By the time they got there, the rest of the cohort were already in place.
"Hey Merlin what's up, it's already late you know?" Effie huffed.
"Doesn't matter…" he waved her off, "hey guys"
"What do you mean doesn't matter? I'm supposed to be catching up on my quality sleep right now" Effie countered.
He turned and gave her a deadpan stare.
"I doubt any amount of sleep will add quality to you… except maybe eternal sleep"
"I'm going to kill you" Effie tried to rush at him, but Kai held her back.
"Alright let's not get violent… what's the situation Merlin?" Kai asked.
"We've got planning to do…" he answered calmly, "check how many people are watching"
Kai nodded and used his ability to search around he saw through the streets and buildings before turning his attention back to Merlin.
"Four in total, I can't tell if others are hiding" he answered.
"That's alright… I'll be back" Merlin said and immediately teleported away, he arrived at an unknown location and marked the corresponding point in the Spirit World, then he reappeared.
"Alright… time to leave" he walked to the closed door and placed his hand on the handle.
'Sigh… here goes a quarter of my essence'
He infused the door with the aura of Sefirah Castle and used his traveller ability to mark its corresponding position in the Spirit World, then he connected it with the point he had marked earlier and used positioning to connect the two together.
He braced himself as he felt his essence reduce then he opened the door, the door that usually led to the outside of the Immortal Flame mansion now held what seemed to be some sort of portal with different illusory colors moving around.
"Woah… what's this?" Effie turned to him.
"Traveller's door… it won't stay open for long, so I suggest you guys walk through now"
"Where does it go?" Jet asked.
He chuckled.
"Back where it all began…"
Jet couldn't understand so she simply shook her head and waited for the others. Nephis was the first to reach the door, she turned to him and asked.
"Is there anything dangerous on the other side?"
He shook his head, "nothing you haven't killed before"
She nodded and walked through, the moment she passed, Sunny followed, then Cassie, then Effie, then Jet.
Kai waited for a while then asked him.
"Is it really back there?"
"Yeah…" he nodded.
Kai sighed and walked through the door, then Merlin followed after.
..
.
"Who turned off the lights?"
Those were the first words Merlin heard as he came out of the other end.
He chuckled and answered.
"The lights… I believe that would be you and about a thousand other sleepers"
"Huh?" Jet said, confused.
"No way… Merlin, don't tell me" Effie sounded devastated.
"That's right… welcome back to the Forgotten Shore" he spread his hands.
With a snap of his fingers, a ball of flame appeared above the room, brightening the entire place, allowing them to see their surroundings.
Inside the room, there was a round table with scattered papers around, and chairs still arranged around it.
This was their meeting room in the Bright Castle.
"This place really brings back bad memories" Effie spoke somberly as she walked around the room.
"Wait a moment…" Jet looked around, "this is the Forgotten Shore?"
"Yeah… pretty cool right?" He answered.
"So this is the dream realm?"
"Yes"
"And you can just casually move between the two like a Saint, and even connect them with a regular door," Jet said in disbelief.
"Master Jet, don't be shocked now… we still have a lot of things that'll leave you questioning reality" he chuckled and walked to a chair and sat down.
"So Merlin, are we going to be having the talk here?" Cassie asked.
"No… we're doing it in my soul sea" he answered.
"Then why bring us all the way here?" Nephis asked.
"Two reason…" he held up two fingers, 'first, if we all arrived at Neph's place that was being watched, and for some reason, all of us just decided to take an extended nap, we're going to draw a lot of unnecessary suspicion"
"...Two, after the meeting, were going on a little memory walk for the sake of the future"
"The future? Why?" Cassie asked, confused.
"Well that's so Sunny can earn a little trust in the future… it's a little hard to explain, but you'll get it when we're done" he explained.
"Okay…" She nodded.
"Why do I feel like I'm not understanding anything you're saying?" Jet looked between them.
"I'm sorry Master Jet, I'll explain it soon, so please let everyone take their respective chairs and comfortable positions, we might take a while" he gestured to the remaining chairs.
At that moment, Sunny who had just scanned the castle with his shadow sense turned to Merlin and asked.
"What about the nightmare creatures roaming the castle?"
Merlin sighed and turned five into marionettes and turned to Sunny.
"Kill the rest"
Sunny nodded and sat down on his chair, at that moment around the castle, multiple nightmare creatures were pierced through with shadow tendrils and fell dead.
"Done…" Sunny said calmly.
"Well that's that… let's get this over with"
He leaned back and immediately entered his soul sea, he took his place at the high back chair and set up the corresponding positions, then spread his essence connecting to the rest of the cohort and the soon-to-join Master Jet.
..
.
With a burst of light, they all appeared in their corresponding seats.
"Woah… where is this?" Master Jet gazed around, then turned to him in surprise, "this is your soul sea?"
He smiled faintly.
"Are you pleasantly surprised?"
"Merlin… What the hell are you?"
"Haha… I'd love to know that too" he chuckled.
"Anyways… Master Jet, welcome to my soul sea, as for what we'll be discussing today, that'll be Antarctica"
"Antarctica? Why?" Jet asked.
It was Cassie that answered in his stead, she turned to face Jet
"Because in a few months, maybe less, a chain of nightmares will happen there, much like the one in America"
Jet was shocked, she turned around and noted the faces of others, seeing there was no reaction, she spoke up.
"Wait, you all knew?"
"Yes… we've known for a while now" Sunny nodded.
"How sure are you of this information?" She turned to Merlin.
"On whether it would happen? I'd say 100%, as for when, I'm not too sure… honestly I feel the Obel Scale should've picked up on something unusual by now, I'm just not sure if they've confused it" he explained calmly.
"What's the Obel Scale?" Sunny asked.
"Think of it as an alarm that warns people of this stuff, much like the emergency alert on your communicators, but bigger…" Jet explained to Sunny, then turned her attention back to him.
"So you guys are preparing for Antarctica before it even happens?"
"Yes"
"And how exactly can only your cohort make a difference when you haven't even told anyone about it?" She asked.
"We're not exactly planning on making a difference…" Effie spoke up, "we're more or less using the situation to our advantage"
"That description sort of makes us look heartless," Kai said lowly.
"It's the truth though" Effie shrugged.
"It might be the truth, but you didn't have to put it that way" Sunny spoke up.
"Like you could do better doofus…" Effie rolled her eyes.
"Actually I could…"
"He definitely could do better" Nephis nodded to Sunny's words.
"I agree with Neph, Sunny could do a better job" Cassie agreed with Nephis.
"Grrr" Effie gritted her teeth, staring at Sunny who wore a smug smile.
"Alright…" Merlin got everyone's attention with a clap, "we all know that twisting the truth is Sunny's speciality, so I believe we should clear Master Jet before we start looking like the bad guys"
"Tsk…" Effie clicked her tongue and turned her head.
"Anyways… the thing is, first, only you and I have power to make the government move, but obviously they won't, as for the Great clans, well that's another story entirely" he sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"It's like this, I'll start with the government, although our rank is high, it's not high enough to make them start evacuation on an entire continent, when they're not sure of what's coming…"
He continued.
"Even if we're 100% sure of it happening, we can't convince them without exposing a few secrets that should never see the sun"
Jet tilted her head.
"What secret is that?"
He looked around the others then nodded.
"Since you're officially part of the cohort, I guess it's time you learnt a few things…"
He then proceeded to give her the details of the Great clans, the Sovereigns, Broken Sword, and how he knows bits and pieces of the future.
By the time he finished, Jet was already shaking her head in disbelief.
"There's no way all this is real…"
"Oh it's real alright…" Effie said with a grin.
Jet turned to Nephis.
"So that means the Great clans killed your…"
"Yes," Nephis nodded.
"Oh gods… so that's your plan? To take revenge on the Great clans?" Jet asked.
"Yes" Nephis nodded again.
"That's insanity…" Jet shook her head in disbelief.
"Ehem…" Merlin coughed to get their attention.
"Master Jet, please don't misunderstand, the Sovereigns are the target, but the plan is still a long way from getting to them so don't worry… as for why we're doing it, in my case, it's not revenge, but necessity and I'll explain why soon enough" he explained.
"I see…" Jet nodded in understanding, then turned to him sharply, "and you, you said you know bits of the future, how much of that is true?"
"100%... In my case, I can't really prove it right now, but I'll give you some information about it…"
He sighed and continued.
"The first, and most important is Antarctica, in a few months, the continent is going to meet its end, the most dangerous of creatures around for the current set up would probably be the Winter Beast, a Corrupted Titan, that freezes anything within a half a mile radius from its body, and for that reason, Saint Tyris also known as Sky Tide will be in charge of keeping it at bay, although she'll be mostly unsuccessful…"
He stopped and gauged their reactions for a few seconds, then continued.
"The next would be The Corrupted Terror of Lunar Observatory 49 (LO49)... that one has very little offensive ability, but it's mind manipulation is off the charts, it controls the minds of everyone around, Saints included, and makes them ignore the people who it controls to walk right into its mouth, if it even has one…"
"Then there's the Heart of Darkness, they're very tricky to deal with, and their main attack is tiring out their target before successfully devouring them, as for what they look like, probably hundreds of thousands of insects… there's also the Titan, Goliath, but he's mostly just brute force… either way, these are a few of the things we'll have to deal with in Antarctica" Merlin finished with a light smile.
The entire cohort including Cassie was a little stunned, mostly because although he had usually told them about possible futures, he had never been this detailed before, that's why they all had that look.
Jet was the first to break the silence.
"That's oddly specific, as far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't know much about Antarctica, but you were able to mention LO49, which I only heard of recently… so I guess there's no other choice but to believe you, but I'll still keep in mind that you might still be wrong"
"You can ask Cas for confirmation if you like…" he gestured to Cassie.
"I can confirm the Winter Beast and Heart of Darkness, but I haven't had any visions about the rest," Cassie explained.
"Why those two?" Nephis asked.
It was Merlin that spoke up.
"Well for the Heart of Darkness, Sunny and his group were trapped inside, so he had to rename a memory to ask for help through your bond, then Cassie gave him the solution… as for the Winter Beast, Sunny and Master Jet almost died at its hands, except Sunny escaped into the shadows and Master Jet is already dead"
Cassie nodded in confirmation of his words, while Sunny turned to Jet.
"Wait, you're dead?"
Master Jet looked at Merlin in surprise for a few seconds, then answered Sunny.
"That's right, I'm already dead, so I have to constantly absorb essence to survive… my soul core can't store essence, so I have to kill to absorb essence, hence the same Soul Reaper…"
"That's… honestly cool," Sunny admitted.
Jet sighed and turned to Merlin.
"Still, I have a feeling all those things are just from visions you heard or had"
'They're from a book I read though…' he muttered inwardly.
"I understand… Since that's not enough to convince you, how about I tell you all about your transcendent transformation? He smiled calmly.
"Seriously?" Effie perked up.
"You even know that?" Jet was genuinely curious and confused at the same time.
"Sure… if you want"
"I want to hear mine," Kai said.
"Let's all hear it then" Cassie said expectingly.
"Well first Kai…" he started, "well Kai, you're a Dragon"
"A Dragon… I killed one in the second nightmare, turns out I'll become one in future" Kai said with a smile.
"A Dragon… that's cool, good for you Kai" Sunny cheered.
"Effie… well you're a Giant, finally got a size that matches your appetite" Merlin chuckled.
"Are you looking to get beat up pretty boy?" Effie cracked her knuckles.
"Anyways… Merlin waved her off, "Neph, well you're literally fire, just a radiant Spirit of Light, and white flames"
"I see," Nephis nodded calmly.
"Cassie's own had to do with her eyes, it allows her to read and alter memories of others" he explained.
"That's scary…" Effie spoke up.
"Well it has a few limitations but it's still a cool ability" he shrugged.
"Now on to Master Jet… you become an intangible wraith that moves in mist form, allowing you to avoid direct attacks and also deliver soul attacks to others"
"That's… interesting" Jet nodded.
"And finally Sunny, your shadows can emerge, becoming another body for you, so if you have seven shadows, then you'll have eight bodies" he said with a smile.
"How come everyone gets cool abilities, but I just grow?" Effie grumbled.
"Guess you picked the short end of the stick…" Merlin chuckled.
"Tsk…"
Sunny asked, "So I can be in eight places at once?"
"Yeah… Eight Sunny's" he nodded.
"Cool"
At that moment, Kai spoke up.
"What about you? What's your Transcendent form?"
"Me?" He tilted his head, "Oh that's simple… Worms of Spirit"
"Huh? So you turn into a giant worm" Effie asked confused.
"No no no… I turned into a regular sized worm, however just about thousands of them, so in other words, I become completely immune to most attacks, if even one of the Worms of Spirit survive, with enough time and essence, that one can become a thousand, and I can effectively survive any attack that's doesn't eliminate all of my body" He explained with a smile.
In reality, he wasn't sure he would have a Transcendent form, after all in LOTM, they only get full mythical creature form at Sequence 2, so even if he had a Transcendent form, showing it for too long might cause him to lose control.
Effie thought about it for a while, then nodded.
"So that means in terms of cockroaches, you, Doofus, Neph and Jet are the toughest of all, after all you're all hard to kill"
"Something like that…" he shrugged.
Jet nodded and asked.
"Your Transcendent form, can you separate the Worms from each other?"
"Yes I can"
"So… I'm the lowest because I can still be killed in my physical form, followed by Neph, because she can heal, then by Sunny because his bodies are eight, and then at the top is you with thousands of possible bodies" Jet said calmly.
"Are we really ranking the top cockroaches?" Sunny looked around in disbelief.
"It's accurate though," Effie shrugged.
Nephis turned to him and asked.
"If you separate a Worm of Spirit, can it multiply and become another you?"
"Technically, it's possible," he nodded.
Cassie perked up and asked.
"Is that how you split yourself in two?"
"Not exactly, but it follows the same principle," he replied.
At that moment, Jet asked.
"Then how did you do it?"