Nephis found herself sitting on Sunny and moving her palm across his bare chest with white flames dancing in her eyes.
She lowered her head, her short hair lightly hanging from her sides, blocking her face from the periphery. She leaned closer and closer until she kissed Sunny back. He, in return hugged her, not wanting to let go.
She pulled away and asked while blushing.
N: Do you want to….
Sunny blushed but reacted calmly
S: Everything has its time, Neph. This is not the right time. I am sorry. If you think I am a coward, but I think we should wait.
Nephis shook her head and said.
N: No, it proves to me that you are taking our relationship seriously, just don't wait too long, okay.
Sunny thought for a moment and then said.
S: Saints. Let's get married once we become saints.
S: Is it too long?
N: No, I was afraid you'd say something like Awakened or maybe Supreme.
S: If it were a Supreme wedding would be greater, wouldn't it?
N: That is true.
Sunny looked at her again and said.
S: I would want to marry you right now, Neph, but we are too weak to fight this world of ours.
N: What about Forgotten Shore? Do you think we will be able to hold it in? And Saints? We are still just dreamers.
S: I hope so. but
Sunny sat up and said with a mischief on his lips.
S: Look at my runes.
Nephis tilted her head but complied.
Name: Sunny
True name: Lost From Light
Partner: Nephis - Changing Star
Descendants: -
Rank: awakened
Class: Beast
Cores: 1/7
Aspect legacy: Hier of Shadow God
Shadow dance mastery: 7/7
???
???
???
???
Disciple of the Nine.
Nephis froze and re-read something again.
N: rank. Awakened? How is that even possible?
It didn't say anything about you slaying anything. How are you awakened?
Sunny looked into a distant sky and shrugged,
S: One of my teachers, from my first nightmare, taught me how can I absorb essence from the world. It got significantly weaker once I woke up, but I am still using it, even right now.
N: Can you teach me how to do it? And also, where is your snake…
Sunny blinked.
Nephis blushed, realising what she said.
N: Serpent, I meant Serpent! Your Tattoo!
Sunny pointed into the forest.
S: he was guarding us all this time.
N: What about your Gloomy shadow?
S: he is standing right behind you.
Gloomy Shadow just shrugged his shoulders while looking at them.
N: How is he corporeal?
S: I am not so sure myself, but I think it might be tied to my ability.
He called both his shadow and Serpent back to him, which augmented him passively instead of previously needing to equip his shadow to use.
Serpent coils around his arms and fuses with his body.
S: Alright, let's meet here every day and train till Forgotten Shore.
N: Alright.
Everything went as in the normal storyline with a few exceptions. Firstly, the next day, Sunny was ranked one in combat but ranked dead last in the written exam, and so his overall score was somewhere in the lower numbers. Nephis scored second in combat and first in the written exam, taking first place.
Despite that, Sunny was getting more popular, mainly with the girls, probably because in his soul runes, he was awakened, but the system in their academy still saw him as a sleeper. So, despite him getting the Awakened perks of getting stronger and prettier, he was also receiving a ridiculous amount of death stares from Nephis, making him shiver every once in a while.
Meanwhile, in the forest, their training was progressing at a drastic speed. They were getting stronger and stronger over some time. A couple of weeks they invited Cassia as well, and she reluctantly joined their session.
Once they reached the clearing, Cassia tried to look around, but obviously she saw nothing. At first, Nephis walked with her the entire clearing to get familiar with it.
Ca: Thank you, although it will take me a couple of days to feel comfortable walking here without needing assistance.
S: That won't do.
Sunny stood up and walked up to her, stopping right in front of her.
Ca: Why?
Sunny sighed and said casually.
S: Follow what I say. Try to shape it into your form of perceiving the world. I can't teach you much because I knew only about one oracle, and he could see. Do you know what that means?
Ca: Am I unlucky?
S: opposite.
Ca: How so?
Sunny started walking around her and saying.
S: he said that oracles, to begin with, are an incredibly rare ability, however, their system of how they work is very cruel. The less you see, the more powerful you are. The last thing he said was that if you are fully blind, you are way more powerful than you think you are.
Sunny looked at her, then at Neph, who was standing behind Cassia and smiling at Sunny.
Sunny leaned closer to Cassia so that their faces almost touched, and said.
S: After all, you do have a sacred aspect.
Cassia looked at him, stunned, not daring to move.
Sunny sighed and straightened up again, distancing himself from Cassia.
S: Your memory is excellent, and so I believe you already know what this area looks like. With that, I will teach you how to use your ability to move without tripping all the time.
Ca: Is that really possible?
S: My ability and yours are similar in nature, so yes. Still, in the end, it is up to you. I will only teach you how to use it. But using it yourself is fully up to you and your understanding as well as comprehension.
Ca: What do I need to do?
S: Close your eyes.
Ca: Does it make a difference?
S: Yes. I want you to create a realistic image or layout of this place in your mind. Every leaf, every bump, every tree and every living being. For now, focus on static objects.
As Cassia closed her eyes, she was consumed by darkness. Same but different.
Suddenly, a white line appeared in front of her, and then to her left and behind her. Slowly, everything she could remember was appearing as if drawing a blueprint or a 3D model of a map.
S: Don't forget you are blind, not deaf. Focus. Wind, leafs bending to its will, Nephis, me and finally you.
Sunny poked her forehead and continued.
S: This is a purely logical thing filled with imagination.
Sunny closed his eyes, his black world enveloped a big part of the forest, reaching the academy as well. Sunny bent down and picked up a stone from the ground.
S: What is in my hand?
Ca: some round object.
S: That's not enough.
Ca: stone. Yes, it's a stone.
She opened her eyes and was welcomed by darkness again. This one was distant and scary. She closed them again and was welcomed by the world she created, but it wasn't her creation; it was her view.
S: It will take some time for you to comprehend how it works, but I believe you can handle it in no time.
Cassia nodded and hugged Sunny, saying.
Ca: I love you, Sunny. Thank you, thank you.
Nephis pulled her away from Sunny and said.
N: Well, that's enough.
Ca: Why?
N: Well… because….
Cassia smiled at Nephis and asked.
Ca: You love him? Prove it.
Nephis gritted her teeth and walked past Cassia, pulling Sunny by his shirt, kissing him, and Sunny returning the kiss.
Although cassia could not see, she could hear, and when she heard it, she sight.
Ca: You didn't have to kiss you, you could just say that he is yours.
N: Would you back off if I said it?
Ca: who knows.
Nephis glared at Sunny and Cassia.
S: What? Why are you angry, Neph? You know I only love you, right?
Ca: Oh well. I am still very glad to see you again, somewhat. So thank you, Sunny.
S: We are not done here. My goal is to help you get stronger, strong enough to become awakened without actually being awakened.
Ca: What?
Nephis sighed and looked at Sunny with a perplexed expression.
N: Cassia, will you excuse us for a moment?
Ca: sure.
Nephis took Sunny by his hand and reached out of the clearing.
S: Neph?
She ignored him and pushed him against a tree, making it shake a little.
She pulled him by his shirt again, kissing him this time, grabbing his hair, not wanting to stop.
He returned the kiss with the same action. He was almost consumed by lust that built up in his body, but he changed his stance, and he was now pushing Neph against the tree.
S: Cassia will get suspicious.
N: That's the plan.
S: What?
She broke the kiss and looked down, breathing heavily.
N: You are mine. Mine alone.
S: I am sorry for making you feel jealous.
N: Since you asked so nicely, I have no choice but to forgive you. This time.
N: Alright, let's return.
When Sunny and Nephis returned, Cassia was blushing slightly but still standing where she was.
Ca: You are so wild, Nephis.
N: Wild? We are in the forest.
Ca: That's not what I meant
Cassia just sighed and looked away.
Ca: Never mind. So, what is the next step, Sunny?
S: I assume you see both me and Nephis, right?
Ca: Yes.
S: Alright.
Sunny pulled out a scarf similar to what Cassia wore and tied it around his eyes.
Ca: Why? Why would you do that?
S: Now, your mission is simple. You have to touch me.
N: What will I get for it?
S: I will do anything you want.
N: Anything?
S: Yes. Anything.
Ca: How much time do we have?
S: till sunrise. Now begin.
Despite Nephis being trained by her father, and her abilities were most definitely nothing but excellent, Sunny was trained by Thene, an actual deity, and thus it would be an insult to her if he were to lose to someone who doesn't know anything about this art.
After a couple of hours of relentless catching and Sunny's evading, both Nephis and Cassia were on the ground, breathing heavily, unable to move. Nephis wasn't supposed to continue using her flames, not realising how exhausted she was. Even after she healed herself, she wasn't able to touch him. It wasn't because she didn't want to hurt him. She tossed away those feelings a long time ago. It was almost as if she was forced to look at it as a beautiful measmorizing dance and not battle at all.
Sunny breath in calmly and took of his blindfold.
S: well that was a nice attempt at least.
With that he lifted both Nephis and Cassia from the ground and left with them to their dorms.
After he got to his room he sat on his bed and smiled to himself.
S: That was so much fun.
When they met at the caffetiria they looked as if they were ran over by a truck.
S: what's up with you 2?
N: shut
Ca: up
S: I…