After she had become an Awakened, Song Seishan was able to get herself and all of her Handmaidens anchored at Ravenheart, the stronghold of Clan Song.
Every time an Awakened fell asleep they entered the Dream Realm at their anchor.
Ascended could come and go to their anchors as they pleased.
But only Transcendents could take people with them and create their own anchors anywhere in both worlds. For that reason, a great number of these pillars of humanity had been a tad bit busier a few months ago when they moved all of the Forgotten Shore survivors to their requested points in the Dream Realm.
There were several human citadels that could act as anchors, but only three "Great Citadels".
These were effectively cites, and not small ones either.
Bastion was controlled by Valor. It was a monolith of medieval style, and it acted as their steadfast fortress.
Nightgarden was a colossal ship that was in no way smaller than the other two cities. It traveled the Stormsea that covered the Southern end of the Dream Realm. Naturally, it belonged to the House of Night.
Finally there was Ravenheart, the city located off of a grand volcano. The surrounding landscape outside the protected city walls were all covered in ash. And this was the home of the Song Domain.
Despite its rougher location, the inner circle of those that led Ravenheart was a lot warmer than those of the other Great Clans.
This was because it was prominently made up of seven sisters.
For many years it was tentatively considered six, as though the missing Princess Seishan had not returned to the Waking World, she was still undeniably alive. Her body in the Waking World would have perished otherwise.
Which was why it was such a glorious moment when the lost daughter finally returned home. And with over half a dozen cohorts of incredibly capable warriors no less.
Though she was merely Awakened now, she had already been returned to her room at the Jade Palace, the pinnacle of Ravenheart.
The white jade was made up of ancient and seemingly divine material, making its beauty both untouchable and everlasting.
It was the home where she and her other sisters had grown up. Raised by their mother and her vassals.
They had all been adopted by Ki Song, monarch of Clan Song, and they had all shared in her blood and inherited the Divine Lineage of the Beast God.
This was the largest secret of the Great Clans, and what gave them the most power.
The Divine Lineages had been initially claimed in the first couple years after humans started exploring the Dream Realm. There were six of them for the Six gods that once ruled over this land.
That of the Beast belonged to Song.
That of War belonged to Valor.
That of Storm belonged to Night.
That of Heart belonged to an individual never spoken of. One who was quietly locked away and erased from history.
That of Sun belonged to the Immortal Flame. Only a single wayward daughter had claim to it now, and she was currently lost on the other side of the Hollow Mountains.
That of Shadow…was still missing.
Only one individual could obtain the Divine Lineage. Afterwards, the owner would receive an Attribute that would offer them a suitable boost in power. Lineage could only be passed down to the children of those who wielded it.
But the Lineage of the Beast god also ruled over the authority of blood. Naturally, Ki Song had the unique ability to transfer her Lineage to a suitable host. It was incredibly difficult to find such people among orphans who completed their first Nightmare. But the monarch of Song achieved this on several occasions.
Despite there being seven daughters, gender was not a deciding factor in who Ki Song blessed with her lineage and parentage. Instead, it was simply a result of a natural affinity of the Universe.
Things like the blood, moon, and cycles were much more intrinsically tied to femininity and menstrual cycles than they were to men.
Though beasthood could befall anyone, the vast majority of the Beast god's authority was intricately twinned with the female gender.
That being said, it was never impossible for there to be a Prince of Song.
And indeed this was what Seishan thought she stumbled upon in the Forgotten Shore. When she met Gehrman, witnessed his power and affinity for blood, she couldn't help but feel certain that he was kin.
Though he denied any such relation to the Song clan, he was also clearly suffering from mental trauma.
Seishan carefully befriended him, gave him enough agency while also cultivating his strength, and he willingly shared many secrets with her.
For example: that of Divine Aspects.
No such thing had ever occurred in history, not ever her mother had it. But it seemed to be an entirely different beast than even a Sacred Aspect.
After all, forming multiple Soul Cores was an absurd ability to have.
Her confidence slightly faltered in seeing his passion for machinery and craftsmanship, both things that were mastered and favored by Valor, but in the end the facts still pointed to him being one of her own.
…and then he died.
On that night, several of her Handmaidens died. She mourned for their deaths and cried with her sisters. But when she saw Gehrman's lifeless corpse, split open by Tessai's hatchet, battered and torn apart from a Fallen Nightmare Creature, she felt rage.
It wasn't right.
It wasn't supposed to play out like this.
Seishan stabbed Tessai in the back and all of her warriors slaughtered what remained of the Castle Guard. And she twisted her knife. She made his death slow and painful. She felt the brutal mongrel fall lifeless before her and she wanted to stab him again and again and again.
After a little while she forced herself to come to terms with a truth: this reaction was not the correct one.
Though she loathed to admit it, she had grown accustomed to losing friends and family. She knew what loss was and she knew that she was not coping with it in a healthy way in regards to Gehrman.
It felt less like the loss of one close to you, and more like the petty rage a child would feel after their favorite toy was stolen from them.
It was a macabre truth, but the truth nonetheless. She never quite saw Gehrman the same as her Handmaidens. Obviously she held him in high regard, but he wasn't…real.
The things he did and the way he acted didn't match up to a 13 year old boy. She quietly considered him more of a monster than a human. Of course, that didn't mean she appreciated him any less, it simply meant that she didn't worry about him whenever a fight broke out.
Even after Gunlaug died at the hands of Changing Star, even after she had seen the invincible fall, she still couldn't imagine Gehrman dying.
She could picture him beaten bloody with limbs torn off, but she never even considered his death as something that could happen.
So when she saw his corpse…something that was lying dormant in her, something she hadn't even realised was there, brutally snapped.
During the Siege of the Crimson Spire, dozens of Nightmare Creatures fell by her hands. She had become an insatiable beast of death and blood.
And then she was home.
The Waking World and the Song Clan estate was nice, but it was only when she was in the Jade Palace again that it hit her.
She was safe, free from that abhorrent city and horrific, abyssal waters.
And while she lay down on the finest sheets known to man, she thought of Gehrman's corpse doing the same in an unmarked grave near his old "Workshop".
In the middle of the night she climbed to the Throne Room. Fortunately, at the Rank her mother was at, sleep was not a requirement. And she could always be found here. After all, her mother's body was a corpse.
A sword of unparalleled precision and power pierced her chest and the throne she sat on. No life was behind her eyes.
But Ki Song was very alive.
"My daughter, something troubles you?" a voice called out. A clean and well dressed corpse waltzed from behind the throne.
This corpse too, was Ki Song.
Though her real body was pierced by a blade above the Transcendent Rank, she still existed in her puppets. And therefore she existed everywhere.
Almost no one knew the true nature of Queen Song, so many didn't realize that her vessels wandered the streets and the wild lands.
Constantly exploring, learning, and growing in strength.
It would be considered by many to be something akin to eldritch horror, but in fact, it was a reality that the loving daughters of Song had long come to terms with.
They did not fear their mother for her state, and they did not love her any less than they had when she had first called them daughter.
"The boy I mentioned earlier, the one with the Divine Aspect, I didn't ask in front of everyone but…did you know him? Was he to be one of our vassals? Or maybe even…"
Seishan trailed off, but her mother gave an understanding look.
"I would have offered him my blood, even in the state you described him. He would have been a pure and good vessel for the Beast god's Lineage, and it would have surely taken a liking to him," she paused. "Such a young child too…he would have been…my first son."
Ki Song controlled every facet of the corpses she lived through. She did not perform much for her daughters, only making them calming and genial. She would never make one cry for it would seem too intentional and fake.
But Seishan didn't need to see such a thing to know that her mother was truly sorrowful at the young man's death.
This was just the kind of person her mother was…at least, it had been.
For just as soon as this sorrow came, it was crushed a moment after with grim determination.
"...it is probably for the best. Though I loathe to admit it, raising a son in this environment would be troublesome. Especially with war on the horizon."
…
Every time Seishan brought up her mother being a bit more cold to her sisters, they gave her odd looks.
"She had always seemed that way."
"She has to act like that in front of the vassals."
"She is under a lot of pressure due to her preparations."
These were the answers she received.
All of her sisters loved her, and she loved them dearly as well. Despite the impending violence that would soon shake the earth, they made sure to spend time with their long lost sister. They had missed her after all.
But things were different. Her sisters had not changed, they had remained exactly as crazy and weird as she remembered. But they were all Transcendents.
Six of the youngest Transcendents every, and six of the most powerful.
It was odd to leave them as equals and return as someone so far beneath them. Though they never treated her that way, it was still awkward to think about.
So Seishan did her best to grow stronger as well.
Her training of her Handmaiden intensified. Now that they didn't have to worry about any of Gunlaug's men and their cleaning duties, they were free to be molded into the most ferocious of warriors.
All of the horrors of the Forgotten Shore and the people she lost there, she pushed them to the back of her mind.
After months of this training and mindset, she was finally able to start to return to her normal self.
All of her Handmaidens, now called Blood Sisters, were silently helping her along through this process. They all had scars from the Forgotten Shore, but in each other's company and with their shared ambition they managed to accept their trauma and move on.
In the Waking World she and her followers trained.
In the Dream Realm they hunted.
The harrowing creatures of that cursed land had been extraordinarily dangerous. Now that they had overcome that hell and had been granted Awakening, they were able to defeat enemies like Fallen Beasts with ease.
Fighting above one's Rank was something only elite fighters could do, but each of the Blood Sisters were capable of such a feat.
Seishan herself slayed a fair share of Fallen Demons and Devils as well.
The first time she did so by herself, one of her fellow Princesses had come to congratulate her. In truth, she had been hidden nearby, waiting to save Seishan if the need arose.
As Seishan's slit pupils shook over the bloody corpse, a figure of unparalleled beauty and seduction calmly waltzed over to her bestial form.
"Well done, I can't think of any other Awakened who could do such a thing," a warm smile overtook her face. "Back then, I myself wouldn't have dared to take on such a creature as an Awakened."
"But now you could probably take on a Great Devil, couldn't you?" Seishan asked. This sister in particular had distinguished herself even among her peers. This alluring woman was the one called Beastmaster.
But Seishan knew her as Song Eubin, or just Bin for short.
It was a hilariously mundane name for the entrancing woman.
"Hmmm, with enough competent thralls and time…I suppose I could," she responded with a dangerous smile.
Beastmaster had truly grown into her own after reaching the Transcendent Rank. Her ability to create "thralls" with her Aspect had grown alongside her mental attacks, and now she could dominate the minds of even creatures of the same Rank as her. Naturally, those of higher or higher Class couldn't be swayed by her charms, but they could still be slowed down.
And from there, the literal army of Nightmare Creatures she had under her control could take down even the most terrifying of foes.
"...It isn't enough. Gehrman could do the same as a Sleeper. And I imagine Changing Star could as well. As for Awakened, I bet Nightengale, Raised by Wolves, Han Li Caster, and perhaps that man named Sunless could as well."
Though Seishan wasn't entirely familiar with that dark boy, he had accurately sniffed her out while she was secretly killing Castle Guards before the big betrayal and slaughter. He was the only one who was able to trace her nightly hunts back to her.
He was a scout for Changing Star…but he was hiding something sinister. Something that put her on guard.
"Ah yes, those of the famous Cohort that took down the 'Bright Lord'. I read the reports. I hear the Government made a propaganda movie about them. 'A Song of Light and Darkness' if I recall correctly. One of our vassals had to actually go to them and remove your character from the farce," Bin said with an amused voice. "Han Li Caster was made out to be a hero…but now he is nowhere to be seen. I never expected someone of such a small Legacy Clan to be able to be put in the same breath as my dearest sister."
"An anomaly," Seishan said coolly.
"Not as much as that toy you lost, Gehrman was his name right?"
"You go too far, Bin," Seishan's voice took on a dangerous tone. Despite the gap in power between the two being astronomical, Beastmaster's smile faded. When they were all on an equal playing field, Seishan had actually been something of a leader among the Princesses of Song.
And though they were nowhere near comparable now, she still held great respect.
"Ah, sorry. I forget that you favored him," she said in a quieter voice.
"...it wasn't just that. He was a child, even compared to the rest of us. And yet he fought harder than the rest of us. Even gone, he is worthy of respect."
"The way you talk about him…it doesn't seem he was a child."
Seishan thought back to his insistence that he was actually an old man. He did have a plethora of strange knowledge. But he was also still a Sleeper. It was impossible for someone to be both of late age and still undergo their First Nightmare. That trial simply didn't occur outside a certain age range.
"I didn't come here just for this, by the way," Beastmaster scratched the back of her head. Even with that unusually human action, she still seemed inordinately attractive and appealing. Fortunately, being sisters for so long made Seishan immune to the passive effects of her Eubin's Aspect.
"Recently one of our workers found something interesting. Some Gate Crises have been getting handled oddly quickly and cleanly. Though it appears that those credited to the kills are credited to real Awakened and they received genuine Contribution Points, there are some subtle hints that information is being manipulated."
Her tone became more serious.
"It wouldn't have been worth mentioning, but some of the Gates were of the 4th Rank. They were dozens of kilometers apart, and yet the outcome is still the same every time. Minimal casualties and damage. I am not one to be unappreciative of a job well done, but something is artificial about the whole thing. And whoever is making it so comes from high up in the Government. If they secretly have something that can reliably take out Corrupted creatures, then it could very well be a factor in the upcoming conflict."
Seishan raised an eyebrow. She had been secluded from these types of politics in order to focus on her training. So it was odd for Bin to mention this to her.
"Why come to me?"
Eubin took a little while to answer, and she seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable.
"I sent one of my girls out to investigate. She seemed troubled by the aftermath she saw. And she included a disturbing detail," she paused for a moment. "It reeked of blood."
A small, insane thought entered Seishan's head.
No, he's dead. And even if he came back, he wouldn't be in the Waking World. He wouldn't be able to deal with Corrupted Nightmare Ceratures…and he wouldn't have ignored me for so long. He would have come to see me.
That last thought surprised her. She didn't even consider it a factor until that gut feeling already formed inside her.
"It isn't one of ours," Eubin said slowly. "All of our Saints are accounted for. We are at a complete loss and investigating further into something that could be nothing would not be an efficient use of resources. The only things in our records that mention an Aspect tied to blood that isn't affiliated to us…is your report."
"No one has requested meetings for me since I've gotten back, have they?"
"Plenty of people have," Eubin said. "You're considered a hero after all. Even after downplaying your importance. Plenty of ignorant groups not affiliated with the Government such as news outlets or media companies have requested to speak with you."
Seishan stood completely still.
The two Princesses both stood in the gory scene as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
And then she said sternly.
"I want to see all of them. Even the most insignificant requests."