"A chain of nightmares? In Antarctica?" Kai spoke up abruptly.
"Yeah… in just about six months from now I believe" Merlin replied calmly.
"And what are we going to do about it?" Effie spoke up.
Everyone seated here except a few like Silver and Ariel knew what the chain of nightmares had done to America. In only a few months, an entire continent had become a nest for nightmare creatures, Merlin's knowledge of the America situation was limited to what he read, but he still knew about it at least.
"As for what we're going to do, that's our current long-term mission" he answered and began the explanation "Neph, Cas and the fire keepers will come whenever the Valor can feel like they need to intervene, Effie and Kai will follow the second group of the government officials, Merlin will come with Song, while me and Sunny will be part of the first people to leave, along with Master Jet who's not here"
"Hold on…" Effie raised a finger "Why the hell do you keep referring to 'Merlin' as if he's another person entirely?"
He shrugged and replied.
"In a few days he will be, so that's kind of the plan"
"You wouldn't just send us to Antarctica for no reason…" Nephis spoke up "so what's the reason?"
"The path to our third nightmare is in Antarctica" Cassie answered in his stead.
"So that's the plan? Go to Antarctica, kill a few thousand nightmare creatures, find a nightmare seed, challenge it, destroy fate and everyone loves happily ever after, except me… right?" Sunny asked, still solemn about the part of being forgotten.
"Are we really just going to let doofus be forgotten like that?"
"It's not exactly possible to make him not forgotten as long as his fate is stolen, but the decision on whether he wants it or not is up to him" he spoke as he turned to Sunny.
"I… don't know, I'll think about it" Sunny replied with a sigh.
"Now back to what we were saying, Silver, will you like to participate in the Antarctica mission?" He asked Silver who had been quiet ever since.
Silver thought for a moment then asked.
"This… chain of nightmares, is it…?"
He replied before she completed her question.
"Yes… it's exactly what happened in Civilth"
He didn't hide the truth because he wanted her to make her decision, if she chose to sit out, then he had a perfect job that she would do for him, or she could just relax, but if she chose to join, then there may the gods help those nightmare creatures.
"I see… I will join you on your journey, I cannot afford for innocent people to suffer like the people of Civilth had suffered" Silver answered determinedly.
"Well that settles it, I'm sure Saint Cor will appreciate the extra pair of transcendent hands"
After that,they had a few more chats about their experience in the dream realm, their plans for the great clans and other things they could share.
A few hours later, the cohort left Sunny's house, leaving only the homeless him, with Silver and Ariel. He casually borrowed the second room from Sunny and he left it to Ariel and Silver, Silver could stay without sleeping, but so could he, and as a gentleman he simply gave up the room to Silver, she would be the one to take care of Ariel's night demands.
The next day, Merlin was sitting on the couch, beside him was Ariel, Silver was still in the room doing whatever it is she was doing, and Sunny was generously making breakfast.
"So what exactly are your plans now?" Sunny's voice sounded from the kitchen.
"First thing first, I'm getting a place, then I need to find a way to split off half myself, I have a solid plan for it, but I can't really be sure it'll work, then I need to do something about my aspect too" he gave a light explanation as he highlighted them with his fingers.
"How do you plan to split yourself anyways?"
"With my divine memory, though I hope it works…" he shrugged.
"Merlin…"
"Yes?"
"You said you're going to the Song clan right?" Sunny asked.
"Yeah, what's up?" He asked back.
"It's just that… When you get there, be wary of Mordret, he has the ability to challenge anyone to a soul battle, and if he wins, he takes over the person's body and abilities" Sunny warned, the distance did nothing to hide his sheer hate of the guy.
"Sunny, thanks for the heads up, but I'm sure you'd really want to see what happens when Mordret enters my soul sea…" he smiled as he thought of a few thousand puppets ganging up to beat poor Mordret.
From the living room he could hear Sunny chuckle darkly, before his voice sounded out.
"That's honestly something I'd like to see"
"Since you want to beat him up so badly, maybe whenever I get a hold of his true body, I'll teleport him to you, then we can beat him up a little, but don't kill him, we'll need him in the future" He smiled as he thought of kidnapping Mordret.
'Poor guy doesn't even know that he's in for some thrashing…'
"Huh? That guy's needed for the future? Are you sure?" Sunny sounded surprised by his words.
"Surprising as it sounds, yes, but hey, a broken bone here and there wouldn't hurt much right? Well at least not hurt us much…" He chuckled.
A few minutes later, Sunny eventually came out of the kitchen carrying two plates of food in his hand, and two others in his shadow manifested arms.
"It's a pretty useful ability…" he commented as he stared at the arms with admiration.
"Yes it is" Sunny replied.
After Sunny set the plates down, Merlin casually pick up a plate and walked upstairs, as he got to the door, he didn't open it or knock, he simply used his apprentice ability to phase the plates and some part of his hands through, then he carefully dropped it on the floor behind the door.
"Be sure to eat everything" he left a comment before he walked downstairs to eat his own food.
..
.
By the afternoon, Ariel had gone upstairs to go disturb the peace of Silver who hadn't left her room since morning, Sunny had gone on an errand to get some things, leaving only Merlin in the house, he picked up the tv remote, compared to the one he once used at home, this television was less difficult to understand.
He set up the TV projector to a random show, and he just left it playing as his mind drifted. He just sat staring into the empty space, it was peaceful times like this that reminded him that he had left the world he knew, even if he might have wished for it at some point, wishes and reality were two completely different things.
After a few minutes of doing nothing, he finally heard some noise coming from the door. The next minute, the door swung open as the person outside entered the room with a cheery voice.
"Teacher! I saw your face on the news!"
The voice belonged none other than to Rain, Sunny's little sister, He had expected the chance of meeting her, so he played along with her, first he placed an illusion, the with the Faceless ability, he quickly changed his face, body and voice to match Sunny's, but the height was just a little bit off, only by a few centimeters.
"Rain… I thought I told you to train alone for a while?" He spoke as he pinched his temples.
"I… know, but you were on the news with the Attendant Of Mysteries" Rain answered as she closed the door quietly.
'Oh… that worked, let's keep it up'
"I told you we were friends, didn't I? Why do you still sound surprised?" He asked again.
"I know… it just feels unreal, by the way, where's he? Can I see him?" Rain asked as she looked around expectingly.
He flicked her forehead and spoke up.
"He's out doing something, he'll be back soon, till then, since you're already here, you'll just have to continue your training"
"Ugh training again?" Rain complained.
"Huh? What's with that weak answer?"he asked, confused.
"Compared to Lady Changing Star and Nightingale, your training is always the hardest…" She muttered as she plopped down on the couch he just stood up from.
"That's because I want you to survive the most, do you think the dream realm is going to take it easy on you?" He countered, but before he could continue, the door swung open as Sunny walked inside.
"Hey Merlin, I'll have to talk with Master Jet about your…" Sunny's voice stopped as he stared at the situation inside.
"Teacher?" Rain called out looking at Sunny.
"Yes?" Sunny replied.
"Teacher?" This time was to him.
"Yes?" He answered calmly.
"Rain?" Sunny asked as his mind finally registered her presence.
"Teacher?"
"Merlin…" Sunny turned to him.
"Sunny…" he offered a light smile.
"Ugh… I don't even know where to begin with this" Sunny sighed as he walked into the house.
Rain was busy exchanging confused glances between the two of them, he didn't comment or change back, he just watched as her mind built and destroyed logic in real time.
"Which of you is my teacher?" Rain asked as she gave up on understanding.
Sunny sat down and sighed.
"Rain… I'm your teacher, and that's…"
He sat down and chuckled as he reverted back to his original face.
"Nice to meet you Rain, I'm…"
"Wooow!" She didn't even give him time to finish as she burst out in a really girl-like squeal that left him and Sunny dumbfounded.
"You… you're Attendant Of Mysteries, Merlin"
"Yep that's me, and please, only Merlin is fine" Merlin waved his hand casually.
"Wait… does that mean I missed the chance to get trained by the strongest Master?" She muttered as her shoulders slumped down.
"Not necessarily…" he smiled and turned to Sunny "how about we do a little sparring shadow boy…"
"Sure, but I doubt my house can survive the impact" Sunny shrugged.
"Shadow boy?" Rain muttered, then her eyes lit up "it's you… you're the second strongest Master"
"Are you willing to respect me now?" Sunny scoffed.
"You're the second strongest Master, are you stronger than Lady Nephis?" Rain asked as her eyes filled with suspicion.
Looking at that familiar look on Rain's face made it easy to see why they're siblings.
"Ofcourse I'm stronger, do you think all the training I did was for nothing?" Sunny defended his pride, then he turned to Merlin "So where are we going to do our spar?"
"I have an idea, but I'll have to tell Silver and Ariel that I'm leaving first…"
*Alright" Sunny nodded.
He went upstairs and opened the door, Silver was on the floor seemingly meditating, and Ariel was sleeping soundly on the bed, in her hands was one of the toys she was playing with.
"I'm going out to spar with Sunny, I'll be back soon, so please take care of Ariel and the house for me"
Silver nodded without opening her eyes, and he took her confirmation and walked downstairs.
"So where are we going?" Rain asked curiously as her eyes blazed with excitement.
"We're going to the famous Ivory castle, the floating citadel" he answered with a smile.
"But… I can't enter the dream realm" Rain sighed dejectedly.
"You can't enter the dream realm?" He chuckled "don't worry and leave that to me…"
He walked forward and placed a hand on their shoulders "well I suggest you keep your eyes closed for the next part"
He knew that from the original, the only reason people mostly avoided looking around in the spirit world was to avoid attracting trouble from the inhabitants of the spirit world, but in his case, he might not have inhabitants, but there is a Saint level creature somewhere in there, he still clearly remembered the pressure he felt, who knows if the guy would just pop up out of nowhere.
As he confirmed their eyes were closed, he immediately used travel, this time he didn't have to rely on Sunny as he recalled the scene he saw in the nightmare, the time may not be the same, but the location never changed.
A few seconds later, he arrived at the citadel, he took in the view with profound appreciation. The tall ivory tower and the green wide field surrounding it gave it an aesthetic look.
"Alright, you can look now" he said as he took his hands off their shoulder.
"Woah this place is awesome!" Rain exclaimed at the sight, then she turned to him "are you secretly a Saint?"
"What? No, it's just my ability" he chuckled.
'Maybe I could pass for a Saint, I mean with the ability, the cloak, plus I'm currently still stronger than some Saints… heh'
"Anyways, since we're here, we'll go for the tour later, for now, we spar…"