Cassie's expression and posture changed completely after she said those words. She went from laughing to wearing a look of sadness, her straight posture curling inward as if she were trying to disappear. Her hands began to grip the bed sheets tightly, as though she were reliving a memory filled with helplessness.
Seeing this, Arthur stood up from the chair and sat beside her. He placed his right arm over her right shoulder and gently pulled her closer, letting her rest her head against his shoulder. At the contact, he felt Cassie's body tremble and knew she was about to cry, so without thinking too much, he helped her remove the blindfold. When he did, he saw that her eyes were already red from crying, and on the verge of doing so again.
They stayed like that for a long time, until Arthur realized that night had fully fallen and that Cassie had fallen asleep crying on his shoulder. A faint smile formed on his face as he gently laid her down on the bed, covered her with the sheets, and quietly left the room.
At night, the castle was completely empty. Everyone was asleep, so there was little to do. Walking calmly through the corridors, Arthur reached the front of the castle and sat down on the steps, looking out toward the outer settlement. Even though the people inside the castle were asleep, the guards still had to protect the perimeter.
The guard system Arthur had implemented was based on rotating personnel throughout the day. Each guard was assigned a specific zone that they had to learn down to the smallest detail, but they only worked four hours a day. After that, they had to report to the hunters' building.
In that building, records were kept of who belonged to each hunter group, and if someone didn't have a group, they were assigned to one that needed members. The structure of these groups was another thing Arthur had changed during this time.
Each group consisted of a dozen hunters, with roles ranging from tanks, pathfinders, scouts, and fighters. Some groups also had a healer, but not many. At first glance, it might not seem like a big change, but the most important thing wasn't the roles themselves, it was the personalities. A good cohort had to be balanced, and with Sylvie managing the hunters, deaths had decreased and successful hunts had increased.
Thanks to this, maintaining nearly seven hundred Sleepers inside the castle wasn't a problem.
Inside the castle, the situation was similar. Many of the Sleepers who had been living in the outer settlement under Nephis's protection had moved inside. This naturally increased the demand for food, as well as other basic services necessary for survival. Fortunately, the castle was massive, and every Sleeper had either their own room or shared accommodations.
Seishan, along with her handmaidens, was in charge of managing this process. With the influx of Sleepers from outside, the number of jobs and workers increased proportionally across all areas.
Managing nearly seven hundred people wasn't easy, but with the right company, it wasn't that difficult either. And speaking of company…
"You don't have to spy on me from that far away, you know?"
Anyone else might have thought Arthur had gone crazy, talking to thin air, but seconds later a figure sat down beside him.
"How can you tell?" Sunless asked.
Arthur let out a small laugh. "There are few things I can't notice, and your shadow isn't one of them."
Sunless made a sound of approval and fell silent.
The situation wasn't awkward. It was just two men staring into nothing, thinking about everything.
Eventually, Arthur was the one who broke the silence.
"Tell me, Sunless, what made you sit with me tonight?"
Taking his time to answer, Sunless said, "Don't call me Sunless. Sunny is fine. I just couldn't sleep."
"Alright, Sunny. A lot on your mind?"
"Yeah. A few things."
"Do you want to share what's bothering you, or would you rather keep it to yourself?" Arthur asked in a calm tone.
Sunny hesitated for a few seconds before replying. "It's nothing important. Thanks anyway." He stood up and left.
'This guy is still weird, even after all these months,' Arthur thought.
And so the night passed. From time to time, some guards would leave the castle and stop to greet Arthur before heading to their posts to continue their watch.
In the morning, Arthur returned to his room, but Cassie was still asleep. He needed to take care of some paperwork, so he sat at the desk and got to work. He was so focused that he didn't notice Cassie waking up until she had to call him several times.
"Arthur, are you there?" she asked timidly.
Turning around and looking at the bed, he remembered that she was still in his room. Letting out a small laugh, he said, "Oh, right. Sorry, I was busy. What do you need?"
"If you could come have breakfast with me," she repeated for the tenth time.
"Ah, we can ask them to bring breakfast to the room if you want," he said.
He saw Cassie's face light up at those words.
"Really?" she asked with a smile.
Arthur stood up from the desk and went to the door. A guard was standing there, and Arthur asked him to notify a handmaiden to bring two breakfasts to the room. Then he returned, and they talked about random things until there was a knock on the door. Arthur walked over, took the two trays of food, thanked the handmaiden, and placed them on the desk.
When they finished breakfast, both of them sat back down on the bed. It was time to talk about the important matter.
Cassie kept her hands clasped over her lap for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and finally began to speak.
"When the spell sent me to the Dream Realm… I appeared alone, on a platform above the Dark Sea."
Her voice was soft but firm. "I could only hear the waves crashing below. The wind… the cold. I was terrified."
She paused briefly, swallowing.
"I thought I was already dead. There was nothing I could do. I truly felt that only a miracle could save me."
Her fingers curled slightly. "And it did."
Cassie lowered her gaze.
"I started crying. I couldn't help it. And I guess that's what caught her attention."
With a faint smile, she added, "Nephis had fallen onto the same platform."
"At first, I thought she was a Nightmare creature. She spoke strangely… she was awkward. But it didn't take long to realize she wasn't. When she saw me like that, without saying much, she transferred a Memory to me. It was armor. After that… she just stayed with me until the sun rose."
Cassie breathed a little easier as she recalled it.
"A few days later, inside the labyrinth, we met Sunny. I was happy. Truly. We weren´t alone anymore. We were a group. I felt like our chances of survival were much higher." She nodded slightly. "Nephis was incredible in combat… and Sunny was a very good scout."
Her tone shifted, growing lower and more restrained.
"One night… before sleeping… they started talking." Cassie pressed her lips together. "I was 'asleep'. Or so they thought."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"I heard Sunny ask Nephis why she kept carrying me along, and she asked him if he wouldn't do the same."
Her hands tightened on the sheets. "Sunny said no."
Silence stretched for a few seconds.
"I felt… like something was being driven into my chest."
Cassie took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "Then Nephis said she did it because she wanted to."
She lifted her gaze briefly, her eyes slightly watery.
"The next day, I had a vision of the castle. That's why we started traveling west."
She paused. "And a few days later… I had another vision."
Cassie hesitated, then looked at Arthur.
"Could I… ask for a glass of water? It's long."
After drinking some, she closed her eyes for a second and continued.
"At first, I saw… boundless darkness, sealed behind seven locks."
Her brow furrowed. "Something enormous was moving inside. I felt that if I looked at it directly, I would lose my sanity."
"The seals broke, one by one… until only one remained. And then… it broke too."
Her hands began to tremble.
"After that… I don't know. It was like my mind shattered. Thousands of fragments. Most of them… dark. Terrifying."
"I saw the human castle again. But it was night. It was surrounded by something… like a purple cloud. I felt like the castle was frozen in time." She opened her eyes. "I saw the throne room… and a blurry figure sitting on it."
She continued, almost in a whisper.
"I saw a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters. An archer trying to pierce the sky with his arrows."
Cassie clenched her teeth.
"And at the end… I saw a crimson tower. At its base were seven severed heads, guarding seven locks." Her voice finally broke. "At the top… a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows."
Tears began to fall.
"When I saw the angel bleed… I felt like something incredibly important… something that can't be explained with words… was being torn away from me."
"Then I felt so much sadness… so much pain… so much rage… that what little sanity I had left disappeared."
She opened her eyes, exhausted. "That's when I woke up."
Arthur didn't speak immediately. He remained still, his gaze lowered, processing every image Cassie had described.
He formed each image in his mind, considering every detail, but instead of dwelling on them, he set them aside for later, when his head was cooler.
"I understand what you're saying," he said calmly. "And I understand why it weighs on you so much."
Cassie clenched her hands on her legs.
"No… that's not all," she replied softly. "There's something else I need to tell you."
Arthur didn't rush her. He simply nodded.
"Alright," he said. "I'm listening."
Cassie took several seconds before speaking again. When she did, her voice was no longer steady.
"A few months ago… I had another vision," she said quietly.
She covered her face, as if she couldn't hold Arthur's gaze. "And this one was worse. Much worse."
She took a deep breath, but the air seemed insufficient.
"Sunny was talking to a spy. Someone sent from the castle to gather information about Nephis. He knew it… and still kept talking to him."
Arthur noticed her hands starting to tremble.
"Sunny was misleading him. He talked about Nephis as if her Aspect was only useful for healing, as if she wasn't dangerous. All so the spy would leave with false information."
She paused briefly. "They were drinking alcohol… Sunny had never drunk before."
"At one point, the spy asked how Nephis had obtained her True Name."
Her voice dropped even lower. "And Sunny answered without thinking, or because of the alcohol. He said… 'probably the same way I did'."
"He realized it immediately, but the spy took it as a joke and asked what Sunny's True Name was."
She gripped the sheets tightly.
"Sunny didn't answer." She slowly shook her head. "He stayed silent for almost a full minute. I could see it… it was like every second physically hurt him. Like saying it or not saying it was equally unbearable. And then… he killed him." Her voice trembled. "Without hesitation. Without saying a word. In cold blood."
Arthur remained motionless, but his eyes widening a bit.
"When it was over," she continued, tears pooling in her eyes, "Sunny said his True Name in a low voice. Barely a whisper."
A tear slid down her cheek.
"And I heard it."
"By then… I already knew the prophecy," she said, trying to hold back her tears. "I knew he would eventually fight Nephis. And that she… she would probably die in that confrontation. So I made a decision."
She looked at him, her eyes red. "I told Nephis Sunny's True Name."
The words seemed to hurt as she said them, her voice breaking. "I did it hoping she would survive. I chose who had the better chance to live."
Tears began to fall freely.
"I feel horrible, Arthur. Because I know there's something between them. They're both too stupid to realize it, but during the months Sunny wasn't with us… Nephis wasn't the same. She kept looking toward the Dark City. Every day. Like she was waiting for him to appear. And every time his name was mentioned, she always joined the conversation with a different intensity."
Cassie clenched her fists.
"And that makes it even worse. I felt like I was betraying them both." She lifted her head, completely broken. "I had to choose between my two friends, and I don't even know… if I chose right."
By the time she finished, she was crying uncontrollably, and Arthur moved closer to embrace her. When Cassie felt the contact and realized what he was doing, she pulled away abruptly and said,
"Don't comfort me, I'm a horrible person!" Through her sobs, she added, "I don't deserve to be comforted!"
Ignoring her completely, Arthur stepped forward and wrapped her in an embrace that left her no choice. She struggled at first, but when she realized she couldn't escape, she simply stayed there, crying.
Meanwhile, Arthur's mind was spinning, unable to fully comprehend everything she had told him.
'Sunny has a True Name too!?'
'Oh gods, this is worse than I thought!'
At that moment, he heard Sylvie speak to him. 'Breathe, Arthur. Give me a few minutes and I'll be there with you.'
Arthur replied, 'No! Even if you know Cassie through my memories, she doesn't know anything about you. It'll be awkward.'
A moment later, Sylvie thought, 'Oh, you're right. I didn't think about that.'
'Sunny has a True Name too!?' Arthur wondered for the tenth time since hearing it.
At that moment, Arthur did something he had sworn never to use again since the fight against Gunglag. He activated [Former King].
Instantly, his mind split into two layers, and all the information he had received began forming within the new one.
He had only activated this attribute twice before, and each time the sensation was more addictive than the last. A cold feeling ran through his body, and his face turned neutral.
Every thought aligned, every sensation complemented another. He began searching for details, even in the way Cassie had told the prophecy and Sunny's story. His other mind couldn't keep up, and how could it?
Former King carried the thinking habits of a Sacred-rank being, and the loss of humanity Arthur experienced every time he activated it was unmistakable. A simple Sleeper like him could never imagine the difference.
Immediately, his mind filled with possible theories.
The castle frozen in time, surrounded by a purple cloud, wasn't hard to interpret. It pointed to him without ambiguity.
The blurry figure sitting on the throne confirmed it. Cassie had seen something similar before, on an isolated platform, unable to distinguish features, only a vague presence. That figure had turned out to be Arthur.
After that, he disappeared from the prophecy.
The immediate explanation was simple. Either he died, or he didn't participate in what happened at the top of the Crimson Spire. Both possibilities were reasonable. Too reasonable.
Arthur discarded that line of thought.
He traced back further, to his first nightmare. To Grey's words. Grey had said he searched for Arthur's future in the threads of Fate… and couldn't see it. They weren't broken. They weren't absent. They were hidden, gray, out of reach.
The prophecy spoke of the future. Cassie saw representations, not people.
Effie wasn't Effie. She was a woman with a spear.
Kai wasn't Kai. He was an archer aiming at the sky.
Nephis wasn't Nephis.
She wasn't shown as a victor or a glorified martyr. She was a dying angel, being consumed. The vision didn't imply justice or punishment. It implied sacrifice. Not one chosen, but one accepted.
Sunny, as a shadow, wasn't the villain of the prophecy. He was the executor of a consequence. If he consumed the angel, it wasn't out of hatred. It was because he couldn't afford to lose what defined him.
Arthur understood then why he didn't appear at the top of the Crimson Spire.
It wasn't because he wasn't there.
It was because he couldn't be represented.
When he intervened, the future wasn't shown as a clear image, but as something blurred.
That was why, when the prophecy reached its end, Arthur disappeared. Not because he ceased to exist, but because the very method of the vision couldn't capture him.
Caster still didn't appear.
Arthur didn't force that absence. He accepted it. Caster wasn't irrelevant, but he wasn't essential to the climax either. If he died earlier, if he betrayed them, if he simply didn't make it… the prophecy didn't need him.
With that part sorted out, his mind moved to the other problem.
Sunny's True Name.
Sunny had killed someone for knowing it. Not for threatening him. Not for attacking him. Just for knowing it.
That narrowed the possibilities.
The knowledge of a True Name wasn't symbolic. It had a real effect. It could cause direct harm, or make him vulnerable to some form of control or weakness. Maybe it allowed influence over him. Maybe it opened a path of attack. Or something worse.
Arthur considered another possibility.
Why hadn't Sunny simply lied?
He had already been misleading the spy. Guiding him in the wrong direction. Downplaying Nephis' Aspect. Manipulating the conversation. That wasn't honesty — it was deception. And yet, when the question about the True Name came, he hadn't given a false one. He hadn't invented anything. He hadn't even deflected properly.
He had gone silent.
As if lying was not an option.
Arthur dissected the difference. Deception was not the same as lying. You could hide the truth, bend context, lead someone to a false conclusion… without ever stating something untrue.
That suggested a restriction.
A Flaw.
What if Sunny simply couldn't lie?
That alone would explain the pause. The internal strain. The visible discomfort. Faced with a direct question, he was cornered. Unable to answer falsely. Unable to answer truthfully without catastrophic consequences.
So he removed the question.
By killing the one who asked it.
Arthur followed the thought further.
But even that might not be the full picture. Sunny hadn't just avoided lying — he hadn't avoided answering either. He could have stayed silent. Refused. Walked away.
Unless he couldn't.
Unless his Flaw forced him to respond to questions. And to do so truthfully.
Not two separate Flaws. One condition. One rule.
If asked, he must answer. And he must answer honestly.
Arthur understood then, coldly, why the spy had died. In that situation, there had been no other outcome.
What if saying a True Name granted authority?
Not power, but a hierarchy. A one-sided relationship.
There was no way to confirm it. Too many variables. Too many gaps.
But one conclusion was undeniable.
If Sunny had killed for it, then Nephis and Cassie were in danger the moment he found out.
And Sunny was also in danger, because they knew it.
It was an unstable situation. Explosive.
Arthur acknowledged, distantly, that he himself was probably also at risk. But he didn't give it importance. Not because he underestimated Sunny, but because he had no interest whatsoever in knowing his True Name.
He didn't need it.
At that moment the door burst open. A figure ran into the room, the floor creaked beneath their steps, and in the next instant, a fist was flying straight toward Arthur's face.
His body reacted before his mind.
Arthur raised his arm and caught the wrist at the last second, stopping the blow inches from his face. The impact hung suspended in the air. The force behind it was not small.
He lifted his gaze.
It was Sylvie.
Arthur released her wrist immediately.
The cold in his mind cracked slightly, but didn't disappear completely.
"Deactivate it!" Sylvie shouted through clenched teeth. "Arthur, now!"
Cassie jolted, retreating slightly on the bed, clearly startled by the sudden intrusion.
Arthur didn't respond.
His expression remained neutral, distant, as if the scene didn't involve him.
"Arthur!" Sylvie stepped closer. "You're getting lost in there, I told you! Turn it off!"
He stared at her without blinking.
"Deactivate [Former King]!" she shouted again, this time with desperation. "Listen to me!"
The silence tightened for another second.
Then Arthur's eyes widened, and the second layer of his mind dissolved. The flow of deductions was cut off abruptly, as if someone had ripped out a current at its root. The cold withdrew from his body, and the rigidity in his posture eased.
Arthur let out a breath and brought a hand to his temple.
"Damn it…" he muttered softly.
He blinked several times, as if just now refocusing on the room.
Only then did he notice Cassie, sitting on the bed, staring at him with a mix of confusion and fear.
And he understood.
Arthur slowly lowered his hand.
"I…" he began, but stopped.
Sylvie was still standing in front of him, breathing heavily, her fists clenched.
"I told you not to use it like that," she said, lower now, but with a clear edge.
Arthur closed his eyes for a second.
"I know," he finally replied. "You were right."
The room fell completely silent.
After almost a full minute, Arthur leaned back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"I don't understand why I was given that attribute if I can't use it…"
Sylvie's expression shifted from anger to understanding.
"I get why you think that, but we agreed you wouldn't use it lightly. Just like it helps you in key moments, it brings far more dangers than we can understand. What would have happened if you had gotten lost in it?"
He propped himself up slightly, resting on his shoulders.
"I know… it's just that every time I use it, my body demands that I keep going. It's addictive, and to some extent frustrating, because it gives me so much power, but the risk is losing myself… what if I really am Grey, Sylv?"
The moment those words left his mouth, Sylvie stepped closer, her expression snapping back to anger.
"Don't even think that!" she snapped. Then, more calmly, she added, "You are you, Arthur. An attribute or a past you don't even remember won't define you."
That drew a small smile to his face.
"Thanks, Sylv."
A small cough pulled them out of their moment, and both turned to look at the source. It was Cassie, her eyes wide open and her eyebrows drawn down.
"Um… I don't know if I was supposed to hear that?" she asked timidly.
'Oh shit, I completely forgot Cassie was still here.'
'Well… it's not that bad, right?'
Looking at her with a smile, Arthur said, "It's fine if you know. I trust you." Then, remembering everything he had deduced from what Cassie had told him, he added, "For now, we're going to act like nothing happened. Don't tell Nephis that you told me this… but there's something I need to say to you."
The smile vanished completely from his face.
"I can understand your motives and your fears, but I won't support your actions. What you did was wrong, and I won't dwell on it because you already know that. I'll help you clean up this mess because you're my friend, but you should know I didn't like your decision at all. You have no right to take away other people's ability to choose. Not even when you think you're doing it to save them."
After taking a breath, he added, "The consequences of that action haven't arrived yet, but they will, and it won't be pretty for the three of you."
With that, he stood up from the bed and left the room without looking at her. He couldn't do it right now. Sylvie hesitated between following him or comforting Cassie, but ended up following him a few steps behind.
Arthur's mind was no longer the peaceful place it had been over the last two months. Now it was a tangle of emotions and contradictions that wouldn't let him think clearly. When Sylvie caught up to him at the castle gate, she grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. As she thought about what to say, Arthur noticed Sunless, Nephis, Caster, Effie, and Kai watching them from the corner of his eye. Seconds later, they turned away and went to train together in a nearby corner.
Arthur thought about joining them and ignoring the storm of emotions he was dealing with, but Sylvie kept him in place and spoke in a tone that was almost maternal, and slightly threatening.
"When you sort out your emotions, then you can go have a sparring match. For now, you're going to my room and taking a cold shower. Do you hear me?"
Even though she phrased it as a question, it wasn't one at all. It was an order that left no room for refusal. And since it was framed as a question, it didn't trigger his Flaw.
Another thing that had been weighing on Arthur during his time gathering information and dealing with the people of the castle was that very Flaw. At first, he thought it was based on hierarchy, depending on how he himself determined people's ranks.
But no. It took him a while to understand how it truly worked. It depended on how the person giving the order perceived him at the moment they did so.
It should have been something he understood just by reading the description the spell had given him.
[Flaw: The King Does Not Kneel.]
Flaw Description: [A king that bows ceases to be a king. Your will cannot bend to authority that is not your own.]
It never mentioned roles or hierarchical structures. In simple terms, if Arthur didn't want to do something and someone who believed themselves superior ordered him to do it, he simply wouldn't. At first glance, it seemed simple. But if he didn't want to do it in the way the other person ordered and preferred to do it differently, the Flaw wouldn't let him do it either. If he tried, his entire body would begin to ache, as if his soul were splitting apart.
Definitely another gift Grey had left him. How did that bastard even become a king?
'It's kind of weird to insult him knowing he was me in the past… or that I was him. No idea…'
While Arthur was lost in his thoughts, his body moved on its own. By the time he finished that last thought, he had already taken a cold shower and was walking toward the area where the cohort was sparring.
When his gaze fell on Caster fighting Sunny, a smile formed on his face.
'I really hope they're strong enough to make sparring fun. These days, I can only do it with Gemma or Seishan, and even they don't give me much of a challenge.'
Walking over calmly, with confident steps, the three who weren't fighting turned to look at him. But his gaze focused entirely on Changing Star.