Lua examined the reactions of the three. The short guy blinked a couple times in surprise at her height, he had to crane his neck just to see Effie's face but his gaze seemed to accidently land on a different part of Effie's body.
Effie meanwhile wiped her dirty face with a forearm and gestured at the fire. "Here, would you like to take a seat?"
The three hesitated for a few seconds before the silver-haired one stepped forward and asked, "Are you… are you human?"
'What?' Lua was momentarily stunned by such a question. What the two of them were should have been obvious at a glance; after all, there were no documented nightmare creatures capable of either controlling or mimicking humans… Yet.
Effie was similarly taken aback as she blinked a couple times before answering "What else would I be? A horse?" She then threw her head back and laughed loudly, amused by her own joke.
Lua only sighed in response as she made her way over to the fire and sat down.
Finally, Effie finished her fit of giggles and spoke as she walked back to Lua. "Of course I'm human! Why are you even asking? Anyway, come sit. My neck is tired from looking down on you."
Lua watched the three newcomers slowly make their way over and sit cautiously on the stone in front of the fire. Lua paused for a few seconds before asking "Are you new here?"
The silver-haired girl nodded and said, "Yes. We've just reached the city."
Lua frowned, the timeline for the winter solace and their arrival not matching up by a couple months "You survived the labyrinth for two months?" Lua asked before turning to Effie "That's a real feat. Congrats"
The silver haired women nodded and responded "I'm Nephis, and these are my companions, Cassia and Sunless. We are Sleepers who came here during the winter solstice."
Effie smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you! I'm Effie. Well, at least that's what people call me. And this little lady is Lua. We're both Sleepers."
Before Lua could comment on being called that by Effie, Sunny leaned forwards and asked a question which had been clearly eating at his mind.
"Are you from the castle? There are people living there, right?"
Both Effie and Lua froze briefly before Lua replied, "…There are…" She responded slowly.
Nephis and Sunny exchanged excited looks. Then, Nephis asked the important question "Can you take us there?"
"Do you have shards?" Lua asks in return.
Sunny blinked a few times as Nephis retrieved the soul shards and showed them to the two young women. "We have two."
Effie sighed. "Only two? Well… it's better than nothing, I guess. Keep them. You'll need them later."
Not quite catching what Effie meant Nephis spoke uncertainty "We were hoping to reach the Citadel and access the Gateway as soon as possible. How long will it take?"
Lua bit her lip a small amount of bright crimson blood seeping out her mouth and turned away pulling her knees up and hugging them slightly, knowing what's to come. Effie meanwhile stared at them for a while before bursting out with laughter. The three sleepers stared at both Lua's and Effie's reactions, their uncertainty growing.
Effie finally stopped laughing and turned to them "Ah, sorry guys. I just couldn't help myself. Please, forgive my lack of manners."
Effie then straightened her back, looked them heavily into the eyes, and said.
"I can take you to the castle, but there is no Gateway there. In fact, there's no way out of this cursed hell at all. I've been stuck here for three years myself and she's been here for two. So… welcome to the Dark City, I guess. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here, and all that…"
"…" Only dead silence followed Effie's statement, the three sleepers were utterly shell shocked. Their emotions were a mix of shock and despair, all their feelings seeping into Lua's mind as she turned away.
Beside Sunny, Cassie suddenly said in a tiny voice "What do you mean, there is no Gateway?"
Effie only shrugged "It's very simple, really. I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you, but deep down inside you must have known already. Didn't you? The Forgotten Shore… it's not really a place where humans are supposed to survive. That's why you have never heard of anything like it in the school or the Academy."
Sunny's face contained pure anger as he clearly cursed himself in his mind.
Lua took the initiative and spoke, trying to ease Sunny's growing anger that was bleeding into her thoughts. "Around fifteen years ago, a cohort of Sleepers managed to conquer the castle. They found no Gateway, but it served as a safe haven… well, at least as safe as it gets in this zone. Those who either get lucky… or can afford it… get to stay within the castle."
Lua felt Nephis intense storm of rage, but Nephis only clenched her fists in response. Cassie though, her emotions were far more self deprecating. "But that's… that is not fair!" she whimpered.
"Fate is hardly fair," Lua said darkly.
Effie instead leaned forward, a happy grin playing on her face "But it's not all bad! At least you have met us. You guys are incredibly lucky, really. If you hadn't run into locals, you would have been dead already."
Nephis stared at her and asked in a flat tone "Yeah? Why is… that?"
Lua frowned at the awkwardness of Nephis' speech patterns, as though she were forcing her earlier comments. "The Dark City is a paradox. The sea creatures are usually around the Corrupted rank, but they can't enter. However, this place is crawling with Fallen-ranked creatures," Lua explained offhandedly, as if it wasn't a big deal.
Effie smiled clearly, having noticed the cogs in the sleepers' heads turning. "But you guys managed to stumble into us before descending from the wall. Otherwise, the Fallen Ones would have been feasting on your souls already. Lucky, very lucky! There are very few people in the castle who go out hunting in the ruins, let alone venture so far away from it. Meeting experienced hunters like us was probably your only chance to avoid finding out about the true face of the Dark City a second too late." Effie comments cheerily.
Lua plucks some meat off the fire and hands some to Effie before Nephis spoke "If there is no Gateway here, why didn't you try to leave?"
"And go where?" Lua responded, her voice tinged with exasperation. "The sea is probably a great nightmare creature, the heralds prevent long-term flight, and hell… we don't even know where the Forgotten Shore lies in the dream realm. For all we know, we could be on the wrong side of Stormsea or the Hollow Mountains. What would we do then?"
Nephis remained silent, her mouth opening slightly as if to say 'just climb or swim', but she seemed to think better of blurting it out, scowling fiercely instead.
Sunny took the opening and spoke up through gritted teeth "So, what? You guys just hide in the castle and wait for death?"
Effie laughed "Of course not, doofus!" Then she pierced him with an unexpectedly grim look of her hazel eyes and said "Most of us can't even get into the castle. The king demands his tax, you know? So we just wait for death outside."
Lua sighed at their confusion. "Gunlaug, the Bright Lord—he commands the castle and forces a tribute of one shard a week to live inside." She sighed again. "If you can't afford it, there are a few other ways to gain entry."
Nephis paused, narrowing her eyes. "Like what?"
Effie turned to her and was silent for a while, a hint of some dark emotion in her eyes. However, it was quickly erased by her usual laidback smile "Well, there's a few ways. If you have a useful Utility Ability, you can become a craftsman or an Artifex in the castle. There's not a lot of such Sleepers, so they are well regarded and cared for. If not, uh… there are other opportunities, too. Boys can become Gunlaug's soldiers, while girls… can enter his harem. Pretty ones like the two of you especially. No one will force you, of course."
Nephis scowled at the suggestion. "So… you can either become his soldier, his servant, his plaything, or die. But that is… your own choice. No one is forcing anyone to do anything. Of course." She looked down, her indifferent expression hardening into something cold and resolute. Her fists clenched so tightly they seemed bloodless. "So why hasn't anyone… killed him yet?"
Lua scoffed. "How? He has armour of the Ascended tier or possibly even higher. I doubt anyone has a weapon strong enough to even scratch it. You're better off accepting that he's just… immortal."
Lua paused, examining Nephis' expression "Don't even think about it."
Effie nodded in agreement. "It's the surest method of suicide to challenge him." Then, she smiled and gestured at the fire. "Just have some of this delicious meat instead. Life is good when your stomach is full, right? Let me tell you, this is most likely your last chance to eat anything for free. Food is a real rarity in these parts. Can you believe it?"
Sunny sighed, then leaned forward and picked up a sizzling piece of meat. "Of course I can believe it. I'm from the outskirts, you know. I didn't even know what real meat smells like before entering the Academy!"
With that, he handed the piece of meat to Cassie, took another one, and began devouring it greedily. Nephis lingered for a bit, but then followed his example.
Effie giggled. "That's the spirit! See, doofus gets it."