The flying ship soared through the darkness, descending deeper and deeper into the empty void. After Saint Tyris had left, nothing much happened for a long time.
They were surrounded by nothing, and nothing bothered them.
This was the oppressive nothingness that Sunny was familiar with all too well.
However, now, things were different. The first time he had fallen into the Sky Below, he was alone and desperate, without any way to escape and no certainty of what awaited him below. This time, he was surrounded by people, knew where he was going, and that they would be able to turn back at any point, if need be.
Not to mention that Sunny had a whole ship to explore, as opposed to plummeting down atop the corpse of a dead devil.
The ancient vessel was not giant, but large enough to make their journey rather comfortable.
There was an upper deck, the main cargo hold, the lower deck stretching from the bow to the middle point of the ship, the auxiliary cargo holds beneath it, and various compartments near the stern, including living quarters for the crew, two separate mess decks, a spacious captain's cabin, several smaller cabins that seemed as though they were meant for either guests or officers, a large war room, and a few service compartments.
Currently, there were less than thirty people on board, so there was more than enough space for everyone. In fact, the vessel seemed rather empty and rough around the edges — the members of Cassie's cohort and other Fire Keepers that joined them to assist in the repairs had done a splendid job of restoring the flying ship's overall integrity, but had had no time to work on its interior.
A few essential facilities had been haphazardly outfitted with everything necessary to barely function, but most of the compartments still required a lot of work. There was no furniture of any kind except for some crude tables, chairs, and flimsy hammocks, and most of the vessel looked empty and barebones.
It was a far cry from how luxurious it must have been furnished, outfitted, and decorated once, in the ancient past.
However, after the hellish month Sunny had spent in the Night Temple, this environment seemed almost like paradise. He had a whole cabin to himself, and the cargo hold was stocked with enough food and water to last them for a few months. The galley was also fully operational, so at least their meals were taken care of.
More than that, the flying ship did not wobble constantly up and down like a seafaring one would, and instead swayed gently from time to time, which was sort of calming, and even a bit cozy.
It was a strange vessel that moved partially due to sorcery, the sapling of a sacred tree growing around its mast serving as the source of it, and partially due to the wind.
The Fire Keepers seemed more or less capable of operating the sails, be it somewhat tentatively, and used either their Aspects or Memories akin to Cassie's wooden staff to produce gales that pushed the ship in the right direction.
As the result, their descent into the abyss was swift, smooth, and almost relaxing.
Sunny spent around a week slowly recuperating from his wounds, restoring his strength, and resting. He slept a lot and ate as much as he could, knowing that the Second Nightmare was going to test the limits of his endurance. He had to enter it in as good of a shape as he could.
He also used that time to think about what had transpired in the Night Temple, analyze everything he had learned about Mordret, and go over each of his thoughts and decisions, trying to learn from his mistakes. The memory of being fooled and manipulated by the Prince of Nothing still haunted him.
There was also a lot of new information Sunny had received in that month — information about the Awakened of higher Ranks, Anvil of Valor, the great clans, the tension between them… and even about his own Aspect.
The silent shadows that dwelled in his Soul Sea were not there just for decoration, after all. He had always suspected that there was a purpose to them, but never had any proof.
Well, now, there was proof. Sunny just had no idea what it all meant, and what he was supposed to do with them. No matter what he tried after the battle with Mordret, the shadows refused to react. They just stood in their usual spots, silent and lifeless just like before, as if pretending that nothing had happened.
It was almost like he had imagined the whole thing...
In the end, Sunny had to accept the fact that the mystery of the shadows was going to remain unsolved, for now.
He had learned that his soul had a fearsome defense system against those who would try to possess it. That was something, at least.
…After the first week, when his injuries healed enough, Sunny started training, slowly conditioning his body for the deadly trial ahead. This was somewhat of a useless process, really, since he would be inhabiting a different vessel entirely inside the Nightmare. But training the body helped him put his mind in order, as well.
For that reason, Sunny practiced with the same ferocious determination as back in the Dark City. Kai, Effie, and Cassie joined him, too, working on improving their own condition, as well as learning how to work together as a single unit again.
It had been a long time since the four of them fought side by side. All of them had grown since then, both in terms of power and experience. They were Awakened now, possessed new Abilities, and had improved in their understanding of combat, technique, and skill.
They needed to find new and better ways of enhancing each other's strengths and shielding each other's weaknesses, as well as cooperating seamlessly to achieve a common goal.
Without the guiding hand of Changing Star, it was much harder than they had remembered. None of them was really a natural leader, let alone one as talented and gifted in the art of battle as Nephis had been, back on the Forgotten Shore. Only now, faced with her absence, did Sunny understand how hard it actually was to build a powerful, cohesive, and effective cohort.
Still, they did their best.
…A few days before they reached the rift in the divine flames, with the air outside of the flying ship already growing sizzling hot, Sunny woke up and stared into the darkness for a bit, then sighed and went to the galley to find something to eat.
The food was tasty, but not very luxurious.
And, once again, he failed to meet this day by drinking a cup of coffee, with a lot of sugar, and maybe even real milk — as he had wished to do once, a long time ago, in the cafeteria of the Awakened Academy before venturing into the Dream Realm for the first time.
Today was the day of the winter solstice.
Sunny had turned nineteen. Last time, he celebrated his birthday in a blood-soaked castle standing in the middle of a cursed city.
This time, he was going to celebrate it aboard an ancient ship that flew through a lightless abyss, descending toward an ocean of flames.
'...It is somewhat of an improvement. I guess?'