Faraam looked behind him; the Crimson Spire has long since crumbled, crushing the corpses of many dead sleepers, the same ones he killed.
He stood up and walked near Sunless, who was making a grave... a stupid choice but quite admirable, really.
On the large slab of the once Crimson Spire, Sunless wrote something.
[Here lie those
Who extinguished the sun
Dreamers of the Dark City
Killed in cold blood
By the Golden Demon
Sleep well
Your nightmare is over.]
Faraam walked toward the grave and put his hand on his chest and spoke in a solemn voice.
"Your nightmare is over."
That made Sunny, once again, explode in anger.
"Stop disrespecting the dead! Have you no shame?! You killed them. In cold blood, like some fucking animals!"
Faraam glanced at Sunny and sighed.
"Listen, I didn't do it because I wanted to. I did it out of necessity."
"Stop lying! Necessity? If it was out of necessity, you wouldn't have killed anyone after you filled your core, but you did!"
"Hey, they would have harbored a grudge against me." He shrugged his shoulders. "So I killed them to not deal with it later. Cut the root or something like that."
He glanced at the grave and frowned.
"Calling me a demon, that is fucking disrespectful." He kicked a stone on the ground. "And you call that bitch Changing Star a hero, an angel. Such hypocrisy!" He chuckled.
"Don't call her that."
Faraam raised an eyebrow.
"Sunless... did you fall in love with her?" Faraam's face showed nothing but disgust.
Sunny remained calm on the outside, but in the inside... the words of Faraam resounded in his head.
"You really know how to piss me off." Faraam clicked his tongue.
He walked away and left Sunny to work on the grave full of skulls.
'I guess this is better than being dead.'
Around three years ago, he had thought of the possibility of Clan Valor figuring out he was the one who killed Caela.
That possibility was one of the reasons he killed those sleepers after all.
'But why did they destroy my body instead of waiting for me to return to the waking world?'
Faraam didn't know; perhaps it was an act of impulsiveness, or maybe they thought he'd die in the Dream Realm...
"If they really think that, they would be really disappointed," he whispered.
In the end it didn't matter what happened in the waking world; he didn't have a physical body to return to, which means no matter how many gateways he finds, Faraam will always be stuck in the Dream Realm.
Fortunately he already knows the solution to his problem—thanks again to Caela—the bad news is the solution is nearly impossible to begin with.
He has to conquer the Second Nightmare.
Normally when conquering the Second Nightmare and becoming an Ascended, an Awakened soul and body will merge together, enabling them to travel between worlds.
But Faraam had no physical body, so how will his soul merge with his body? It was rather simple, really; the Nightmare Spell will just create one for him.
'It doesn't matter how impossible it is; I'll still do it. To live.'
Conquering a Second Nightmare with only one Awakened and a Sleeper...
"If we succeed, they might make a song for our achievement."
Oh yes, he will take Sunless with him. The more the better, especially since he can order Sunny and move him as he wants.
He clapped his hands. Since the goal was determined, he knows he needs to achieve it, and the first thing to do is to find a nightmare seed.
Faraam knows where he could find one.
He glanced west; beyond the Forgotten Shore, there was where he was summoned three years ago. The Cursed Kingdom that worshipped Death, in its heart it was the pagoda, a temple of shadow, if he had to guess.
Inside the pagoda, Faraam believed there was a seed of a nightmare; there is also the possibility of a gateway too.
But if there was a seed, then there was another problem. What seed of nightmare is it? A second, or a third, or maybe even a fourth nightmare seed!
It really depended on his luck... and Faraam was probably the unluckiest man in the world.
Thankfully he has the company of the luckiest man in the world!
Faraam called for Sunny to come.
The two sat in front of each other, each looking at the other's eyes.
"What?" Sunny spoke first.
"I've decided our goal."
"Our?" Sunny frowned.
Faraam sighed, "Do I have to remind you every time what you are?"
Sunny clicked his tongue.
"So? What is it?"
"We'll conquer the Second Nightmare." Faraam said casually.
Sunny was dumbfounded.
"Hey, if you want to commit suicide, just tell me. I'll gladly kill you."
"I'm not going to commit suicide, Sunny, and the last thing I want is to be killed by you."
"You clearly are! Conquer the Second Nightmare?! With whom, me and you?! And who said I agree to that? I'm going to find a gateway and leave you to die here!"
"First you will go with me, whether you agree or not. You have no free will in the end. Second, where do you think you will find a gateway? I have searched the Forgotten Shore for years, yet I found none. I at least have a lead where I could find a seed, unlike you."
Sunny remained silent, while the first part, annoyed him to hell, Faraam was not lying. He didn't know where to go. He was lost in nowhere.
"Also, while I do have a lead... I'm not sure if there is a seed or not. There might be a gateway instead."
Sunny eyes lightened but then darkened again.
"So what?" he sneered. "You won't let me leave anyway."
"I will."
Sunny laughed, "Like I will believe a psychopath."
"I'm not lying; if there was really a gateway, I'd let you leave. I swear."
Sunless took his time thinking, but in the end he agreed.
"Good, you start to use your brain again."
Faraam rose to his feet and summoned his echo.
"First we will go back to the Dark City and hunt Nightmare Creatures for food, then we will head west, to where I was summoned. There we will find the temple of Shadow God—at least that is what I think it is—and challenge the nightmare, if there was a seed of the second nightmare."
Sunny nodded; it was not a bad plan. He rose up and walked past Faraam, but suddenly he stopped as Faraam spoke again.
"Ah, but first." He smiled. "Give me all of your memories."