The Journey across the desolate lands weren't terribly gruelling as he might've thought. The cohort of awakened had a map of every discovered Nightmare gate, as well as their category, so all they needed to do was drive far enough away from them to keep safe.
Of course, nothing ever went as planned, and so they encountered a pack of Nightmare creatures every once in a while. But they weren't too difficult to handle. In cases where things did get rough though, the sleepers also had to put in the work.
Of course, sleepers that had no direct combat Aspects or decent memories stayed in the back, but Epsilon was able to fight on the frontlines. He was even able to kill an Awakened beast at some point, and had enough time to absorb its Soul Shard.
The Awakened cohort was even kind enough to even pay the ones who fought in excess Soul Shards. Epsilon did give some to Emma though, for obvious reasons.
While looking out the rolled down window of the Jeep, he gazed into the outside world. It hadn't changed that much, as it was still just as grey and desolate as it was near the Endroll colony.
Even then, Epsilon took a picture of it with his camera.
"You look very relaxed?", Emma suddenly asked.
"What makes you think that?"
"Your sightseeing."
Well, he was sort of a tourist, although his outfit didn't make him look like one. To be honest, Epsilon joked about wanting to try photography. He knew the two wouldn't be able to afford a camera for a long time, so that dream was never meant to take flight. And yet, Nero made it come true.
"It's the least I could do. He wasted a Soul Shard on it."
"A Soul.. where did he get one!?"
"Erm..."
He couldn't exactly tell her about his flaw.. even if they were close, he didn't want to tell Emma anything without Nero's permission. But there was an alternate truth he could tell her.
"...from a Nightmare creature duh.. where else would he get it...?"
But before she could ask anymore questions though, Epsilon just ignored her and pretended to sleep.
**
Camping out in the middle of nowhere wasn't really ideal, so over the course of two days, they stayed at other colony's. The more sights the better so that Epsilon could add them to his collection.
Once 2 days finally passed after leaving the Endroll colony, they reached the Southern coast where a large cargo ship was awaiting them. They looked to be right on time as a heap of passengers were currently boarding it.
Since ships across the ocean were too difficult to support, every kind of use was expected to be made out of them. Not just for transporting passengers, but cargo as well.
And of course, the ones who will be guarding this ship would be...
'The House Of Night...'
A Great legacy clan that existed for the waters. They were the only ones capable enough to guard the cargo ship across the ocean. Epsilons' and everyone else's lives would now be in their care.
More specifically, in the hands of their leader Nightwalker, and one of its heads who had been there since the beginning, Knossos.
This was one of the more important cargo transports, so it wasn't a surprise that their two biggest members were on here today.
The journey was... rough. The ship was shaking all throughout the night, and he could hear the sounds of countless Nightmare creatures crashing and slamming against the hull of the ship, with their dying shrieks echoing out not too long after.
But it was even worse the moment Epsilon made a strange discovery about himself.
He was susceptible to motion sickness.
Travelling by car wasn't enough to trigger it, but he had never been on a ship before today, so this was completely unexpected. If he knew, he would've stayed in Endroll honestly.
During the whole trip, he was vomiting into a toilet while Emma did her best to care for him.
But that wasn't all, getting sleep was hard, doing anything really was difficult. He had that memory he needed to check out, but he wasn't in the best condition to look at it either.
Modern technology had come a long way, and SpellTech only made it better. What used to be a 10-20 day trip, was now only 5 days long, but could've been even shorter if it wasn't for those Nightmare creatures.
Eventually though, that terrible journey was over at last. They had to briefly touch with Europe which was filled with its own dangers, but it wasn't much of an issue.
The sounds of cheers erupted throughout the cargo ship once they finally landed in the Middle east. The Northern Quadrant was located in Asia which wasn't connected to the Atlantic ocean, so a stop there was required.
However, it became increasingly more efficient and safe to travel by air in these parts. So it only took a half days worth of travel in a plane, and of course, Epsilons motion sickness kicked in there too.
But it was all worth it, because their long Journey was finally over.
**
Epsilon being carried by Emma, was standing in front of the massive, seemingly indestructible red gates of the Awakened Academy. Rather than a Academy, it was more like a city within a city. It was built like a fortress, with a high wall made of hard alloy, deep moat and numerous large-calibre turrets which were placed in certain positions to create a deadly air-suppression dome. No Nightmare Creature, not even colossal titans, were supposed to be able to break through its defences.
An Education was something Epsilon had only dreamed about before, but now he could actually experience it.
'For a whole 2 weeks...'
That journey had taken out much of the time they should've had, so unfortunately there was no time to have fun.
But still, he was a little sad his brother wasn't here, although he didn't show it. Despite that last moment they had, he was still a tad bit resentful, but he understood him more now. It wasn't his fault.
Snow then suddenly began to fall, not just here, but in the Northern Quadrant too, and finally, the gates began to open. The giant, ridiculously thick sheet of reinforced metal slowly descended, creating a long bridge. Epsilon looked ahead with grim determination.
Emma then said,
"Let's survive and bring Nero here one day."
He silently nodded.
**
Nero suddenly sneezed.
"Is someone talking about me?"
But then his mind quickly jolted.
"I forgot to investigate Emma!"