The great hall of the Ivory Tower buzzed softly with the sounds of cutlery and quiet conversation. The long table was set beneath crystal chandeliers, their faint light reflected in the silver plates.
The younger versions of the cohort sat scattered among their older selves, a strange sight. Cassie, younger and a little restless, tilted her head. "Where's the older Sunny?"
The older Cassie, sitting across from her, answered gently, "He's in the Bastion."
The younger Sunny looked up, brow furrowed. "Bastion? What's he doing there?"
Nephis spoke before Cassie could reply, her tone even. "He's collecting his inheritance."
Sunny leaned back slightly, a glint of recognition in his eyes. 'So... he's claiming the Weaver's lineage.'
Nephis glanced at him. "He left something behind for you." As she spoke, shadows stirred beneath the table, silent and alive. One by one, seven dark figures rose and wrapped around the younger Sunny, sinking into him.
Power flooded through him; it felt as though he could topple mountains with a thought. He exhaled slowly, steadying himself. "He can do that?" It was a little confusing. Even though they were the same person, they were different... He smirked. 'How strong did I get?' He cast a sideways glance at Nephis. 'I think I've become stronger than her.'
The younger Nephis leaned forward, curiosity flickering in her pale eyes. "Then why would he leave them?"
The older Nephis's gaze softened, but she didn't answer. "Because there's no point in taking them," she said simply.
The younger Nephis frowned, sensing there was more, but said nothing. Sunny too remained quiet, his thoughts distant.
Across the table, young Kai looked up from his plate. "Where's the older me? And Effie, Jet?"
Cassie smiled faintly. "They're working with the government. A lot's happening, especially now."
That drew the younger Nephis's attention again. Her gaze moved to her older self, studying her with an intensity that made the older woman glance away."You said you ended the war," the younger Nephis said quietly. "How?"
The question lingered in the air. Sunny perked up. The others turned toward the older Nephis as well. None of them had really spoken about anything since his older self had left the day before. Naturally, curiosity filled the silence.
Sunny leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing with mild interest. He had an inkling of what the answer would be, but he wanted to hear it from her.
The woman in question sighed softly, her gaze distant. When she finally spoke, her voice was hollow."We did... by achieving Supremacy."
Sunny blinked once. Of course. He already knew that from what his older self had mentioned. 'She's still awkward,' he thought, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. Seeing an older version of Nephis, still unable to explain herself properly, was oddly amusing.
The younger Nephis frowned. "Like that explains anything," she said sharply. "Why would those ghouls even allow you to challenge the Fourth Nightmare?"
The older Nephis's eyes met hers briefly. "They didn't," she said simply.
A quiet beat passed before young Effie suddenly snorted, then laughed outright, looking between both versions of Nephis. "Now you understand how it feels talking to you.
Both versions of Nephis turned toward her in perfect sync and glared at her. Effie shrunk in her seat.
Cassie sighed, rubbing her temples. "Alright," she said tiredly. "I'll explain."
Cassie rested her elbows on the table, her blind eyes turning slightly toward the others. "Both heads of Valor and Song were Supremes," she said quietly.
That drew a startled look from Kai. Effie blinked. "Wait, both of them?" Jet seemed unsurprised.
Cassie nodded. "Yes. And because of that, they wouldn't allow anyone else to challenge the Fourth Nightmare. Anyone who did would be threatening their power."
Her tone darkened. "So Sunny and Nephis attained Supremacy naturally."
The words hung in the air like a dropped blade. For a moment, no one spoke. Young Sunny and Nephis stared at her in disbelief, Effie's fork froze midair, and even Kai paled. Jet just quietly watched Cassie with tired eyes.
Effie broke the silence first. "Why am I even surprised anymore," she muttered under her breath.
Sunny and Nephis spoke at the same time. "How?"
Older Nephis didn't hesitate. "I did it by burning near the sun."
Young Nephis frowned. "And Sunny?"
Nephis looked at her younger self, her face unreadable. "He died."
Kai spat out his food, coughing. "He what!?"
Cassie sighed, rubbing her temples. "Yeah. He died... and came back as a Supreme."
The table went dead silent again. The younger Sunny sat frozen, eyes wide, a dozen questions dying in his throat. Future Nephis exhaled slowly, then addressed the younger cohort, everyone except Jet.
"You all have to ascend," she said plainly.
Confusion rippled through the group.
Young Cassie blinked. "Ascend... how?"
Nephis stood. "Naturally," she clarified. "You can't challenge the Second Nightmare yet. You're not ready. So we will do it naturally."
She gestured for them to follow.
A few minutes later, they were in the Ivory Tower's training chamber, its walls lined with faint runes, the space quiet and open. The younger cohort sat cross legged on the polished floor, facing her.
Nephis folded her arms, her tone clear and controlled.
"Ascending is simple," she began. "Not easy... but simple. You refine your soul essence. If you refine it enough, it changes. And when it changes, you change."
They listened intently.
"The most reliable method is meditation. Not the kind you're used to," she added, eyes narrowing slightly. "This is controlled circulation of essence. If you do it wrong, nothing happens. If you do it very wrong... you pass out."
Effie gulped.
Nephis continued, calm as ever.
"For the first week, you'll do one task: Move your essence to your hand. Nothing else. When you can do that without losing focus, you move it into a single finger. That may take days. Or weeks."
Young Kai raised his hand. "And after that?"
"After that," Nephis said, "you expand. Slowly. Methodically. Hand to arm. Arm to torso. Torso to legs. Piece by piece."
She traced the path on her own arm as she spoke.
"When you can flow essence through your whole body without interruption, you begin refining the nerves. That part will hurt," she added flatly. "A lot."
Young Nephis tilted her head. "How long will it take?"
Future Nephis didn't blink. "It depends. Two months, minimum."
Effie groaned. "We're going to die."
"No," Nephis replied. "You're going to ascend. Just do exactly what I say."
She paused, then looked at young Sunny.
"And you," she said quietly, "must ascend faster than the rest."
Sunny frowned. "Why me?"
"Because Sunny said so," she replied, tone flat. His expression only tightened as she went on. "Use the Soul Serpent. That was his instruction."
Sunny had nothing to add. After giving them a few more steps to follow, Nephis left, summoned away by the Anvil of Valor.
A month passed after that. No news of future Sunny. Whenever someone asked, the older Nephis only shrugged and said he was probably passed out somewhere and would wake up eventually. She would not give any more information, so they focused on ascending,
Sunny had ascended after a month. The rest were making steady progress too. His new strength felt incredible, but the sudden jump made it hard to control. He hadn't been awakened for long, so the change was overwhelming. Still, something else bothered him more. The older version of himself was keeping too many secrets. It wasn't just the approaching war. Sunny could feel there was something worse hidden beneath it. He pushed the thought away for now.
Eventually, the older Nephis returned from her expedition. She sent for Sunny and called him to her office.
The moment he stepped inside, he asked, "Where have you been?"
"God Grave," she answered.
He frowned. "What's there?"
"Preparations for war." She didn't add anything more, and Sunny didn't push it. Instead, he shifted the topic to his ascension.
Nephis congratulated him, then continued, "I have your next instruction from Sunny. You need to master the next step of Shadow Dance using your ascended abilities."
Sunny blinked. "What is it?"
"A form study," she said. "Similar to the transformation abilities Saints use. Go to Kai. Tell him to turn into a dragon. Watch how he moves and fights. Then learn to become a dragon yourself."
Sunny stared at her, stunned. He could turn into creatures? The idea was terrifying and exciting at the same time. His mind raced at the possibilities.
What surprised him even more was how close Nephis and his older self had become. Future Sunny trusted her enough to share all his secrets. But something about their bond felt off. In fact, the way his older self acted around everyone in the cohort seemed... strange. His older self clearly trusted the cohort with his life, yet the rest of them still seemed hesitant... if not a little wary around him. Even Kai, who was usually the friendliest, kept a certain distance from future Sunny. Only Cassie seemed genuinely close to him.
'What an irony...' I can't stand Cassie, but their future selves act like siblings.
The thought bothered him. After awakening, Sunny had already planned that if he ever challenged a second Nightmare, he would do it with his friends. And since the entire cohort had already transcended in the future, it was reasonable to assume they had gone through that trial together. They should have been tighter than ever.
But they weren't. They didn't act like a group forged by shared suffering. In the world of the Awakened, trust was everything, your greatest shield or the knife that will kill you. Bonds formed in life and death battles weren't easily broken; they were stronger than anything ordinary humans could understand, tempered like steel through countless trials.
Yet the future cohort didn't feel like that. Their relationships seemed almost... mundane, at best. And at the same time, they trusted each other too much, everyone except Sunny's older self. Even Jet, who shouldn't have been anywhere near the Changing Star's cohort, trusted the cohort completely.
Sunny still had no idea how she had even joined them. From what he could tell, young Cassie and young Nephis had noticed something strange as well. The others clearly felt it too.
So he took his chance. Sunny hesitated for a moment, then finally voiced the question that had been gnawing at him.
"Nephis," he said quietly, "tell me something... would you die for him? Like he would die for you?"
Future Nephis didn't reply immediately. Her gaze shifted away, settling somewhere near the corner of the room, as if the shadows there held an answer she'd been avoiding. The silence stretched, heavy and uncomfortable.
When she finally spoke, her voice was even.
"I won't," she said. "I still have a mission to finish. I can't afford to die. Not for anyone."
Sunny let out a short laugh, bitter, almost mocking."Still the same as always," he said. "Your mission. Your destiny. And you don't care how many bodies pile up on the way. How pathetic."
Nephis's expression tightened. Her eyes glistened with an unknown emotion. Sunny leaned back, his voice dropping into a cold, cutting tone.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm not calling you pathetic."
Nephis's gaze snapped back to him, hard and wary.
"I'm talking about him," Sunny continued, each word dripping with spite. "My older self. Pathetic enough to die for the likes of you. Pathetic enough to stay by your side even when it tears him apart. But you? You wouldn't even pause before stepping over his corpse if it meant reaching your precious dream."
Nephis's jaw clenched, but she didn't interrupt. Whatever she wanted to say remained locked behind her teeth.
Sunny held her stare for a long moment, then looked away, as if the sight of her only deepened the bitterness boiling inside him.
The room felt colder. The silence that followed was tense, dangerous, a wound that had been yanked open between them. Nephis didn't move, but the air around her shifted, an almost invisible ripple of heat, like a star trembling before it burned.
Her jaw tightened.
"...You don't understand anything," she said quietly.
Sunny scoffed. "I understand enough."
"No," she replied, her voice still calm but trembling at the edge. "You don't. You're looking at the surface and calling it truth."
Sunny stepped forward. "Then enlighten me."
Her answer came in a controlled tone that made Sunny's anger falter for a moment.
"You think I don't care?" she said. "You think I would walk over his corpse?"
"You said it yourself," Sunny snapped. "You wouldn't die for him."
"That doesn't mean I would let him die."
Sunny clenched his teeth.
Future Nephis continued, "You asked whether I would die for him. And the answer is still no. Not because I care less... because I cannot. I have a duty that does not allow death. If I die, countless others die as well. I cannot break that chain for anyone."
Her calmness only seemed to irritate Sunny more.
"Then why should he throw away his life for you?" he demanded.
Nephis finally looked at him. This time, her gaze wasn't cold or distant. It was tired... so tired it looked ancient.
"He shouldn't," she said quietly. "And I wouldn't ask him either. But he was always willing to sacrifice himself even if I begged him not to."
Sunny's anger flared. The shadows around him rippled, swelling like a dark tide. For a moment, they almost took shape, sharp, restless, ready to lash out.
"He shouldn't?" Sunny spat. "Then what are you leading them into? What is this 'mission' of yours? Destroying the Spell?" His voice rose. "It sounds like you're marching everyone straight into their graves."
Nephis's expression didn't change. No flare of anger, no defensiveness. Just that same exhausted resolve.
"You don't understand," she said.
"I understand perfectly," Sunny snapped. "You have a dream so big, so righteous, you won't even blink if they die chasing it."
For the first time, something flickered across her face: pain, brief and nearly invisible. But she didn't deny it.
She only whispered, "That's not it."
Sunny blinked, thrown off. He had never seen Nephis like this. Not the Changing Star, not the unyielding flame that stood against the world. This wasn't the Nephis he knew. This woman was broken, utterly lonely, carrying some unfathomable burden that no one else could even begin to understand.
Nephis lowered her head slightly. For a moment, her voice cracked.
"You call him pathetic... but he was the only one who ever chose me without hesitation. The only one who stood beside me when no one else could. Not because they didn't want to," her hands tightened, "but because no one else is strong enough. No one else can carry what I carry. No one else is... my equal. I didn't deserve him. I still don't."
Sunny's breath caught. Nephis forced her voice steady again.
"You think I don't care? But do you know what I felt every time he stepped in to fight the ghouls, for my sake, even knowing very well he could die?" Her hands curled into fists. "I felt fear. Because I knew he would do it again. Because I knew I couldn't do the same."
She met his eyes. "I won't die for him. But I will burn worlds to keep him alive."
Silence claimed the room again. Sunny stared at her, stunned, his anger hollowed out by the rawness of her words.
Nephis looked away.
"...One day," she whispered, "you'll understand why living for someone can be harder than dying for them."