hwr awakening

In the dimly lit living room of his house, Sunny nursed a cup of tea while his attention drifted between the flickering TV screen and his own thoughts. The atmosphere was deceptively peaceful - Kai lounged in an armchair, absently flipping through a modeling magazine, while Effie's occasional clattering in the kitchen punctuated the silence as she raided his refrigerator.

But beneath this façade of normalcy, tension coiled in Sunny's chest. He was waiting for Cassie's arrival, knowing that soon after, a Valor clan inspector would arrive to question them about the prince of nothing's escape. If his memories held true, Morgan would be the one they'd send - and more pressingly, Nephis would awaken as a master. The latter prospect filled him with dread; he'd hoped desperately for more time before her awakening, even just a week. But nightmares followed their own cruel logic, and time was running out.

The choice before him was stark: escape now, or face death. He wished bitterly that this investigation could have come earlier, buying Nephis more time away from the great clans' influence. While it would derail his careful plans to preserve the timeline he knew, some changes were inevitable - and perhaps necessary. His memories of the future were both blessing and curse, compelling him to alter the worst outcomes he'd witnessed. Antarctica weighed heaviest on his mind; nothing mattered more than saving as many lives there as possible.

His mental list of objectives grew longer with each passing day: kill the winter beast, destroy the sin of solace, defeat the third nightmare without losing Anake, preserve his fate, and avoid that cursed bird at the estuary. He'd triumphed over stronger foes before - why should this be different? Even as an ascended terror facing a cursed one, he might stand a chance if he could merge or replace his current cores and shadows with their future versions.

One more crucial task remained: when Nephis awakened, he would finally confess his feelings. Even knowing she would likely reject him, citing her duty to defeat the sovereigns first, he had to speak the truth. 'Even if she feels the same, she won't accept me,' he thought grimly. 'But this time, I'll live without regrets!'

To anyone watching, Sunny appeared lost in thought, mechanically sipping his tea. Inside, his mind raced through contingencies and strategies until Kai's hesitant voice broke through his reverie.

"Hey Sunny, can I ask you something?"

Sunny turned, noting the unusual anxiety clouding the charming archer's typically confident expression.

"Sure, what do you want to ask?"

"I just wanted to know, when will you tell Rain the truth?"

Kai had clearly expected evasion or discomfort, but Sunny's response came without hesitation, startling both him and Effie, who had paused her kitchen exploration to listen.

"Well, I plan to do it soon. But first I will tell her parents the situation. If they accept it, I'll tell her. If not, I'll move away and cut all contact. However, I'll keep Serpent watching over her safety."

The frankness of his answer revealed how much Sunny had changed in recent months. Soul Reaper's advice to avoid the dream realm had kept him earthbound, unable to risk Valor's attention. Unable to bear the crushing or the golf flames, he'd been effectively house-bound.

His shadows, however, remained active. They hunted nightmare creatures relentlessly while Sunny focused on developing his abilities. Through constant practice, he'd improved his weaving and strengthened his memories, searching for ways to reclaim his future power. Progress came slowly but steadily - he could now enter his soul sea in twenty minutes instead of half an hour, and shadow summoning took only forty minutes.

His shadows demonstrated varying degrees of success in their hunts. The three shadows found the creatures of the chained isles manageable, though they remained vigilant for unknown threats lurking beneath the islands' surfaces. Fiend, having once again consumed the sun prince's body, showed minimal changes beyond a slight increase in size. While his attributes remained constant, they gained subtle enhancements that intrigued Sunny. Most remarkable was the shadow's efficiency - devouring the sun prince's remains in mere hours, as Sunny witnessed through his connected consciousness.

Serpent proved himself the most lethal hunter, accumulating fragments at an unprecedented rate. His speed and adaptability made him nearly untouchable; no creature had yet managed to inflict serious damage. Saint, though second in kill count, remained the most fearsome of Sunny's shadows. As his first-acquired shadow, she possessed raw power that exceeded all others in his arsenal. The crushing force of the islands often interfered with her hunts, either killing her prey prematurely or allowing them to escape, but the crushing itself barely affected her. Any creature caught between the crushing force and Saint's reach became another addition to Sunny's soul sea.

Through their combined efforts, these three shadows had elevated Sunny to tyrant status and secured an additional thousand fragments over the past months. One crucial task remained: binding the mantle of the underworld to his soul. This would require more time and more nightmare creatures to defeat. Even as Sunny spent his days weaving, conducting experiments, and training Rain, his gloomy shadow maintained its presence in the chained isles in incarnated form.

Despite its speed and deadly nature, gloomy proved relatively weak compared to its three counterparts. Sunny had paired it with Saint, hoping for collaborative success, but the crushing force often immobilized Saint while gloomy's weakness prevented effective solo hunting. He'd considered reassigning gloomy elsewhere but hesitated, knowing its vulnerability and uncertain how fated might affect the situation now that he possessed it again.

A notification from the spell interrupted his thoughts, announcing new fragments and another memory gained. Sunny drained his tea in one swift motion, stretched, and rose just as a knock approached his door. He opened it before knuckles could meet wood, startling the young woman on his doorstep.

Cassie stood there, her golden hair catching the sunlight like molten metal, making it seem to glow. Her sea-colored eyes triggered an involuntary shudder in Sunny as they reminded him of the dark sea and his general aversion to water. Her presence confirmed what he'd been dreading.

"So it's already time, huh," he stated flatly, reading the expression on her face.

She answered with a silent nod and gestured that they should leave. Sunny waved briefly to his friends before closing the door behind him.

They took Sunny's PTV to the academy for their meeting with the Valor agent - Morgan, if his memories proved correct. Though he wished for literally any other interviewer, he knew the futility of such hopes. During the drive, Sunny divided his attention between the road and monitoring Nephis through one of his shadows as she slept in her pod.

The academy loomed before them, its imposing structure a testament to both power and paranoia. Morgan waited at the gates, her presence exactly as Sunny had anticipated. Her carefully composed expression might have fooled others, but Sunny's ability to read shadows revealed the truth beneath her mask. Every shadow told a story - of feelings, desires, and intentions - though some proved more challenging to interpret than others.

As they approached, Morgan's gaze fixed on Sunny with unsettling intensity. She offered a practiced smile and spoke in her characteristic raspy voice.

"Master Sunless. You look... familiar. Have we met before?"

Sunny had prepared for this question. He shrugged casually, responding with practiced indifference, "Not face to face, but I once saw you from afar in the Dreamscape Tournament."

Morgan's interest evaporated instantly as she turned to Cassie, greeting her with genuine respect. "Song of the fallen, it is an honor to meet you."

Cassie's response carried a carefully cultivated air of nonchalance - a detail only Sunny truly appreciated, knowing it formed part of her greater scheme to free him from fate and make him her weapon. But her plans, like so many others, would need revision. This version of Sunny, armed with future knowledge, had no intention of becoming anyone's pawn.

"The pleasure is all mine, master Morgan," Cassie replied, her tone carrying layers of meaning that made even Sunny pause. Despite his exceptional memory, he knew with certainty that this wasn't how the exchange had originally played out. This deviation confirmed his theory: his return to the past - or rather, this new beginning - would create ripples he couldn't fully predict. Though he'd anticipated changes, hearing them from Cassie was particularly unsettling. Her response felt almost like an acknowledgment of his temporal displacement, though he'd shared that secret with no one. If she knew of his return, he could at least take comfort in knowing her own schemes just as well.

The massive academy gates began their ponderous opening sequence, the ancient drawbridge descending with mechanical precision. Morgan watched the process with poorly concealed longing - a sentiment Sunny had expected. She'd never experienced life within these walls, her value to her father too great to risk. Not as a daughter, but as a tool too precious to remove from its carefully maintained shelf.

"So this is the Awakened academy," she mused, her voice carrying a hint of genuine regret. "I've always wanted to attend. Sadly, I never could."

Neither Sunny nor Cassie acknowledged her wistfulness. They'd experienced enough of the academy's true nature to know better. Though regarded as among the weakest students, they had been among the most formidable and cunning. The irony wasn't lost on either of them.

As the drawbridge settled into position with a resonant thud, Morgan turned to Sunny with calculated casualness. "Would you mind giving me a small tour? I hear that you are a lecturer now."

Sunny took the first step onto the bridge, using the moment to mask his sigh. Time still remained before Nephis's awakening - enough to fabricate an excuse to separate from Morgan and Cassie. His mind already worked through potential scenarios as they crossed into the academy proper.

The academy sprawled before them like a city unto itself, its defensive capabilities belying its academic purpose. Ancient buildings, their weathered appearances masking reinforced structures stronger than their modern counterparts, stood as testament to priorities where security trumped aesthetics. The facility housed an arsenal of weapons alongside its awakened defenders and master-level guardians, though few visitors ever glimpsed its true military might.

Hours passed as they wandered the academy's streets, Sunny's voice growing hoarse from explaining various facilities. His position as an academy researcher demanded thorough knowledge, but fatigue from sleepless nights spent experimenting with soul sea combinations wore at him. Now they stood before a surprisingly modern structure with unusually thin walls.

"This is the sleeper compound," Sunny explained, his exhaustion evident in every word. "Most of it is underground. There would usually be a lot of activity in and out of it, but this early after the winter solstice there won't be many. The first batch will come in about a week or two."

Morgan's continuous nodding without meaningful engagement finally broke through Sunny's patience. "Okay, how long will we have to run around the academy for you to begin the investigation? I am tired and need rest, so can we just be done with this so I can go sleep?"

The sudden outburst startled both women, though their reactions differed markedly. Cassie's unease manifested in subtle tension, while Morgan's face twisted into something unsettling despite her measured tone.

"So, you admit you freed my brother on purpose?"

Sunny fought down the urge to spit in Morgan's face, his mind already calculating paths to Nephis and potential strategies. Instead, he maintained his frustrated demeanor, turning to point at Cassie.

"I didn't want that to happen. She was the one who planned all of this. She knew what would happen thanks to her ability to see the future and did nothing to prevent it."

Cassie's face transformed as realization struck - horror, confusion, and understanding washing over her features in rapid succession. The pieces finally aligned in her mind: Sunny's knowledge of the future explained the deviations from her visions. He wasn't just reacting to events; he was actively reshaping them.

In that moment of revelation, Sunny acted. Shadow-stepping directly into Nephis's pod chamber, he manifested a shadow chair and settled in to wait. The pod's opening sequence initiated moments later, revealing Nephis's form wreathed in white flames. Her semi-conscious state made her dangerous - she lashed out instinctively, but her flames, rather than causing pain, seemed to strengthen and heal him.

Mimic appeared at his side, offering a blanket which Sunny used to wrap around Nephis as he embraced her, attempting to calm her confused aggression. Though she resisted initially, the flames gradually subsided until she collapsed into his arms, unconscious but safe.

Throughout it all, Sunny couldn't suppress his smile. Nephis was alive, here, in his arms again. Even unconscious, some part of her recognized his presence, trusted him enough to let her defenses drop. In this moment, despite all the complications and dangers ahead, everything felt right in his world.