A tenebrous stallion was galloping across the vast expanse of white sand.
On his back, leaning tiredly in the saddle, sat a beautiful young woman in black garments. The steed and the rider were like a wave of darkness that absorbed the incandescent sunlight, and only the young woman's striking silver hair reflected the light back as it danced in the air.
Nephis was following a swift shadow that glided across the dunes in front of them, guiding the two back to the group.
Cresting a tall dune, she saw a scene out of a nightmare. The immaculate whiteness of the sand had been painted red by blood, and grotesque corpses were strewn about, torn asunder and gaping with terrible wounds.
Her expression turned grim.
At the same time, down below, Sunny turned his head slightly and glanced at the black silhouette of the rider, which was outlined against the azure sky at the top of the dune. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he sighed tiredly and leaned his back against the scaly limb of a dead abomination, hidden in its shadow.
'She's back.'
Nephis had survived her mission... the rest of them had survived, as well, albeit barely. This swarm of Nightmare Creatures had been too tough even for Sir Gilead to handle - the Saint had dealt with the leader of the pack, a Great Beast, and the rest of them had faced off against the pack of Corrupted abominations.
Now, Summer Knight was severely wounded, and they were similarly battered and drained of strength. In any other situation, a Transcendent vanquishing a Great Nightmare Creature would have been a legendary feat worthy of a triumphant celebration, but now, they were just tired and afraid.
This was the first Great abomination - aside from the Skinwalker - they had stumbled on in the Nightmare Desert, but would it be the last? Certainly not.
They had not even reached the inner regions of this cursed land yet, and the situation was already so hopeless.
Nightmare descended from the dune, and the members of the group crawled out from the shaded spots beneath the gigantic corpses to meet Nephis.
She jumped from the saddle and looked at Morgan with a composed expression. The princess of Valor raised an eyebrow.
"How did it go?"
Nephis lingered for a moment.
"I lured that titan toward the Skinwalker's vessel. They fought, but more vessels showed up. The titan should be dead by now... there is still the sea of quicksand between us and the pursuers, with the thing that dwells below, but it won't delay them for long. We have several hours, at most."
Morgan let out a heavy sigh.
"Damn it. It was a desperate gambit, but I really hoped to achieve more."
She grimaced, then turned west and stared at the distant silhouette of the black pyramid with a grim expression.
By now, everyone knew that her desperate desire to reach the Tomb of Ariel, or at least get closer to it, was futile. Perhaps even Morgan knew, even if she refused to admit it.
Sunny was sure that she was not trying to conquer the black pyramid for their benefit, but still, he was almost touched. The rest of them had pretty much already surrendered... only Morgan continued to stubbornly cling to the impossible goal.
Sir Gilead shook his head.
"Lady Morgan... this is the fourth day. I promised to give you time, but we've made no progress. You need to accept reality."
The princess remained silent for a while, then winced.
"Sunset. We'll push forward until the sun sets. If nothing changes until then, I'll follow you back to Antarctica."
Summer Knight looked away, then nodded.
They could probably survive until the sunset... in any case, there was still the issue of finding a suitable spot for traveling between worlds. The handsome Saint glanced at Cassie.
"Lady Cassia, I will have to trouble you."
She simply nodded, expressing her consent to help Sir Gilead and Morgan escape the Nightmare Desert.
Sunny was also looking at the black pyramid that loomed just beyond the horizon. He was strangely calm.
'The Tomb of Ariel... how can one reach it?'
In fact, he had an idea. They had been moving into the depths of the sea of dunes for seven days now, encountering more and more dire dangers.
But maybe that was the reason that they had made no progress... traveling during the day.
Sunny had a gnawing suspicion that one could only get closer to the daemon's tomb during the night.
But if that was true... then it was really impossible for them to approach it. Because the Nightmare Desert during the night was a place not suited for mortals.
It was the land of the dead.
With a sigh, he took a sip from the Endless Spring, dismissed it, and started walking.
'It's so damn hot...'
***
They survived another day, even if some of them were on the verge of wishing that they hadn't. There had been more fights, more blood spilled. The Skinwalker was looming close, growing more and more inescapable.
The sun was falling behind the dark silhouette of the black pyramid, as if being pierced by its sharp tip. The Tomb of Ariel was just as it had been from the very start, seemingly within grasp but also utterly unreachable, as if mocking them.
Limping, Sunny stepped over the corpse of a slain Nightmare Creature and walked between two black obelisks that served as a gateway to a buried ruin. This place was going to be their shelter for the night - the seventh night they would spend in the desert.
It was also where Summer Knight and Morgan were going to leave them.
Inside a vast underground chamber hidden beneath the ruin, the members of the cohort were listlessly sitting on the ancient stone floor.
Morgan was apart from everyone, nursing a broken arm. Her resilient body was littered with wounds, and she was too low on soul essence to heal them. There was a dark and resentful expression on her face.
Everyone seemed to have tacitly agreed to give her some space.
...Well, Sunny was not someone who had a lot of tact.
Walking over to the princess of the great clan Valor, he lowered himself to the cool floor in front of her.
Morgan looked up, momentarily confused.
"Ah... Master Sunless. You must be terribly disappointed in me. Sorry... it seems that I am not as capable of a leader as I thought."
He remained silent for a while, then shrugged.
"Actually, I don't care about that."
She smiled bleakly.
"Oh? If you have not come to chastise me, then what do you want?"
Sunny looked at her somberly.
"After you and Sir Gilead are gone, the rest of us are going to try challenging the Third Nightmare. That is the only way left for us, so... I just wanted to ask if Clan Valor was going to start harassing me again, in case I survive."
No one was allowed to become a Saint without the permission of the Sovereigns. It might have had something to do with what Professor Obel theorized once - that the appearance of Gates was innately tied to the advancements of humans on the path of Ascension. It might have been just because the Sovereigns were unwilling to let anyone grow too powerful without becoming a part of their Domains.
In any case, Sunny wanted to get some assurances that he was not going to be hunted down by the great clans, on the small chance that he actually managed to return from the Third Nightmare alive.
Looking at him, Morgan suddenly let out a low laugh.
"Third Nightmare? Ah... you don't have to worry about that..."
He frowned.
The proud princess seemed to have lowered her perfectly maintained facade. If that was the case... he suddenly felt a compulsion to push his luck a little.
"Actually, I have another question."
Morgan looked at him silently. Sunny met her gaze and asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice:
"It's a question that has been gnawing at me for a while. The great clans have been suppressing the Transcendence of independent Awakened for decades. An old man once told me that you might have been pursuing noble goals... like limiting the number of powerful Nightmare Gates that open across the world. Someone else told me that all you think about is whose Domain controls the most Citadels, though. So... what is the real reason? And why does it seem that you suddenly don't care about it at all?"
He paused, and then added evenly:
"The great clans have also been at odds with each other for a long time, but you only decided to start a real war now that a whole damn continent is on the verge of being destroyed. Why is that? Huh?"
Sunny felt a little surreal. A few years ago, as a Sleeper, Nephis had warned him that merely knowing about the existence of Sovereigns and Domains could get him killed. And now, as a Master, he was directly asking such questions to the daughter of a Sovereign.
Well, it was not like Morgan could do anything to him right now. What punishment could be worse than leaving him behind in the middle of the Nightmare Desert? Sunny was already as good as dead, so there was no reason to hold back.
She looked at him for a while, keeping silent. To Sunny's surprise, there was no anger or disdain in Morgan's eyes. Only... a strange, grim amusement.
"You really don't know?"
He shook his head.
Morgan frowned and let out a hoarse chuckle.
"Well. Both of your questions... have the same answer. The probability of powerful Nightmare Gates opening across the world - we wanted to keep it as low as possible, yes. Wishing to control more Citadels - we wanted it too. But now, we indeed don't care about suppressing the number of Saints that much."
Sunny looked at her with a burning intensity.
"Why?"
Morgan smiled darkly.
"Why else? It's because there's no point in doing so anymore. The critical mass has already been reached. My father and Ki Song, they postponed it for as long as they could. But now, there's no way to slow down the pebble anymore. It has already become an avalanche."
She leaned forward until her face was mere centimeters from Sunny's and whispered into his ear:
"What, did you think that the Chain of Nightmares was going to stop with the Southern Quadrant? No, Master Sunless... it is just the start. Soon enough, all of Earth will be the same as Antarctica. Every continent, every city, every home. All of it... all of the waking world will be swallowed by the Dream Realm."
She leaned back, leaving Sunny staring at her in shock. His mind seemed to be frozen.
Morgan studied his motionless face with a smile, and then sighed.
"Two weak Domains can't withstand the future. Only one powerful Domain can. So, you see... one way or the other, either Valor or Song must fall. There can be only one king, and one throne."
She lingered for a few moments, and then stood up.
"I wish you luck, Master Sunless. Go, conquer the Third Nightmare, and become a Saint. Did you think that the great clans would try to stop you? No... now that the end has begun, we'll need all the Saints we can get."
Morgan turned away and walked in the direction of Sir Gilead, her vermilion eyes drowning in darkness.
As she did, she stopped for a moment and looked at Nephis.
"Sister! I will wait for you in Bastion. Don't take too long."
With that, the Princess of War took Summer Knight's hand.
Soon, they were gone, leaving the six of them - Sunny, Nephis, Cassie, Effie, Kai, and Jet - alone in the underground chamber.
The echo of her words was roaring in Sunny's mind, leaving him paralyzed.
After a while, he shifted slightly.
'Oh... of course.'
Outside, the armies of the ancient dead were locked in an eternal battle, and a cold moon shone above the stygian edifice of the dreadful old tomb.
