Sunny was walking at the back of the cohort, but his shadow was scouting ahead. Without it by his side, he was rather uncomfortable.
'I wonder if I can summon the Stone Saint while it is away. How have I never thought to check it?'
Without both his shadow and his Shadow, Sunny felt almost naked. At least he had other people with him, including three powerhouses — Nephis, Caster, and Effie.
Come to think of it, he had never seen Kai in action. The beautiful archer didn't look like someone extremely dangerous, but Sunny wasn't deceived. Weak people did not survive on the Forgotten Shore for years, especially not if their Aspect Ability made them the perfect person to venture outside the Dark City.
With his unique Aspect Ability, Kai had to fight against the type of terrifying creatures that Sunny knew very little about, too — the flying abominations that lived in the clouds. Like the Spire Messengers.
'Scary.'
Speaking of Kai…
Sunny hastened his steps and caught up to the charming young man. Glancing at Cassie, who did not seem like she wanted to say anything to him, he frowned for a moment, and then turned to Nightingale:
"Hey there, Night. How's life?"
The archer looked at him with a friendly smile.
"Oh, hey. Good, I guess? I mean… the weather is nice."
Sunny blinked a couple of times. The weather was never nice on the Forgotten Shore. It was either too cold, too damp, or too hot. Honestly, he even missed the Black Mountain sometimes. At least it was consistent.
Not one to make polite talk, Sunny went straight to the question he really wanted to ask:
"So, really… what are you doing here?"
Kai glanced at him with a bit of confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Sunny sighed.
"From what you told me, your life in the castle was nothing short of peaceful. You have enough shards to stay there for a long time, everyone likes you, and even the Host treats you nicely because of how useful your Ability is. Why would you risk it all to go with us into the Labyrinth?"
The beautiful archer lingered for a bit.
"Ah. Well… actually, I landed in a bit of trouble. I think. The deaths of those Guards who locked me in the well are being used to frame Effie, are they not? Well, what if someone knows that I am connected to their disappearance? Won't I be in danger?"
Sunny thought about it for a bit, then reluctantly agreed.
"Makes sense. But won't the danger you will face in this expedition be much worse than the one you are escaping from?"
Kai smiled.
"It certainly will. But, Sunny… there is something else that you failed to consider."
Sunny frowned.
"What's that? Please… please don't tell me that you became one of Neph's converts."
The charming young man chuckled.
"Converts? No, I don't think so. At least not in the way you think."
He was silent for a long time, then sighed.
"Actually, I don't think that many people see things clearly. But really, it's not that hard to understand."
Turning to Sunny with a somber expression on his usually carefree face, Kai suddenly asked:
"I came to the Forgotten Shore thirty-one months ago. Do you know how many of us reached the Dark City that year?"
Sunny shook his head.
The archer grimaced.
"Almost four hundred. And do you know how many are still alive? Less than two."
He was silent for a while.
"Which means that, in just two years, more than half of us perished. People die all the time in the Dark City, you see. The castle may seem safe, but actually, the Host is constantly bleeding people. Every week, a few hunters don't return from the hunt. Every couple of weeks, a Nightmare Creature attacks the walls and kills several Guards before they manage to drive it away or destroy it."
Kai sighed.
"But most often of all, something comes into the outer settlement and simply drags away people. That's not even mentioning those who die of hunger, desperation, or by another human's hand. Do you… do you see where I am going with this?"
Sunny scowled, a new understanding dawning on him. Seeing his expression, Kai looked away.
"Indeed. Every year, hundreds of people die in the Dark City. And every year, hundreds more come to take their place. But, Sunny… this year, there were only four. Not four hundred, but just four people."
How.. how had he not thought about it before? Sunny's eyes widened slightly.
Meanwhile, Kai continued:
"Which means that the Bright Castle never got the chance to recoup its losses. What happens if that Spell Cycle theory that people have is true and five months from now, when the winter solstice comes, the same thing repeats itself?"
He shook his head, a dark expression on his face.
"It means that a year from now, there will be maybe six hundred humans left in the Dark City. And two years from now… there will be only a dozen or two. It takes a lot of people to maintain the semblance of civilization we have going on here, Sunny. Once we pass the point of no return, it will all come crashing down."
The beautiful archer glanced at him and added in a heavy tone:
"Every non-combatant will die. Every fighter who is not powerful enough will die. Eventually, only a few strongest ones will be left. Am I strong enough to be among those few? I'm not sure. And even if I am, who would want to live in a situation like that."
He turned away and stared at Nephis, who was walking ahead of them.
"So no, Sunny, I am not a convert. But I will follow Lady Nephis to the edges of the Labyrinth and back, because it's better to die trying to do something than to live on hiding your head in the sand. Don't you think?"
Just like that, their conversation ended. Sunny walked on in silence, thinking about what Kai had said.
If the archer was right, then the future was, indeed, nothing short of disturbing. Of course, no one knew for sure how many Sleepers were going to arrive here during the winter solstice. But now that he thought about it, Sunny felt that people who believed in the cyclic nature of the arrivals were almost right.
He also believed that there would not be hundreds of new faces arriving on the Forgotten Shore in five months.
However, while others expected that there would be a dozen, a few dozen after a year, and a hundred after that, he did not.
For some reason, Sunny felt that there won't be anyone else coming to the Dark City at all.
He felt that the three of them... and Caster… were the last people to ever be sent to this hell by the Spell.
'Gee. What's up with people today? First Effie and her doomsday talk, now this. I am already an extremely pessimistic person. I don't need anyone's help to feel terrible about the future…'
But as it turned out, he did need help. These two conversations had opened Sunny's eyes to a serious problem.
He was too shortsighted. He concentrated too much on the problems at hand and failed to see the bigger picture. Was it because both Effie and Kai had spent more time on the Forgotten Shore, or was it because he had simply not paid enough attention to the details?
Would things be different if he had?
Just as Sunny glanced at Nephis, Cassie suddenly turned her head in his direction.
Sunny frowned.
"What is it?"
'She has been ignoring me this whole time, but now she wants to talk? Huh.'
The blind girl hesitated for a moment, and then quietly said:
"...Something is following us."