Nephis' eyes widened just as the entire theatre erupted in cheers. The cola she'd been sipping sprayed forward in a fine mist as her face contorted in horror.
Effie turned to her with a wide grin, wheezing between laughs.
"I see the director took so… creative liberties."
Nephis' hand trembled. The paper cup in her grip hissed as the cola instantly evaporated from the heat of her palm. Her cheeks, however, burned even hotter than her flas.
Even for her — this public humiliation was too much.
— Pfft.
She turned to the side. Cassie was trying, and failing, to hold in her laughter.
Nephis' gaze flicked toward Sunny, who had buried half his face into his oversized shirt, muttering curses under his breath.
Her jaw clenched. She looked down at the charred remains of the cup in her hand.
The director… he had to pay.
"What a horrendous movie," she hissed.
And then ca the next scenes — a series of implied romantic advances that made the audience giggle and whisper.
By now, Nephis' face was crimson. She stood up abruptly and walked out of the theatre.
'Lavatory,' Sunny guessed. 'Or maybe to lt the projector.'
On screen, things only got worse.
Nephis' actor turned to Asher's and delivered the line every academy student had been waiting for, "I wanted to talk about what we did in our room last night."
The entire theatre exploded. Laughter, whistles, and delighted shrieks echoed around.
Sunny wanted to bleach his eyes. He slumped lower in his seat, realizing the horrifying truth — the public always believed Asher and Nephis had been lovers.
Nephis returned just as the film transitioned into the Dream Realm sequence. Her face was freshly washed, but the flush hadn't quite faded from her ivory skin. Despite the situation, the sight made Sunny chuckle inwardly.
'That bastard would definitely laugh at this,' he thought.
The movie shifted tone. The audience fell silent as Nephis' journey into the Dark City began — a sequence filled with haunting visuals and suffocating tension. The dark tides, the endless monsters, the labyrinthine horrors… all captured with terrifying precision.
And, thanks to his character, there were also monts of pleasant levity amidst all the tension. A few tis, the whole audience exploded with laughter after Sunny on the screen did sothing especially stupid or said sothing really outrageous.
Apparently, he even had a catchphrase now.
"Are you crazy?!"
That not only allowed the audience to chuckle, but also gave Nephis the opportunity to educate her worthless follower, thus naturally delivering a lot of necessary exposition.
The real Sunny, though, wasn't laughing.
Because they weren't laughing with him.
They were laughing at him.
'Idiots! What do you even know?' he thought bitterly.
They didn't know anything.
Since only a handful of people truly understood what the three of them had gone through in the Dark City, the writer had clearly taken creative freedom with the dangers Nephis faced. All except one.
Because Kai had helped consult for the movie, everyone now knew how Asher had been taken by the Spire ssenger.
And by the spell… even Sunny shivered as the scene played.
It was disturbingly accurate.
Asher moved Cassie out of harm's way, sacrificing himself as Nephis and Sunny chased after him — too late to save him. It wasn't nearly as gritty as the real thing — no one else knew about Nephis' promise to Asher, or how pragmatic and cold the real Sunny had been — but it hit the crowd hard.
Sniffles and muffled sobs filled the hall as the cara lingered on Asher's face — unbearably handso even in tragedy — smiling faintly as he was taken away by the Spire ssenger.
And then, the lights ca on.
It was intermission.
***
Far ahead, there was a tree with scarlet leaves and a scattering of sothing that looked like pale fruit hanging from its wide branches.
It was a giant tree.
Asher froze mid-air, his breath catching. The desert wind howled around him, carrying the scent of dust and old blood. For months he had searched — crossing wastelands, dodging beasts, bleeding through sleepless nights. And now, after eight hellish months—
He threw his head back and scread.
"LET'S FUCKING GOO!"
The orb circled him in silence, its voice ringing softly inside his head.
[This source from your mories… the novel. It seems surprisingly accurate.]
Asher chuckled breathlessly. "Of course it is. This world's just fiction where I co from."
Dahlia hesitated before replying.
[…Still, it's strange to exist inside soone else's imagination.]
He smiled faintly. "Yeah. I'd be weirded out too."
Asher flew towards the tree.
Soon, he stopped and stared at its white bark, its scarlet leaves, and the shapes that looked like were fruits. But they weren't. Instead, tens of thousands of skulls hung from the beautiful branches, fastened to them with glistening threads of black silk.
A spring of water ford a clear pool in the shadow of the great tree, and on its bank, with his back to her, stood a figure clad in a strange, rusted armor.
Asher sighed, lowering himself onto the sand.
"Great. New trouble."
The figure turned.
The creature turned around, revealing a desiccated face of a corpse, hollow eyes emanating ominous blue radiance, and six hands, each grasping the hilt of a weapon. Two hands held long swords, their blades sharper than a razor and curved slightly, two hands held nacing twisted sickles, and the last two held a heavy scepter and a broken shield.
The chest plate of the creature's rusted armor was shattered, revealing a harrowing wound beneath.
Asher rubbed his neck.
"Alright, big guy. Let's get this over with."
He raised his hand, and the Mirage Aegis shimred into existence between them.
"Dahila."
Most Sleepers couldn't command soul essence, thus, can't use active enchantnts. But Asher could. Well.. thanks to Dahila. She simply helped him control his flow of essence, which sleepers use innately for summoning mories.
After Asher gained the dream core, Dahila tied to his cores tighter. She couldn't generate power herself, but she could regulate and shape his flow.
In other words, she let a Sleeper do what only Awakened could: channel, stabilize, and trigger active enchantnts.
The Mirage Aegis' two other enchantnts were strong.
[Solar Absorption]: The Aegis feasts on light and heat, weaving their brilliance into mirrored flesh. The brighter the blaze, the stronger its shell — and the deadlier its release.
[Purging Beam]: Releases the imprisoned radiance in a focused flare, a spear of daylight so fierce it carves glass from dust and silence from screams.
A streak of molten gold burst from the Aegis, cutting through the desert air. It struck the guardian square in the chest — through the wound — pushing the creature back to the trunk as debris flung in the air.
Then, silence.
[You have slain an Awakened Demon.]
The whisper faded. Asher didn't smile. His knees buckled slightly as his essence drained away — fragnts burning up to sustain the enchantnt.
As a sleeper, Asher didn't have much soul essence, so, so of his fragnts are burnt to keep him with a constant supply of it. which was painful and extrely unpleasant.
He stared at the runes.
Na: Asher.
True Na: Echo of the Abyss.
Rank: Drear.
Class: Demon
Dream Core: Dormant.
Soul Fragnts: [2783/3000]
Dream Fragnts: [279/1000]
mories: [Second Skin], [Box O' Plenty], [Spirewind Mantle], [Cicada's Cry], [Mirage Aegis], [Vagabond's Hearth], [Cantic of the Mad], [Gaoler's Chain], [Siren's Lyre].
Echoes: [Boomlet], [Blighted-Crest Vexer].
Attributes: [Spectral Sight], [Fla of Divinity], [Nimble Intellect], [Soul Veil], [Dreamspawn], [Within the Unseen].
Aspect: [The Eighth Exile]
Aspect Legacy: —
Flaw: [Emotional Amplification.]
The runes faded.
Asher groaned softly, lowering his shield. The corpse lay still, steam curling from its chest. The enchantnt ate up 17 fragnts. This was his first ti trying the shield's active enhancent, and it was not worth it.
He wiped his mouth, glancing at the pool. His throat felt like sandpaper.
"…Alright," he breathed, lips cracking into a grin. "I've earned a drink."
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