The island Sunny was resting on was a strange one. It was rather large and covered in soft grass, with ancient stone columns protruding from the ground here and there. Most of them had long toppled and been shattered to pieces by some unknown disaster. The ground itself was full of depressions and generally uneven, as if it had served as a battlefield for giants once.
The reason why Sunny had come up with such a metaphor was not coincidental. The main feature of the island was situated at its center, and appeared to be a giant, rusty metal hand. Hence, the isle was unimaginatively called the Iron Hand Island.
It was well known to the Awakened anchored in the Sanctuary because very few Nightmare Creatures ever came here, and thus, many humans used it to rest during their journeys.
However, today, Sunny wasn't the only visitor to the peaceful island.
A rather ugly monstrosity lay dead in the shadow of the giant iron hand, its blood forming a large pool. It had a body like that of a snake, two powerful hands protruding from a human-like torso, a head with a long and toothy muzzle, and two leathery wings.
From the looks of it, the creature had landed on the island due to heavy injuries, and then succumbed to the most recent Crushing. Its body seemed broken and flattened, with sharp bone splinters protruding from the torn scales.
Sunny's interest was naturally piqued, because it wasn't every day that he stumbled on free soul shards. Additionally, and more intriguing, the shadow had noticed something glinting on the ground near one of the abomination's hands.
'Huh…'
Standing up, Sunny looked around, and then headed to the center of the island.
Soon, he reached the rusty metal arm and dove into the shadows, emerging on top of it. Standing a good ten meters above the ground, he stared at the carcass of the dead Nightmare Creature to make sure that the shadow didn't miss anything.
…Everything seemed to be fine.
With a shrug, Sunny jumped down and landed softly on the grass near the massive monster. Walking around it, he approached the spot where the abomination's hand lay on the ground, its five long fingers ending in terrifying claws.
"Gee. You were a scary one, weren't you?"
He didn't need to wonder about who had done the monster in. On the Chained Isles, Nightmare Creatures constantly fought each other. Winged ones like this one were often caught by the inhabitants of the dark side, torn to pieces, and devoured.
This one had been relatively lucky, all things considered.
Bending down, Sunny picked up the small object that seemed to have fallen out of the creature's hand and stared at it with a dubious expression.
"...A coin?"
Indeed, he was holding a heavy golden coin. Which didn't make any sense.
Nightmare Creatures were not exactly known for participating in commerce, and humans did not use coins. If they needed to trade, they either bartered with suitable items or used credits — of course, credits didn't exist in the Dream Realm, but the transaction would be honored when both parties returned to the real world.
So where could a gold coin come from?
Sunny stared at the coin for a while, then turned it around. There was a depiction of an archaic ship on one of its sides, with a tall mast that had an actual tree growing around it. A beautiful human face stared at him from the other side, a carefree smile on its lips.
The person had high cheekbones, long hair, and exquisite features. Sunny couldn't say if they were a man or a woman, just that they seem rather charming. There was a crescent moon drawn on their forehead, and… well, that was about it.
Sunny studied the coin some more, and then thought despondently:
'That thing is definitely cursed, right?'
It just had to be. What else was he supposed to think after finding a mysterious coin near the corpse of a monster that had died a violent death?
…But it didn't seem to be cursed.
Sunny had a rather good intuition about these things. He also had the sight of a person who had inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage.
Looking under the surface of the coin, Sunny expected to see a malevolent spellweave, or at least something strange, but there was nothing.
From the looks of it, the coins… was just a coin.
The only strangeness about it was that it seemed a little bit warm to the touch.
"Huh…"
Teacher Julius would have been delighted if he brought him a sketch of a genuine Dream Realm coin. Cultural artifacts like this were few and far between. It wouldn't result in Sunny receiving any contribution points, but the old man was easy to please.
With a shrug, Sunny shoved the coin into his pack and turned to the dead monster.
"Let's see how many shards you're hiding, ugly lizard…"
He summoned the Moonlight Shard, enhanced it with two shadows, and cut into the tough hide of the Nightmare Creature. For a while, luck was on his side. He quickly retrieved two bright soul shards… so quickly, in fact, that Sunny grew sure that there had to be a third one inside the carcass.
"A demon, huh?"
That was where his luck ended. The body of the demon was too heavily damaged, so when he tried to fish out the third crystal, its stomach burst open and spilled its contents all over the ground.
"Argh! Curses!"
Sunny was so disgusted by the idea of being doused in the putrid slimy mass that he instinctively teleported a few meters away.
Then, he tilted his head and stared down.
Covered in repulsive, acidic liquid, three more coins — as well as something that resembled a piece of a wooden chest — lay in the quickly melting grass.
'Did this guy… try to eat a treasure chest?'
Sunny shook his head, walked around the disgusting mess, and quickly retrieved the last soul shard.
Since golden coins were rather useless to him and he already had one to sketch, he had no intention of retrieving the rest.
'No thank you…'
By that time, he had recovered enough shadow essence to return to the Sanctuary, so nothing was holding him on the island anymore.
Throwing one last look at the giant metal hand and wondering what terrible strike could have separated it from the rest of the theoretical giant, he turned away and walked toward the edge of the island.
The sun was already setting, so he didn't have a lot of time left to return to the Citadel and use the Gateway before the morning came.
Soon, Sunny was walking on the last chain he had to traverse as he approached the Sanctuary of Noctis.
By then, it was already night. Up above, the pale disk of the crescent moon shone softly, its light reflecting off the white walls of the Ivory Tower. Countless stars shimmered on the dark velvet tapestry of the night sky. Without the light pollution that the giant city where Sunny had grown up produced, they were beautiful and bright.
There had not been any stars on the Forgotten Shore, as well, so this sight was still new and breathtaking to him.
Now that it was night, the border between the Sky Above and the Sky Below was almost invisible. The empty void beneath the Isles had stars of its own, so it seemed like the reflection of the real sky during these hours. The only difference between them was that it lacked both the moon and the ethereal silhouette of a graceful white tower floating through the clouds.
The chain swayed lightly as Sunny walked. He felt reluctant to use Shadow Step this close to the Sanctuary and enjoyed the sight of the night sky, the smell of clean air, and the cool embrace of the wind. So he tended to complete this last part of the return journey on foot.
…Even hell could be beautiful, sometimes.
A few minutes later, Sunny heard the murmur of flowing water and knew that the Sanctuary was already close.
The Citadel that served most Awakened of the Chained Isles as the home was situated on a tiny island of its own. That island, however, was rather anomalous: unlike all others, it never rose and never fell, always remaining at a stable height, away from the torturous pressure of the Crushing.
There was a grass field, and in its center, massive menhirs stood in a perfect circle, which encompassed another, smaller one. This larger circle formed the outer wall of the Citadel, while the smaller one formed the inner.
Inside the circle, there was a tranquil park with a pool of clear water in its middle. A path of stones led to a small island at the center of the pool, where, in the shade of an ancient tree, an altar cut from a solid piece of white marble stood.
The altar had three special things about it.
The first one was an obsidian knife that lay on its surface. The knife did not seem very special, with the exception of the fact that no one — not even Saints — was able to lift it even by a centimeter from the altar's surface.
The second special thing about the altar was that it appeared to be, itself, the Gateway. One simply had to touch it to be transported back to the real world. Once anchored to it, the Awakened would appear near the altar when they fell asleep in reality.
The third thing was that a seemingly endless stream of water flowed from the altar, feeding the pool that surrounded it. No one knew where the water came from or why the altar produced it, just that it was cold, sweet, and safe to drink.
Seven streams flowed out of the pool and eventually fell over the edges of the small island, turning into water dust in the wind. On a bright day, the whole Sanctuary was surrounded by rainbows.
It was the murmur of these waterfalls that Sunny had heard as he approached the Citadel.
Using the Dark Wing to glide upward and land on the soft grass of the island, he walked over to a stone post that stood nearby and rang the bronze bell that hung on it. This was to let the watchmen know that he was a human and not a Nightmare Creature that needed to be destroyed.
Soon, a whistle came out of the darkness, and Sunny walked forward on a path that led to the towering menhirs.
A few minutes later, he had walked between two massive stones and entered the Sanctuary of Noctis.
No one really knew who Noctis was, and why this place was called in their honor… if that name even belonged to a living creature. It was just what the Spell called this place, so humans followed suit.
In any case, the space between the two rings of menhirs had been made into a place for the Awakened to rest and recuperate between their ventures into the wild expanse of the Chained Isles. The White Feather clan had built walls to close the spaces between the standing stones, and recruited several people with useful utility Aspects to make living conditions better for those who chose to come here or were sent to this region by the Spell.
Currently, there were about two hundred Awakened populating the Sanctuary, which was enough to keep it functioning and safe.
This late at night, most people were either sleeping, resting, or had already returned to the real world, so Sunny did not meet anyone as he headed toward his assigned living quarters.
Like everybody else here, he was assigned a small room after becoming anchored to the Sanctuary. It was situated near one of two entrances, so he didn't have to walk for a long time.
Entering the room, Sunny quickly took off his pack and placed his trophies — a scattering of soul shards, a few weird-looking fruits, and the golden coin — into a chest standing near the bed. Then he threw the pack on the floor, lingered for a few moments, and left.
Usually, he would have stayed until the morning and went to either the kitchens or the improvised marketplace at the park to trade the shards for Memories or credits, chat with other Awakened to learn the latest news and important information about the Isles, or simply relax… but today, he had to hurry to the real world.
Entering the park, Sunny approached the deep pool of clear water and stepped onto the first stone of the path that led to the Altar Island.
Soon, he was standing in front of the white altar, surrounded by the tranquil sound of rustling leaves and running water. Glancing at the obsidian dagger, Sunny resisted the urge to try and lift it. He had already done so many times before, all with no result whatsoever.
'...Maybe one day.'
With a sigh, he took a step forward and placed his hand on the altar.
The marble felt cool to the touch.
In the next moment, the darkness of the night was momentarily illuminated by a flash of ethereal blue light. When it dissipated, there was no one standing under the branches of the ancient tree.
Sunny had left the Dream Realm and returned to the real world.
Sunny opened his eyes in the cool cradle of the sleeping pod. The lid was already sliding away, and the lights in the room were gradually turning brighter. The panoramic wall in front of him opened to a view of one of the Academy parks.
The eastern horizon was already painted lilac by the rising sun, but the world was still shrouded in darkness.
'...Made it.'
With a sigh, he rose from the pod and lowered his feet to the cold floor.
These first moments after leaving the Dream Realm were still strange to him. It just… it just seemed weird to be able to escape it so easily, without having to fight through a sea of monsters and struggle against terror, desperation, and pain. How could something so meaningful be so simple?
And yet, it was. In the past two months, coming and going from the Dream Realm had almost become a routine for him. Not that he had done it as often as most Awakened did.
Standing up, Sunny grimaced, then massaged his shoulders and glanced at the sleeping pod darkly.
Now that he was an Awakened, the Academy had granted him a personal living space in one of the dormitories. These quarters were much the same as the room he had lived in during his preparations to enter the Dream Realm for the first time, but with one significant difference: there was a smaller room adjacent to the main one, housing a humble meditation space and an individual sleeping pod.
The problem was, that pod was not at all as advanced and state-of-the-art as the ones used for the Sleepers. It did its job fine as long as an Awakened remained in the Dream Realm for about eight to twelve hours, as most of them did. However, Sunny was in the habit of spending much, much more time there.
His recent adventure, for example, had lasted three whole days… he had to work hard to not fall behind, after all. As a result, his muscles felt sore and heavy.
Circulating essence through his body to chase away the remnants of sleep, Sunny walked to the bathroom and got into the shower. As streams of water caressed his skin and flowed down the scales of the black serpent coiling around his lithe body, he sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.
At least his mind felt refreshed. Visiting the Dream Realm was not exactly equal to good sleep, but it was somewhat similar. Mental fatigue still accumulated little by little, but it was easy to remove by meditating or actually sleeping on the other side of the Gateway. Few Awakened ever did, however, since no place there was really completely safe.
Exiting the shower sometime later, Sunny finally felt wide awake and full of energy. He dressed himself, sat at the table, and quickly compiled a report about his recent exploration. Then, he picked up the communicator and checked its log.
No missed calls, a few messages from Effie with photos of all the delicious food she was eating and several memetic jokes of questionable nature, and a few more from Kai, describing his experiences in Bastion.
Sunny waited for a bit, then sighed and put the communicator down.
"Time for breakfast."
Commanding one of the shadows to wrap itself around his body so that he appeared like a normal person, Sunny left his room and headed out.
On the way to the cafeteria, he met a few other Awakened. No one paid him too much attention, though. In recent months, the images and True Names of Cassie, Kai, and especially Effie had been plastered all over the media, but luckily, he had avoided becoming a poster boy for the government's insatiable propaganda machine. As the result, random strangers had no idea who he was, which suited Sunny just fine.
Entering the cafeteria, he got himself a full tray of food, sat at one of the tables, and placed the communicator on its surface.
The call was supposed to come any minute now.
He enjoyed a decadently delicious breakfast in peace and quiet, glancing at the communicator from time to time. No one bothered him, and there was no danger to be worried about.
A content smile found its way to his lips.
'Ah. Life is good…'
Finally, the communicator rang.
Sunny answered the call and listened to the respectful voice on the other side of it.
"Everything is ready? Wonderful. So, when can I… oh, really? Well… great! Then I will… be there at noon? Right. See you later, then."
Finishing the call, he put the communicator down and stared into the distance for a long time, a strange look on his face.
After receiving the contribution points for his Forgotten Shore report and making some money by selling soul shards to other Awakened on the Chained Isles, Sunny had done something that he had never thought that he would be able to do in this life.
…He had bought a home.
A nice, beautiful home in the district of the city with clean air and green lawns.
And now, after several long weeks of waiting, everything was finally ready for him to move in.
Looking down at his cantankerous shadow, Sunny lingered for a few moments, and then smiled.
"...I think we've made it, buddy. We really, really did."
***
The person in charge of renovating his home and bringing it to the desired specifications was going to meet him there at noon, so Sunny had a few hours of free time to kill.
He wandered around the parks for a bit. Now that the spring had come, the air was warm and pleasant. The melodic drip-drop of melting snow disturbed the peaceful silence of the early morning, making Sunny feel balanced and relaxed. Even the shadow seemed to enjoy this tranquil landscape.
Eventually, he visited one of the kiosks scattered around the Academy and spent a bit of credits to buy a bouquet of fresh flowers.
Then, Sunny found himself standing in front of the hospital complex.
With a sigh, he lowered his head and walked through the automatic doors.
Using an elevator to reach one of the lowest levels, he passed several increasingly strict security checks and approached an unremarkable white door.
Inside, it was cool and dark.
Changing the withered flowers with fresh ones, he lingered for a bit, then sat on a chair that stood near the softly glowing sleeping pod.
Entombed within, a young woman with silver hair was dreaming soundly, her face pale and unmoving.
"...Hey, Nephis. How have you been?"