Uriel sighed.
"Does it even matter now?" Uriel asked.
Sunny flared up in rage.
"Of course it matters, you moron! Who do you think you are, deciding for me?! Who gave you the right to decide for others what's best and what's not?!"
Uriel listened to Sunny's outburst in silence.
"Are you really not going to say anything?"
"If only you hadn't done it... there would have been another way to leave that place. Even with Nephis, the three of us could have gone somewhere else—explored the North or the East, even attempted the Hollow Mountains. But instead, you were selfish. You started a fight with both of us, we almost killed you, and we left you half-dead in that damned tower." Sunny's fists trembled from the sheer force of his grip.
"Sunny," Uriel said, making the young man look at him.
"I had my reasons for doing what I did. Cassie must have told you about the vision she had; I knew the price, and it wasn't a choice I took lightly. In the end, someone had to stay behind, and I decided it would be me," he replied.
"It was just like I told you at the Crimson Spire, back when I was half-dead. Nobody in this world cares about me. I have no one. Whether I live or die, the world will keep turning just the same. You have things to live for. Nephis has her thirst for revenge, Cassie has her own goals..." Uriel sighed.
"Me, on the other hand... I didn't even ask to be here."
"Look at you, talking like a damned loner. 'Nobody loves me, I'm all alone, so I'll just choose to die,'" Sunny mocked.
"You have people who care about you. Cassie, me, Nephis, Kai, Effie, Scarlet... the Sleepers you saved," Sunny said.
Uriel said nothing, remaining in silence.
"No one in this world is truly alone," Uriel whispered with a small smile. "I suppose I acted like an idiot."
"You damn well did," Sunny snorted, crossing his arms. "Right now, everyone is waiting for you to finally open your eyes."
"Really?"
"Do you think I'm capable of lying?" Sunny asked. "I am the most honest man in the world. In two worlds, actually."
Uriel let out a laugh filled with genuine humor and amusement.
"Yes, you're right. You are," Uriel said, sounding more animated than before.
"But to answer your original question... I forced you out because I know how to survive the Dream Realm."
"How? By defying a Second Nightmare while still being a Sleeper?" Sunny asked sarcastically.
Uriel shook his head.
"I wasn't a Sleeper. I awakened naturally."
Sunny's eyes widened in shock.
"W-what?" he asked, bewildered. "Natural awakening? Is that even possible?"
"It is. Do you remember when I was meditating on the way back from the Hollow Mountains?"
"Yes."
"To achieve natural awakening, one must be able to manipulate their own essence. The Spell accelerates the process, but it ultimately depends on the Sleeper. I realized this shortly after arriving at the Dark City. Awakened guide essence toward their muscles, tendons, or bones voluntarily, unlike Sleepers who do it crudely and without real control. If you learn and refine your essence, you can form a Soul Core and awaken. But since the core was already formed by the Spell, it was just a matter of training the essence to have better control and use it at will."
Sunny was in shock at this revelation—a new method for Sleepers to become Awakened without the need to travel to the Dream Realm.
This information would change everything, and plunge the world into chaos if it went public. Worse yet, the Sovereigns would eliminate anyone who knew this.
Sunny felt awe at what Uriel had revealed, and more questions flooded his mind. If that was the process to Awaken, what about Ascension? Or Transcendence? Hell, how would one achieve Supremacy?
'Damnation,' Sunny thought.
Then, Sunny realized something.
"If you awakened naturally, why didn't you wake up a year ago?"
"I lacked an anchor to do so. Without an anchor, I couldn't return to the waking world. So, I had three options. The first was to conquer a Citadel by killing the Gate Guardian; the second was to challenge a Nightmare Seed; and the third was to Ascend and become a Master."
"You know how to Ascend?"
"Yes. I learned it during my Nightmare. I even Ascended within it, though it was more out of a necessity for strength."
Sunny didn't know what to say anymore. He felt like his head would explode from the revelations being thrown at him one after another.
Ascension inside a Nightmare? Sunny thought, unable to imagine how such a thing was possible.
Uriel yawned slightly.
"Well, that's enough talk for now. Let's continue later."
And just like that, Sunny was expelled from Uriel's mind along with Nightmare, returning to the real world.
Sunny blinked, feeling a bit disoriented by the experience. Then, he watched as Uriel's eyes finally opened.
"I'm hungry."
Those were his first words after nearly two years in the Dream Realm.