Eventually, the four of them were invited into the room where Nephis slept… this time on a hospital bed instead of inside of a closed coffin of a sleeping pod. The administrators of the Academywanted to avoid any more damage, so asking the members of Changing Star's cohort for help was a logical step.
Seeing familiar faces first after waking up would probably calm her down. And if not… having fourMasters at hand would be enough to deal with any unforeseen complications.
Most likely...
Sunny stood in the corner, looking at Nephis with asomber expression. Her pale face, her silver hair. For the past two years, he had often seen her through the transparent lid of the sleeping pod, bathed in its ghostly light.
Now that she was out and returned to the realworld, Changing Star seemed much more… material. And strangely vulnerable.
She wastruly back. He sighed.
Cassie was sitting on a chair beside the bed, while Effie and Kai were resting on a sofa. None ofthem knew when Neph was going to wake up, and they had already spent a couple hours waiting. Without having to discuss it, all four decided to stay quiet. So… by now, they were pretty bored.𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Sunny, on the other hand, was filled withmore and more tension. The corner of his mouth twitched.
'This anticipation is killing me. It's pure torture.'
He did not think that Nephis would abuse her power over him. But it was better to prepare for theworst. For that reason, Sunny was mentally going over all the clever ways he had thought of to undermine her absolute authority as his master. There were always ways... owning an unwilling
slave was not an easy endeavor. Especially one aspowerful and resourceful as him.
That had been one of the reasons why he hadchosen to kill the Mirror Beast instead of subjugating it, all that time ago.
Still, Sunny could not help but feel a hint of fear.
...After a while, he shook his head and movedslightly. Then, without being noticed by anyone, Sunny silently merged with shadows.
Hidden in their dark embrace, he hesitated for a few moments, and then called upon Nightmare. Avast shadow appeared near him, all around him… this was the dark destrier in his true, shapeless form.
Sunny allowed himself to be enveloped by thelarger shadow, and then gave it a silent command. What happened next… was hard to describe.
He had only done this a few times in the past, andeach time was as strange. It was a bit like traveling to the Dream Realm, but also different.
Tired of waiting, Sunny had decided to travel toNeph's dreams. There was no sense in prolonging his anxious anticipation, anyway. He had to see if Changing Star was still sane. He had to know that she was still... herself.
Soon, Sunny found himself on a dark shore.
Beneath him was a vertical slope, with furious waves crashing against the cliffs far below. Somedistance away, a tall and beautiful lighthousestood, illuminating the absolute darkness with its radiant flame.
Sunny studied it for a while, and then nudgedNightmare to walk along the edge of the cliff. Sitting in the saddle, he rode the black steed and tried not
to look around too much.
Dreams were a strange place. They did not adhereto the logic of the real world and were always flowing, always changing. The more powerful a dreamer was, the more solid they sometimes appeared.
They were also dangerous for Dreamwalkers suchas Nightmare and Sunny. The threats contained within them might not have been real, but by invading this subliminal space, the uninvited guests had to treat them as such.
This was why Nightmare often returned wounded from his travels. If an Ascended dreamt of a powerful abomination, the dark destrier had to battle the abomination as if it was real. However,not only dreadful fiends posed a threat. Hisopponents were empowered by the dream itself, sotheir strength depended on the strength of the dreamer. Their actual shape did not matter that much.
Nephis… was very strong. So her nightmares werebound to be terrible, as well.
Soon, the landscape around them changed. The dark shore and the
lighthouse disappeared, and instead, the streets of a ruined city appeared from nowhere. With a bitof apprehension, Sunny recognized the familiar shapes of the stone buildings of the Dark City. However, they were simultaneously the alloy towers of the Siege Capital. Their facades were broken, with smoke and fire escaping from the cracks.
A wide road was littered with burning debris, and a luxurious PTV lay overturned some distanceaway, its armored frame bent and riddled with holes. Blood was spilling on the melting asphalt from the shattered windows.
Sunny slowly approached the PTV and thenjumped off Nightmare's back. After hesitating for a moment, he bent down and looked inside the cabin.
There were several corpses inside, all wearing mundane clothes. Most disturbingly, these peoplelacked faces, and instead looked like smooth-
faced mannequins. Their flesh, however, was quitereal… and terribly mangled.
With a frown, he looked away and studied thesurroundings. It did not take him long to notice a trail of blood leading away from the burning PTV.
Leaving Nightmare behind, Sunny followed the trail.
He crossed the street and entered the foyer of abusiness tower through a large hole in its wall. Looking around, Sunny noticed that the foyer
strangely resembled the silent shore of the darkriver they had crossed once, a long time ago, while searching for the remains of the First Lord.
White fog swirled above the water, full of silentwhispers.
There was only one thing that did not seem to fit— a large reception desk stood not too far away from him, drowning in shadows.
Sunny slowly walked to it and then moved around.
Behind the desk, leaning on it with her back, ayoung woman with silver hair sat on the ground.Her face was pale and tired, and her strikinggrey eyes were devoid of any light. She waswearing mundane clothes, which were marred with blood.
Sunny sighed, and then said:
"Hey, Neph."
The young woman slowly looked up...and then smiled. "Hey, Sunny."