And so came a wind of change into the slum region of the dark city.
The deeds of the cohort, and especially Changing Star of the Immortal Flame clan, quickly worked like an ember on dry land.
While they were met with a lot of distrust at the start, their actions without any repayment caused the slum dwellers to ver soon warm up to them and wish to support them.
No one could really tell, but at one point some people just came forward and tended to help in one way or another, those were more often than not no fighters, but rather just other unfortunate souls that wanted to be part of something.
And with each expedition into the dark city, the renown of the cohort grew. The most attention was set on Nephis as the leader of them, and also the symbol of the ongoing change. But after her, Effie, known as an experienced hunter and guide, Ray, now more and more known for his fearsome strength and fighting skills, as well as Caster, for his strength and approachable personality, were getting more attention than before.
As for Cassia, she was designated as the distributor of the food, and coupled with her innocent and Sunny demeanor, she soon became the face of the cohort.
The only one forgotten by the masses was their trusted scout, Sunny. Because of the overwhelming strength already concentrated in the cohort with Nephis' calculated and burning style, Ray's smooth but brutal efficiency, Effie's brute force and refined techniques, as well as Caster's quick and precise executions, not much attention was directed at him.
Ray still spent a lot of time with him, learning to read runes and also just hanging out, or training at times, but even he was busy at times.
Nephis was the leader of their whole movement, but then came the difficulties, while Effie had the most experience, she had no interest in a real leading role, Ray would've been the next person in line for such a position, but Caster seemed dedicated to take it.
After talking about this with Sunny, and sharing their thoughts about Caster, they decided that Ray should take on a more active role in the movement, even if just to keep a closer eye on Caster.
Their shared mistrust towards him made this decision easy to make.
A weird phenomenon that occurred was that Ray seemed to be unable to see any visions or memories of Caster, ever since they had started this whole thing. Ray attributed this to a coincidence for the first weeks, as with the ever-growing number of people around visions for each person became increasingly rare.
But when nearly a month had passed, since their cohorts founding and still without any vision, even Ray grew more suspicious of the legacy. Without any kind of evidence, making that accusation would only backfire, leaving Ray with no real choice for now. There just wasn't anything he could really do.
Over this period, Ray also became witness of a multiple occurrence, that being Sunny mistaken for a new recruit to their cause. The first time was really funny for Ray, but when it happened again and again, even he grew concerned. It seemed weird, as if Sunny also had an attribute such as his, which was very unlikely.
Said attribute of Ray was still somehow getting suppressed by his [Nullborn] attribute. He didn't now exactly why, but this glitching seemed to somehow negate the bad aura he sometimes gave off from his [Heir of Demons] attribute.
From Ray's observation it just seemed as if Sunny was isolating himself partly and the other reason for his solitude was his brash way of speaking.
A moment where his reputation could have taken a leap was one morning when as the morning arrived and life returned to the slums, everyone was greeted by a sight of destruction close to the end of the settlement.
There, being very exhausted, were Nephis, Caster and Sunny. They seemed as if they had fought through the whole night. But because humans are weird beings, nearly no one paid attention to Sunny and just swarmed around the other two.
It was also around this time that Sunny also stopped teaching Ray runes, he had mostly learned everything he needed to more or less decipher the tome brought to him by his Aspect Legacy, but Ray wanted to continue staying with Sunny originally, as he seemed to want to isolate himself even further.
Sunny looked for recognition and not only friendship it seemed. Recognition from others.
---
Currently inside a meeting discussing the next day's hunt.
"The next expeditions prey was already decided on, therefore you should all have the information ready, right?"
"Yes. The chosen target is very territorial and sensitive to sound, so we need a way to get close to them, without them noticing all of us. Our group's size could make that quite difficult, any ideas?"
"Yeah, I have a soun-" Sunny wanted to add, before getting interrupted
"Maybe a diversion?" Someone interrupted Sunny.
"Or a smaller hunting party this time?" Another one added.
"Hey! Could you morons let Sunny speak for once? Or do you think your random thoughts are more important right now?" Ray roared, already irritated.
Everyone shut up as soon as Ray's voice could be heard, even Nephis, Effie no Caster looked at him in slight surprise, before all turning to their trusted scout.
Meanwhile others were left wondering who this Sunny even was, and why one of their leaders would stand up for him like that.
Nodding towards Ray, Sunny began again. "Yes, I have a sound-based memory. A bell that can make a loud noise when used. We could use it to mask our steps or to make them walk straight into a trap."
Nephis gave a nod to him and turned to the rest again, "That could work, anything to add?"
When no one added anything Nephis dismissed the meeting and everyone went to make their last preparations. Still before leaving, most gave Sunny either an encouraging nod or a pat on the shoulder.
Something very unfamiliar for the guy.
Just as Ray was also about to leave the conference room, he was stopped by Neph. Turning to her with a questioning look.
"Any news about your friend in the castle?"
"Nah, haven't heard much from him, another friend in the castle told me that he was getting more tasks than usual from the pathfinders currently. Possibly because of us. Don't know anything specific though."
Neph nodded, already deep in thought again. But a moment later she asked something Ray could not have expected.
"Ray, were you sent to kill me?"
She asked this with a resolute face and determined tone.
Hearing this, Ray couldn't help but look at her as if she was the biggest idiot in the world. "Da fuck? Why would anyone kill you or sent someone to kill you? Because of your heritage?"
Neph nodded, but didn't say anything more.
Ray shrugged and turned to leave. Though, he didn't leave before saying a few more words, "Got the wrong one, princess. Oh, but if it would have been me who was sent, then you would have been long dead."
For those last words Ray looked over his shoulder, straight into her eyes.