Forming Cohort

The person who his shadow noticed was no other than Changing Star herself. It's the second person he has met in this place in such a short period, it looks like [Fated] is doing its job properly. 

Now if Sunny were to remember something, he was disappointed that he met Cassie instead of somebody else. Looks like the world heard him and made his wish come true, but Sunny wasn't too happy because of this. Instead, he was more wary if anything, it was very easy to understand the nightmare creature's intentions.

They are trying to kill you and your goal is to survive, with another human the situation might be very different. Considering what he discovered about her in the academy, Sunny expected her to be a reasonable person. 

If she wants to survive here as well and escape the dream realm, she must understand how beneficial they are. But before this, he must ensure that the first thing that would greet them wouldn't be the blade piercing their throats.

"Cassie, there's a human ahead."

Hearing him, Cassie immediately reacted, and her expression became full of hope. She was about to exclaim something when her mouth was quickly covered with Sunny's hand. Embarrassed by such sudden action, she muttered something and a light blush appeared on her face.

"Don't be loud, better to be careful before we confirm her intentions."

Cassie nodded and he removed the hand. Sunny observed Nephis for some time. She wore armor and held a silver longsword in her hand. Carefully she inspected the area and proceeded further, slowly approaching the place where they had hidden in the labyrinth. 

"Do you recognize her?"

"Yes, it's Changing Star."

A little bit confused but still cautious Cassie did as he told. Both of them were whispering while being hidden behind one of the many turns in the coral labyrinth. Looking at the sky, Sunny noticed that soon they'd be forced to return if they wanted to get in time and survive. 

There wasn't any time left to wait and Sunny was forced to make a decision. Sending his shadow ahead he let it be noticed by Nephis. She visibly tensed and grabbed her blade looking at the shadow missing the owner. 

Much to her confusion, it didn't lung on her trying to attack her, and the owner of the shadow didn't show up either revealing a nightmare creature. It just simply waved its hand, opposite to what Sunny expected, Nephis became more wary and slowly backed up while remaining in battle position. 

'Dammit, is she going to run away?' 

"Cassie, let's go."

Carefully holding her hand, Sunny led her through countless turns of the corral labyrinth. With a little bit of a rush, both of them jumped out of the maze facing the girl that was already swinging her sword in their direction. 

Pushing Cassie back with his hand, both of them took a step back carefully avoiding the swing. Luckily Nephis recognized them as humans and without finishing her attack pointed her weapon away while keeping it easily accessible.

'So much effort for nothing. At least I was not skewered.'

"Wait, we're human. That shadow you saw is part of my aspect."

"I see."

'That's all reaction we got?' 

'You see? Of course, you can see this, I would be more surprised if you haven't noticed that we're human as well.'

"The sea is going to return soon, you have the place to endure the night?"

"Yes."

'So she's the silent type, huh? Where is your hospitality?'

He was never the best in socialization, so he looked at Cassie with the hope that she would do something. Remaining in awkward silence, Sunny was forced to take the lead in conversation again. Trying to hide a sigh, he braced himself and started talking. 

"Can you lead there, I don't think we have time to return to our place. We could continue the conversation later."

"What conversation?"

Trying to contain his internal screaming, Sunny pleaded to the dead gods, that his torment would end sooner. Finally, his prayers were answered, perhaps noticing his internal agony, Cassie after minutes of silence started speaking. 

"If this won't trouble you, perhaps we could team up and try escaping together."

'Good work Cassie!'

"No…"

Suddenly Sunny's heart rate dropped for a few seconds and his face visibly tensed. He felt Cassie's grip on his arm tighten when she heard Nephis' answer. Fortunately, soon the continuation of a sentence followed, otherwise, he felt that Cassie would faint soon.

"..Problem."

'Is it that hard to say it immediately?!'

Nephis started walking and both of them followed her lead. Going up the hill, in the far they could see an especially high mountain of corals, that could host all of them during night when the sea appears again. 

"Are you injured?"

"No, we managed to get here mostly unscathed besides a few bruises."

They continued going, from time to time Cassie stumbled on something and Sunny helped her not to fall or lose balance. Their quiet companion didn't seem to be surprised, so she either already knew about Cassie's flaw or just guessed. Throwing a glance at both of them, she thought for a few seconds before asking another question. 

"Have you fought one of those nightmare creatures?"

Before Sunny managed to reply, the first one to speak was Cassie who enthusiastically started retelling the brief version of the story. This is kinda nice, being praised like this was not something Sunny was used to. 

"Yes, just before we meet you Sunny killed one of them. It barely took a minute or two when he won."

"He even stayed without a single injury!"

'Now this is becoming embarrassing.'

He hurried to correct Cassie before it got out of hand. Sunny had already felt the Nephis' gaze on him, especially when Cassie mentioned his name. Looks like this is time to face the consequences of his reputation. 

Unable to face her directly, he looked away, silently trying to pass his thoughts mentally to Cassie. The only thing that saved him from total embarrassment was that Nephis refrained from any comments regarding what he did in the academy. 

"It's not that impressive, the beast was already injured so the only thing I needed to do was finish it."

"A kill is a kill. Nothing else matters in real battle."

'Thanks for the compliment I guess?'

Until the place of destination, all of them walked in silence. Cassie seemed thrilled to start a conversation with their new acquaintance but was also affected by the atmosphere of awkwardness and remained quiet. 

When they arrived, the group stood in front of giant corrals that seemed to reach the sky, their height could be compared with the statue on which Sunny and Cassie spent the first few days, perhaps it was even bigger than the statue. 

Sunny looked at Cassie and took some time to consider how should they get Cassie there as well. Perhaps one of them could climb there and throw down the [Evertvine], in such a way they would finish their task in a short time. 

"Cassie, summon the rope, we won't go back for some time."

Seconds later she was holding the golden rope and handed it to Sunny. With curiosity, Nephis looked at this memory.

"How does this memory work?"

Sunny would have gladly given this opportunity to tell about its functions to Cassie, but unfortunately, his flaw forced him to give a reply. How inconvenient, couldn't his flaw be more considerate, it's not like Sunny planned to lie or hide something. 

"This memory is a sturdy rope length of which you can control."

Nephis reached out her hand to Sunny and expectantly looked at him. With confusion, Sunny looked at this strange picture. Does she want a rope? He directed his questioning look at her receiving a reply.

"May I have a rope? I'll help."

After some lingering, Sunny followed the request. Inspecting it for a moment, without any hesitation Nephis threw the rope. In the midflight, it started to increase in length and reached the top of the corals tying itself around one of the branches.

She pulled a rope inspecting whether it was tied properly and then started climbing. When she was halfway to the destination, Sunny looked at Cassie. Just thinking about leaving her alone here and following Nephis left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. 

Once he left, she would be utterly powerless and left at the mercy of fate. Sunny understood that it was irrational, they would be leaving her maximum for a minute if not even less. Ordering his shadow to watch the surrounding territory, Sunny called her name. 

"Cassie, come here."

Guiding her arms to the hanging rope Sunny explained his short plan. 

"When Nephis finishes climbing, she'll pull you up, so hold tightly, or better let me tie the rope around you. "

"No need Sunny, I can do it on my own."

Hurriedly Cassie started speaking but despite her protests, he carefully tied the rope around her waist and gave Nephis a signal to start pulling. Quickly Cassie was lifted from the ground and the rope was once again in front of him.

Sunny started climbing and soon he saw both of his companions. After some walking, they finally arrived at the flat surface that was conveniently hidden by large blades of corals. There he saw a small camp with a poorly made bed from seaweed, campfire, and dried meat of nightmare creatures. 

Looking at bed Sunny couldn't contain the bitter memories of how he lost his own recently. Finally, all of them settled and shortly he heard the torrents of water flooding the labyrinth. The first one to strike the conversation was Cassie.

"Now that we decided to become the team. We shall introduce each other."

'Is there any reason in this introduction if they already know each other?'

"Call me Cassie."

"Neph."

"My name is Sunnless, but nobody calls me like this. Sunny will suffice."

Looks like Cassie hasn't thought this part through because immediately after this they remained in silence. Much to his surprise the first one to talk was Nephis, was he mistaken in his first impression? No, probably not.

"Where have you come from?"

"When we entered the dream realm, both of us appeared not so far from the platform on the water. As we found out it was a statue without a head, and not so far from it was the dead nightmare creature which is being devoured by scavengers."

A look of bewilderment appeared on Neph's face before she quickly collected herself and continued talking. 

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"How much time before they devour the beast?"

"Estimatedly 3 days, perhaps even less."

Before going any further Sunny decided to get the weight out of his chest and ask the questions that interested him the most. What could be more important than the aspects and memories of your companions? Sunny was dying to discover what Nephis' hid in her sleeves, very, unfortunately, he didn't get an opportunity to discover it in the academy. 

'Hopefully, she has a battle-related aspect or perhaps versatile utility oriented. With my scouting skills and information provided by Cassie, we can escape the vast majority of dangers. If Nephis has either of those options our chances might grow exponentially.'

"How about explaining our abilities and memories? It would be beneficial for our teamwork."

"I will start if you hesitate."

Of course, the reason why Sunny took the initiative was not because he cared about Nephis being uncomfortable sharing it with others, but to avoid unwanted questions. So far everything has gone well, but caution will never hurt.

"My aspect allows me to control my own shadow and perceive the world through it. The range allows me to freely explore and scout the road ahead in the labyrinth. The attributes grant me a deeper connection with shadows."

"As long as I am in the shadow, It is much harder to notice me and I'm capable of seeing in the darkness. Among memories, I have a very loud bell and the armor that I'm wearing."

Met with an odd look coming from Nephis, Sunny started recalling what he just said. He hasn't revealed anything about [Shadow Bond], no mentions of his True Name. What he did was just describe his ability as useful but not too powerful, hiding several details.

"Have you used your ability in the academy?"

"Sunny would never do such a thing!"

Met with an odd question from Nephis, Sunny was about to reply when Cassie did it first. What's the matter with everyone, is his aspect that horrible? He would gladly look at how both of them would survive without his help. Unfortunately, his flaw demanded an answer and Sunny replied.

"I did use my ability back then actually."

After his reply, what Sunny saw was an utter look of disbelief on Cassie's face with an audible gasp and a strange expression on Nephis' face that he couldn't quite describe. Only then sudden realization of his mistake hit Sunny. 

"I didn't do anything inappropriate with my ability!"

"I was busy the whole time preparing before the winter solstice."

While Cassie's doubts seemed to recede a little bit, Nephis still didn't look convinced by his answer. The audacity! At the very least Cassie has some faith in him. 

"I haven't seen you in the class at all."

"That's because I was on a wilderness survival course."

Finally, when the accusatory suspicions directed at him disappeared, they temporarily switched the topic. Based on Nephis' expression of surprise, she wasn't aware of it, he looked at Cassie to see the same expression on her face. 

Seeing the sad picture in front of him, Sunny sympathized with the professor's misfortune. He expected better from them, does none of the dreamers realize how important survival skills are? Sure they might learn how to swing a sword, but what they will be doing when there's no clean water and they can't start a campfire?

"There's a course like this?"

"Of course. For legacies information about the dream realm might be something common, but normal people especially those who are from the outskirts don't have many ways to get it all. It's better to say that education itself is something outlandish."

"The moment I got into the academy, picking this course was the best decision. Perhaps knowing how to fight properly would help me greatly, but without the skills I was taught, I wouldn't survive the moment I entered this place."

Much to his surprise, Nephis seemed quite shocked. Was the situation with legacies that bad, based on what Sunny saw so far, the only thing clans taught their children was solemnly focused on the dream realm and not the waking world. 

Saying that Sunny wasn't jealous, would be a blatant lie, he wouldn't mind being fed from the silver spoon and receiving all kinds of resources and knowledge for free. 

"Sunny, you're from the outskirts?"

Immediately his thoughts were interrupted by Cassie. What's with the sudden question? Annoyed with the topic becoming way too personal, but obligated by his flaw, Sunny replied shortly expecting others to follow his suit and get back to the previous topic of conversation.

"Yes, Cassie, why wouldn't you take your turn next?"

"Ah yes, sorry for the question Sunny."

How did she notice? Sunny tried to remain as unbothered as possible not letting any emotions slip into his voice. Surely Cassie couldn't just notice it by his expression. She couldn't see it at all. 

"My aspect is not as good as Sunny's. If I'm close enough, I can see the attributes of the creature. Sometimes I can also get the visions that may reveal the various information, both past and future."

"The first memory you already saw, is the rope that we used. Another two memories that I got from my first nightmare are wooden stuff that produces wind and a neverending source of clean water. Armor is a memory I received from Sunny recently."

"I see… Your aspect and memories are very useful." 

Nephis complimented Cassie's arsenal before proceeding to tell her memories and aspect.

"One of my attributes gives me a strong affinity to fire and light while another grants a strong connection with divinity."

Divinity… It's not often that Sunny hears about such attributes, to a certain degree it reminds him of his own, although to a much more potent degree. For a moment Sunny started wondering whether it was the work of [Fated] and Cassie had an affinity to the divine too.

"I have two memories. A very sharp sword that provides a certain degree of protection against soul attacks and this armor. It decreases amount of the attention I will get from the nightmare creatures."

It is quite an interesting set of memories. If his assumption was right, she received both of those memories from her first nightmare. A sword seemed like a powerful memory at least awakened rank, although protection against soul damage didn't seem that useful, they never could be sure what would try to kill them next. 

"My aspect… It can be used to heal injuries."

If Sunny thought that things were going well previously, now he could say that everything was just marvelous. A healer in the team is the best thing any cohort might dream of, but Nephis didn't say that it was her only ability. She told us, it was only part of how it can be used. 

Although other usages of her aspect might not be comparable to how valuable healing was, the sheer fact that it was that versatile, overcompensated everything else. Looking again at their situation, Sunny started becoming suspicious. Yes, their cohort isn't the most balanced but it was still extremely good. 

'Perhaps it's how [Fated] compensates bad start.'

"I must say that our team is surprisingly built surprisingly well."

"Now that we discussed everything, shall we go to sleep?"

Everyone nodded and they made final preparations for the day. After quickly eating some dried meat that Nephis stored before, he and Cassie settled on the floor. While both of them tried to fall asleep, Nephis was on the watch. Sunny offered her to sleep as well while his gloomy shadow would be doing the work but she refused. 

'Seems like she doesn't trust us fully yet.'

It wasn't much of a problem for Sunny. He didn't trust his companions either, the only reason all of them made a cohort was because they were stuck here and wanted to survive. When he ordered the Shadow to watch carefully for anything suspicious, Sunny closed his eyes.

"Are you asleep?"

"No."

Turning in the direction of the person who asked, Sunny, saw Nephis sitting in front of them. He already had some suspicions about what she was about to say. Being careful not to wake up Cassie, Sunny sat not very far from Nephis.

"Can I ask the question?"

Sunny was about to nod but remembered that he was the only one who saw in the darkness and settled on the regular reply. 

"Only if you answer my questions in return."

Without any trouble she Nephis agreed on the terms of their little deal. Waiting for her question, Sunny prepared himself mentally and readied the answers. 

"Why did you save Cassie?"

What is it for? Simple curiosity or does she want to know my real intentions? Could she be implying that they should abandon Cassie? Not the case, she surely is aware of how useful she is, what's the reason?

"A master once told me nobody can survive in the dream realm alone. None of their advice has ever failed me before."

Saying this Sunny made sure to point out the value of advice. If she tried to bring up the topic of abandoning somebody with good enough reason, he might portray it as an insult towards Master Jet. Would it work? He doubted it had even a chance, but an attempt wouldn't do any harm.

"That's a wise advice."

'Did it work?'

Hardly possible, he must have mistaken what she meant from the beginning. Now it was his turn to ask, any questions regarding her explorations and what she managed to find out could wait until tomorrow. Right now he had an opportunity to satisfy his curiosity with something else.

"Memories and knowledge are one of the main advantages of legacies. Don't get me wrong, but shouldn't you have more than just two of them?"

After a moment of silence, Nephis replied to his question.

"When my father died, the vast majority of memories were lost. The rest were sold with years in order prevent it from perishing completely."

"Shouldn't the legacy clan have other means to get money?"

Too personal? What might be the reasons that something that once was on par with great clans could have fallen so low? Surely there must be a lot of loyal awakened that stayed with the immortal flame clan. Even if it's not as powerful right now, it has a great history and name to earn money in other ways.

Nephis shrugged off this question leaving him with an uncertain answer. Could there be something more to fall of her clan? Just as Sunny expected, he received another vague answer before the conversation died out. When he was already about to return to sleep, Sunny heard another question from Nephis.

"Have you ever heard about Prometheus?"

'Who is that? Nephis brought this question so suddenly, so he must be very important. Can it be somebody related to the immortal flame clan?'

"No, is that one of the saints? Am I supposed to know him?"

Looking at Nephis, Sunny could have sworn that he saw the corners of his mouth curl upwards. Putting again a serious expression on her face, Nephis much replied to the amusing question. 

"Prometheus is one of the characters from the mythology of humanity before the spell. He was one of the ancient titans, sometimes also called as god of trickery. Betraying the gods he was the one that stole the fire from deities and gifted it to humanity."

'A sudden bedtime story? Well, not that I mind.'

Confused, Sunny listened to the myth that Nephis was telling. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to think about that guy, but hearing that he was a titan who stole something from Gods, made him shudder from imagining how powerful he would be. 

At the very least he would call him Cursed Titan. He wasn't sure if a human could have several cores but listening about his deeds, perhaps it would be better to say Sacred Titan? Although he was most definitely wrong, it's not like ancient humans could know something about spell.

Thinking about the past, Sunny couldn't help but be fascinated. Just listening to this story raised in him many questions. Imagining how the world was supposed to be without spell and nightmare creatures seemed impossible. Despite how different those two worlds were, it was hard separating both of them in his mind. 

"What happened next? Prometheus became the main God of humanity?"

"Although Prometheus was respected by humanity, what expected him was something else. Enraged gods chained him to the rock till the end of times, each day large bird arrived and feasted on his liver. Until the next visit his body regenerated and he was locked in the endless loop."

'Those gods certainly had a sick sense of justice, wouldn't it be better just to kill him? Surely letting him live, bite them later?'

"My question is, why did Prometheus do it?"

"He was stupid, not only him but gods too. Prometheus was led by his morals and the gods were fools who let him live. If it was me in his place, I would have kept fire for myself and hid from gods."

"I see."

Finishing the conversation Sunny lay next to Cassie, after looking at her sleeping face for a second, he turned his back to her and enjoyed the warmth. Slowly drifting to sleep, he heard Nephis muttering something but his mind couldn't register it. 

"If only they were so stupid…"

The morning arrived, Sunny and Nephis were ready and waited for Cassie to wake up. With everything being discussed, the only thing they could do was wait for the last member of their cohort to get out of her sleep and start their journey. 

While scouting territory for the presence of any nightmare creatures, Sunny's attention was attracted by Cassie who shot up out of bed. She must have received the vision, focusing on his companions, he saw the excited expression on her face. 

"Sunny, Nephis, I had a vision!"

Remaining calm, Sunny waited until Cassie gathered her thoughts and was ready to explain. Saying that he was on edge would be an understatement, he glanced at Nephis who still had a calm expression, he had some suspicions that she was even more thrilled because of this than him.

"In the dream, I saw a castle.. Not the castle but the whole city, its streets were filled with various monsters, in the middle of the city was a hill on which the castle stood. There I saw other people, just like us! The whole city was protected by high and impenetrable walls that protected it from the sea."

"It's not just that, I saw Sunny leading me to the entrance of the castle, both of us entered it and arrived at this city."

Sunny was delighted, no, it was not enough to describe how glad he felt that Cassie was together with them. It is simply impossible to describe how important this information is. In this labyrinth which they didn't even know how to escape the knowledge of the existence of what seems like a human citadel is simply priceless. 

Of course, the mentions of nightmare creatures flooding the city a little bit soured the overall experience, but the fact that the castle still stood, meant that it was well protected. Looking at Cassie, he saw a beautiful smile that made his heart stop for a moment. Even cliff-faced Nephis seemed unusually cheerful.

Affected by this notion, Sunny was infected too with this disies called optimism. But soon his mood became much grimmer. Cassie mentioned only her and Sunny in the dream, this could be only since both of them are closer than she with Nephis, but it might also mean that Nephis didn't make it. 

Perhaps she didn't consider this detail, but he couldn't help but worry that Nephis would grow suspicious of both of them and it would cause potential conflicts. He would have preferred to avoid such an outcome.

"I'm sure then it's in that direction!"

The second revelation caused him to go pale because that was the place where they originally returned from. This meant that they would be forced to pass the horde of nightmare creatures that feasted on corpse. 

He looked at Changing Star who seemed to accept this information much better than him. The cheerful mood disappeared but with unusual resolve, she seemed determined to do it. 

'Seems like we decided our goal for now.'