After a long breakfast most concentrated on their tasks again. As for the combatants, another strategic meeting was scheduled for later that day, though, attendance was not necessarily required.
And indeed, some of them really did not appear, seemingly still trying to get over their losses from yesterday.
The meeting went over yesterday's failure of an expedition. They talked about what they could have done better, and what kind of preparations they would need for the next time.
Throughout all of this, the atmosphere appeared tense and heavy. Nephis seemed to be oblivious to this though.
By the end of the meeting, it was decided that the planned hunts for the duration of the next week would be cancelled. This decision could only be made, because they had been able to store up quite a bit of food from the last hunts.
The stored amount should suffice for the week but would need to be stuffed again when the time came. It could be seen as a kind of risky move but was deemed as effective and necessary. Therefore, being the best choice.
Everyone had a slightly different perspective on this situation, but ultimately no one opened his mouth to argue against their leader. She was the person who had come and given them hope again after sinking into depression here.
After that, only a few minor things were discussed before the meeting was then dismissed.
As the meeting ended, Ray chatted with Nephis and the others for a few minutes before also heading out. Now that he had learned how to read runes, or at least interpret them more or less, he wanted to dive directly into a translating session of the tome belonging to his Aspect Legacy.
On the way Ray was greeted by multiple groups of people who were doing their assigned tasks. Normally Ray would also have some things to do, but that was one of the reasons for the short chat after the meeting. He managed to get himself a vacation, more or less.
Well, that sounded a bit weird, as he wasn't even really required to work like he normally did but did so because they all wanted to get back to the waking world at one point and following Nephis was the best call right now.
In Ray's mind it was truly a shame, if the leaders of both parties here on the forgotten shore would just make a peace treaty and cooperate, then their way back home would have been nearly assured, but that was impossible.
One was going forwards as if the world was chasing her down, even in this pit of hell at the need of the world, while the other seemed to have given up on everything but his reign.
The cohort had not just fought and survived here; they had also tried to dig deeper into the whole situation of the forgotten shore and in return, the bright castle.
Gunlaug was currently the third bright lord, and also the biggest tyrant that has ever ruled these parts. Both of his predecessors had ventured out into the expanse of the shore, searching for ways to escape, but ultimately failed.
The first on a journey south, the second while trying to lay siege on the crimson spire.
Both of them were brave and strong sleepers, those that if they had made it back to the waking world would have surely made names for themselves and could've caused impacts in the grand scheme of things.
Nevertheless, they failed. And now it was on them to find a new solution.
Reaching the door to his hut, Ray stepped inside and shut it quietly behind him. The air inside was still and smelled faintly of old parchment and iron. He let out a breath and held his hand out in front of him. A moment later, golden sparks gathered and wove themselves into the form of a book - dark, battered, and cold in his hand.
The tome of oblivion.
Ray sat down cross-legged on the floor and laid it before him. After a pause, he opened the cover.
Just like before, the first page was filled with symbols that seemed to shift under his gaze - runic language so ancient and layered that it felt more like a dream caught on paper than a script. But this time… there was something. Tiny patterns. Repeating characters. Faint impressions that began to form something like a logic tree in his mind.
He didn't understand it. Not fully. But part of it began to lean toward understanding, like a locked door he could now see the hinges of.
He narrowed his eyes, and for the next hour, he worked. Slow, meticulous, often doubling back on assumptions. Cross-referencing rune shapes, guessing their relations by form and repetition, trying to place them within context.
He got about a quarter of the first page. Maybe less, honestly. But it was enough to tell him what this page was trying to be.
A structure. An index.
Fragmented concepts, each wrapped in half-decipherable glyphs. He couldn't yet grasp their full meaning, but something about the arrangement of the runes hinted at what they pointed to.
…what was lost… remains after oblivion
Oblivion was… a demon… prophet…
Remaining one… oblivion is too strong
Sorcery… exists as balance… oblivion and…
Wielding oblivion… as a concept… a tool… weapon
Not all of them made sense. Some glyphs he couldn't match to anything, not yet. And it seemed like entire pieces of the page had either decayed or never existed in the first place. Maybe this book wasn't made to last. Maybe it was never meant to be finished.
Ray leaned back slightly and rubbed his eyes. His head throbbed a little - not from the strain, but from a creeping awareness. The same sensation he sometimes got just before a flare of his flaw, like the world pressing in from a direction he couldn't name.
He looked down at the tome again.
Still mostly a wall of madness. But the wall had cracks now.
And through them, something vast was waiting.
---
Meanwhile
The air was cold on the plateau.
Nephis could be seen standing near the edge, her eyes fixed on the horizon. Behind her, a darkly dressed young man stood and looked at her, his face covered by the veil of darkness surrounding them.
"…So that's it?"
She didn't turn around.
"You're really going through with it," Sunny said, his voice steady but low.
"It has to be done."
"Does it?" He scoffed quietly. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're walking them all straight into a grave."
Nephis finally looked over her shoulder. "You've seen the Shore. You know what's waiting for us if we do nothing."
"That doesn't mean this is the answer."
"It's the only one we have."
Sunny shook his head. "No. It's the only one you want."
She said nothing.
"You've changed," he continued. "You talk like it's about hope and survival, but it's not. Not really."
"And what is it then?"
"It's control." Sunny stepped closer. "You've been shaping them. Molding their thoughts, their fears. You learned how to say just enough truth to make it sound like the whole thing. Learned it from me, didn't you?"
Nephis didn't deny it.
"You act like some savior," Sunny said, "but you're no different than anyone else here. You just figured out how to wear the mask better."
"If that's what it takes."
He stared at her. "And what happens when they see what's underneath?"
She didn't answer. Just watched him, silent and unreadable.
"I'm leaving," Sunny said.
"I know."
"I need time. Space. Away from this… from you."
Nephis gave the slightest nod. "When you come back – if you come back - things will be different."
"They already are Neph."
He turned and walked away, not once looking back.
Nephis stayed where she was, alone with the wind.