet. Instead she took a step forward, eyeing the street in calm and collected manner.
The street was blocked.
Across the main road leading to the cathedral's doors, a heavy barricade had been built, obstructing the view. The barricade was made using massive stone slabs, ancient furniture, sturdy panels of wood and steel and just about anything the humans of the city might get their hands on. Along the street and piled in front of the wall lay enormous carcasses of dead nightmare creatures. The smell of blood and rotten meat was heavy on the air, but everything was otherwise quiet. Not a single living soul was in sight...
That was until a man suddenly appeared from behind the barricade, climbing slowly on top of it. Nephis immediately recognized him as Gemma, one of Gunlaug's lieutenants and, as such, a surprising sight in this part of the city.
For a moment, no one spoke. Gemma looked at the newcomers coldly, but Nephis thought there might be surprise hiding in his eyes a well. Finally Gemma decided to break the silence.
"So you have indeed returned. Not many of us believed we would ever see you again, Changing Star — not after you fled the castle together with that rag tag group of yours. An occasion this big calls for witnesses, don't you think?"
Immediately after Gemma's words, the top of the barricade was flooded with pathfinders and hunters, many of whom Nephis recognized from the Bright Castle. There were even some that had eventually become Fire Keepers in her last life, fighting for years alongside her against the horrors of the Dream Realm. But now there was no warmth in their eyes. Instead they seemed scared. Most were holding bows, pointed straight at the cohort.
Nephis frowned but did not move. She was not quite sure how to proceed. This was a completely unexpected turn of events and what was worse, she had no idea how they had got here. It was clear that something big had happened in the city... or was it?
The situation felt like a badly written play where everyone else knew the plot and only she had been kept in the dark... and she was the main actress, to top it all off.
"What is this, Gemma? Have you decided to take my base of operations to yourself? Or have you come all this way just to greet me?"
Nephis cocked her head, pretending to think. At least she could play some time and maybe get some answers from Gemma if she just spoke confidently enough. She was not at all scared for her safety, but the loss of control was something she didn't like.
"But you couldn't have known that we would come here today of all days..." Nephis continued. "And none of your pathfinders are quick enough to alert the Bright Castle in time in case you were keeping watch for our arrival. It means you have been here for some time. Why?"
Gemma's face grew strained.
"If you want an answer for that, Changing Star, you must seek it from the Bright Castle... well, it is not that bright anymore. Nevertheless, you cannot cross this barricade, and that is a message from Gunlaug. None of us want you here — not after what you and your hopeless mission has caused."
Nephis grew more and more confused by the minute. But she also felt a little uneasy. The silence in the city, the absence of nightmare creatures, the sudden appearance of Gunlaug's forces at their doorstep and now Gemma's mysterious words... they didn't spell anything good. As if Fate hadn't tried hard enough to crush her already.
"He's telling the truth... " Kai whispered, clearly astonished.
"That only means he doesn't have everything attached in his head anymore", Sunny said.
Nephis just thought... and as she thought, she spoke out loud. She wasn't quite sure if escalating this situation was the right thing to do... but old instincts were hard to dispatch. Besides, escalating problems was usually good for her, because she always came out of battles on top.
"Your words hold no power over us, Gemma. If Gunlaug is here, tell him to come out so we can negotiate. If he is too afraid to do so, then you can let us in and we will negotiate on your ground. And if you want to stop us from entering... "
But it was not only about instinct. In that moment Nephis felt something even older stir in her heart, and she recognized it as her most loyal companion: hate.
She hated the Spell, she hated Fate and she hated that those two conspirators had made her life the living hell it was — her life and that of all of her friends, too.
"... you'll burn."
In that moment, something in Nephis's soul Awakened.
Dawn Shard blazed with incandescent light and Nephis's whole frame became sheathed in flames. The heat radiating from her made the others in the cohort sweat inside their armor, but in the next second, the flames erupted in all directions like a wall of fire, covering the whole street in pure radiance.
Nephis took a step forward. No one dared to shoot an arrow at her and she could have sworn that Gemma trembled under his composed exterior.
Suddenly there was a sound of a horn and a man in a golden armor stepped on top of the barricade. People that looked at the armor felt a smothering fear crush their hearts — then they looked at the nephilim in front of the barricade and felt no less fearful of her.
A voice boomed from under the golden mask.
"Changing Star, Changing Star... you call me a coward? I find that funny after you left the city and the people you vowed to save to their dooms... Ah, I wonder, what should I do with you... "
Nephis looked coldly at Gunlaug.
"There is only so much options left for you, Gunlaug. But that aside, you might remember I never wanted us to be enemies. Some months ago I sought your aid for my mission and had you then accepted, everything might be different now. Right now I have not come with malicious intent but to simply gather information. Let us talk and then we can try and salvage the situation."
Nephis saw Gunlaug and Gemma speaking with hushed voices. She could not hear what they were saying but the conversation was quickly over.
"Very well. Come inside. Let us talk and you will see what you've wrought. Perhaps we will even have... justice."
He laughed, a low and unsettling sound distorted by the golden mask. Nephis simply nodded, unfazed, and lead the cohort to the barricade. There was a moment of waiting before Gunlaug's subordinates made them a narrow pathway through the barricade. Slowly the group walked inside, surrounded by hostile gazes... and the sight that met them was really unexpected.
The plaza in front of the massive dark cathedral had changed. There were numerous makeshift huts and little campfires and stalls huddled close to the walls of the cathedral and numerous people watching the newcomers with instense expressions. Some of them looked awed, others looked at them with disdain. Most were just tired.
It looked remarkably like the outskirts of the castle had moved to a new location.
Gunlaug motioned to the people populating the plaza. More of them were pouring out of the cathedral's maw by minute, probably interested in the commotion.
"Here are the remaining dreamers of the Dark City."
*******
AN: Hello again! I'm sorry for the long absence... this chapter was kind of hard to write and I have had many other things to do as well. But now it's out and hopefully the next one won't take this long.