The light from the Silver Flame continues flashing on the theater screen for a few long seconds until it starts to subside, revealing the movie version of Nephis with her arm raised in the air, panting heavily. An ear-piercing, unnatural shriek resounds from the speakers as the screen shows the burnt, mangled remains of its tentacles flailing in the air. Thick columns of black smoke and steam rise from the creature's boiled flesh as the freezing ocean water tries to cool the devastation left by her fire. The monster thrashes against the stone structure, creating massive waves on the dark, ink-black ocean and turning the water around the structure into a churning, steaming cauldron.
The movements of the monster start becoming more frantic as it continues to slam its colossal body against the structure that right now serves as Nephis's only refuge. With every violent impact, the camera on screen shakes violently, conveying the terrifying reality that the dying beast might just take her down with it.
"I need to do something before this place goes down!"
Nephis's thoughts come through the speakers as she slowly inches closer to the edge, determined to finish the creature off—until suddenly, everything goes completely still. Everything on the screen stops. There is no collision with the structure. There are no sounds of the monster's ear-splitting screams of pain and rage. Even the music, which had been playing a mix of frantic and urgent tones, has completely disappeared, leaving everyone in the theater with a deep sense of emptiness and unease.
From her seat in the theater, Nephis sees some movement from the row in front of her.
"I'm scared, Draco," whispers a girl with thick, frizzy, dark brown hair while interlocking her fingers with the person next to her.
A low, masculine chuckle comes from the person she has locked fingers with. "Mione, you're such a scaredy-cat. Come here."
The man—of whom Nephis can only see his pale blond hair—delicately but firmly picks up the girl and places her on his lap while pressing soft kisses onto the girl's neck and collarbone.
"How nice."
Nephis thinks, seeing the happy couple. She turns her eyes back onto the screen, feeling somewhat empty.
Movie Nephis continues to inch closer to the edge of the structure to see what has happened to the Nightmare Creature. The scene changes, showing Nephis's perspective as she looks over the edge and sees nothing. The monster that had been pounding against the structure only moments ago has disappeared completely. Nephis continues scanning the ink-black water, but nothing can be seen.
Slowly, Nephis straightens up from the defensive position that she had subconsciously taken, relaxing her posture somewhat—only for this calm to be suddenly broken by an explosion of bursting water, followed by a low, guttural sound.
The scene expands, showing the previous attacking Nightmare Creature being raised into the air between a row of jagged, obsidian spires rising from the deep, looking less like teeth and more like ancient, jagged monoliths.
With a pained scream from the doomed creature, the sky fills with a mixture of saltwater, blood, and viscera. The sound design in the theater hits its peak: a sickening, deep metallic crunch, like two armored vehicles being crushed together, mixes with the thunderous roar of the ocean shifting, a sound that rattles the bones of the audience and drowns out the smaller monster's final cry.
The massive jaws close, cutting the smaller Nightmare Creature in half.
With a final splash, both figures disappear beneath the water, and the scene changes back to Nephis.
On the screen, the perspective shows Nephis's point of view as she slowly raises her arms and looks at her hands. Crimson blood and bits and pieces of viscera cover her hands. The frame retreats to show Nephis's entire figure. From head to toe, no part of her body is spared from the shower of crimson and viscera. Looking at herself, Nephis opens her mouth and starts gagging until, falling to her knees, she vomits onto the dark stone.
Deciding to put some distance between the vomit on the floor and herself, Nephis crawls closer to the center of the structure and collapses, closing her eyes.
The frame stays locked in a close-up on Nephis's face as the scenery remains dark with night. Then, the sequence shifts into a rapid cinematic time-lapse where the shadows violently stretch and race across her skin, tracking the passage of the brutal hours until the pitch-black sky shatters into morning. Suddenly, the harsh, blinding morning sun is out. The brilliant, direct daylight strikes the screen with a jarring intensity that mimics the painful shock of opening one's eyes after hours of darkness. The camera, still focused on Nephis, shows us how she stirs awake, the bright light illuminating the crusted, dark rust-colored stains of dried blood flaking off her pale skin and hair.
With a groan that is half muscle cramps and half exhaustion, Nephis props herself up on one elbow and passes a hand over her face. The blood, which has dried and crusted over, releases flakes into the air and detaches from her skin as she moves around. After patting herself down in an effort to get as much dried blood off herself as possible, she looks around at the scenery that surrounds her.
On the screen, a vast expanse of sand-colored land, along with massive red, coral-like structures, can be seen all around her. Upon further inspection, far in the distance, Nephis can see other structures made of dark stone.
"I should probably move in that direction."
After going around the structure a couple of times, Nephis's inner thoughts come through the speakers as she decides to head toward the first structure she spotted in the distance.
"But first, I need to find a way down."
As Nephis mutters aloud to herself, she puts a foot on the edge of the ledge and looks down. The frame changes, showing a drop that can be compared to jumping from the height of a skyscraper. Taking a breath and steeling her nerves, Nephis starts climbing down. The sequence unfolds in a montage of shots showing her brutal efforts alongside the steady cycle of the sun as it slowly climbs toward the middle of the sky.
With a grunt, Nephis lets herself fall the last few meters and lands solidly on the ground. Looking up at the sky, she sees that it is just a little bit after midday. Now on the ground, she extends her hand and summons a weapon. With a spark of light, a delicate and beautiful silver sword that matches her hair appears in the palm of her hand.
With the sword in hand, Nephis pauses for a moment, presses the side of the cool metal to her cheek, and mutters, "Thank you, Grandma," before heading toward her destination.
The camera follows Nephis as she walks, showing that she is surrounded by the same red coral walls she had seen from the structure. As she walks, a sequence of shots appears on screen showing Nephis reaching multiple dead ends, forcing her to turn back around to find another way forward.
"This place is a maze."
As the words leave her mouth at yet another dead end, a sound like a sickening, wet clicking of mandibles mixed with the screeching scrape of heavy armor rubbing against the narrow coral passages can be heard coming from around a corner right in front of her. With careful steps, Nephis edges closer to the noise, presses herself against the coral wall, and discreetly looks around the corner.
The camera angles sharply upward from Nephis's low, hidden perspective behind the coral wall, framing a terrifying, crab-like monster that blocks out the midday sun. The monster is turned away from Nephis, so she cannot see all of its features, but she is certain that this Nightmare Creature is a towering behemoth at least five stories tall. Its eight legs resemble a moving forest of obsidian spears, each ending in a dagger-sharp point.
The massive weight of the beast causes the narrow passageway to tremble, sending a rain of fine fragments and red dust down from the coral wall Nephis is leaning against, forcing her to hold her breath to avoid coughing. On screen, the monster uses two colossal pincers to tear apart its prey. The distinct, echoing crunch of heavy bone and chitin snapping cleanly under immense pressure fills the theater speakers, leaving no doubt about what those claws would do to her.
"No way around it. I'll have to kill it."
Nephis's thoughts come through the speakers after spending a couple of minutes looking around for an alternative route. There is none. Nephis crouches, preparing to spring in the direction of the Nightmare Creature, until suddenly the monster stops what it is doing and quickly turns in her direction, launching an attack of its own.
"It could feel my intentions!"
The alarming thought comes through the speakers as Nephis dodges one of the pincers by jumping over it and landing on her feet. But the Nightmare Creature gives her no time to prepare as it rushes in her direction, trying to body-slam her. Nephis only has time to raise her sword. The Nightmare Creature hits her like a speeding truck, and Nephis is launched through three coral walls before hitting a fourth wall, where her body slumps to the ground.
The sound design in the theater hits with a deafening, crystalline crunch of ancient coral splintering into thousands of sharp red shards as her body shatters the structures. A thick cloud of fine crimson dust and pulverized coral instantly chokes the air, heavily obscuring the frame and making it nearly impossible to see.
Letting out a broken, half-sobbing cry, Nephis uses the wall that had stopped her projectile body to stand up. Now on her feet, Nephis notices that her hands are empty; the sword that was there a moment ago is gone. As she tries to look around through the haze, her neck blooms with a pain that makes her instinctively raise a hand to the back of her neck and let out a little yelp.
At the same time that Nephis is discovering her physical condition, the crab-like Nightmare Creature is crouching down on the other side of the wreckage. One massive, compound, glassy eye presses directly up against the human-sized hole in the first shattered wall, its dark, multidimensional pupil shifting and refracting the dim light as it locks onto her silhouette through the dust.
With a shriek that knocks her out of her stupor, the crab-like Nightmare Creature starts swinging its massive pincers at the first wall, trying to make the opening bigger to reach and tear Nephis apart. With every monstrous blow, the ground beneath her violently shakes, sending agonizing vibrations straight through her injured body. Seeing this, she frantically starts looking around in the dirt for her sword.
"Can't afford to waste the essence."
It would have been easier to just un-summon and summon the elegant sword back, but at this point in time, she doesn't know what other dangers might be closing in with all the noise this conflict is making. On top of that, summoning the sword again would consume essence, which she might need later.
The crab-like Nightmare Creature continues to get closer, and by the time Nephis finally spots the weapon, the beast is already trying to tear the second wall down. The elegant silver sword has somehow skittered a hundred or so meters away toward Nephis's right and is currently resting against a black stone, reflecting a sharp glint of sunlight against the dark rock—its polished blade a stark contrast to the surrounding red dust. Deciding not to waste any time, Nephis starts to run toward it, but finds herself falling to the ground as her left leg fails to support the strain. A sharp, agonizing pop radiates through her thigh, followed by a wave of raw numbness that causes her knee to buckle completely.
Biting her lip hard enough for a small bead of blood to form, Nephis tries to get back on her feet, and as she does, she steals a glance toward the monster.
It has successfully torn an opening big enough to pass through and is currently making its way toward the third wall with frightening determination. On the screen, its small, beady eyes are shown following Nephis with frantic obsession as foam leaks from its mouth. A vile, wet, hissing sound echoes from the theater speakers as the creature froths heavily, driven entirely by a rabid instinct to kill.
"Come on, come on!" Nephis says to herself as she half-limps in an effort to both reach her sword and get out of the line of sight of the Nightmare Creature.
The heavy sounds of Nephis's labored breathing and the tearing of the wall are all that can be heard in the theater as, on the screen, she continues to limp, each second making her stride more desperate.
The sudden sound of a moving object hitting an unmoving one starts to come through the speakers. The crab-like Nightmare Creature has decided that its pincers are not enough and has started throwing its entire body against the barrier. Each body slam hits with a low, bass-heavy boom that vibrates straight through the theater seats, sounding like a massive demolition wrecking ball striking solid stone.
While still limping against the rhythm of the impacts, Nephis steals a glance in the direction of the opening in the wall, only to see that deep cracks have started forming, growing and expanding violently with every single strike.
The atmosphere in the theater becomes thick with tension. People hold their breath while others hold each other. The couple from before is no exception. The brown-haired woman, still on her partner's lap, hides her face in his chest while trembling like a leaf. From Nephis's perspective, the man only shakes his head slightly and embraces the woman, placing one hand around her waist and the other on the back of her head.
On the screen, Movie Nephis has finally managed to close the distance, her sword only five meters or so ahead of her. With a final effort, Nephis launches herself to close the gap in a move that is a combination of an awkward jump and a limp. As a mixture of happiness and relief comes across Nephis's face, it is quickly taken away as a sound like exploding concrete resounds through the speakers.
Turning in the direction of the noise, Nephis sees that the Nightmare Creature has shattered the wall, its black, crustaceous body spinning in circles as it looks around for her. Taking advantage of this, Nephis tries to quietly move toward a corner in the maze that would take her completely out of the sight of the monster.
These hopes are cut short as a shriek echoes, along with the sounds of heavy and rapid movement. Nephis doesn't look back, focusing solely on her goal, but the movements are growing increasingly close with the passing of each second.
"I won't make it!"
With this last, desperate thought, Nephis turns around to face the incoming creature. On the screen, her face is pale, dark rings can be seen under her eyes, and her form—which at the academy had seemed elegant—is now uneven as she favors her right leg to keep weight off the other.
Taking a deep breath, she raises her sword as if to fight the monster. The polished silver of her grandmother's blade catches the harsh midday sunlight one last time, casting a tiny but brilliant white reflection across her pale, determined face. An expression of, not calm, but something like resignation takes over her features, where before only helplessness could be seen.
The frame expands, showing the rapidly approaching monster and the minute figure of Nephis standing directly in its path. The horrifying, screeching sound of the crab's heavy legs tearing deep grooves into the black stone floor echoes through the theater speakers as it relentlessly accelerates. With a final battle cry, Nephis raises her sword above her head and starts limping forward. The Nightmare Creature doesn't stop; it intends to use the exact same move from before.
As the two figures come closer to each other, the frame focuses on Nephis's face, and her thoughts come through the speakers.
"If this is my end, the last breath I'll take will not be in submission! Come at me, you filthy beast—"
Out of the blue, the scene changes. Nephis, who had been running forward looking directly at the beast, finds herself pulled harshly to the side. For a brief, slow moment, all she can see is the relentless and harsh, but somehow beautiful, blue sky before she lands on her side, hands up protecting her head reflexively.
Off-screen, the sound of something massive missing her by a hair's breadth is followed by a painful shriek. Somewhat dizzy and disoriented, Nephis tries to stand up while her ears are still ringing. As she finally manages to get her legs under herself, something suddenly tackles her, and with eyes screwed shut, she waits for the impact that will surely come.
Two heartbeats go by, and Nephis tentatively opens an eye to see the Nightmare Creature trying to stand up, its figure becoming steadily smaller as she gets further away from it.
"You just had to go and take the title of fearless leader seriously, didn't you?"
Nephis's eyes visibly widen, and her face contorts as if she is holding back tears as the voice registers in her brain.
"Sunless."
Her voice cracks as she says his name out loud and tries to look at his face. Currently, he is carrying her over his shoulder while running with all his might, and all she can see is the back of his head.
"I never noticed how luscious his hair was until now," Nephis thinks as she subconsciously and awkwardly runs a hand lightly over his hair.