A twisted image of a spiraling, crimson spire forced itself viciously into Cassie's mind. The spire rose so high into the sky that it appeared to be a bloodied sword of some primordial titan, thrust at the heavens. Scarlet-colored coral flowed endlessly from the blade, making it seem like the spire was releasing potent blood from a god.
Around the malevolent monument, countless corpses of abominations and humans alike lay sprawled on the ground, completely still. The horrific graveyard stretched as far as she could see, the sea of lifeless bodies a never ending picture of merciless and absolute death.
Cassie couldn't smell in her vision, and yet, the stench of the grotesque view made her want to puke. However, as quick as the image of the harrowing place of utter death appeared, it also went away.
In the next moment, Cassie found herself inside of the Crimson Spire, ascending up by the twisting crimson coral. The higher she went, the more cramped the space became, the walls around her narrowing with every step.
Atop the horrendous spiral, a gateway shone with white brilliance, radiating with ethereal brightness. Two people—and a monster—stood in front of it. One was a brilliant angel, shining with white brilliance, as pure and pristine flames burned all around her. The other was a celestial dream, a figure whose very presence made the mind pulse with dangerous intensity. The dream was vivid and elusive, unable to be understood and comprehended.
Behind the dream, stood its follower—a harrowing creature known as the Harbinger of Dreams. The Herald aimed its large scythe at the radiant angel, however, having no intent to kill it—it was simply ready to protect its master.
The dream and angel seemed to be arguing about something, their voices hectic and loud. The dream was urging the angel, however, the angel stood unmoving. As time passed, the sun broke, the black sea retracted, and the Crimson Spire crumbled.
Seeing the angel having no desire to move, the dream started to utter a cursed sentence out of nowhere. Cassie couldn't understand the forbidden words, and yet, her mind broke. It was like the Spell, the world—no—reality itself forbade her from hearing those words.
Her mind throbbed with the purest of pain one could experience, one that could make someone fall into madness. Cassie wanted to scream, but she had no mouth, no voice to do so.
The pain was unbearable, so she couldn't make out what the dream said next. But as the last syllable left the dream's mouth, the angel suddenly turned around, walking towards the brilliant light of the gateway.
But before she could see what happened after the angel took its first step, the vision ended.
***
"I'm a street rat and the Spell saw it as necessary to send us to the same place, so you should be the one kneeling in front of me. I know I'm great."
The expression on Nephis' face suddenly changed.
"I should?" she asked, a flicker of confusion appearing on her face.
Cassie woke up with a startle, drowning the world around her in a pained scream. The distressed cry tore through their surroundings, instantly gaining the attention of the princess and slum rat.
Rain and Nephis turned their heads towards the direction of which the scream came from, noticing a distressed Cassie. The poor girl's chest was heaving uncontrollably, her breath heavy and strained. She seemed to be disheveled, unable to escape her misery.
Without wasting any moment, Nephis dashed towards her blind friend, holding her hand gently.
"It's alright, Cassie. You're safe here."
Cassie's grip around Nephis' hand tightened, like it was the only thing anchoring her to the reality in which she found herself in. The image of the towering, crimson construct, the graveyard in which hundreds of corpses lay, and the image of what happened inside of the sprite didn't want to leave her mind. Without even having thought a lot about her vision, she instinctively knew what it meant—and it definitely wasn't pleasant.
After a while though, Cassie seemed to calm down, at least a little bit. She raised her head, before saying:
"I saw a vision…*
Her words hung heavily in the air. Visions were rare and precious, able to know the future beforehand, which was a very powerful power. And since it had such a powerful impact on Cassie, Rain and Nephis instantly knew that the vision wasn't just an unimportant one.
Rain gulped, choosing her words carefully.
"Are you okay, Cassie? Can you tell us about the vision?"
The questioned girl slowly shook her head.
"I-I'm fine, but let's not talk about it for now. I need time to think."
Rain nodded solemnly. If Cassie didn't want to talk about it, she would respect it. The silence was heavy, and so was the darkness, enveloping them from every side.
It was scary how quickly the whole atmosphere changed.
Before lowering herself onto the ground, Rain decided to pull out makeshift cups out of her makeshift backpack, simply setting them down.
Time slowly passed without any words having been spoken. The reason for that was that everyone had something to think about, especially Cassie.
The Carapace Centurion had stopped twitching after a few more minutes, now utterly motionless. The familiar grey sky, hiding behind clouds, still loomed over them. The storm slowly died down, but the night still had a long way to go.
After a few hours passed, the black sea retreating from wherever it had come from, and the sky coming back to illuminate the crimson labyrinth, Rain finally stood up.
She had thought a lot while silently waiting in the darkness, and there was one thing she quickly realised. She was weak, at least physically. Rain had of course known that fact for a long time, but after having fought the Carapace Centurion, that reality fully settled in.
When she had slashed down with her sword, aiming at the joint of the large abomination, it simply bounced off, not even having left a single scratch. But her physical strength wasn't the only reason why it did so—her technique was subpar too.
With a sigh, Rain took a few steps towards the silver-haired girl who was already looking back at her.
"Nephis, let's make a deal."
Nephis raised an eyebrow, her expression one of curiousness. A deal wasn't something she had expected.
"What kind of deal?"
Rain deliberated for a few seconds before answering.
"It's rather simple. I'll give you all the soul shards I'll obtain in our journey towards the dark castle."
Then, Rain looked her into the eyes.
"In return, you will teach me how to use a sword."
Nephis looked at her and contemplated. This time, she remained silent longer than usual.
Rain felt nervous. Would Nephis see potential in her? Would she be good enough to make Nephis train her?
After some time, Nephis nodded.
"Okay."
Rain smiled, happy that the princess accepted her proposal.
"So when do we start?"
Nephis shrugged.
"Now."
Now?
Rain looked at the sun, which was barely above the horizon, still making its way up into the sky. It was the start of the morning, so they had a lot of time to train.
"We will start with some words. That will be enough for today."
After hesitating a little, she added:
"Cassie, you listen too."
The blind girl turned towards the origin of the voice, waiting patiently like a student. All three were of similar age, and yet, both Rain and Cassie knew that when it came to the fighting, that Nephis was leagues above them.
Nephis thought for a while, and then said:
"Mastery of combat can be divided into two aspects. One is the body, and the other one is the mind. Training one's body isn't something easy, and it takes a lot of time, but it's rather straightforward. All you need is experience—the more often you fight, the stronger you get."
That made a lot of sense. It was also rather simple. The more you repeated something, the better you would get, that was just natural. But how about the mind?
"Training the mind, however, is not simple at all. The mind is what ultimately decides the one who wins. If two people have the same strength and technique, it all comes down to the mind. The first step is to understand the essence of combat. However, very few people truly do."
She looked at them and asked:
"What do you think that essence is?"
Rain thought intently about that question. What was fighting for her? A way of expressing herself? To defend her honor and pride? No, it was to keep herself alive. She had gone through a lot in her life, much more than a lot of people could even think about. And she had only come out alive because she had concentrated on only keeping her alive.
After a minute or so, Cassie answered
"Victory."
A few moments later, Rain did too.
"Survival."
Changing Star shook her head.
"No."
Nephis sighed and pierced them with a cold, fierce gaze.
"The essence of combat is murder."
Cassie flinched, opening her eyes wide. In the meantime, Rain's chest pulled together.
Murder.
That wasn't something she desired. Rain had always struggled with killing since her childhood, and it had only worsened after her First Nightmare. It wasn't death that scared her, but rather, the guilt of taking someone's life. She even found it hard to kill abominations.
She wouldn't care if Nephis was the one to take a Nightmare Creatures life, but doing it herself? That was something she couldn't force herself to do. Of course, if her life relied on it, she would—since she had also done that in the past.
"There's only one thing you need to remember. You are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you. As long as you are the one to murder, you will survive."
Nephis' words sunk deep in Rain's mind. What she said made sense, and it overlapped with her own philosophy. She would survive, as long as she was the one to murder. But was that something she could do? Rain wasn't confident.
"External things like style or weapons don't matter. Reasons or morals don't matter. The only thing that matters is to kill your opponent, to live one more day."
Rain lowered her head.
"And what if someone doesn't want to murder?"
Nephis eyes narrowed, keeping her gaze on Rain, before bluntly saying:
"Then they aren't made to fight."
After that, Rain chuckled a little sarcastically and looked into the grey sky.
'Not made for fighting, huh? I already knew that.'