Shadowy Encounter

The Artisans had greatly appreciated his help lately. Ever since discovering the true reason he couldn't transfer essence, he had been working on separating his spirit from it and succeeded after a few days of trial and error. Well, partly. He couldn't separate his essence from his spirit. That was simply too far beyond his abilities. But, what he could do was use his soul roots as a sort of conduit for them.

He had gone about it all wrong by trying to fuse the essence. Instead, he could simply pour the essence into one soul root, and since they were used to empower the Artisan's soul, she could call upon that for her Aspect. Once his essence entered the root it no longer became a foreign part of Kido.

It was a splendid solution.

With that on his mind, he ascended the marble staircase to the castle, visited his room to wash up and summon the underlayer of the [Silver Wraith], traveled across the halls of white stone, and ended up before the grand courtyard of Kido's Artisans.

It had grown much more.

The decorative area of plants was completely gone, with fostered Dream Realm crops subsuming the majority of plots. The garden, once a strange, incongruent mix of waking and dream qualities, now became almost entirely recognizable. Carrots, tomatoes, beets, lettuce — all of it almost identical to their real-world counterparts.

His stomach grumbled.

After nourishing himself on only the repugnant meats of Nightmare Creatures, he was craving tasty food, and not just whatever salted slop he could prepare over a fire.

'Kido wouldn't mind if I went to breakfast first.'

Rolling his eyes at himself, he turned and headed in that direction.

'What am I saying. It's not like I made any plans. I just show up nowadays.'

Soon, he was in the grand hall again, his senses prickling with hundreds of dormant souls already eating. Soft light spilled in from the back wall, an imposing white throne casting its shadow over the first few rows of tables.

Nico absently glanced around. There were a couple new faces, but he didn't care. A lot of people just showed up here and there in the times since he started living in the outer settlement, either by scavenging a rare shard or accepting some sort of post within the Host. He couldn't bother with all of them.

For a moment, though, his thoughts turned to Nephis, and then Caster, since they were the only truly new Sleepers.

Unconsciously his eyes scoured the tables, locating Caster at an empty one a moment later. Two Castle Guards were shooting angry glances at it with irritated scowls on their faces, and already sitting, two scrappy, young teenagers. One was a skinny, short teen with onyx hair and eyes, a dark leather armor clinging to his body. The other was a beautiful blonde with deep blue eyes. She was young and delicate, a white cloak clinging to her shoulders.

Both were... unique. Too young to be Sleepers from last year. Too strange to be normal.

Intrigued, Nico approached, overhearing a bit of their conversation.

The blonde was speaking.

"Caster… is there really no way out of here?"

The young man stayed silent for a few moments, then said somberly:

"None that any of us can ever hope to reach, Cassia. As it is right now, this is where we have to live. Maybe… maybe something will change in the future. But for now, just take care of yourself and try to—"

The words died in his throat.

Caster, the ruthless Legacy, turned towards the approaching figure, his senses screaming angrily at him. His expression curled bitterly. It was Nico.

The other two Sleepers looked up at him, one with confusion, the other with calculated coldness.

"Nico..." Caster said at last, unreasonably tense. "What brings one of the Bright Lord's most fearsome here?"

He spared the Legacy no glance, his eyes trained on the boy's chest across from him, then asked coldly:

"Your names. What are they?"

Unsettled, the boy shot a hesitant glance at Caster, then back at him.

"Sunless," he said.

His friend spoke a moment later after realizing she was being addressed:

"Cassia."

The boy's mouth opened to continue, but he bit his tongue, swallowing whatever nasty remark he was going to make. Even a rat had instincts, and his were telling him whoever this person was, they were not someone to aggravate lightly.

Nico turned to Caster. The man was watching him with reserved politeness, but he didn't know of Nico's Attribute. Hostility was all he felt. The Legacy was ever spiteful.

He paid him no mind.

"Leave," he ordered.

The young man grimaced, then shot a tense, reassuring glance back at the two Sleepers. After a second, he stood up, then walked away, his stare digging into Nico's back.

Cold, dreadful fear burned in Sunless' throat, while his companion was both unsettled and unnerved, unaware of what was happening.

'...She's blind.'

In hindsight, it was quite obvious. Her lovely eyes, bright and blue, were hazed over from lack of use. It must've been her Flaw. What a cruel one it was.

Nico sat in Caster's spot.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

Sunless answered irritably for the both of them:

"I'm from the outskirts, and she's just a blind girl from NQSC, but what's it to you, huh? Who are you? We were having a conversation with our... friend, before you interrupted."

Nico ignored his hostility. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned into his soul sense, absently replying:

"I'm Nico — one of Gunlaug's six lieutenants. I live in the outer settlement. But, regardless, you say you're unassuming, yet I've never encountered anyone quite like you."

The boy chuckled dryly. He rose a hand with exaggerated flair.

"Ah, yes. I am quite the exceptional fellow, aren't I? See, as I was telling my buddy, Caster, I had survived two whole months in the labyrinth! All sorts of monsters fell to me! Even a Great Devil! Of course, that's just one of my many accomplishments. I also brought Changing Star, Nephis of Immortal Flame, along with me."

Nico's brows furrowed. The girl had a True Name? While it wasn't something unexpected, it put into perspective how powerful she must be. He had gone through much to earn his... so what must she have done?

Brushing aside the thoughts, he focused on the boy again.

"What's wrong with your Soul Core?"

Sunless' expression turned dark. His eyes sharpened, presence incomparable to the person he was moments ago. A palpable killing intent radiated from him, and Nico felt that fully.

The girl, having been looking down most the time, glanced up at her companion, confused by the stranger's question.

He gritted out:

"Nothing's wrong with it."

Watching tension build in the boy's body like a spring, Nico decided to take his leave. As much as he was curious — which wasn't much — instigating combat with someone like that didn't seem reasonable. No point in killing him. If the boy had his secrets, he'd let him keep them.

'Still... who walks around with armors made from Tyrants and Terrors? I'm sure I'm stronger than the two of them, so how did they get that? A hidden Legacy? Maybe. But his core... it feels like its empty, but not. Dark, void, almost shadowy — the ghost of a core, yet just as powerful and functional. It's so odd.'

He vacated his seat.

"I see, then. Perhaps I mistook something."

Without another word, he departed, Sunless' enhanced eyes tracking him suspiciously.

The boy thought he saw something spilling from the hems of his tunic — a wisp of mist, a flicker of essence, and something more. Like a shroud of fog buried under the cloth attempting to leak out. His vision strained, searching, but failed in the end, only making out the weave of his garment and wrist Memories before he disappeared out of the massive hall.