Kallen
Something had Kallen by the foot. There was an iron grip clamped down, wrenching him with bone crushing strength. He didn't know up from down as he was thrashed about. He searched for something to grab on to, but it all happened so fast. Something had ahold of him and wouldn't let go.
Curse this damn—
Kallen smashed into something, feeling his insides groan beneath his transcendent echo. He reached out to grasp whatever he'd hit, but was pulled back and torpedoed through the water in the next breath.
He clenched his hand, forcing the water behind him to resist his movement, and only then did everything slow down enough for him to tell what was happening. Dozens of long, sinewy tentacles shot from some sort of vast, decaying anemone down on the ground. Some ended in barbed, finger-like appendages, others tapered into ghostly fins or suction-cups like those of an octopus.
At the center was a vertical mouth lined with rows of spiral teeth. It looked like a meat grinder. A Corrupted Nightmare Creature. Without the element of surprise and in depth, detailed knowledge about his opponent, Kallen had no business fighting anything of the Corrupted rank. Even with a Transcended Monster for an Echo.
Shit!
Kallen grasped for every ounce of water he could muster. A blade formed from the Gilded Warden, and he sawed through the tentacle, bursting from its grasp and shooting for the surface.
He'd only just broken the surface when he was grabbed, and dragged back down into the black depths. But then slowly, something happened.
The black water began to flow in reverse, rushing… somewhere.
All too suddenly, the twisting tentacles were being carried away with the force of an entire sea, Kallen in tow. Left with only one option, he conjured his last chance of escaping. A black book appeared before Kallen, and when he opened it, he disappeared. If someone were watching him, it would have seemed he'd abruptly ceased to exist.
Kallen quickly closed the book and landed on hard ground, stumbling and falling face first. His armor was gone, so he summoned it back. Its embrace was warm and comforting, but it was battered from the constant stress he'd put it under.
Deciding to let it rest in his Soul sea, he dismissed it and rose to a knee, looking around, gauging where the Null Meridian had dropped him off. It didn't take long to figure it out.
He was in the crimson spire.
~~~
Kai
The sea was retreating. The grey sky above had turned a stark white.
Nephis stood in the middle of the horde of Nightmare Creatures, staring at them in bewilderment, along with the rest of the human army.
The monstrosities had ceased their frenzy. They swayed, some fell to the ground, blood streaming on the coral.
What had happened?
Why had that happened?
Well… it didn't matter why. The horde was halted, the humans had stopped dying, and the dreadful storm had ceased without a trace.
~~~
Sunny
Sunny was taking soul damage.
The skies of the Forgotten Shore were now white, full of heat so incandescent it hurt to look at.
The sun…
The souls of living creatures were being slowly eroded and destroyed. There was no escape from its desolate reach.
Sunny stared at the opening gates of the Crimson Spire, wishing nothing more than to charge through them into the safety of the shade.
But he couldn't.
He spun and dashed back toward the human army, ringing a silver bell as he ran.
Far away, Nephis spun and looked in his direction.
She moved thrusting her sword towards the spire, showing the way to the survivors of the Human army. There were a lot of them—more than anyone had expected.
And that army moved.
But Nephis, along with a few others, ran in the opposite direction, towards the wounded, towards Cassie, and Towards Seren.
Sunny jumped down from the mound, but before he could make it very far, a human fell from the sky, skidding across the ground.
A graceful rapier—Cassie's echo—was zipping around him. The two of them must have been high in the sky when the sun had come out, far closer to the source.
Sunny didn't waste any time, grabbing Kai by the collar and dragging him toward the opened gates.
~~~
Seren
Seren had to fight to keep the contents of her stomach down. She ran through the minefield of dead nightmare creatures and humans. Some of the corpses she recognized, some she didn't. The less visible ones she prayed didn't belong to anyone she knew.
The lifeless body of Harren, was just a dozen feet to her left. He was one of Kallen's hunters, a powerful warrior in his own right. It was a cruel shame that he had perished.
Kai was supposed to swing by and grab her, carrying her over to the Crimson Spire. It was what Kallen had told him to do, but Kai was nowhere to be seen, and Seren could only hope that he had made it.
Ahead of her ran the healthy sleepers. Behind her were those carrying the injured, and running to her, eyes determined and devoid of emotion, was Nephis.
Nephis sprinted past, sparing only a fleeting glance at Seren—then just one over her shoulder, as if she was waiting for someone. Before either could speak, Caster appeared in a sudden blur of motion, his body wreathed in that familiar ghostly green glow. In a single fluid movement, he scooped Seren off her feet and exploded forward.
Seren's gasp was stolen by the wind.
His speed was tremendous, and when she attached both of her threads to him, that speed doubled, shocking and breathtaking.
It wasn't long before Seren was inside the Crimson Spire, shade overhead protecting from that dreadful sun. Beside her, Caster was on his knees and panting.
Soon, people began to reach them. It started as a slow trickle, and then a wave of humans reaching the gargantuan tower. Soon, even Nephis, carrying Cassie entered the shadows of the inside.
Nephis was the last to come in.
Cassie and Effie and Kai had all made it. Some others whom Seren was less acquainted with had slipped by as well, such as Gemma, Seishan, and Kido.
But Kallen was not among them.
Seren looked around frantically, a worrisome look in her wide, youthful eyes. A few tears began to trickle as she paced around, but there was no man in golden armor. Her thread of connection was not finding him. She knew he was close, but not where. Was it the brief soul damage messing with her attribute?
She ran to Nephis, pleading over and over, asking what happened, when Sunny finally placed a hand on her shoulder.
There was a complicated expression on his face as he told her what had happened. Seren's face fell as the boy recounted the incident, saying that a creature had dragged him down from the depths, and that he was nowhere to be seen once the sea receded.
She pleaded for him to let her go back out there. Begging, but neither Nephis nor Effie were in any position to do so.
Then finally, Sunny shared a look with Nephis. He snuck a hidden glance at Caster, then back to her, mouthing the words: "I won't be long."
Then he took off.
~~~
Sunny
Kallen was nowhere to be found. It was as if he'd just vanished, and Seren's thread of connection wasn't working. Apparently, it had cut off when the dark sea had retreated. Maybe it was due to the artificial sun? Maybe the exhaustion? He didn't know.
Sunny felt the drain on his soul as he stumbled outside. He was running a fool's errand. Kallen had been swept away by the retreated sea, there was no doubt about it.
Even with his control over water, he was still just a sleeper, and such a large mass wasn't something he could control.
There was no sign of him. Sunny searched anywhere he could think. He wracked his mind and tried to think of any possible, unthinkable, inconceivable place the boy could have gone.
Sunny needed to get back to Nephis. He needed to stop Caster before he could get to Nephis and the only place left he hadn't checked for the Nightwalker was the Crimson Spire—no matter how improbable it was.
There was at least a chance he'd wound up there.
With a heavy sigh, Sunny turned and walked through the gate.
By the time he had made it back, the hundreds of Sleepers that had survived were all off, climbing the Spire, vying for the sweet release of that portal back to their normal lives.
Or at least, back to the waking world.
Before him as he began his ascent, were countless crimson coral golems, not quite like the guardians he and Kallen had fought outside, but still dangerous.
Sunny didn't spare them a look, and instead summoned his prowling thorn and got to work climbing.
~~~
Kallen
Kallen found the gate easily. The Null Meridian had dropped him off close to it, but he had no means of scouting, and so he did not descend to go looking for his sister.
She was probably surrounded by hundreds of Sleepers, and she should have the thread of connection to help her find him. She was a navigator. He wasn't worried.
What he did do, was summon Puddle and descend a little ways, calling upon his [Illusionist] attribute. He got to work.
And when he was done, Kallen dismissed his echo, waited in the corner, hidden by the shadows.
It wasn't long before Caster moved past him.
Then, what followed was the human army.
Kallen watched down the long hallway as person after person disappeared through the portal, its ring flashing with light each time.
He envied them. Desperately. He wanted to be one of them, walking through the portal, reaching safety with their bodies and souls intact.
But Kallen waited. He waited until he saw Seren.
There, being dragged by Effie, his little sister fought against the huntress, begging her to let go. Only then, did Kallen step out of the shadows, abandoning his plan.
Or, he wasn't abandoning it, but moreso, putting it on hold.
Kallen rushed forth, acting as if he'd been running. Seren's eyes, red rimmed and full of tears caught his gaze and widened. She ran to him, wrapping him in a desperate hug. He put his arms around her as well. After a moment, through the half choked sobs, she asked, "Where is Sunny?"
Kallen didn't have an answer. He didn't know where Sunny was, or why the boy was missing. His plan had been to ambush him where the sleepers couldn't see, just past the portal and on the way to where Nephis and Caster would be fighting.
If she dealt with the Terror.
Somehow, he felt as though she would persevere.
"I don't know," Kallen said, tilting his head. "I never saw him after the gates opened. I only made it here through luck."
It wasn't a lie.
She responded, mumbling something about being glad that he made it as they approached the gate. He watched Effie go through it, then the hunter Gemma, then a few more Sleepers, until the two of them were the last ones left.
Then he said, "I'm sorry."
Before Seren could question what he meant, Kallen shoved her through the portal.
The last thing he saw was a questioning, almost betrayed look on her face. She must have thought he was going to help Nephis fight the Terror.
She must have thought he was playing hero and sacrificing himself for the greater good.
She was wrong.
And so Kallen made his way up, just past the gate, and hid in the shadows, sending a command to Puddle to help him with what he was about to do.
~~~
Sunny
Sunny moved swiftly up the spire, cursing. He was maybe five or six minutes behind the main group. Most likely, everyone had already made it through the gate to safety.
But his objective wasn't safety. Not yet. Not while Caster's goal still remained. Sunny hadn't been particularly surprised to find out that the lofty legacy was hiding such a grim secret. In fact, he had been expecting something like that to a certain degree.
Not necessarily him being an assassin, but something shady at least.
Sunny spun and twisted his way upward, sending his shadow ahead to scout. Caster was much faster than Sunny was, but he was also more limited by gravity and didn't have shadow sense.
Sunny might catch up to him before too long. Strangely, however, after a few minutes of exertion, he did—unexpectedly easily.
There Caster lay, just about a hundred yards from the portal, dead at Kallen's feet. Sunny frowned as he slowed. How had Kallen known that the Han-Li Scion was an assassin?
Had Nephis entrusted that information with him? He who was on the fringe of the cohort like Kai?
It was strange. Sunny was cautious as he approached Kallen's position. The boy was just sitting there in the shadows next to the corpse. He wasn't wearing his armor, nor did he hold a weapon. He just sat there, looking forward, as if waiting for someone to find him.
Someone who could see in the dark.
Slowing to a stop, Sunny summoned the Midnight Shard, gripping its handle with both hands, tension running through him. What was the Nightwalker doing? Why wait for Sunny of all people?
"Kallen?" He called out.
The shadows stirred, and the tanned boy followed the sound of the voice.
"Ah, Sunny. I was waiting for you." Kallen groaned, rising to his feet. "Nephis warned me about Caster right before the battle. I caught him trying to make his way up to her. I'd join in to help her against the Terror, but you know, I don't have much soul protection." He shrugged. "I'd probably die before I even made it to the damn thing."
What about Gunlaug's Echo?
Sunny regarded him, tilting his head a little. This didn't feel right. Nephis wouldn't have told him… Kallen was a legacy himself, wasn't he? She didn't know him that well.
But then again, Kallen also didn't know that his sister was doomed. He still believed that Nephis could save his sister. So then, wouldn't it make sense for her to tell him? Even if she didn't trust his morals, surely she trusted his motivations. That made sense. Sunny relaxed a little bit.
"Why were you crouched in the shadows like that?"
Kallen gave him a friendly smile. "I knew you'd sense me. Didn't want you wandering around this place looking for Caster when he was already dead." He looked down at the corpse with a frown. "That bastard."
He's lying, Sunny thought. Sunny knew how to lie. Even if his flaw prevented him now, he'd been lying his whole life. He was good at spotting deception, and good at learning people's tells.
Kallen's tell was that he was still wearing a charm on his finger. He was tense and ready to fight at any moment. Sunny closed his eyes, summoning the prowling thorn and wishing to the gods that he was wrong about this.
When the kunai flickered into his hand, he threw it at Caster's corpse. There was a sharp dinging sound as it careened off the crimson coral, slicing through the 'body' without resistance.
The illusion shimmered and disappeared.
Sunny's stomach dropped.
Kallen's smile fell, and what remained was a deep scowl.
"I really wish you hadn't done that, Sunny."