Merlin walking down the familiar path caught the stares of strangers, he had already used his last awakened soul shard to revert to his previous hoddie outfit, the people looked afraid and weary towards him, he ignored their gazes an continued his walk through.
As he arrived at the particular tent, he knocked twice, a rustling sound was made inside, then Effie opened the door.
"Oh it's you, what's the problem pretty boy?" Effie's words echoed through the room.
Merlin shook his head answering "It's nothing, I'm looking for Nephis, any idea where she could be?".
Effie answered with a teasing smile.
"Ooh.. here for your girlfriend are you"
"Yeah" he replied flatly.
"Tsk" Effie clicked her tongue and shifted to the side "princess is inside"
Nephis had already walked to the door after hearing his voice.
"Merlin" she said staring at him.
"Yeah I'll be away for sometime, just help me give this to Sunny when he gets back" Merlin said as he handed her a neatly folded paper.
Nephis stared at the paper in his hand then collected it and asked.
"Where are you going?"
He looked at her for a few seconds and replied.
"It's something personal, but you'll find out after a while, or maybe you'll just overthink it and freak out" he gave a light smile before turning around walking away
"See you later Neph" he said and flame jumped away with a snap.
Effie witnessed the scene then turned to Nephis.
"Soo... His charming right" Effie looked at Nephis who shot her a flat look and sighed.
Effie's eyes moved to her hand where the letter was and asked.
"Hey are you going to open it?"
Nephis stared at the letter and answered with a brief "No".
"Aww Shucks"
...
Two days later and Sunny returned from the Bright Castle with Cassie, he met with Nephis where he moved to discuss what he had saw.
Nephis listened to his description, including the woman who nearly spotted his shadow and the bright castle's lord.
After Sunny finished she asked.
"So.. there's the bright lord and his echo.."
Sunny answered with a nod.
"The executioner Harus.."
"Yes"
"Then four close confidants, Seishan the leader of the handmaidens, Tessia leader of the guards, Genma the leader of the hunters and kido the artificers.."
Sunny nodded "That's them".
"I understand, thanks Sunny" Nephis said with a light smile.
"Ah I almost forgot, I met Caster, he's one of the guards now" Sunny added quickly.
"Caster Han Li... He's here?" Nephis voice dimmed as she remembered Merlin's words.
Sunny tilted his head and asked confused.
"Yeah he is, is there a problem?"
"No Sunny, thanks" She shook her head.
"Okay" Sunny answered but his thoughts_
'Two thanks in one day, that's oddly suspicious'
Sunny's thought were cut short as he heard Nephis say.
"Hey Sunny, Merlin said I should give you this"
She handed him a letter that was folded neatly.
He opened the letter, and as he read the contents, his eyes widening and his pupils dilated, for a few seconds he held it like that, then he folded it back and held it.
Cassie who heard his silence spoke up and asked him.
"Sunny?" Her voice laced with concerned "is there a problem?.
Sunny replied "No.. no problem, please don't ask about it".
"Okay" Cassie and Nephis nodded.
"Since we're done, I'll be back, I'm going for a walk" Sunny said as he left his spot and walked away from them.
..
.
He walked till he arrived at an empty space away from the outer settlement, he unfolded the paper again and read the contents.
.
{ A nameless slave ascended the black mountain, both heroes and monsters fell by his hand, unbroken he entered the ruined temple of a long forgotten god, the gods layed dead and yet they listened. Glorious, your treachery truly knows no bounds.}
{Burn after reading this, we have a long talk ahead of us. P.S Merlin}
.
Sunny squeezed the letter and burned it, he gazed up to the sky and sighed hardening his resolve, then turned towards the camp and walked.
...
[You have slain an awakened beast, Chitin Wolf]
[Your soul grows stronger...]
Merlin sat on top a corpse of a gray wolf with black snout and long black claws, with black blood spilled over the ground, around were bodies of other wolves, the ground had marks of battle.
Merlin had spent the last five days hunting near the crimson spire, he didn't dare do it half heartedly, but with his echo and abilities for escape, he had been progressing steadily, whenever he slept, he would leave his echo on watch, and he would hunt during the day because of the black sea. His pocket dimension now currently stored fourty three awakened shards and seven fallen.
'To whoever said there were dormant beast on the forgotten shore, that was a bloody lie'
He summoned his runes..
Soul Core: Monster
Soul Fragments: [421/2000]
After dismissing the runes, he got up from the corpse and summoned the spire messenger that was his echo, the fallen beast shimmered into existence, with a command, it picked up the corpse, with four on it's legs.
Merlin mounted the echo as it flapped it's wings and took to the sky, just high enough to avoid the view of monsters on the ground, and low enough to not attract other flying beasts.
The echo flew for a while then dropped the corpse a top a pile of other corpses of different nightmare creatures, all the nightmare creatures he had killed were gathered in one spot just away from the outer settlement, he had already cleared the surrounding area of nightmare creatures so he wasn't afraid of it drawing more, and he usually kept his echo on watch when he didn't need it for hunting or moving.
"Haa.. I've been away for a while, maybe I should go back" Merlin said as he sat on a stone beside the small hill of corpses and lit a fire with small sticks that had already been arranged.
He brought out already cut meat from his pocket and then placed them on the fire, after a few seconds, he heard rustling and growling from the distance.
"Sigh... I just can't get a break here" Merlin said as he stood up and picked up his katana.
...
A few moments earlier
"There's finally movement, a beast up ahead" Sunny said to Nephis and Effie behind him.
A few days earlier, Nephis had suggested them going out to the border to hunt, they agreed and then they prepared for it, which brought them to today, they had already made preparations and strategy, but once they got to the border, it was strangely empty.
They had heard that a few nightmare creatures had occasionally showed up in the area, and he believed them because that's where Effie had hunted, and the bones of nightmare creatures also served as proof.
But right now it was quiet, peaceful even, he sent his shadow forward, but even after all that he hadn't caught site of a single beast, when he confronted Nephis about it she simply said 'We'll advance until we find some' and Effie happily agreed because according to her 'My storage food has almost run out', why wouldn't it run out when you eat like five people.
The search continued until there was finally movement, Sunny sent his shadow forward and saw the nightmare creature, rows of sharp teeth on it's mouth with two protruding fangs, it had a hunched back with the outline of it's spine showing against the flesh, and four furry legs.
..
.
"It's most likely an awakened monster" Sunny added with a sigh.
He continued " So what do we do"
Nephis didn't hesitate as she answered.
"We fight"
They got into position, Sunny summoned his sword, Nephis summoned her longsword and Effie summoned a brown spear, they prepared to move in.
Sunny stepped out first drawing it's attention, It lunged at him, He sidestepped and slashed at the beast, it tilted to avoid but not enough as Sunny's sword cut into it's skin.
Immediately Nephis moved in from it's blind spot and slashed it's hind legs making the beast stumble backwards, Effie's spear hissed through the air and planted itself in it's ribs before disappearing into specks of light as she unsummoned and resummoned it.
As they moved in for the kill, a loud sound from behind startled them.
Bang...
Sunny felt the breeze whistle past his ear as the monster was hit with an invisible attack aimed at it's eye, the monster's eye bursted open leaving a ghastly wound, before it could make a run.
Bang...
Another attack, same location now piercing deeper.
Bang...
Bang...
Two more and the head exploded leaving a headless corpse, the monster had never seen the attack that killed it.
Sunny and the group snapped forward with full vigilance ready to face the unknown threat, as he turned, he saw nothing, but a few seconds later the nothing dissolved like an illusion and he came into view, Merlin, their teammate who just killed an awakened monster effortlessly, he still had his signature clothes, but on his hand was not a katana, instead a black gun that resembled a police issued pistol but there were slight differences.
"Yo, long time no see" Merlin spoke casually with a wave like he didn't just walk out of what seemed like empty space.
"..."
"..."
"..."
No one spoke a word just staring.
...
Merlin who had come earlier stopped himself and hid with an illusion when he noticed the group, after they had dealt sufficient injuries, he turned his katana into a desert eagle and used his air bullet ability to kill the demon.
After he killed it he stepped out of the illusion and greeted them, which led to the current odd silence.
"I-Is that you pretty boy?" Effie was the first to break the silence blinking her eyes like it was deceiving her.
Merlin's eyes twitched a little then he replied.
"It's Merlin, nice to see you too Effie"
Merlin then waved at the others "Hey Sunny, Neph"
"Merlin.. where have you been?" Sunny said snapping out of his reverie.
"You know just here and there, surviving, come, let's go somewhere we can talk" Merlin replied Sunny as he lead them to his previous location.
'Shit I left my stuff on fire'
..
.
'It burnt'
That was the thought that entered Merlin's head as they arrived, the trio meanwhile were dead in their tracks as they stared at the hill of monster corpses he had hunted.
Sunny finally gathered enough courage to speak up.
"U-Uhm M-merlin, are these nightmare creatures you hunted?.
"Hmm" Merlin looked at him then nodded answering.
"Yeah, it's a few of the ones I've hunted these past few days" he sounded almost dismissively as he returned to the fire, replacing the burnt meat with new ones.
He had hunted more, but not all were edible and sometimes his echo couldn't carry all so he left them not bothering to return unless checking if the blood had attracted other nightmare creatures.
"Seriously, this is like thirty if not fourty beasts, and it hasn't been a week since you visited last.." Effie's voice held confusion as she approached the dead nightmare creatures.
"I had help from my echo" Merlin replied still working on the meat.
Nephis nodded and walked towards him, she stopped infront of the fire and spoke.
"Merlin, I want to talk"
Merlin looked up at her and replied.
"If it's about joining you guys to hunt I'll have to refuse"
"Why" She asked directly.
"Well I'll be doing my own hunts near the crimson spire where the gateway is, I'll keep hunting monsters until their numbers reduce for the better, but if you guy need me for something important I'll make time, I'll still be coming around once or twice a week too..."
He paused then continued.
"The ones I hunt I'll leave them here for you, you can take those too, as for the soul shards, I won't hunt around the border anymore, you can use one of the dead monsters as bait to attract others so you'll be able to kill them to get soul shards".
After he finished talking, Nephis kept quiet for a while before saying.
"You really thought of everything huh, since that's the case I'll let you know if there's anything important."
While they were talking, Sunny joined and spoke up.
"Hey Merlin, we have to talk"
Merlin looked up at him, stood up and turned to Effie.
"Hey Effie you can have as much as you like I'll be back soon" he said gesturing to the fire.
"Okay I won't be polite, take your sweet time."
..
.
After walking a while, and they were a safe distance away from the others, Merlin turned to face Sunny and spoke directly.
"I'm sure it's about the letter right"
Sunny's eyes sharpened as he faced him.
"Yes, How did you know about it?" Sunny asked him.
"Sunny, would you believe me if I tell you I know the future?" Merlin asked.
Sunny thought for a while then replied "No"
Merlin stared at him then continued.
"Well you're both right and wrong, thing is I know of a future, one where I'm not in it, but now that I am, I don't know if the future will remain the same..."
He paused to look at Sunny who had his brows furrowed and a thousand questions in his eyes.
"So currently I don't know the future, but the knowledge I have can change a lot of situations, but that's not why I gave you the letter, I gave it to you because we have a connection.."
Sunny raised an eyebrow and asked him.
"What do you mean connection?"
Merlin turned and looked to the distance and spoke.
"Let me tell you about my first nightmare, I was sacrificed to one of the dead god's, I received a god's help, I got a divine aspect, and I have an attribute called 'Fated'. Does this sound familiar Sunny?"
He looked back at Sunny.
"Yes, something similar happened in my nightmare..." Sunny said through a grimace.
Merlin nodded then continued.
"So tell me Sunny don't you think it's too much of a coincidence that two outskirts kids with divine aspects, both blessed by god's to wake up in the same station, same day, and end up in the same place during the solstice.. No matter how I think about it it's not normal"
'I can almost smell a Quill or a MacBook in the background'
Sunny thought for a while then spoke up.
"So.. what do you think is the cause of all this?"
"Hell Sunny I don't know, just wanted to tell you my suspicions so you can be careful" Merlin said as he started walking back.
"What of Nephis, does she know?" Sunny asked as he followed behind.
"That I know of the future, No but she has her suspicions, and don't tell her or anyone" Merlin answered him.
"About the future_"
Merlin cut Sunny's words off with a strong "don't ask"
"I'll tell you necessary things when it's time, but telling you that kind of information now will make your situation worse, and worse for you would probably equal worse for me too"
Sunny kept quiet before replying "I understand, just make sure not to get me killed alright"
"Haha, sure Sunny, I'll do my best I promise" Merlin answered.
'Before you reach supreme that is' Merlin chuckled inwardly.
..
.
They walked back to meet a nearly half eaten nightmare creature with Effie seating by the fire surrounded by bones, with some meat still on the fire.
"Seriously, save some for us, you freeloader" Merlin said as he walked towards the fire.
Nephis stared at the two of them for a while, then turned away.
She then said.
"Thanks Merlin, for the meat, we'll be going now" She said as she walked towards the dead nightmare creatures, Sunny and Effie helped her as they cut the flesh out of a few monsters, put it in the bags they had brought till it was full, then got up and waved to him before leaving to return to the settlements.
After they left, Merlin looked up at the sky, the sun still hung high, he then summoned his echo and it took off, it's destination, the outskirts of the Crimson Spire.
"Reconnaissance time..."