It was just about the worst situation to be in in Forgotten Shore.
The nightfall was just around the corner as Kai had confirmed when he had flown up to check the terrain nearby. There were no tall pillars or islands or anything that they could use to escape the soon-rising water. Nephis had not foreseen anything like this — could not have foreseen anything like this. She had assumed the statue would carry them directly and safely to the Hollow Mountains and they would always be above the water simply by remaining on top of its head. The possibility that the statue would voluntarily allow itself to be completely submerged in water and subjected to the monsters below the surface of the sea was just unthinkable.
Unthinkable...
Nephis frowned. Something about this situation didn't match up.
They were on one of the larger platforms that surrounded the central space, trying to gather any materials they could use to fashion some kind of raft. It was the only course of action that made any sense, although their chances of surviving on a vessel like that were quite slim still. Their raft wasn't yet very impressive yet — it consisted of two large barrels and stone slabs tied together by seaweed bands and her golden rope. Everything else had probably been washed away by the sea during the long years of its reign on this land.
Will it even float?
Nephis was not in a good mood to make any difficult decisions, much less think logically. Even though there was no immediate danger she knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were closer to death than at any time in this second life thus far. The thought that all she had been fighting for would end right here, in a couple of hours, inside the nightmare she had long thought past her, was unbearable. But she was a warrior and would not go down without a fight. And the desperate situation forced her to concentrate fully on the problem at hand.
What would Sunny do? she asked herself. Their situation was not one that they could survive through brute force; rather, it called for adaptation and ingenuity. And that meant that she had to have full picture of the situation which she clearly didn't have yet.
Nephis had a feeling that this place was a regular stopping place of the builder's statue, one that it visited frequently. The sheer fact that the statue had stopped here suggested that the giant hole and the lake at its bottom had some sort of important function in the life of the stone giant.
And now that Nephis thought about it — wasn't it strange that this was the first time she had seen a large body of real water in the Forgotten Shore? The water in the lake could not be part of the Dark Sea, for the sea was always sealed away during the daylight. But if the sea did indeed flood the chamber they were in, wouldn't the two bodies of water have mingled together? After all, the Dark Sea was a Great Titan. It shouldn't be hard for it to consume a little lake like this.
And that meant... that meant that the water in the lake and the water in the sea did not come in contact with one another, for one reason or another. They were always separated, day and night. The realization set gears in Nephis's head turning. She quickly ran to the edge of the platform.
"Princess! What are you doing?"
Nephis just shook her head, too absorbed in her thoughts. Her heart was thumping loudly as she made her way to the edge and looked down. The clear water of the lake was tranquil and dark but it held nothing of the sinister aura that came with Curse of Darkness. It was old without a doubt, and unfathomably deep, and probably it had some power... but it wasn't threatening.
And she saw something else, too. When she looked at the stony shores of the lake, she could make out contours of hazy symbols that had been carved on the floor ages past.
The lake... was surrounded by a rhunic circle.
"Everybody, come here! We need to get to the statue."
It did not take long for others to understand that their only chance of salvation would be to utilize whatever power protected the builder's statue and the black lake at night. Kai flew them one by one to the statue's head where they had camped for many days now.
They were not a minute too early. It was dark already and Nephis thought she could sense faint tremors running through walls of the giant cauldron-like pit, anticipating the arrival of the sea.
"This better work", Effie said nervously. "Otherwise... "
"Nothing else was going to work anyway", Nephis said. "This is our best hope."
And just as the words had left her mouth, many things happened at once.
A low rumble came from earth and from the walls, signaling the coming of the dark water. The waters themselves flowed into the chamber via the vein-like tunnels and corridors in the walls and Nephis knew that the whole chasm would soon be filled to the brim. But at the same time there was suddenly a glow coming from below. The lake that had been tranquil and dark thus far started to glow with ethereal red light. The rhunic circle was glowing as well and Nephis could now make sense of many of the rhunes.
She didn't have time to study them further, because as soon as the first drops of the Dark Sea landed on top of the rhunes they flashed blindingly. From the rhunes there rose a massive red wall, separating the lake and the statue from everything else around them. To Nephis it seemed like some sort of energy barrier that prevented the water from coming in. The barrier was translucent like glass... not that there was much to look at on the other side of it.
It came to a close above their heads, cocooning the giant statue completely. Not much later the Dark Sea had enveloped it, preventing any light from coming in and sealing them from an outside world.
Nephis could see tense expressions of her friends giving way to relief in the dim red light of the lake. She herself released a breath she had been unconsciously holding.
"It seems it worked?" Kai said eventually, little hesitant.
Nephis nodded. "Yes. Of course, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful still."
"There's no telling what might come through the barrier", Sunny pointed out. "Maybe it only protects against water, not nightmare creatures."
"That might be", Nephis said. "Even though the sea in itself is a Great Titan. I doubt any creature will cross the barrier if it can't come in." Which of course begs the question, how can this barrier hold the sea at bay?
In any case, they decided to be extra vigilant tonight. Only, it proved to be much more difficult than Nephis had thought. Slowly but surely the stress and the sense of danger wore off and it became easy to let one's thought wander. The red light seemed to have soothing quality to it and Nephis found herself relaxing. Perhaps the sorcery that powered this place was work of one of the Daemons — it would certainly explain how it was able to hold its own against an opponent of the Dark Sea's caliber.
There was not much to look at, either. Everything around them was dark. The air was warm, much warmer than it usually was in the Forgotten Shore. It also seemed to have some water in it and there was a faint scent of salt in the air. It made Nephis think not of the Dark Sea but of the great oceans of the Earth in ancient days, where heroes like Odysseus had sailed.
What was she thinking? Now was not the time for daydreaming. Nephis looked around and realized she was not the only one in a danger of dozing off.
Effie was curled up in a ball against her bag-memory and Cassie was near her, sitting in a crouched position. Kai lay on his back and was looking at the ceiling with a comtemplative expression on his handsome face, his eyelids slowly closing. But when Nephis saw Sunny, she finally realized something was wrong.
Because Sunny would never relax in a situation like this.
"Wake up", Nephis hissed to Effie. "We must not fall asleep."
The huntress looked at her, then closed her eyes again.
"This isn't natural weariness", Nephis said to them all, seeing that they had come out of their stupor.
"To me it seems quite natural..." Effie yawned. "And couldn't we let Sunny's shadow keep watch? That's what we have done on most nights."
" I think Nephis is right. This feels wrong... " Kai said. But even as he spoke he seemed to stagger and his head slumped against his chest.
"Stay awake, Kai!" Nephis said.
"I'm trying... " he mumbled.
But it wasn't enough. One by one, all the sleepers except for Nephis succumbed to sleep. Sunny was the last one and Nephis could just watch as his consciousness drifted away. She cursed herself — she had given her word not to use shadow bond, but she was seriously tempted right now.
Right before the light in Sunny's eyes went out, though, something materialized next to Nephis, rising silently from the shadows. Saint looked at her master's now limp form with steely eyes and then turned to Nephis as though expecting orders. Nephis realized that Sunny had summoned her as a precaution: Saint wasn't vulnerable to mind attacks after all. It was a smart thing to do and Nephis felt proud for a fleeting moment.
She herself managed to shake the weariness off by using her Flaw. At first it was only small bursts of intense pain that brought her back from the edge of sleep, but at some point she had to use her Aspect almost continually to combat the mind attack. It had to have been quite a powerful one since none of the cohort were weak of mind and yet they had still fallen prey to it so quickly.
Nephis lost her sense of time and, as the pain continued to build without nothing ever changing, she began to lose her sense of self, too. It was not that she couldn't think or act while under pain — it was just the easiest way to deal with the torment. And Nephis held hope that the creature behind the attack wouldn't be able to cross the barrier physically even if its influence did.
At times Nephis could hear something on the edge of her consciousness: a faint melody that seemed to come from everywhere around them; and at the same time she was sure it was only coming from the depths of her own mind without any physical sound being transferred through air. She could almost make out the words that the quiet voices were singing...
A steady hand gripped her shoulder firmly, almost painfully, and jolted Nephis awake. Looking up she saw two ruby-eyes that looked at her with unwavering resolve, and she remembered who and where she was.
I am Changing Star, she thought, and the pain washed the music away, leaving behind only heat and white light. And I won't be stopped here.
Slowly the hours went by. A nephilim and a warrior of the underworld kept watch together, so different yet so alike, like two sides of the same coin.
*******
Effie was hungry when she woke up. Otherwise she felt amazing.
"Dang! I haven't slept like that... ever!"
She looked up and noticed that they were not surrounded by water anymore. Instead they were somewhere outside. The familiar grey sky greeted her together with an angry princess.
Agh... everything good must come to an end...
"Good for you", Nephis said. "Hopefully you will not sleep like that ever again."
Her voice was clipped and cold and Effie got the sense that their commander did not at all share her happiness. Not that the princess was happy... ever, really. Effie supposed that was to be expected; time-traveling was not at all like they made it to be in those webtoons. It was much more work!
Effie looked around and noticed that the others were already up. She felt a pang of shame for the fact. Of course she would be the first one to fall asleep and the last one to wake up. She couldn't be faulted really — she couldn't fight her Flaw after all — but she still felt responsible. She was the second-most -seasoned of them, a veteran by normal standards. Why did she feel like she was lagging behind all the time?
"Well, I'm sorry... I gather we missed some things? What exactly happened?"
Nephis sighed. "All of you fell asleep as you know and I guarded you the whole night. Only, none of you would wake up even when we left the cavern. I was starting to get worried some time ago... "
Effie slowly stood up. "Huh? How long has it been?"
Nephis shrugged. "Three days. We are well on our way to the Hollow Mountains, I think."
"That explains why I'm so hungry, then."
Something dangerous flashed behind princess's eyes. "Is that only thing you have to say when you wake from a coma? Well, dig in." She turned her back on her.
Kai looked Effie somberly. "She's to be excused. She has defended us from the nightmare creatures for three days straight. I think you ought to be a bit more grateful."
Effie spared Kai a glance and headed for the smouldering campfire they had going on on the other side of the platform. She could feel the steady swaying as the massive statue walked forward, crushing the coral labyrinth under its footsteps.
"Maybe. Something about her just doesn't sit right with me", Effie mused after checking that the princess was out of the earshot. She was currently studying what she guessed was the southern horizon with Sunny and Cassie. "It's probably because she is always ordering us around."
"I guess that is easy thing to fall for when you know everything better than others", Kai said. "And I don't know if you've noticed, but she isn't liking it very much either. She is tired."
The singer looked over his shoulder and regarded the trio of sleepers perched on the other side of the giant head. Nephis was standing in the middle, tall and proud, her armor shining.
"I think it is a very sad thing, to leave behind everything you have known. And besides, do you know how she managed to stay awake in that cavern? She told us, or to me, really, since Sunny and Cassie already guessed it." Kai shook his head like he had trouble believing what he was about to say. "It's her Flaw... "
Effie was very intrigued and leaned over to hear what Kai was saying. For all her faults Nephis was the strongest person she knew, so what could be the price she had payed for that strength? But as Kai explained the details to her, Effie's intrigue was replaced by horror.
Well... that's fucked up...
Maybe she really ought to be a bit more grateful.
*******
AN: Apologies for taking so long. Hopefully the next chapter will be quicker.