Cassie and Sunny would not be leaving the statue until the following morning, so they settled onto the stone plateau. Never ones to idle, they began their training.
"We started by replacing your lost sight with shadow sense," Sunny said, his voice steady. "First, you learned to navigate using the shadows of the environment around you. Then, you began to read the shapes and movements of others."
Sunny gestured to Gloomy, who hovered behind Cassie. "This form of perception gives you a powerful advantage. Ordinary people must focus on a target to see them, but you have no such restriction and can perceive in entirety. It is well-documented that losing one sense often sharpens the others. Therefore, you've adapted to this tool faster than I did, which means it's time for the next lesson: fighting."
Cassie tilted her head. "Wasn't that what the sparring was for?"
Gloomy shook their head, and Sunny's tone remained even. "Your form was terrible throughout, but drawing attention to it then would have disrupted your adaptation to the new sense. The fencing background you carry has left you with bad habits we need to dismantle."
After a quick motion, the two sleepers began doing stretches.
"Now that you can walk, it is time for you to run. When Nephis first taught me to fight, she told me that true mastery begins with understanding the essence of combat. What do you think that essence is?"
Cassie mulled over the question for a time, before answering "Victory."
Sunny's gaze shifted toward the sky, his eyes distant with memory. "No. It's murder. The core of combat is two opponents trying to kill each other. Everything else is just noise. The moment you step into battle, there's no room for hesitation." His eyes lowered the horizon. "From today, you will be taught how to kill."
He gave Cassie's shoulder a brief, almost absent pat before transferring the Azure Blade into her Soul Sea.
"The fighting style you learned from fencing is ill-suited for true combat," Sunny began, his voice firm. "In fencing, the bout ends with a clean hit, and the force of the strike is arbitrary. Both fighters use the same weapons, with similar body types. Your footwork is linear—quick and short. Parrying and blocking techniques are designed to defend against a single threat. I don't need to explain the dangers of applying those principles when facing Nightmare Creatures or other Awakened. They'll get you killed. It's time to learn a style that's meant for battle, not sport."
Gloomy glided to the center of the platform, preparing for the demonstration.
"Watch closely," Sunny continued. "Learn the sword techniques of the Immortal Flame clan from my shadow. You'll practice it every day during our breaks until it's engraved upon your soul. If your form falters, I will correct it. You may rest once the sun sets."
***
As night descended upon the Forgotten Shore, dark rivers of water emerged from the abyssal depths below the seabed. The ocean rose, thick and heavy, until it consumed the coral labyrinth in an apocalyptic flood.
Cassie and Sunny didn't need light to see, so their day need not end quite yet. Before the two began sleeping, Sunny chose to speak.
"I gave you the tools Nephis gave to me, but I'd be remiss if I didn't share my own wisdom." He paused, his hands clenching. "Believing combat's essence to be 'murder' is a juvenile simplification. In straightforward battles, it's a sufficient understanding. But there are times when it's not. The most important fight of my life was one where where neither I nor my opponent wanted to kill the other. A bit contradictory, isn't it?"
Cassie's voice was laced with curiosity. "Really?"
Sunny chuckled softly, but the smile quickly faded into a grimace. "Yes, I even told you the story before. It was when all three of us were still Sleepers. Nephis tricked me into believing I had to incapacitate her to escape the Dream Realm. Only one of us could exit, but she never had any intention of leaving in my place. She knew I wouldn't accept abandoning her, so she began a faux-duel with me for the right to leave. Soon after she let me win, I saw through her ruse. I demanded answers about why she threw the fight, and that was the moment when she spoke my True Name to force me through the Gateway."
He paused, as if in mournful reflection. "That moment... was destined, engraved in the tapestry of Fate. At least, that's what the Nightmare Spell would have us believe. It shaped everything that came after. Our lives, our choices—yours too, because you were so heavily entangled in it."
Cassie nodded, her movements stilled, ears turned toward the speaker
"I have realized that the goal of my most important battles never really centered around the death of one party... For those moments, the essence of combat was actually 'control.' Seizing the ability to impose one's will. Sometimes that may be to the banal end of taking another's life, but in other moments it could mean subjugating another, or finding the perfect ending to a Nightmare. It's especially clear when I think about how I ended up here in the first place. Your future self didn't fight to kill creatures. You fought fate to seize authority over our futures."
Sunny leaned back, his face turning toward the starless sky, distant and lost.
"On the surface, it might seem that freeing me from my chains simply reversed the target of betrayal to Nephis. But you're not foolish enough to make that mistake again. So, the only conclusion I've been able to draw... is that you believed once we took control of our fates, everything would fall into place, no matter the circumstances."
His eyes fell back to the stone platform beneath them. Saltwater droplets trickled down his cheeks, as if longing to merge with the Dark Sea.
"After all," his voice cracked, "if that is our will, then who dares stop us?"
Cassie took his hand, holding it with quiet reverence, her silence speaking volumes. The boy's emotions bled through her touch, staining her hands in the color of grief.
'I can't fix this yet, but I won't let you suffer alone.'