The uneasiness weighed over Sunny. He planned the whole ordeal so he can get along with the cohort, and take some steps towards getting on Nephis' better side. There were also different reasons like plotting the downfall of the Sovereigns, but for him that's a detail, a major detail, but still.
From Nephis' perspective it was the reverse. The meeting was about plotting the downfall of the Sovereigns as the main thing, while having a good time with friends, and Fire Keepers was a detail.
If anything, that's probably how she came to ask about his feelings. At first he wanted to be a bit subtle about it. He wanted… to manipulate Nephis into thinking he's a guy who wants their downfall too. But she had this… how should he put it? [Passion Sense], and had seen through his deception before he could even develop the third layer of it.
"Do you think I would want to be with you?"
Nephis asked curiously.
"If you had time for that, maybe. I'm not under the illusion, milady. Like I said, you're all busy, burdened by your position, and responsibility. Even now as we're talking you're probably thinking of me as a source of your element. I don't blame you, though, nor I'm against it."
He was thinking for quite a long how to treat the attitude of Nephis. At first he thought she was cold, and emotionless. He was wrong. Instead she was so fired up that there was hardly any place for anything.
"For someone who just said that loves me, you're not flattering me."
Sunny shrugged his shoulders.
"Would you buy it if I tried?"
She laughed.
"No, I wouldn't. Oh, Sunless, you're a good liar, I give it to you. It's a compliment, when I say that. But I'm not really interested in someone who could not accept the real me."
Then she said softly, softly as she could make her words sound. …which was still cold, and flat by normal standards.
"Therefore it was a good choice "
It was nice to hear that Nephis isn't bothered by his little play. It was like honey for his ears. Aiko recently explained to him that honey is actually not that disgusting. However even if she could accept his lies it doesn't mean it was fine to continue them. He started his confession.
"I wanted to make it more romantic, bring you closer to your dreams, and forge you a better sword, not that half-cooked toy, I developed from a shield Memory by the way, so you wouldn't receive nothing. These sort of things. But now it sounds all clumsy, when you know my motives."
"I find it sweet."
He raised his eyebrows looking at her heavenly face saying such things as if they were obvious. They were in a way.
"Do you?"
She looked at him with humorous bewilderment, the flame flickered in her grey eyes.
"You're underestimating me, Sunless. Do you think I can't handle a lover?"
"You don't look like someone who can. Unless you know what you're feeling for me. But you don't have many impressions of me so you can't know yet."
Then she looked away looking in the distance.
"There's some merit to it. I don't know what my feelings are. But that doesn't mean we can't give it a shot. That's why people are dating, isn't it? Saint Sunless…"
"Call me Sunny, please."
She took a hold on his hand.
"Only if you're going to call me by my name, and won't be discouraged by that I want to know how deep your passion is.
Sunny, will you be my boyfriend?"
His thoughts went almost blank. Only one syllable was formed. For a speck of the moment it felt outlandish, then it started ringing in his head.
'YES!'
…
Outside the the Tower there was another Sunny coming with the cohort to continue spending their day with Fire Keepers. Aiko knew that in fact it was Gloomy. Strangely Gloomy seemed to be a bit… too Happy.
Something was happening in the Tower. Gloomy gestured her that he has something to say.
"Aiko, something happened to take my attention, and I'm feeling I won't be able to keep my cool here. Can you do that thing by yourself?"
"The thing with Jet?"
"Yes. It was your idea after all. Get Jet to Quentin, and test our theory."
Her boss was saying it very urgently. His porcelain-pale skin was reddening.
"Are you alright, Boss?"
"Nothing's bad is happening, but I want to concentrate. You've got this."
Gloomy disappeared merging with her shadow.
'Definitely something happened! He's probably still in the Tower with Nephis, and… Oh, my god! I should have guessed it earlier. Great. I'm again on my own, now. You've got this!'
"Aiko, where's Sunny? He was here a moment ago."
Jet asked him with a note of curiosity.
"He had something to do with Neph. More privately. If you let me, Jet, I would like to take some of your time."
"What's going on?"
Aiko smirked mysteriously.
"Something requiring comparable privacy. We will find Quentin, and then go somewhere where no one else will see us. Except for Cassie, because we can't hide from her. Since we're all here, we decided we should try something. Till then I don't want to spoil anything."
They quickly approached Quentin. She gestured him to go with her, and went to the side of the Tower. The were going to the other side of the Citadel, their pacing didn't resemble a walk, but movements, thought quicker, were still in the realm of walking.
"Why are we going so far?"
"Jet, even if you accept the presence of Fire Keepers, you still have secrets you're gonna keep from them."
"Like?"
"Your flaw. I know it. Well, boss knows it too, probably much better."
Then Jet abruptly stopped, seemingly displeased.
"If you're gonna discuss how miserable I am with my flaw, I'll pass. I won't take your pity."
"That's not what I meant. We've been thinking what we can do for you in the future, and the thing that concerns us the most is the exact nature of your flaw. What is it?"
Aiko insisted on knowing the meaning of Jet's flaw. It was very inappropriate to ask people things like this about their lifeline.
"We can't expect her to tell us something like this. It's a flaw, for you know."
Jet shook her head.
"If you want to know, I'll tell you. I'm dead. Not like we understand 'dead', that would be ridiculous, but in some strange way meant by the language of Nightmare Spell. Dead don't move on their own, but here I am. There are many words for death in rune language, around thirty, but you probably don't know the language so there's no use telling you. My soul doesn't produce any soul essence on its own, my Core is full of cracks. It's as if someone shattered a soul shard, but the shard somehow still worked. My essence is constantly leaking. I can't even benefit from the spirit essence like other Saints, and convert it into my essence. If I'll run out of essence, my soul will crumble under its own weight, and then I'll be truly dead. Something like that."
Quentin was taken back.
"That's… a really dire flaw. I don't envy your situation."
"Wait, Quentin. Jet, do you know which part of that is your flaw?"
Jet was slightly annoyed.
"No, what's on Sunny's mind?"
Aiko continued.
"When I heard about your flaw I started questioning its actual nature. If it just makes you dead, dead-like, then why does it crack? What's the reason for your core cracking?"
She shrugged.
"I don't get it, but keep going."
Then Aiko smirked. It was a smirk of relief, because she was allowed to go with explanation further.
"It's simple, a bit lengthy. I'm suspecting that your flaw, and cracking don't have that much to do with each other as it seems at first glance. Instead your core cracked during its creation. Because of the flaw your Soul Core couldn't mend the cracks on its own. That would require a specific soul essence that your Soul Core is made of, but your soul can't produce it on its own. With each absorption your core is still fractured, and soul fragments are unable to mend fully with your Soul Core, which leads to more cracking. As a result your Core grows bigger, but it can't mend."
*clap* *clap* All of a sudden Jet started clapping. Quentin was clueless, but listened with interest.
"It's a nice theory. I can sympathize with it. Good, considering how little you had to know. But isn't it just that my flaw is the reason for the cracks? It seems to defy your initial statement."
Aiko shook her head.
"Yes, it sounds a bit paradoxical, but it also means that your cracks have a specific nature. They're not really part of your aspect nor flaw. It's just an effect of both of them. An effect that with the right means can be countered. Your aspect allows you to absorb the soul essence of a killed being while your flaw makes you dead-like allowing you to function despite those cracks. Anyone else would die if his Core was fractured. But you didn't cause your flaw."
"You know I've been looking for healers since I survived the First Nightmare. None could help me, even if they had aspects that allowed them to heal soul-damage."
Aiko nodded. She guessed Jet already tried a few things herself. It's not like she didn't think of anything during the years that passed. It's just that nothing worked. Even Nephis' flame couldn't do anything here.
"This is where Quentin is coming in. This Master is able to restore things from their conceptual level. Restore, not heal. He doesn't improve healing or anything similar. As long as the thing isn't gone he can fix it. When he arrived at Brilliant Emporium, and learned about his power I thought 'If he can restore nearly anything, what about souls, what about Soul Cores? What about broken minds?' The answer is strange. He can't restore a broken mind. I think it's related to that broken mind isn't really broken. Surprisingly there's an effect on the soul. Quentin, now you can state your purpose."
The Master was waiting patiently. He already suspected where this is going. He's a healer. and a combat medic. The probability she wanted him for his aspect was already very high. But with the explanation it was clear it was all about that.
"Now I understand. I don't have much more to say. The reasons stated by Aiko are convincing enough to bring me here. I might be able to mend the cracks in your core in a different way. It won't solve your flaw, there's probably no solution to such things, but we might at least reduce the rate at which your essence is leaking."
Jet froze. For ten seconds she seemed absent, not listening to what Quenting was saying. Then she snapped out.
"Jet? Jet, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm here. Sorry. No one ever thought about doing something like that for me. I like your idea. Let's try it."
Quentin nodded, and put his hand on Jet's chest in a hesitant manner, afraid of breaking the intimacy of one of the most murderous people in the world.
Then he put his aspect to work, targeting the areas near the heart, the place where according to his medical knowledge a soul shard appears when the creature dies. Cases of a human leaving their soul shards behind are rare, but there are some. As a medic he knows something about the anatomy of Awakened, even if Jet's case was too unique.
Then he started looking for her big, disfigured Soul Core. He couldn't see it. He can't see souls.
"Jet, can you delve into your Soul Sea? We need you to see if it's working. And unfortunately for us only you can see the condition of your core."
"It's working! Some cracks are dwindling, albeit slowly. It looks like this way it will take hours."
Quentin turned his head to Aiko not pausing even for a moment.
"Hours? I don't want to break the mood, but I'll run out of essence at this rate, and my 'healing' isn't so potent. We will have to make it into many sessions."
"Then I'll undergo multiple sessions if that's fine by you. Oh, and I have an idea. Fire Keepers grow fruits that can restore essence. Maybe it's worth asking them?"
The idea was worth considering, but Aiko thought it's a bit rushed. Yes, there's a tree that grows miraculous fruits. Sunny told her about it. But the fruits are still scarce. Perhaps it was the best way, but she has already been proven many times that she didn't know much about supposed the best way. The more she heard about what's happening in her business partner's world, the more she suspected he's losing the track of miracles he's capable of.
Would anyone believe that the Supreme sword he offered to Nephis was actually her idea? No, but it was, and she didn't know shit about Weaving. If not for her advising him to just copy, and empower the enchantments he knew well, he would try to invent a new enchantment that can channel Nehpis' fire or empower its effects just for the sake of inventing.
The point she had at the back of her head was that if she kindly asked around about a Memory that is able to fuel aspect ability with external essence or lower the usage of it, there's a huge possibility of finding it right away.
"I'll talk with Cassie. She might know how to arrange some measures. Oh, and by the way, we have a woman that can see weaknesses, and her husband that can give his essence to other Awakened. They also might prove to be very useful here."
…
"These days feel so busy. It started innocently, from making a nice gift for Aiko. It wasn't even really for Aiko. It was just a product of my attempts on creating a simple storage Memory. Those things aren't so easy to comprehend so I divided the task into parts. Somehow with that girl around it turned into not one, but three enterprises. Doesn't she abuse me?"
She summoned a sword into her hand. It was [Fiery Heft] he presented her today.
"It feels rather like you're abusing yourself. That sword… it's a Supreme Memory of Third Tier. My experience isn't good these days, but knowing as much as I do I find it a little strange. For example, my [Crown of Dawn], my iconic artifact. Its current level of power comes from a supreme shard I've got from a Great Monster. To provide two supreme Memories… how many Greats did you slay up to this point?
"Nine. It wasn't actually that much of a fight. Most of them I managed to take by surprise. A Supreme Beast can be mighty, but it doesn't possess any tricky powers to express that power nor intelligence to think of the way."
"That's quite a feat among Saints. You must be an incredible warrior already. I also killed a few such creatures recently, but only four of them. And I've been concentrating on fighting."
It sounded reasonable. He slayed more creatures than her so he should be stronger. But Sunny never believed such things. Strength doesn't come simply from the kill count, and it's absurd to think it can be measured by a single factor. One of the Great Devils he killed was a chick that wasn't even born yet. Does that mean Sunny was back then stronger than it? He doubted it."
"But you can't travel Domains in two days, and you can't be at many places at the same time. In this regard I have it easier. Also you probably encountered your enemies, and therefore had to kill them for the sake of your mission. I could watch them in relative safety, and freely choose which ones I want to slay to get my materials."
"You're right. But it makes me curious about your combat techniques. I've always been interested in developing my sword art, but as of late I need to progress it into new directions. You know that Saints tend to fight differently due to their Transformation Ability."
Right… developing Transcendent Battle Art. Sunny had to admit he also is a little behind. He still doesn't really know what it is, how to do it, how does it taste. He took some dares to develop a few new Shadow Incarnations, but it had proven to be too dangerous a path. Also no amount of new forms will fit in all his different tools, attributes, abilities. There's a lot to digest, and only seven stomachs.
"I'm able to wield many weapons, but I also prefer to use swords. It's a popular weapon, and it provides adaptability. My first Memory weapon was tachi, and it stuck to me for the lack of different weapons at hand. I find myself very proficient with swords, but I face similar problems. My Transformation Ability turns me into something, in my case seven separate bodies. No one will teach me how to fight like that. What am I even talking about? Of course, you want to spar me."
"Is it so obvious?"
Sunny thrown his head back looking at the ceiling, and leaned on a chair.
"No, but I know it anyway. How about tomorrow to not break the mood? Or even a few more days till you fully recover?"
"Tomorrow. Not later."
"Then be it tomorrow. I promise that tomorrow I'll be there to spar you. If not as the original, then at least as one of my avatars."
"Before you'll go."
She came to him, and gave him an intent hug. For a moment he was taken aback, with the flaring following. He hugged her back. It lasted a few moments, then they stopped synchronously.
"Now go. I'm going to be there. Meanwhile I will try out your gifts."
He nodded, and then started going through corridors, still lost in the sensation. Somehow he missed the direction, and found himself in a strange corridor that led him to a dusty chamber. The chamber was dark, and full of runic language.
'What is this place?'
It was a huge room with drawings composed of lines stretching in every direction. They were not exactly drawings. It was more like a sword cut them into stone so they would always be there. He recognized some of the writings.
'Kingdom of Hope, Anvil, Weaver, Southern Lands, Noctis.'
The writings weren't ancient. They were fresh. Fire Keepers had to inscribe them for some reason.
He read through the writings briefly. Many of them pointed to familiar things, events. The connection wasn't always obvious, but there was always something that pointed to the events of his past.
'It has to do with Cassie's plan.'
When he realized that there was a hint of doubt. Does he really want to know what kind of conspiracy he was living in for the past years? In a way no. The burden of such knowledge was very hard for him to live with. But he was also curious, so curious that he could die to know.
He started reading through everything. There were many revelations there. With them there were also some memories of the future. Future that, given the current state of things, won't exist anymore.
Eventually his attention was brought to a strange cuts that formed a shape of a heart. The heart was connected to many lines, very mysterious. It wasn't the center of the pattern. Fate is so vast, and all encompassing it doesn't need such a thing as a center. In the heart there were a few runes, runes that according to his linguistic knowledge had to be some situationally developed neologism.
'Light… Sun, and Sibling Angel? Like fallen angel? Then perhaps Nephilim, and therefore Nephis. Sun… phis. Sunphis… Sunphis?"
Apparently Cassie for some reason merged their names together. But it sounded strange. And why in a heart? What's the meaning of this?
'I'll soon ask Aiko. I don't like this. It's time to get out! Quickly!'
Then suddenly he heard a creaking coming from behind. There was a wardrobe there, next to doors, but all empty. At least that was what his Shadow Sense told him. He turned around, and instead was met with beautiful deep blue eyes belonging to a figure in a red dress.
And that was the last thing he saw there.
Author's note: I think it's okay to place another dedication for Chabri2000.