"Anyway, you mentioned Nephis is affiliated with Clan Valor? What happened?" I asked, quickly changing the topic.
"Nothing special," Effie said nonchalantly. "With the appearance of a few hundred battle-hardened Awakened, neither the legacy clans nor the government wanted to leave us alone. They all wanted a piece of us."
"Neph had the idea of splitting up willingly before things could get worse," Kai continued. "She led about seventy people to Clan Valor. With Gunlaug's leadership, around fifty joined the House of Night. And I must say—you left quite the impression on him. He defends everyone under him with tooth and nail and helps them however he can."
"There are about forty of us who remained independent or started working for the government," Effie added.
"Don't forget, as soon as we got out, Seishan took her handmaidens and left for Clan Song without a word," Sunny said.
"A little less than three hundred people overall," Cassie said softly.
"But… there were almost a thousand of us," I said sadly. "I should have acted sooner..."
Before I could dwell on it, I felt a sharp smack on the back of my head.
"What was that for?" I snapped.
"Idiot," Nephis said. "This much is already because of you. Without you, not even a hundred would have escaped."
I was stunned for a second.
"Who are you, and what have you done to my little Star?" I joked, pretending to be frightened.
Everyone burst out laughing.
"You've changed so much in two years," I added with a smile. "You know, I was a bit worried that you'd start fighting against the legacy clans the moment you got out."
She didn't respond, so I quickly asked something else.
"So, how was your Second Nightmare?"
"It was hard," Sunny said simply.
"And it didn't help that you brought your new friend along," Effie added.
"Huh? He got a friend?" I asked, surprised.
"I discovered this Nightmare Seed and killed a weird creature," Sunny explained. "I told these guys I wanted to challenge it, and Cassie said we needed something for it. So, we went to the Night Temple, and somehow, we freed this 'Prince of Nothing.'"
"And who is this Prince of Nothing?"
"Nephis confirmed while we were in the Second Nightmare that he's Clan Valor's oldest son," Sunny answered.
"He tried to kill us in the Nightmare Seed, but we won," Nephis added. "He vanished after that."
"Do we know what he wants?"
"Destroying Clan Valor."
"Oh, then we're not really enemies, are we?" I said, turning toward Nephis.
She looked surprised but admitted, "We have similar goals."
"All this aside—what happened to you?" Kai asked me.
"Me? Nothing much. Just wandering here and there, fighting a bit. After about a year, I found some talking skeletons hanging from a tree, and one of them was kind enough to help me out. He guided me under the Hollowed Mountains after I told him I wanted to escape to the Waking World. I found a Nightmare Seed and conquered it."
"How was it?" Nephis asked, concerned.
After thinking for a moment, I just shrugged.
"It could have been the easiest Second Nightmare in history."
"Enough about that," I said, stretching. "I feel like I can use my essence to augment myself now. You guys have been Masters for a while—can you help me?"
"I'll tell you about it while we're sparring," Nephis said.
"You just want to beat me up before I learn it, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
We chatted for a while about less serious things, and eventually, we started heading out.