Chapter 8: The Immortal Flame
"You are that variable, Neph," Cassie finished softly.
Nephis remained silent, her gaze fixed on Cassie's eyes. The weight of the statement seemed to hang in the air, stretching the moment into what felt like eternity.
Finally, after several long seconds, Nephis smiled—a sad, bittersweet expression that didn't reach her eyes.
"I used to think your flaw was cruel, Cas," Nephis said, her voice heavy with quiet sorrow. "But I was wrong. What you can see… that's far crueler. It must have been hard for you."
Cassie sighed, her lips curving into a faint smile, but she stayed silent for a moment. Then, finally, she spoke.
"My Neph. She's already made it out of the dream realm. Sunny too. There were so many futures, Neph… most of them ended with you dying. Where you are now is far worse than the Forgotten Shore, but it seems fate has bigger plans for you. Despite all the probabilities and possibilities, you still made it out. The very fact that I'm here, ensuring you both survive, is probably because of fate."
She paused, her gaze softening.
"Scary, isn't it?"
Nephis remained silent, her mind digesting Cassie's words. After a few moments, she turned away, her eyes fixed on some unseen point in the distance.
"Getting out of where you are now won't be simple," Cassie continued. "You'll have to do things you consider distasteful. Things you swore never to do back on the Forgotten Shore."
As if defying the words, sparks flickered in Nephis's eyes, small but fierce.
Cassie chuckled softly.
"I already know what you're going to say. Something absolutely insane like… you'll break fate itself?"
Nephis stiffened.
"You'll understand soon enough," Cassie said, her voice tinged with sadness. "I don't have much time left. The memory I'm using to show you this has its limits. It'll be weeks before we can talk again."
Her voice began to distort, becoming distant, fragmented.
"Make it to the plateaus. There's something waiting for you there. It'll guide you to a human settlement. You'll understand, Neph. You won't have a choice but to do what you must. See for yourself… This isn't just what you're going to do—this is what you will do. Even if not for your own survival, you'll do it for Sunny."
Cassie's voice dissolved into incoherent murmurs, and the very space around Nephis began to warp. But not before leaving one last parting message.
"See for yourself."
As her surroundings seemed to dissolve again, Nephis was left alone in thought. While she had an impossible amount of questions circulating through her mind, she was only concentrating on one thing. A bitter-sweet pain that engulfed her entire body.
Being able to see Cassie, or at least some future of her meant a lot to Nephis.
Cassie was Nephis's first true friend. She had been a joyous and welcoming flame that had been her greatest ally in the forgotten shore. Which is why it hurt to not be able to trust what had just been said to her. She wanted to trust that it was her friend helping her, but she knew she couldn't fully.
If Cassie was able to enter her mind and converse with her, who's to say something else that took her appearance couldn't do the same?
She had become wary of the potential horrible influence that certain nightmare creatures could exert on their prey, after their close encounter with the Soul Devouring Tree. If not for Sunny, her journey would have ended long ago.
The thought lingered in her mind, like a mournful parasite.
In silence, Nephis concentrated on the mix of alien emotions clashing in her body, as she waited to wake up.
The mist surrounding her, began to stir, once again coming to life, swirling all over the place.
Nephis prepared herself for whatever was to come, as the mist condensed into a new environment.
Suddenly, she was somewhere else.
She stood on a small hill, a figure engulfed in raging white flames stood a distance away from her. Nephis was terribly familiar with the roaring flames.
Logically she wanted to deny it as the situation didn't make any sense. But what stood before her was unmistakable.
She was looking at her future self, or some version of herself.
The figure exuded an impossible heat and pressure that affected Nephis greatly although she knew this wasn't real. The figure's head turned, gazed at something beyond the horizon. Nephis followed the line of sight, and what she saw made her eyes widen in shock.
Before her raged an impossible war. No, it was better to say what was happening before her seemed like the end of the world.
Thunderous shockwaves traveled across the battlefield. Corpses littered everywhere, the collective blood turning the ground into a crimson marsh. Warriors of unknown background raged against each other. Swords flashed, arrows flew, shields cracked and explosions littered everything in view.
Aspects and memories of all sorts were being used around the battlefield, causing earthquakes, flashes of light and blinding shockwaves that seemed to make the world momentarily stand still.
As Nephis tried to wrap her head around what she was seeing, something changed. She was not aware of what just happened, but everyone, including the world itself seemed to respond to the change. She strained her eyes, trying to figure out what had happened. Eventually, her gaze landed on a lone figure in the center of the battlefield.
The figure was clad in an impossibly dark onyx armor that seemed to be one with his body. In his arm, a terrifying odachi rested. His white hair flowed slightly in the wind like spider silk. Perched where his face should have been, lay an impossibly sinister mask with three horns that resembled a terrible ancient demon.
Nephis was on edge by his appearance, but what perplexed her the most was the nature of how the figure stood in the middle of the battlefield. Calm, indifferent as if what was happening around him was not even worth acknowledging.
The shadows seemed to grow darker, and then from the figure, the darkness exploded, encompassing the entire world. The shadows grew and grew until finally they began to take shape.
What towered over the world was a visage so dreadful, just the sight of it should be considered taboo. A demonic-like figure, with inverted legs ending in tipped claws, a tail that fell to the earth with a crude spiked tip. Four terrible arms were attached to its torso, two where they should have been and two more slightly above what could be called its hips.
Each arm was inhumanly long and armed with seven jagged fingers, a terrible odachi in each palm. Its face, a horror that should not be looked upon by humankind. And finally atop its head, a terrible crown of horns.
The creature opened its maw and bellowed a guttering roar. The world shook, corpses were thrown around as the wind seemingly rushed to get away from the unholy abomination. The ground under Nephis's feet trembled and the clouds parted, basking the creature in the horrible dark light of a dreadful eclipse.
Then the scene flashed. She staggered back, flashes of memory pouring into her mind—fragments she could feel, live, as though she were already there.
And then she woke with a startled gasp, her chest heaving.
The dim glow of the cave walls greeted her, blurry at first. She strained her eyes and made out Sunny's silhouette, his face etched with concern.
"Neph," he said, his voice cutting through the haze. "Were you having a nightmare? In the dream realm?"
Nephis's mind was still racing, the vivid images refusing to fade. Sunny's voice seemed distant, almost unreal, until he shook her shoulder gently, his tone growing firmer.
"What did you see, Neph?"
The world slowly came back into focus. She exhaled a shuddering breath, the memory of what she'd seen still raw.
"Thousands of Awakened," she whispered, her voice trembling. "They were waving my clan's flag. I saw fanatical legions chanting my name... No..."
Her hands shook as she clutched her knees, her voice barely audible.
"I saw a war, Sunny… a war in my name."
She fell silent, her words hanging heavily.
***
The implications of Nephis's dream were ominous, it painfully reminded Sunny of the war in the Dark City. They had just survived that horror—only to face the prospect of yet another conflict, in Nephis's name?
Sunny wasn't sure he could go through something like that again. Watching humans fight and kill one another instead of battling nightmare creatures filled him with a strange sense of sorrow. It was a different kind of pain.
Nephis was important to him—there was no denying that. If forced to choose between her and strangers, he already knew who he would choose. Yet, being forced into that kind of choice again frustrated him to no end
'What am I so worked up about?' he thought.
'It might just be a normal nightmare in the dream realm.'
The very sentence defied common sense.
He sighed as he glanced back at Nephis. It was unsettling to see the usually calm and composed Neph this shaken.
Sunny frowned, deciding to give her some space as he mulled over their options.
They had more immediate priorities than worrying about a distant war in the future. Right now, survival in this region was their main concern. Sunny already knew that staying with Nephis would inevitably lead to more conflict—especially given the inherently insane nature of her ultimate goal.
Right now, they weren't capable of safely navigating this cursed place. Every step they took was like a beacon, broadcasting their position to hordes of nightmare creatures.
So how? How were they supposed to find a way out of here?
'...Wait.'
'Wouldn't that work?...'
If they couldn't walk their way out of this place, they didn't have to.
'No way… right?'
With every passing second, the brilliance of his plan seemed more undeniable.
A triumphant smile spread across Sunny's face, brimming with smugness over his supposed genius.
Meanwhile, Gloomy shook his head in silent disappointment, as if saying:
"Took you long enough."
"Shut it," Sunny muttered under his breath.
All he needed was some rest, and then they could finally leave this wretched cave behind.
***
some cool stuff is happening. what do u think abt the future? and what nephis saw?