The scream echoed through the calcified ribs of the Labyrinth, a sharp, piercing blade of sound that sliced through the adrenaline of Blaze's first kill. His heart hammered against his ribs—not from the exertion of the fight, but from a sudden, cold dread.
'Crap! I shouldn't have left her alone, he cursed himself.'
In his haste, he didn't even stop to harvest the shards or inspect the carcass of the Carapace Scavenger. Every second was a gamble. He sprinted back through the coral ravines, his lungs burning and his mind racing with images of Cassie being torn apart in the dark.
He reached the base of the stone platform and began to climb with a frantic, desperate speed. As his hands gripped the upper ledge and he hauled himself over the lip of the stone, he froze.
The scene wasn't what he expected.
There was a corpse—another Nightmare Creature, slumped and broken—but Cassie was alive. She was huddled on the ground, shivering, and standing protectively in front of her was a figure draped in shadow and blood.
It was Nephis.
She stood like a statue of white marble stained with crimson, her sword held low, her gaze fixed on the horizon. Behind her, Cassie looked up at the sound of Blaze's arrival.
"Cass! What happened?" Blaze rushed to her side, his eyes scanning her for injuries.
Cassie's sightless eyes welled with tears as she recognized his voice. "Blaze… you're alive! I'm… I'm okay. She saved me."
Blaze straightened, his gaze shifting to Nephis. For a moment, the two of them just stared at one another. The tension was thick, a silent communication between two of the strongest Sleepers to ever enter the Spell. Blaze looked back at Cassie, his voice dropping.
"What exactly happened?"
Cassie swallowed hard, trying to find her voice. "After you left… I heard a monster. Initially, it came toward the platform. I… I misinterpreted the sound as your footsteps. I thought you were coming back. It was about to attack me, and then… she appeared. She rescued me."
Blaze felt a pang of guilt. I left her for too long, he realized. Maybe this is how these two were destined to meet in the first place.
He turned his full attention back to Nephis. She was staring at him with a gaze that felt predatory—the way an apex hunter observes another of its kind. She looked as though words were stuck in her throat, a physical struggle to speak that made it seem like she was about to vomit from the effort. It was a characteristic he remembered well: the social burden of the Changing Star.
Blaze broke the silence. "Do you want to join us?"
Nephis stared at him for a long beat, her pale eyes unblinking. Finally, she spoke a single, clipped word. "Yes."
"Good," Blaze nodded, then turned back to Cassie. "Tell me exactly what you heard."
As Cassie recounted the brief, terrifying encounter, Blaze explained his own struggle with the Scavenger and the acquisition of the coral fibers. Cassie listened intently, her hand reaching out to touch the rough material of his newly stitched trousers.
"Next time," she whispered, her voice firm despite the lingering tremor, "be safer."
The group remained on the platform as the evening shadows began to lengthen. They knew they couldn't travel in the dark; the Labyrinth was a different kind of hell when the light died. They prepared a meager meal, the fire they started casting long, flickering shadows against the coral walls.
********
The night was long and restless. The fire they had built, while necessary for warmth and morale, acted as a beacon in the oppressive gloom of the Forgotten Shore. It attracted things—creatures that scratched at the base of their stone island and hissed in the darkness.
Blaze stayed awake for most of it, his hand on the hilt of his sword. He knew what was coming. This was the same path, the same sequence of events that would draw the final member of their quartet toward them.
As the pale morning light finally broke through the mist, the trio prepared to move. The Dark Sea had receded again, leaving the Labyrinth open for passage. Blaze took the lead, helping Cassie navigate the treacherous descent from the platform. He tied the golden rope he had received from her firmly to his hand, using it as a guide to ensure she didn't slip.
They navigated the twisting paths for hours, moving with a calculated stealth, avoiding the larger territories of the Awakened creatures. However, as the sun began its descent toward the horizon, they realized their mistake. They couldn't reach the next viable high ground in time.
Nephis came to a sudden halt. Blaze and Cassie stopped immediately.
Cassia slowly approached the middle of the clearing, her hand extended until she found Nephis's shoulder. "Why did you stop?"
"It's getting late," Nephis said, her voice hollow.
"Should we return back to the last platform?" Cassie asked.
"As soon as possible," Blaze added, checking the sky.
But as they prepared to turn, Blaze's eyes caught a movement in the peripheral shadows. Something was waving at them—a dark, detached shape that defied the logic of the light.
"Wait," Blaze said, pointing toward a coral rib.
Nephis reacted instantly. Her sword manifested in her hand with a shimmer of light, her body coiling like a spring, ready to strike at the intruder.
"Stop it, Nephis!" Blaze barked. "It's Sunless. A friend of mine. That's his shadow."
Nephis paused, her expression remaining bland and unreadable, though she didn't lower her blade.
From behind the coral, a voice rang out—weary, sarcastic, and unmistakably human. "Actually, I just sent it ahead to make sure you didn't stab me with that sword before realizing I'm human."
Blaze let out a short laugh. "Understandable, Sunny."
Cassie's face lit up with recognition. "Sunny? Is that you? The one who sat near me at the Academy?"
Sunny stepped into the clearing. He looked like he had been dragged through a meat grinder. He was limping, covered in bruises, and his Academy uniform was in tatters. Nephis stared at him, her gaze trailing over his injuries.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
Sunny sighed, a long, theatrical sound of suffering. "Carapace Scavenger."
He proceeded to explain his harrowing journey—the fall, the hunt, and the narrow escapes that had led him here. When he finished, he looked at the three of them, his eyes lingering on Blaze before settling on the group as a whole.
"Well… can I come with you?"
Blaze smiled. "Sure. The more the merrier."
He glanced at Cassie and Nephis. Cassie nodded immediately, her relief at finding another familiar face obvious. Nephis, however, remained silent, her eyes staring at Sunny with an intensity that made the boy shift his weight.
After a long silence, she finally spoke. "No…"
A beat passed.
"…problem."
Blaze rolled his eyes internally.
'Gosh, woman, work on your speech. You're going to give the poor guy a heart attack'.
Sunny managed a weak, lopsided smile. "Well. Alright then."