Nephis instinctually summoned her sword, searching for danger. Then she saw Cassie, blindly stumbling across the platform, dangerously getting closer and closer to its edge.
Before processing the whole situation, Nephis was already rushing forward. She caught her, while nearly colliding with Sunny who arrived a moment later.
She dragged her back to the safe distance, hugging her tightly.
Cassie's heart was beating rapidly, and she was hysterically gasping for her breath.
Nephis didn't say a word, just held her tightly and let her calm down a little.
Sunny was squatting next to them, unsure what to do.
He took Cassie's hand and squeezed it. "It's alright, there is no danger. Me and Nephis are here with you. It's alright," He turned his head to Nephis. "Is she injured somewhere?"
She shook her head. "No, I think she had a vision."
After a while, Cassie's panic attack stopped, but she was still shaking. Nephis released her from hug and stepped aside.
"We should give her some time and space to compose herself."
Sunny looked at her dubiously, but he went along with her.
She led him to the edge of the statue, while still keeping an eye on Cassie.
"Tell me," she altered her gaze to Sunny. "What do you think the essence of combat is?"
Knowing the look on her face very well, Sunny just grinned nervously.
While Cassie was collecting herself, Nephis gave Sunny the first lections about sword combat.
Even though their academy training definitely paid off, his ability was still on the beginner level, not much different from his other self at that time.
Her teaching method was the same too, at least in the first steps, since he had to instill basic moves into his muscle memory.
So now he was relentlessly swinging with the Dream Blade which she lent to him.
Around the time Sunny finished his thousandth move, Cassie composed herself enough to be able to lead a normal conversation.
They sat beside her, eager to find out what exactly happened. Nephis was particularly curious about whenever the vision changed and how.
For a while they sat in silence, unsure how to start.
"Um, can I have some water?" Sunny asked, tired out from his training.
Cassie stared at him for a bit but then her eyes widened.
"Oh. Of course," she hurriedly summoned the Endless Spring and handed it to him.
He thirstily drank and then passed it back to her. "You too."
She sluggishly obeyed and took a sip.
"Good," he nodded, satisfied, and patted her shoulder. "Could you tell us then what really happened? Did you have a vision?"
"I'm not really sure. It's all in fragments. As if it was only a normal nightmare," she bit her lips.
"You can just tell us what you recall. Then we can try to find the meaning together," encouraged her Sunny to continue.
Trying to remember the exact content of her dream, Cassie furrowed her eyebrows. "At first, I saw a... a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something vast was churning in the darkness. I felt like if I directly saw it, I would lose my mind. As I watched, terrified, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained. And then that seal broke, too."
She trembled a little.
"After that... I don't know. It was as though my mind shattered into a thousand shards, each shard reflecting its own image. Most of them were dark and scary. Some I have already forgotten. The other..."
Taking a deep breath, she paused for a moment.
"There was a human castle. It was surrounded by a city full of monsters, but the castle itself was full of people and with no danger around. I saw three of us going through its gates," she smiled faintly for a moment, but then her expression became serious once again.
"Then it changed. I'm not sure whether it was a past or a future, only that it was night. There were no humans anymore. Only a bunch of small ugly lizards, bathing in the sea of blood while devouring the body of its dead mother. The choir of angels with horns was smiling and observing the whole feast from the distance."
Her voice started to get more and more stiff and monotone. As if she was just reading a words she didn't understand from the paper.
"A fly with an expressionless mask concealing its face, trapped in a spider web. The more it tried to get out, the more entangled it became, while the spider was slowly approaching to its feast. A human army appeared, marching towards a mass of black water. But there is no way to win. The foreign demon wearing a stolen skin of a mouthless monkey is leaving its peer."
Then, terribly pale, Cassie abruptly shat up, narrowing her pupils and screamed out.
"NO! NO! It's all fake! Don't listen to me! NO! It's not my fault!" tears started uncontrollably rolling down from her face while sobbing.
Nephis grabbed her hands and clutched them. They were freezing.
Cassie spoke up again, this time her voice was timid and weak, "In the end, I saw a colossal, terrifying crimson spire. At its base, seven severed heads were guarding seven locks. And at the top, a... a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel bleed, I suddenly felt as though... as though something so precious that it can't be described with words was taken from me."
Now she just whispered.
"Then, I felt so much sorrow, pain and rage that what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear. That was when I woke up... I think."
Sunny tried to comfort Cassie, saying it could be just a normal nightmare, but Nephis listened to them only with half an ear.
It did change, though only a little. But that's what upsets me the most. As if fate was telling me that I can change the circumstances, but the real outcome will always stay the same.
Maybe I should concentrate on the meaning of the individual symbols. The marching army is quite obvious, but what about all others?
The lizards devouring their mother could mean that some group steals the legacy of their creator, making it stronger. And their actions would be convenient for a third party, which is most likely stronger than them and which pretends to be good, although the truth is not so simple.
Then the spider and the fly. The first thing that came to my mind was the Weaver or fate, but it could be some other manipulator, trapping their prey. I'm too afraid to think about who the fly could be.
And lastly there is a demon wearing stolen skin. There is no way that it is Mordret unless the vision is from after we will get out from here. If it's skinwalker, then I don't see any way to escape from it. But maybe the stolen skin is more of a metaphor for someone being two-faced. Then leaving its peer would mean their betrayal. Caster? It's unlikely. His intentions were too evident. There is no way the demon would be someone who is so easy to see through. Maybe I should focus on the monkey part. The only monkey I know of is Effie, but she is anything, but mouthless. Should I be wary of silent and inconspicuous people then? Ah, my head hurts.
"Neph, are you alright?" Sunny asked concerned.
Interrupted from her train of thoughts, Nephis returned her focus on more pressing matters. "Yes, of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I?"
He smiled awkwardly. "It's just that you seemed to be spacing out for some time. At first, you weren't even answering our questions."
"Oh, sorry. I got caught in my mind," she reassured them.
Then, after a short consideration, she added. "Also don't take that prophecy too seriously or preferably, don't think about it at all. Even if it was real, the depiction is too vague and can lead to many misinterpretations."
If they had any objections against her suggestion, they didn't voice them out.
"Shouldn't we stay here for another night? To accommodate better on this labyrinth before heading out and give more time Cassie to recuperate herself," Sunny proposed.
"No. Let's get out of here as fast as we can. I don't want us to stay here any more time than we have to," she turned down his idea.
But Sunny still hesitated. "We don't even have any idea which direction we should head. It's only our second day here. We can't make a rash decision."
Nephis turned to Cassie. "Can you please tell us where that castle lies?"
"I can but..." she fiddled with her fingers. "Are you really sure about it? Sunny's idea doesn't really sound bad to me."
"It would be under the given circumstances, but we have to get out of here while the scavengers are still occupied. Also, there is something wrong with this statue. I don't want to stay here any more night."
Although reluctantly, in the end they went along with Neph's plan and headed out on that day already.
Thanks to it, they encountered only a few beasts and fought only against lone opponents for two days.
They also acquired a decent sword memory, thanks to which Sunny could finally stop using just a knife. Sadly, the same couldn't be said about armor, so her sole option was to stay settled with a super eco-friendly organic bikini. All it managed to protect was her chastity and even in that regard it did a poor job.
But their advantage couldn't last forever. After they got far enough from the giant corpse the number of labyrinth residents started to slowly increase.
At some point of time, they stopped being able to afford avoid all their enemies and they were forced to fight more and more. Together with Sunny they took on groups of two, and once, with a little help from her aspect, they somehow managed to defeat even three scavengers.
Slowly but surely, their teamwork started improving and they learned how to deal with opponents and move through the labyrinth more swiftly and effectively.
But their luck was prone to run out one day.
In the afternoon of the third day after they left the statue, they were, as always, exploring the depths of the Coral Labyrinth. On the day before, their progress had been limited, because they had been caught off guard by a sudden storm.
Currently, they were taking a short break from a rough fight and studying their spoils.
"Neph! I've finally got another memory!"
She looked at her little pupil, with pride hidden in her eyes. "Good, what kind?"
"It's a tool. But I'm not really sure what's the use of it," his expression darkened. "It's called the Kitten, and all the description says is Developed in the darkest point in history of the Forgotten Shore. Though not without side effects, it saved countless lives."
He summoned it. It took a shape of a small phial, not bigger than his hand. He opened it and sniffed to its content. "It's a liquid, but it doesn't smell like anything I know of."
"The description says it has some side effects. I wouldn't try to drink it till we are in some safer area," she warned him.
Sunny frowned and dismissed the phial. "Do you have me for some kind of idiot. Of course I won't drink it."
No, I don't think you are an idiot. I just think that when you get truly curious, you lose even the last bit of self-preservation you have left.
Come to think of it, when does he gain the ability to see the enchantments of memories? I can't really remember.
She opened her mouth to remark, but she was interrupted by Cassie who looked pale and terrified. "There is a great danger quickly approaching."
They immediately stopped joking and got serious.
"What kind of danger? From which direction? How much time do we have left?" Nephis bombarded her with questions.
"It's a Nightmare Creature. A strong one. It comes from the east, and it's quickly drawing closer. Though I don't know the exact time, I don't think we will manage to run away from it. Our best chance is to hide and hope it will miss us."
Nephis considered their options. There were no sideroads anywhere near and the corpses of the scavengers were eye-catching. Their chance to successfully hide was low.
"We will have to prepare a trap."
Sunny grinned at her. "From your tone I assume that you have already some little plan. I guess I should at least listen to it, before deciding whether to leave you as a bait or not."
She ignored his cheeky remark and explained. "I will hide in front of the dead scavengers and you two behind them. If the creature is at least a little intelligent, it will definitely pay attention to them first and it won't notice me. Then I will attack it from the back and give you an opportunity to kill it."
"Are you crazy? This won't be any scrappy scavenger. Even if it were only an Awakened Monster our chances on survival would be extremely low."
"Do you have any better idea?"
Staring at her for a bit he sighed. "Fine, let's not waste any more time. I want to get over with it quickly."
They hurriedly started preparing for the assault. But before they left to their assigned positions, Nephis whispered to Sunny's ear. "If anything goes wrong, just take Cassie and run without looking over. I promise I'll catch up with you later."
He didn't comment on her request, nor looked at her, only clenched his fists.
Just after they managed to get into their hiding places, their not too long awaited foe finally came to join the party.
It was much larger than the scavengers, with jagged spikes growing out of its thick carapace. Its chitin was black and crimson, like an ancient armor splattered with fresh blood. Instead of pincers two terrifying bone scythes were protruding from the joint of its arms.
It took her an effort to not to make an expression.
When thinking about it, the chances weren't too low.
It was an old friend.
It was Carapace Centurion. The very first Awakened Monster they ever slayed.