Song Seishan slowly approached Sunless' home, her heels clicking on the stone path leading towards the front door as she tugged at her civilian disguise slightly.
'I wonder… Just what has he been doing?'
She had come to fetch him quite early as she was curious to see what his daily life was like.
Sunless was a strange and mysterious figure, Seishan truly had no clue what he was up to when he wasn't in Ravenheart. And even when he was in Ravenheart, outside of their training sessions, he simply vanished into his own quarters.
Ever since they met on the Forgotten Shore, she had been curious about his origins. She strongly doubted that he was actually an orphan from the outskirts, as the combat ability he displayed was simply astonishing for someone with his experience.
She knew that he was the true liberator of the Forgotten Shore, and that without him, Aria would've died uselessly when besieging the Crimson Spire. And for that, she was grateful.
There were many things she could've thanked him for, helping her and her sisters with their training, protecting her when they faced the Great Rabbit, as well as the many times he had helped her out in times of need.
One particular memory that stood out to her was back when they were facing a Category Three Gate. She had succumbed to the vicious Terror's mind attack, and had begun to voraciously consume the corpse of the dead abomination beside her. She was horrified once she came back to her senses after the Terror had been slain. She had lost control and was covered in blood and all sorts of unidentifiable chunks of meat.
And yet, when Sunless found her, he offered her a hand with an unflinching gaze, as if the disgusting sight of blood and guts covering her didn't bother him at all.
Just what sort of life had he lived to end up like that? She wanted to know.
Sunless was an amusing fellow, and she wanted to know much, much more about him.
Summoning a memory, a small pocket mirror appeared in her hand. Using it, she checked her features, making sure her makeup was intact.
Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell.
'Just what sort of man are you, Sunless?'
Standing in the winter air, small jets of steam left her mouth as she carefully controlled her breathing.
'Such a cold and reserved figure… What sort of secrets are you hiding?'
She could hear some hushed quarreling from inside, but she only recognized Sunless' voice.
'Right, he lives with someone, doesn't he? A girl named… Jet, was it? Hm… I wonder if they're da-'
The door opened, interrupting her thoughts.
"You're here early."
Seishan looked at Sunless, just to see…
'...Huh?'
Sunless was standing in the doorway, his hair slightly ruffled and a content look in his eye. He was wearing some stylish black home clothes, and she could hear the credits of a movie playing from the living room.
That was not what shocked her though.
Clinging to Sunless' side was a darling young girl, her mouth wide open as she stared at Seishan. The girl's silky black hair and willful grey eyes looked a little familiar…
Seishan looked at Sunless.
She then looked back at the girl.
She then did it two more times.
"Is she your-"
"No."
Seishan inwardly heaved a sigh of relief.
'Good… So he's not that sort of person.'
If Sunless somehow had a daughter — at such a young age, no less! — she had no idea what she would think. All of her and mother's plans would need to change! He'd have to spend less time in Ravenheart, the difficulty of his tasks would need to be…
"How long are you just gonna stand there?"
Sunless was staring at her with a deadpan expression.
'Right, right… I've been standing here for quite a while now.'
Seishan took a deep breath.
"May I come in?"
Her dress wasn't exactly the warmest, so standing outside definitely wasn't a good idea.
"Fine."
Sunless turned and re-entered his home. The girl he was holding was still staring at her with wide eyes, her mouth slightly quivering.
'What's with her?'
"Pardon the intrusion."
Dusting the light flakes of snow off her shoulders, Seishan stepped in.
The home was warm and cozy, most of its lights were dim, and the sweet scent of some kind of dessert wafted through the air. It was the complete opposite of what she expected.
From her impression of Sunless, he seemed like he was someone who only worked towards his goals, someone who wouldn't waste time on their worldly desires. She half expected his house to be empty and barren, with him spending most of his time in the Dream Realm.
'Ah… I don't even know what to think.'
Seishan carefully discarded her heels by the door, leaving it alongside Sunless' black loafers and the young girl's sandals.
Her impression of Sunless… had been thoroughly shattered. She had only visited him so early out of pure curiosity.
'To think Sunless had such a warm side to him…'
Then again, she didn't really know him. The only time they had spent together was either on the battlefield or within the training hall at Ravenheart.
'What a glaring oversight.'
For her to know barely anything about one of their clan's greatest talents… This problem needed to be alleviated soon!
And for whatever reason, her mother had also insisted that there be no spies or guards keeping track of his movements and locations, so Ki Song was just as in the dark as she was.
'Hm, or is she?'
Whenever mother looked at him, there always seemed to be a strange emotion in her eye, as if she was looking at an old friend. Did she know Sunless previously somehow?
Seishan was now seated at the dining table as Sunless carefully set the girl down on the sofa.
With her enhanced senses, she could hear them whispering:
"Sunny! That's… that's Song Seishan! From the movie!"
"Yes, yes, I know. Didn't I tell you that princesses love coming to bother me?"
Seishan checked her nails, subtly eavesdropping.
'Sunny? Why does she call him Sunny?'
Was… was that his nickname? Did his friends call him Sunny?
How could she have not known that!
Seishan turned her head away slightly, the kitchen counter suddenly seeming interesting.
The sound of a chair sliding across the floor could be heard as Sunny sat across from her, looking slightly bothered.
"So, why are you here so early? Come to spy on me?"
"...Perhaps."
"Hm, and here I thought you were going to call me over to you instead."
'Wha… Why would he think that? Is his impression of me that bad?'
Seishan met his gaze with a slightly offended expression.
"I am not that lazy, Sunless. I was always going to come directly here, and I only came early because I was curious about what your home life was like."
"So you are here to spy on me."
Seishan said nothing, averting her gaze slightly as she covered her mouth with a sleeve.
Sunless leaned back, sighing slightly.
"Well, what do you think then?"
"It's… quite unexpected."
Sunless smiled slightly, casually balancing on the back two legs of his chair.
"Why? Did you think I lived in a cave or something?"
"...I might have."
Sunless let out a pleasant laugh.
"Well, sorry to say Seishan, but I am actually a regular human. And one who would prefer to live in peace, might I add!"
Seishan looked at him with slight doubt.
"You? Live in peace? Then, might I ask why you seem like such a battle maniac?"
Although their time together had been somewhat brief, she had noticed some genuine smiles on his face as they fought together, as if he enjoyed the bloodshed.
Perhaps in that facet, they were kindred spirits.
"To bring peace one must fight a war, would they not?"
"A… war? Do you mean a literal war? What war?"
Although their clash with Valor was most certainly inevitable once the balance between the Sovereigns was broken, there wasn't currently a war going on or anything. The waking world was stable, and the dream realm was much, much safer than it used to be.
Sunless leaned forward with a peculiar smile.
"What, hasn't your mother told you?"
"I… don't think so?"
"Hm, then nevermind. She'll tell you if she needs to."
His words were somewhat dispiriting. Was mother hiding some terrible war from her? Just what was Sunless talking about?
Despite the stark contrast in what kind of person Seishan perceived Sunless to be, he was still a very mysterious figure.
'Now that I think about it, who is that girl anyways?'
For a moment, she had thought that she was actually Sunless and Jet's daughter. Although that thought was immediately crushed, she was still curious about who she was.
'Perhaps she's a neighbour or family friend?'
Seishan placed her hands together in front of her, crossing her legs as she leaned forward curiously.
"So, who's the girl?"
The girl was peeking out from behind the cushions of the sofa curiously, staring at Seishan. Although she seemed starstruck, she also seemed far too shy to speak to her.
"That's Nephis. She lives around here and visits me sometimes. I'm acquainted with her grandmother so she leaves her here whenever she can't look after her."
'Nephis… thats… Broken Sword and Smile of Heaven's daughter! That's why she looked so familiar… Wait! She's here?!''
Seeing as Sunless hadn't mentioned the fact, nor was he saying anything else, she tactfully decided not to pursue the topic.
"I see…"
Seishan then made a show of looking around curiously.
"Someone else lives here too, right? Jet, was it?"
"That's right."
"How did you two meet?"
She already knew that they had met in the academy, but she also wanted to know what sort of relationship they had.
"We met in the academy before the winter solstice. But… I'm sure you already knew that."
Seishan turned her head ever so slightly.
"...I was just curious as to why she lived with you."
Sunless sighed.
"If you are really that curious, no, we are not dating. She's just a friend of mine."
Seishan covered her mouth with a sleeve, a small smile on her face.
"Oh my, what made you think I was going to ask?"
"Please, no need to be so coy, you're not the first person who wanted to know."
Seishan fully averted her gaze, no longer defending herself.
It was as if Sunless could see straight through her!
'Ah, how awkward.'
Despite the awkwardness, Seishan felt no shame even in the slightest. She was here to gather information, and she wasn't going to let a bit of embarrassment stop her.
And as she looked around a bit, she inwardly sighed.
'We couldn't be any more different…'
Sunless lived a rather humble life. His home was functional and cozy rather than luxurious, he wore simple black clothes without any accessories. There wasn't even a hint of opulence in his abode.
Meanwhile, Seishan lived in a lavish penthouse near the center of the city, her wardrobe alone was as large as Sunless' living room, and the price of the things she wore would make the average person pass out.
'Perhaps this was why he didn't like Legacies.'
Still, despite their differences, Seishan held no ill will towards Sunless. He seemed like a kind person, and his strength was incredible.
'Just how did he become so strong?'
He seemed so… normal! He was one of if not the most talented Awakened of her generation, and yet, here he was… watching movies with a kid.
'I wonder if he holds a divine lineage like me?'
That would definitely explain it, if he had something like the lineage of Heart or Shadow within his blood
'Blood…'
Speaking of blood…
Although Seishan had never seen him bleed, she could still smell his blood slightly, be it through his mouth, eyes, and ears, or even beneath his skin.
And the smell of it…
'Ah, I want to taste it.'
…Was sweet. So, so sweet.
***
Sunny was feeling a little uncomfortable.
Although he did his best not to show it, the way Seishan was staring at him scared him quite a bit.
'Stop! Please stop!'
As they descended into an awkward silence, Seishan suddenly looked around and went quiet. After seemingly thinking deeply for a while, she started to stare at his neck. Quite intently, too.
Sunny might have just imagined it, but he thought he noticed her pupils dilate and breathing quicken slightly.
An image flashed through his mind from his time on the Forgotten Shore. It was back when he had suspected that the Blood Lord was Seishan after he had found one of her victims.
'She… she's not gonna try to eat me or something, is she?'
Sunny decided to try to distract her.
"If you're this early, just what are you planning to do here now?"
Seishan seemed to snap out of it, meeting his gaze.
"Why? Is my presence here unwanted?"
Sunny stared at her with a deadpan look.
"A little bit. I was expecting you to come later, you see."
Seishan laughed slightly, her eyes turning to slits as she covered her mouth with a sleeve.
"Oh my, forgive me then, Sunless. Or should I call you Sunny?"
Sunny inwardly shook ever-so-slightly at the sound of her calling him by his nickname. In the past, he had never been fond of her. He respected her, sure, he respected anyone that fought side-by-side with him. But the Princess of Song was just too distant for his liking.
In this life, however… she wasn't that bad. Although they were quite different, she didn't seem nearly as distant as she had once been. She still maintained her elegance and attempted to maintain an air of mystery, but their relationship wasn't terrible by any means. In fact, they were on casual terms and had fought side-by-side many times.
So Sunny decided that it was probably fine.
"...Do whatever you want."
The Seishan before him was nowhere near as mysterious and inexorable as he remembered her being, and the cold look in her eye wasn't present either. Instead, she looked at him with what he thought was slight curiosity and interest.
"Very well then, Sunny. Do you still have the bracelet mother gave you?"
"Of course."
"Let me see."
Sighing, Sunny began summoning a memory.
The Covetous Coffer appeared next to him, its rows of sharp teeth seemed to smile for a moment at the sight of Seishan.
Seishan eyed the coffer curiously.
"What a curious little thing…"
Sunny smiled.
"Isn't he cute? This is the Covetous Coffer."
Seishan glanced at him strangely for a moment but said nothing.
Reaching into the coffer, Sunny took out the bracelet that had been left to him by Ki Song. Looking closely at a moment, he saw nothing off about it and tossed it to Seishan, who caught it with ease.
Of course, he was certain that the bracelet wasn't ordinary by any means. It was made from the same material of the Jade Palace, and when Sunny observed its essence, he felt absolutely nothing. The mere fact that its essence was completely concealed told Sunny it was either hiding fearsome power, or it had some sort of sorcery concealing it.
Seishan held the bracelet, turning and flipping it to inspect it.
Sighing, she said:
"I still can't believe mother gave this to you…"
Sunny's eyes widened slightly.
"Why not? And also, I'm only wearing it for the ball and nothing else."
Seishan stared at the bracelet with an unreadable expression.
"This is a relic that was found inside Ravenheart many years ago. Its sorcery has a powerful anti-divination effect. And… it was a gift to my mother, from her own mother."
"Her own mother?"
Now this was something Sunny was curious about. In this era, although there was still a decent amount of information about the Sovereigns on the network that hadn't been scrubbed yet, any information about their early life was missing.
"Yes. Before she died… this was one of the only things left for mother, as the previous ruler of Ravenheart had died quite suddenly."
Seishan tossed the bracelet back to Sunny.
"Make sure you wear it at the ball, it will prevent any scrying eyes from finding out things they shouldn't."
"Will do."
Sunny put the bracelet back into the coffer, dismissing it.
Seishan's gaze lingered on the disappearing sparks of essence for a moment before looking at him.
"You know, Sunny… I am quite curious about you."
"...Okay?"
"So I'd just like to ask, what do you do in your daily life?"
Sunny stared at her for a moment.
'She's asking about my daily life now? Just where is this going…'
"I go about my day, working on myself, taking care of those around me, and killing stuff in the Dream Realm. You know, the usual."
Seishan nodded, seemingly falling into thought as she muttered to herself:
"...Makes no sense…"
Sunny decided to ask a question in return.
"What about you? What does a Princess of Song even do in their daily life?"
Seishan seemed quite surprised he asked, her eyes widening as she forgot to close her mouth.
"What do I do? Well… outside of the Dream Realm, I manage our clan and businesses. And at Ravenheart… actually I manage that too. Although mother does a lot of work too, I am the one tasked with keeping the place running."
"...Really? Isn't that a bit much for an Awakened?"
Seishan was about the same age as him, and Sunny couldn't even imagine running a clan like that.
"Ah, not really. Actually, I quite enjoy it."
"Wait, so do you spend more time in the waking world or the Dream Realm?"
"Depends on what's happening around that time. Since the ball is coming up, I've been spending much more time in the waking world recently, but outside of that a lot of my time is in the Dream Realm helping out with the expansion. The land around Ravenheart is quite treacherous, you see…"
Sunny nodded in understanding. Although in the future, Song hadn't expanded nearly as much as Valor had, the places they had expanded to were far more deadly.
"What about you, Sunny? Honestly… I thought you seemed like the type to spend most of their time in the Dream Realm."
"He does!"
A small, angry voice yelled from the sofa.
Seishan turned to look at the tiny head peeking out from behind, as Sunny just looked at Nephis with a betrayed look, having sat facing her.
The moment Seishan turned, Nephis immediately went back to hiding.
"Nephis, you… Ah, right. I've spent almost the entire past month in the dream realm."
"You have? I know you were in Ravenheart, but what about…"
"Saint Tyris recruited me as a scout to clear out the surrounding regions of the Chained Isles, so I've been quite busy."
"I see…"
Seishan seemed to remember that he was indeed an incredible scout, as stated in many of his reports.
"What's Saint Tyris like? I heard she's a… stoic woman."
Sunny gave her a crooked smile.
"Trying to gather information on Valor's Saints, are we?"
Seishan smiled in return, saying nothing.
"Well, you're right. She's stoic, strong, and reliable. That's all I'm giving you."
She nodded, accepting his answer.
Seishan lowered her head in thought, trying to think of more things to ask him.
'Since when did this turn into a QnA?'
Sunny sighed in his heart.
"What are… your hobbies?"
Sunny was stunned for a moment.
"...My hobbies?"
Seishan's questions were far more personal than he had thought they'd be. He half expected her to ask more questions about what he did in the Chained Isles, but instead she had asked him about his hobbies.
Sunny thought for a moment.
He realised that answering the question was a bit more difficult than he'd expected.
He'd been extremely busy as of late, and had almost been exclusively working towards his goals.
But it wasn't like he could say he had no hobbies either…
"I like cooking and… making money."
Nowadays, that was all he really did besides weaving and refining. He barely even left his house if there wasn't a reason to.
"Making… money?"
"Yes! Making money! Do you think this house was cheap? It took me a damn while to get it!"
"...And how exactly did you get that money?"
Seishan had an eyebrow raised now, her curiosity rising.
"How? By writing reports of course! You might not know it, but I am a very well respected researcher among Awakened, and my reports are incredibly detailed!"
Sunny had found that there was a sizably less amount of publicly available data on the dream realm, so he decided to cash in on it. He had made plenty of reports related to exploration, survival, and combat. There were several famous reports he remembered reading in the future that didn't exist yet in the current era, so he did what any sane person would do.
He plagiarized them, of course!
Well, not completely, but he did copy the topic and subject of them. His reports had already earned him a boatload of credits, so he was quite the rich man.
Was he stealing the works of future researchers? Maybe. Definitely.
But the reports he had made were ones that purely benefited humanity, there was no harm in releasing them earlier than they should've been. Awakened could use it to better survive against the harshness of the dream realm, and he earned a bunch of money. It was a win-win!
Seishan looked him up and down.
"You are… a researcher?"
"Of course I am, did you not hear anything I just said?"
Seishan's left eye twitched.
"What about the soul shards from the things you've killed, do you sell them? I'm sure your core is saturated by now."
"...I don't. Low profile and all that, you know?"
Seishan's eyes gleamed.
"Then, how about you sell them to me? As long as you agree not to sell them to anyone else, I'll buy them from you, no questions asked. And it'll be in utmost secrecy too, don't worry about having to launder it, I'll handle that."
Sunny's eyes also gleamed.
Suddenly, his opinion of Seishan was being revaluated.
'Maybe you're not so bad after all…'
Anyone who could help him make money was good in his books. Almost as good as someone who never asked any unnecessary questions…
Like what sort of things he had to kill to obtain so many soul shards!
"Deal."
They both stood up and shook hands, each wearing their own wicked smile.
As they sat back down, Seishan seemed to relax, appearing far more comfortable than she did before.
"Do you want the shards now?"
"No, it's fine. I'll come by and pick it up tomorrow."
Sunny nodded, excited at the prospect of finally being able to sell his boatload of soul shards. He had collected far too many at this point, and he couldn't even use most of them. He had hundreds of both Awakened and Ascended soul shards, but his supply of Transcendent soul shards was reserved for weaving, his supply of Ascended soul shards wasn't safe either, with it being used to make up for his slightly lacking amount of Transcendent soul shards.
Just selling his Awakened soul shards would make him a massive fortune, as they were currently worth much, much more. There were nowhere near as many Nightmare Gates in the waking world currently, and the soul shard industry was completely monopolized by the Legacy clans. There also weren't as many Ascended either, and even less Awakened who were willing to share their shards. Someone like Sunny who had a large supply of soul shards he had no use for was incredibly rare, in fact, he might even be the only person with this many, as even the Sovereigns give most of their soul shards back to their clans.
'Hm, why did Ki Song even agree to give me three hundred Transcendent soul shards?'
It was simply a ridiculous amount to give to an Awakened, and she had agreed after only thinking about it for a few seconds. Was she insane?
'Then again, she likely only said that to get me to join first, and if my skills weren't up to par, she would've just given me less.'
Still, three hundred was an incredible amount, perhaps even for a Sovereign. And for that, Sunny was grateful. It was going to make his life a lot easier.
'Maybe being a Legacy isn't such a terrible thing… I've never made this much money so easily in my life!'