Chapter XXVIII: The Gift of Sight

(William's POV)

When he finished extracting the two shimmering soul shards from the Carapace Centurion, he placed them inside his trustly [Scout's Sack] and scanned the battle site for a final time.

"Cass!" he yelled towards a particular coral wall. "Come out! It's safe!"

The next second, clattering resounded in the air as a Carapace Scavenger emerged from its hiding place. However, it was not a nightmare creature but rather an echo that was tasked with carrying and protecting their resident oracle.

He observed as the echo navigated through the corpses that littered the battlefield and arrived in front of him.

"Did you get hurt?" she asked as soon as the scavenger stopped. He noticed that she was especially concerned about his well-being. It was nice, in a way, to have someone care about you after so long.

"Nothing my armor and healing factor couldn't handle."

"You must take more care of yourself, Will," she said as she puffed her cheeks - much like a chipmunk.

'Cute,' he thought with a small smile.

Also, she has begun calling him Will instead of William, and so did his other companions, which he found fair since he was calling everyone by their nicknames most of the time. Moreover, it showed that they were getting closer as a good, so it was a good thing. Honestly, it was better than the nicknames he got at school in his previous world.

"Sorry, Cass, I'll try to be more careful in the future," The youth consoled the blond girl while scratching the back of his head.

"Did those centipedes show up?"

During their jounrney through the labyrinth for the last two weeks, the quartet of awakened had discovered that there were many more species of nightmare creatures other than the carapace legion that made their residence in the tall walls of red coral.

They hid in the coral reefs at night and emerged during the day to hunt for food.

For instance, they discovered colonies of sentient carnivorous worms living in the mud beneath their feet, flesh eating flowers that strangled their opponents with blood sucking vines, and weird transparent tentacles that they had once seen drag a desperately resisting scavenger into a dark, cavernous crevice.

To this day, they couldn't determine what type of creature made its roost in that crevice, and neither did they want to.

All in all, the labyrinth was considered to be home by various types of nightmare creatures, each of them at least of the awakened rank. Also, they were all carrion eaters that fed on the leftovers that remained from the creatures of the Dark Sea.

Fortunately, it seemed that the carapace legion had made the red reefs into their own territory and had the upper hand here. Their absurd strength, tough chitinous armor, and high numbers allowed them to become the dominant species.

This was actually pretty advantageous to them since facing a known opponent was infinitely better than constantly facing unknown odds.

The centipede were just the latest of nightmare creatures that they had discovered. The Nightmare Spell officially called them [Corrosive Creepers] - a pretty fitting name if he said so himself.

These centipedes had an average length between two to three meters. Their bodies were covered in scarlet red chitin that allowed them to blend into the coral walls of the labyrinth almost seemlessly. The hundreds of tiny, scurrying legs allowed the centipedes to be incredibly fast and agile while moving on the mud, climbing on the coral walls, and even falling on unsuspecting prey with incredible speeds.

(Image)

However, the most annoying thing about them that gave them their name was the black oil that they secreted through their bodies that melted through the chitin of the scavengers in seconds. Even his Awakened ranked armor didn't escape unscathed from it.

Thankfully, the critters were not impervious since their chitin wasn't that tough and could be easily pierced with a sword.

"William?"

Cassie's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something," he apologized in a slightly embarrassed tone.

"As for your question; yes, twelve of them showed up along with thirteen scavengers. Apparently, they were having a territorial dispute close by, and the noise we made while fighting the centurion attracted their attention."

"That's... alot," Cassie audibly gulped and asked with even more concern. "And the centurion?"

A small smile crept onto my lips at the mention of their ex-pursuer, "Already dead."

'He will make a fine addition to my new group of minions,' William thought as he observed the carcass that he had already turned into an undead called [Corpse Centurion] via his ability. It was just playing dead for now until they moved away from the area.

"How many soul shards did we get?"

William counted the dead nightmare creatures. Thanks to his [Fateless] attribute, the number of nightmare creatures they face always tends to bloat up even with his undead culling the herd in the background.

"Twenty-seven if we also count the ones from the centurion."

This made Cassie smile, "That's a good haul for the day, I believe."

{2 weeks' worth of kills. 1 awakened monster kill + 72 awakened beast kills + 63 minion awakened beast kills. (Due to the large number of kills, only the loot values will be shown.)}

{Awakened Beast D20 = 17, 16, 18, 18, 18, 17, 19, 18, 16, 16, 17, 16, 17, 16, 16}

{Awakened Monster D20 = 13}

{+15 memories: x6 weapons, x4 armor, x4 tools, x1 charm}

"Yeah, it is," replied William as he summoned his runes. He had received fifteen new memories over the last two weeks. On the other hand, Nephis and Sunny seemed to have a dry spell with their luck. Even though they had slain their fair share of nightmare creatures, they never got any memories.

Maybe it was due to his attributes or something else, but their bad luck never seemed to have any effect on him - much to Sunny's chagrin. There was not a day the guy didn't curse at him for his phenomenal luck with memories.

Speaking of the pale scout, William turned to look at Sunny, who was harvesting the oil from the Corrosive Creeper corpses with an unwilling expression. It was Nephis's idea to harvest that substance in case they needed it later on.

Which would come faster than expected if they continued on their way west to the Soul Devouring Tree. He still didn't know what to do in regards to the awakened terror.

Of course, he could always direct them away from the tree's direction but that would mean that Sunny would not get the [Blood Weave] from the Weaver's eye there and thus will be severly weakened for future events.

However, if they went there, then they would have to fight against an enthralled awakened demon, and even when they defeat it somehow, they would get enthralled by the thrice-damned tree.

'Is this what Cass feels when she knows future information? Because it is a real headache to deal with,' the young man thought as he looked sympathetically at the blond girl.

The sound of footsteps brought William back from his thoughts - again.

"Did you finish collecting the soul shards," the Changing Star's voice resounded from behind him.

He turned towards her and showed her the inside of the [Scout's Sack] hanging on his side, "Take a look."

Inside the leather sack was a pile of more than ten shimmering soul shards.

"Good," she said with a smile.

Yeah, this was another thing that had changed over the days. Their resident heiress was trying to act more... normal, if that made any sense. He caught her several times, deeply observing the way Cassie acted and spoke and tried to mimic it.

At first, it appeared to be kind of forced since she was not used to making those kinds of expressions, but over time she got better and her expressions became more natural - if still a bit reserved.

"Nice smile, princess. We'll make a normal girl out of you yet," William teased with a cheeky smile.

Immediately, her expression returned back to her cold, impassive one, but there was still a bit of red dusting on her cheeks.

Honestly, who would think that this girl would lead hundreds of people in a suicidal charge against the Crimson Spire.

'Although,' he thought, 'time does change people.'

Before he could tease the silver-haired girl anymore, Sunny's had already come towards them.

Next to him was his scavenger echo that he had been using as a mule for a while now. There were several handmade seaweed bags hanging from the echo; each was created by Sunny and used to store food, soul shards, and corrosive oil in separate bags.

"I'm done," he said in a weary tone. He really didn't like havesting the oil.

Then, he looked up at the grey sky.

"We still have plenty of daylight left, and we are right in between the Flat Hill and the Bone Ridge. Should we go back or try to reach the Ridge today?"

William turned to look at Nephis, who coincidentally did the same.

"The Bone Ridge?"

"The Bone Ridge," she nodded.

The way had already been fully scouted the day before thanks to Sunny's shadow, so there was no danger of being lost or not making it in time. Also, with the Carapace Centurion dead, the problem that had been hounding them for the past few days was gone.

Sunny nodded at the decision, "Alright."

Then, he sent his shadow forward.

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By the time the sun was preparing to set, they were already reaching the Bone Ridge. Thankfully, they had enough time before darkness falls and there were no signs of any incoming storm.

Even though most of them were feeling relieved to reach their goal without much problems, their resident scout was becoming increasingly fidgety and wary as the sun was starting to set.

"Don't you guys feel that something's wrong? Like something is innately wrong with our surroundings?" he suddenly asked while scanning the area around them with a suspicious look.

Nephis and William looked at each other and shrugged. they didn't feel anything anything.

Even Cassie, who had great intuition for such things due to her affinity to foresight, didn't feel anything strange.

"Sunny," she started, "maybe you feel like this because there is something unique about you that allows you to do so."

"Since you have an affinity to shadows, maybe that's why you feel something," added William.

Sunny became silent for a few moments as he closed his eyes in concentration. Then, they opened wide, and he shivered as if something was crawling under his skin.

"An immense shadow," he explained while looking at the creeping darkness, "its too distant and collosal to be perceived, but I can feel its presence."

Cassie nodded as if everything suddenly made sense, "It's the shadow of the Crimson Spire."

It took Sunny a few moments to understand what she meant, "Crimson Spire? The one in your vision with the seven seals?"

The blond Sleeper nodded her head, "Yes. In my dream, it seemed to be as tall as a mountain. I could even see it from the walls of the human castle, looming in the distance like a crimson spear piercing the skies. When the sun sets, the Spire's vast shadow falls over the castle and stretches east, as far as you can see."

She went silent for a few seconds before continuing:

"I felt the same as you when I cast my eyes on the Crimson Spire in my dream, but it was more intense."

The features of the three Sleepers hardened after Cassie finished her explanation.

Sunny by far had the deepest frown among them, "Is it crimson because it is made of the same material as the labyrinth."

Naturally, none of them believed that the red 'coral' that made up the labyrinth was actually real coral. It was just called that for the sake of simlicity.

Cassie looked hesitant, "Maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it is the labyrinth that is made of the same stuff as the spire."

"If whatever is in the spire is influencing the environment around it....," William muttered audibly while stealing glances at the silver-haired girl next to him.

"Then, whatever lives there is at least a Terror," continued Nephis with great apprehension.

Sunny and Cassie gulped.

"A..... A Terror?" Sunny asked in a shaky voice.

"That's the hypothesis," replied the white-haired youth before faking a cough to attract their attention.

"Anyways, the Crimson Spire is a problem for another day. We have to focus on the task at hand," he stated while pointing his sword at the Bone Ridge in front of them, "get ready for anything."

The Bone Ridge - as named by the group upon seeing it for the first time - sharply contrasted against the crimson coral and grey skies with its ivory brilliance. Contrary to popular belief, the Bone Ridge was, in fact, made of real bones. The skeletal remains of a long dead Dark Sea leviathan lay on a mound of chaotically coral with its arching spine protruding, especially high above the ground. From its sheer size alone, it was easy to perceive that whatever the creature was, it was gargantuan even by the standards of the Dark Sea.

(Image)

Hell, it was not even the first set of large bones that they had come upon during their journey. The Coral Labyrinth is positively littered with dead leviathan corpses that poked out defiantly among the crimson tide. However, if one looked closely, they would see that the coral was not growing on the corpses but rather from them.

It was easy to imagine endless rivers of blood flowing from the corpses and forming the red coral around them.

William wanted to try and reanimate the skeletons with his [Raise Undead] ability but, alas, he didn't feel the connection he usually felt with the monsters that he has slain before making the chances of him acquiring powerful minions nill and void.

Well, he at least tried.

Thanks to the creature's size, its spine was just high enough to remain above the surface of water during the night.

Speaking of the night, it was quickly approaching, so their next task was more crucial than ever: they had to scale the creature's remains in order to check if any other nightmare creatures had decided to take roost there for the night.

Well, if something was in there, then they had to kill it one way or another since they were pretty far from their previous safe zone.

As always, the last step in any plan is often the riskiest.

The group ventured up the coral mound after finding a convenient path upwards and stood before the dead creature's misshapen skull. Realistically, it was more of a cavernous cave formed by the upper portion of the skull since the lower jaw seemed to be missing or buried under the mud.

Sunny, as the group's scout and the only one with perfect night vision, passed under the terrify rows of sharp teeth and entered the cave first, with only his shadow being ahead of him.

The rest of the group followed after. Once inside, Nephis asked in a tense voice, "Any movement?"

"No," the pale youth replied as he observed the inside of the skull with his eyes and his shadow.

"Let's proceed then, the clock's ticking," ordered William as he noticed the light outside was getting dimmer gradually.

Soon enough, they made it to the back of the skull and into the hollow expanse of its spine. Inside the spine was more like a wide highway than an anatomical structure with rays of light streaking through the gaps in the massive vertebrae.

The spinal highway was moving upwards, with most of it being hidden by a curve at the top.

"You see anything, Sunny?" inquired William as he gazed at the path before them.

The Sleeper in question took a moment to check through his shadow before shaking his head, "No, the way is clear."

With a nod, the group continued their way up the spine but still kept their vigilance high since no matter how good of a scout Sunny is, he was not omniscient and it was not their first time to get ambushed when they were at the edge of safety.

Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened, and they reached their camping site just as the sun set and the Dark Sea woke up. It filled the creature's spine with the sound of flowing water as it began filling it.

William helped Cassie off her echo before she dismissed it. Meanwhile, Sunny took off the seaweed saddlebags off of his own echo and dismissed it too.

With the two big echoes gone, their safe zone became instantaneously much roomier.

All four Sleepers needed to wash the blood and guts off of themselves. Thus, the girl went to a separate place to wash themselves in privacy while the boys were left in guard duty until they returned.

William looked at Sunny, who was absentmindedly staring at the air in front of him, and guessed that he was busy looking at his spell runes. Suddenly, a mischevious smile graced the white-haired youth's lips.

"Hey Sunny," he whispered, "want to go and peek at the girl bathing."

Sunny, who was only half paying attention, opened his mouth, but he soon wished he didn't:

"Of course I want to."

William couldn't hold it anymore and started laughing.

Sunny was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his laughter. It took a while for him to register what happened before shooting an infuriated look at the taller boy.

"You fucker!"

"Damn Sunny," he wheezed out between laughs, "I didn't know you had it that bad. Just wait till the others hear this."

"You will tell no one of this!" the dark-haired boy hissed.

"Tell no one of what?" Nephis's voice sent a shiver down his spine.

The two boys turned to see that their companions had just returned from washing themselves and thankfully didn't hear anything damning.

William looked at Sunny with an amused expression as the boy tried to stop his flaw from fucking him up.

Unfortunately for the shadow master, his flaw seemed to win, "That I wanted to peek on you while you were bathing."

William erupted into another fit of laughter that was so intense that he was holding his sides from the pain.

On the other hand, Sunny was holding his face in his hands while wishing for a hole to entomb himself in.

Nephis for her part was casting a particularly frosty glare at the distraught teenager while poor Cassie's face was a blushing mess as she was hiding behind the silver-haired girl.

"Okay, okay, time out!" William said in between laughs. "It was but a joke princess. Of course, I wouldn't let this gremlin do anything like that."

Sunny glared at him, "I really hate you right now."

"Aw, I love you too, Sunny boy," William said in a good-natured tone before he picked up Sunny by the collar of his [Puppeteer's Shroud].

Then, he moved to get the [Endless Spring] from Cassie.

"Now, if you'll excuse us ladies. We have to clean off this much and blood off of our bodies. No peeking."

With that, the two males went to wash themselves.

"I think they are getting along well," said Cassie from behind Nephis. The taller girl looked back at her with an expression that bordered on exasperation, "You think?"

While the boys were cleaning themselves, Nephis took it upon herself to prepare dinner. Now, they even had salt to use as seasoning. Of course, said salt was the one left behind by the waters of the Dark Sea.

At first, they were dubious about using that kind of salt in their meals, but after doing it a couple of times, they got used to it. Plus, it made food more palatable when William wasn't the cook.

The four Sleepers were sitting around the campfire while enjoying their dinner with an awkward atmosphere hanging in the air.

William cleared his throat to attract his companions' attention. His face looked as serious, if not more than the time, that they had to outrun the Dark Sea during a storm - as if he had decided to do something significant.

"If I may have your attention please," he said in a formal tone that didn't really suit him, "the next thing I will say will undoubtedly make you have several question for me but please try to respect my privacy as much as I respect yours."

The three other teenagers looked at each other with lost and curious expressions before turning their attention back to William.

The white-haired youth took in a very deep breath and let out a deep sigh that sounded more like a groan than anything, "Cass."

Her name being called, the delicate girl sat up more upright in reflex.

"How would you like to get your vision back?"

With the bombshell of a question dropped, an eerie silence pervaded the whole air. The three Sleepers looked at their group's leader with various expressions: curiosity, disbelief, and shock being the most prominent.

Sunny was the first to break the silence, "How are you going to remove her flaw? That's impossible."

William nodded at the question before replying in a controlled manner, "I think you misunderstood. I am not going to remove her flaw. I am just going to abuse a loophole in her flaw that will allow her to see the world around her as if by her own eyes."

"How?" Nephis only said one word, but it was enough to show her suspicion and distrust about his outlandish claim. True, she was correct to consider his claim outlandish since the method he was going to use didn't come from this universe.

"By a ritual."

"A ritual? Like a magic trick or something?" Sunny inquired, disappointment evident in his voice.

"No, not a mundane magic trick. But an ancient ritual used by the ancient sorcerers to give life to creatures from their very souls. Through said creatures, the sorcerers could hear and see what the creatures heard and saw. It may not be your own vision, but you can still see the world around you."

Cassie looked to be still in shock from his announcement, which she had every right to be. He knew he would be in the same state if their roles were reversed.

"How do you even know of this 'ritual'?" The Changing Star asked, her eyes and expression cold as a tundra.

"Princess," William said with a heavy sigh, "I respect your privacy, and I don't ask pointed questions at you. So, be a darling and do the same for me, would you?"

This shut the Silver-haired Sleeper, causing her to look at him with a difficult to read expression.

"However, Cass," William slightly raised his voice which allowed the blond girl to get out of her stupor, "there is a catch."

She began to nervously fiddle with her golden locks.

"Since the creature, also known as familiar, is born from your soul, if it is killed then you shall suffer injury to your own soul. In some cases, the injury can be almost debilitating. I'm sure our resident Legacy heiress knows more information about soul injuries."

Nephis's eyes widened in surprise when William passed the figurative baton to her but she soon recovered and began explaining, "An awakened soul can be sustain injury in specific cases during their life. If the extent of injury is not that severe then their soul will repair itself over time. However, in severe cases the injury may take months or even years to completely heal and during that time, their soul core will continuously leak essence, the lifeline of an awakened, which is much like handicapping said awakened. That is all I know about the subject."

Silence returned and this time it lasted a whole fifteen minutes.

"Will....I....," Cassie tried to speak but was interrupted by William.

"Cass, it's okay. Take your time and sleep on my suggestion. You can tell me your choice in the morning," he said before standing up from his seat. "Now, you guys can go hit the hay. I'll the the night watch until morning. You don't need to wake up, princess."

Naturally, the three Sleepers couldn't immediately go to sleep; especially after the bombshell William just dropped on them. However, soon, the weariness of the day's journey caught up to them and they went into slumber.

A few hours had passed since the others had gone to sleep, and William was sitting all alone in the darkness while having a mental conversation with Jaina Proudmoore.

'Are you sure the ritual is going to work?'

"For the umpteenth time! Yes, it's going to bloody work! Who do you take me for?"

'Sorry, I'm just nervous, you know. I don't want to give Cass any false hope.'

"It's okay. Just have faith in your teacher and do the steps as I told you and don't forget to draw the Familiar seal. On that note, I will leave you be since your blond friend has woken up."

With that, the female sorcereress turned into a mote of light and re-entered the [Teardrop Amulet].

"Will?" Cassie's soft voice resounded in the darkness.

"Cass? Why are you awake? Did you have another vision?" he asked cautiously.

"No... Just couldn't sleep."

The boy let out a self-deprecating chuckle, "I guess I can't blame you. Not after what I said."

"Do you mind if we talk a bit?" the oracle inquired gently. "Until I feel sleepy again."

"Sure."

He heard the sound of muffled movement as Cassie crawled to where he was sitting and sat beside him.

They sat in serene silence while surrounded by the darkness of the night.

"Why do you help me so much?" Cassie broke the serenity of the silence first.

"No hitting around the bush huh? I guess I deserve that," commented William from besides her in a rueful tone.

"Please answer me Will!" her voice was more pleading than ordering.

William sighed deeply before starting telling the edited version of his background story that he had prepared beforehand.

"You know when I was a child, I used to live with my mother, Cassandra, and sister, Sarah, in the outskirts. It was not what one would call a fulfilling life but we were happy with what we had. However, when I was fourteen and Sarah was twelve, my mother died."

"D-Did she die at the hand of nightmare creatures?" Cassie asked in a soft, empathetic tone.

"No, she wasn't killed by nightmare creatures," William replied, his voice becoming extremely deep and distorted for a moment, "humans killed her."

"Humans?" she choked in disbelief. "Why?"

"You must know something about the outskirts, Cass; a lesson I learned all too late myself. It's a dog eat dog world out there where one can be killed just because another wanted the coat they were wearing.

Anyways, my mother was returning from her day job after receiving her meager salary when she was mugged by a group of criminals. One thing led to another and mother never came home. Days later, the police had found her cold, dead body beaten and abused in a dirty alleyway."

'This much is all true, except that it happened in my original world. Also, we were getting child support money from my 'father' who I never saw or ever wanted to see in my life. However, that child support was so little that it couldn't even pay for rent of the shabby house we had in the fringes of the city we lived. Thus, my mother had to work to jobs to provide for us. I wanted to help but she insisted that I concentrate on my studies so that I can grow up to be a respectable man. Also, if both of us were out of the house, who was going to look after Sarah."

Cassie was crying her heart out besides him but William didn't stop. He kept talking like a man possessed.

"That drove me to the brink of despair. I made a makeshift grave for her with my own hands since we couldn't afford a proper funeral or even a modest tomb. Then, I spent every day following that scouring through the outskirts in search of the bastards that did that to my mother. I spent a whole fucking year searching for those sons of bitches, my wrath increasing with each passing day. However, in my fury, I failed to notice that I was ignoring the only family I had left in my life: Sarah."

Sensing the forboding silence, Cassie asked in between sobs, "What*sob*happened?"

"One day when I was doing my usual hunting on the streets of the outskirts. I heard about a gate outbreak near the area of our house. I ran back as fast as I could; however, when I returned, there was nothing where my home previously was except soot and ash. From what I collected from witnesses, a fire breathing nightmare creature engulfing the wooden house in flames. Shortly after the house started burning, they heard a girl screaming and crying for help but no one went to do so. That's how I lost my sister. I couldn't even make a grave for her since no body was left to be buried."

'Sarah was being heavily bullied by her classmates at school due to the news about the way our mother died reaching them somehow. However, due to my stupid anger, I had been skipping school for the better part of a year and didn't hear about it. Also, Sarah didn't speak about any bullying that was happening to her. Then, one day, a group of her more malicious bullies - those snot nosed wastes of air - thought it would be a good thing to prank her by setting a little fire to our house. Since our house was old and made of especially dry and flammable wood, the fire quickly grew into an uncontrollable inferno and burned down the house - with Sarah trapped in it.'

After telling someone about his life story - albeit edited - made William feel like a bit of weight that he had been carrying for a long time had somehow lessened.

"I-I-I'm Soooowwwwwwwyyyyyy!" Cassie cried. Waterfalls of tears flowed down her blue eyes as she held him in an embrace.

"There, there," he stroke down her smooth blond hair soothingly as he laid her head on his lap, "it's not your fault those things happened. If anything, I am the one to blame."

"I-Is this why you help me? Do I look like Sarah?" she asked. Her tone was not accusatory, but he felt that if he said the wrong thing, something in her would break.

He kept silent while searching for the words to say.

"At first, yes," he finally said, and he felt the delicate girl shiver. "However, not anymore. Not since our first few days at the academy."

"*sob*What?*sob*"

"Honestly, the more time I spent with you, the more I understood something very important. You are not Sarah. Cassie is Cassie, and Sarah is Sarah. If I tried to put you in my sister's place due to my selfishness, then it wouldn't be fair for neither you nor Sarah. My sister's death is my sin to bear for the rest of my life."

"Then why?" Thankfully, her crying seemed to be abating thanks to him stoking her head.

"I don't know," the white-haired youth scratched his cheek with his free hand, "you were so devastated due to your flaw that you had basically had given up on life and had no one to be there to support you. I guess that I wanted to be that guy. If I couldn't be there for my sister because of my own foolishness and powerlessness, then I wanted to be there one someone needs it after I have the power to do something now. You can call it a Hero Complex or whatever you want, but the fact still stands that I never regretted talking to you at the academy hall or saving you when you were drowning. I know it sounds stupid, but that is my conviction - if you can call it that."

Soon, silence descended back onto the two Sleepers. Half an hour passed like that, and William began to believe that Cassie had fallen asleep.

"Will?"

"Yes?"

"I agree to do the ritual," she said as she turned her head to look upwards at his face even though she couldn't see anything, "I want to see the world and people around me again."

Then, in a soft, inaudible voice, she muttered, "Especially you."

"What did you say?" William asked as he thought that he heard something.

"N-Nothing!" she replied in panic before immediately raising her head from his lap. "I think I can fall asleep now. See you in the morning!"

With that, she crawled back to her own sleeping place in the dark.

William chuckled softly, "Sweet dreams, Cass. Sweat dreams."

Unbeknownst to the two awakened, their companions had been feigning sleep the whole time and had heard the whole conversation.

Sunny had a sad, thoughtful expression on his face as he thought of his family and his lost sister.

While Nephis was subtly and soundlessly wiping the wetness on her cheeks while she, too, remembered her own family.

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In a dark space where time and space hold no meaning.

Several golden threads were being repositioned in the weave of fate.

The space grew more turbulent than ever, so much so that crackles of cosmic lightning and thunder streaked across it.

The embryo that had been halfway through gestation suddenly was infused with a great amount of energy, causing it to grow at a breakneck speed until.... it was ready.

A crack appeared in the darkness and swallowed up the fully grown organism. When the crack closed, the dark space returned back to its previous serene state as if nothing had happened.

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(Cassia's POV)

Cassie was shaking in both nervousness and anticipation. She was going to be able to see again!

They were still in the spine of the leviathan they found the day before since William wanted to do the ritual in a safe place.

"Remind me again. Why do you need fifty soul shards?" she heard Sunny ask in a disbelieving voice.

"I need it to supply enough power for the ritual to commence," he said as she heard him stepping around her. "Put this one here, this here, and done."

"Cass, I will need to create a magical formation around you, so please don't move."

Fifteen minutes or so passed while her companion was doing his thing.

"Okay, we're in the final step. I just need some of your blood to mix with mine," William stated, and she dutifully held out her hand.

She winced slightly as a sharp surface cut through her palm, and warm liquid began dropping from it.

After a while, his voice came again, "Okay, that's enough."

She felt her hand being held in a soft, feminine ones who she could only guess belong to Nephis. She felt something akin to a gentle heat pass through her, and immediately after, she found that her palm wound had already healed.

"Thank you."

"No problem," she heard Nephis reply, but her voice was slightly strained.

"Now, I just need a brush... Aha!" The oracle heard her companion muttering. Then, she heard Nephis gasp.

"Your hair....."

"Eh, it was too long for my liking anyways," she heard William reply in his carefree tone.

She wanted to talk, but she was quickly cut off by William holding her hand, "However, before we start, I want to give you this memory since you said that you were a proficient fencer."

She felt something enter her soul sea. She was familiar with this feeling since she felt it when William gave her her armor memory and the scavenger echo.

'Another gift,' she thought. 'I hope I can repay this kindness one day.'

"Alright, now stay still while I draw this seal on the back of your hand."

She felt something incredibly soft move along the skin of the back of her hand. It was almost ticklish, but she held back laughing due to being asked to sit still.

Twenty or so minutes passed in utter silence as the soft brush-like object continued moving.

Then, he finished.

"Finally, with all of this done, i can start the ritual. A word of warning, Cass. When the ritual commences, you may feel a sensation of something pulling at your soul core. Don't fight against it. Just let it do its thing. Also, the seal I drew on your hand may burn a little, so please bear with it."

"Okay. I'm ready, Will."

Suddenly, strange words that she had never heard before were spoken by her friend, "&%^$^$%$& &^&%^$%$ &&^&%^%&&* $^$%##@%$ ^$%#$#$#$^%...."

The longer William continued saying those words, the more she felt the things William had said would happen.

At first, she felt the sensation of something trying to take a part of her soul core out. Every instinct in her body told her to stop it and resist but she trusted in William. So, she let it do its thing and soon enough, she felt a tiny part of her soul sea break off and be pulled away and out of her body.

Somehow, she knew that this was but a small injury to her soul core that would repair itself given time and rest.

Next, she felt the back of her hand hurt like crazy as if someone had brought a red hot branding iron and was pushing it against her skin.

This continued for an eternity as the only thing she heard were the strange words William was saying with increasing intensity.

Then, it all suddenly stopped. The pain, the feeling of something pulling against her soul core, the strange words spoken by her companion; they all stopped.

She heard William panting for breath as if he had just finished several hours of intense exercising, "Okay *pant* Cass, try to feel the part of your soul core that had exited your body."

She did as she was instructed, and indeed, she could feel a part of herself and.... something else right in front of her.

"Did you feel it?"

She nodded.

"Good. Now access its sight. I don't know how it usually goes. Try asking it and see if it can understand you."

Cassie felt out the external part of herself with her consciousness, and once she was certain she had a connection, she asked, 'Let me see, please.'

For the first time since the time she became a Sleeper, she was not seeing only darkness anymore.

In front of her eyes, or the eyes of the creature that had become her familiar, was William. His hair snow-white hair was shorter than she remembered seeing in her visions, and he looked extremely tired and worn out. However, he was still handsome enough to cause her to blush unconsciously.

Her heart truly went out to him because she knew he was in this state because of her.

"Did it work, Cass?" he asked, nervousness evident on his face. Gods, she can finally see how people looked again! And it wall all thanks to William!

However, before she could say anything, she felt as if her entire world crashed down on her.

William's handsome face, along with his entire head, immediately burst like a rotten tomato send blood, viscera, and brain matter everywhere.

Then, in a blur, she witnessed a spindly white creature, the likes of which she had never seen in her life jump onto her friend's headless body.

The next thing she knew, they both vanished in a flash of white light.

Only one word escaped the blond oracle's lips.

"Eh."

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddddddd our boi is dead. Welp, it was a good run. It was nice knowing you guys.

The End.

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Hah! As if! I have much more pain and trauma to introduce to William. This is the only the start of a long, arduous, and potentially beautiful story.

Okay, honestly now. How was it?

Was the first dead impactful or lackluster?

Honestly, my fingers were continuously shaking while I was writing this chapter.

I hope you liked it too.

Anyways, I wish you a happy reading session and have a great day.