Merlin was walking down the unfamiliar forest, his movements were steady and he was alert for attacks from nightmare creatures, the greeting that this forest of civilth had given him was a fallen devil, he wasn't hoping to meet the welcome party they might have cooked up somewhere.
He moved through the forest for a while, then he heard murmurs in his head.
'Really, now that I'm in the middle of nowhere, where am I going to see a safe space'
He decided to ignore the murmurs hoping to reply later, but a few seconds later, it sounded again.
Merlin looked around and found a corner to hide, then he entered his soul sea, as he arrived, it wasn't Sunny's point of light that was blinking, instead it was two others, two new lights.
'How should I answer them now… what if I pulled their consciousness inside like the Tarot club'
He then imagined it as he touched the three points of light, then the castle stirred, the mist from outside flowed inside and filled the castle, with a thought Merlin sent all the mist to the top covering the marionettes hanging from above.
Then the figures of Sunny, Nephis and Cassie arrived. Merlin watched as they looked around confused, then Cassie exclaimed.
"Merlin?!"
A few seconds of silence followed, then he stood up, smiled at them and said.
"Yo, guys… Welcome to Sefirah Castle"
The looks on their faces were filled with surprise, he gave them a moment to calm down, then Nephis asked as she looked around.
"Merlin… where is this?"
"Well it's simply my soul sea, it's less of a sea though" Merlin chuckled and sat down, then he raised his hand 'please sit…'
The next moment twenty-two other chairs and a long table formed from seemingly nowhere.
"This… is your soul sea?" Sunny asked with sheer awe as he walked to a chair, subconsciously he sat on the left, while Nephis and Cassie sat down on the right, Merlin sat at the head of the table.
'Tarot club position huh… what a coincidence, but wait…..' Merlin's thoughts instantly ceased from forming any thoughts.
'what… was I just thinking about?' Merlin thought for a while trying to recollect his thoughts but to no avail.
'I forgot what I was thinking… this usually only happens when I think about how I reincarnated here… this isn't a coincidence'
He shook his head after trying and failing, then he turned to the others and asked.
"So, what's up with you guys?"
Cassie smiled and said out loud.
"Merlin… I can see, it's been a long time, I miss this feeling"
"Yeah, that's great Cassie, it's probably a surprising feature about my soul sea" Merlin smiled to her as he thought 'Did it remove her flaw? Maybe this...'' his thoughts disappeared again.
"Merlin, is this really your soul sea?" Nephis asked again to confirm, while Merlin recovered from the thought loss.
"Yes it is" he pointed to the gray soul cores above and said "see, these are my cores, I can't exactly have them anywhere that's not my soul sea though"
"I understand that soul seas can be different, mine is filled with flames of my aspect, but I don't have a castle filled with fog inside it" Nephis said as she looked around the castle intently.
"Well we can say mine's different, I really don't know much about it either" Merlin shrugged.
Honestly anytime he tried to question the castle's origin in his mind, he always gets stopped mid way, so he adopted a passive stance on it.
'if you can't reject it, then take it and use it meaningfully'
"Merlin, how does this place block our flaws'?" Sunny asked as he turned to his friend, in the short period of time, he had lied a lot and the pain of his flaw didn't come up at all.
"Our flaws are blocked?" Nephis looked surprised at the information, she hadn't activated her aspect since coming.
The next moment, white pristine flames enveloped her hands, the flames danced around it but she didn't feel the steering pain of her flaw.
"Merlin… t-this is"
"Interesting isn't it" She started but Merlin completed it for her.
Merlin sighed as leaned back in his chair.
"Honestly guys, I'm not sure either about all this either, it's not like I have people to bring into my soul sea… you guys are the first"
"Let's leave aside the matter about my soul sea for now, how are you guys doing?"
Cassie, still with her cheery tone, answered him.
"We're doing good, we've been keeping in touch with each other, but…"
"But?..." Merlin tilted his head slightly.
Nephis then answered him instead.
"It's the Song domain, they claimed that you would be joining them when you returned, so a lot of sleepers that were grateful for your help joined the song domain"
"I see, Ki Song made her move a little earlier than I expected, but that doesn't matter much, I'll be taking back those sleepers when I return" Merlin touched his chin as he spoke.
"What about the fire keepers?" He added.
They looked surprised, but it was only for a second as they recalled what Sunny said to them two weeks ago.
"The fire keepers have formed, they're sleepers from our close confidants and those that believe that when you return you'll stick to Nephis" Cassie answered.
"Well Merlin, you see I told them…" Sunny spoke up.
"Well it doesn't matter, I was going to tell them anyway, you just advanced it a little" Merlin said as he already guessed what Sunny was referring to, then he turned to them.
"You guys must have a lot of questions right?"
"So you know the future?" Nephis spoke up first.
"I know a future, not the future…" Merlin answered truthfully.
Cassie was confused by his words and asked
"What's the difference?"
"The difference Cas, is that the future I know doesn't have me inside, and also isn't as peaceful as this… so while I may know a lot of things that are bound to happen, I'm not able to predict how they'll happen, not anymore tho" Merlin explained to the cohort.
Before they could say anything, he added.
"Telling you guys some information about the future would work, but don't expect any key information if I say those too early, it will affect a lot of things… alright you can ask now"
"How can we kill the Sovereigns?" Nephis' voice immediately sounded out.
"..."
The fog filled castle entered a state of silence.
'I just said no key information… and she proceeds to ask me what took G3 an entire arc to write…'
"Nephis, the answer to your question is very simple, how do you kill a corrupted nightmare creature, a great one, a cursed one even an unholy one… it's simple, just kill it, if you aren't strong enough, then get stronger and kill it then" Merlin explained something but it felt like he said nothing, it's like asking 'how do I kill something' and the answer you get is 'by killing it'.
'You guys are underestimating the gaslighting ability of Mr Fool… hehehe'
The cohort all felt like they understood something, but still they understood nothing.
Sunny shook the multiple thoughts off his head and asked his question.
"What of clues to a second nightmare, one that has not been controlled by the great clans?"
"Well…" Merlin thought for a while, then he turned to Cassie and smiled "You'll have to rely on Cassie's vision for that".
"Me?" Cassie asked, confused as everyone turned to her.
"Well it's more of subtle influence from Cassie and massive greed from Sunny" Merlin clarified, then asked again.
"Are you guys anchored to Chain Isles?"
Sunny glanced at Nephis and Cassie then answered.
"Not yet, we were planning on going soon, but we hadn't decided if it was Chain Isles, should we go there?"
"Yes ofcourse, where else do you think you'll see the nightmare seed?" Merlin smiled.
"Alright…" Sunny nodded.
"Merlin… how are things on your side?" Nephis asked as she played with flames on her hand.
"I've left the forgotten shore, I'm in a place called the Forest of Civilth, but my speed will be slow for a while, I lost my echo to a fallen devil, so I'm mostly doing the rest on foot." Merlin explained.
"A fallen devil? Like the one in the dark castle? Are you okay?" Sunny asked, the last fallen devil they fought had impaled him, so Sunny's words of concern were appreciated.
"Yeah, I managed to kill it too" Merlin proclaimed proudly.
"You killed a fallen devil… alone?" Cassie asked.
"Hey I'm strong you know, I killed the crimson terror too, and that was a fallen terror" Merlin smiled.
"Back then you had your echo to help" Cassie added softly.
Merlin shook his head slightly.
"Technically, my echo didn't do much against the crimson terror, but hey don't worry over spilled milk, the fallen devil's already dead"
"You said you're planning on challenging the second nightmare…" Nephis spoke up from beside Cassie.
"Yeah, that's the plan"
"Do you know where to find a second nightmare?" Sunny asked.
"No… but I know someone who does" Merlin answered him lightly.
"You know someone? Who is that?" Sunny asked, confused.
Merlin smiled and answered.
"Well you'd be surprised… His name is Eurys of the Nine"
Sunny's eyes widened slightly as he asked.
"The Nine?"
"What is the Nine?" Cassie asked after noticing Sunny's expression.
At her questions everyone turned to Merlin, he simply smiled and gestured for Sunny to speak first.
Sunny noticed it and spoke.
"It was during my first nightmare, I encountered an awakened with the name Auro of the Nine, I didn't really pay much attention to it, but now I'm hearing another similar name"
Sunny finished then turned to him, he then answered their questions.
"The Nine is not a what, they're a who… Nine Fated warriors that had major participation in the doom war that ended the life of the gods… as for their contributions, most of it is lost to time" Merlin gave them the run down.
"..."
Another silence followed, they couldn't tell whether it was the fact that nine warriors participated in the war against gods, or the fact that one of them is still alive till now.
"Who are the Nine? I mean what are their names?" Sunny asked with a rather low voice.
"I only know a few of their names, those are Aletheia,Eurys, Auro, Aemedon, Aletes, Omer and Orphne, the rest have probably been lost through history" Merlin replied.
"So these people killed the gods?" Cassie asked as he finished.
Merlin sighed and shook his head.
"Well no, not necessarily… some killed avatars of the gods while some made deals with them and the daemons but in the end, their decisions heavily affected the route of the war"
"So Eurys is going to lead you to a second nightmare? Why is that?" Nephis asked a very Nephis-like question.
"It's less of helping me, more of mutual cooperation. He wants to get out of a tight situation, and I happen to need a guide, it's a win-win" Merlin opened his arms as he explained.
"Okay I understand" Nephis finished.
"Merlin, is it possible for us to come here more often… I mean we could talk more here without worrying about anyone eves dropping and Neph can train her aspect without being hurt by the pain, plus I really like seeing very much" Cassie asked as she looked at him.
Merlin smiled and answered.
"Sure, if you guys ever need it, just recite the honorific name, no problem there… well I'll have to end our meeting here, my body's still outside, unprotected so I have to go"
"Ooh okay" Cassie nodded and added "See you later Merlin"
"Yeah bye guys" Merlin waved before sending them back, as he did he immediately sighed and pinched his temple, the banging head ache that came with overusing of his aspect had hit him here.
"Yep, I really pushed myself this time"
He sighed and then left his soul sea, the twenty-two chairs and long table were still intact as he didn't change the designs.
When he arrived outside, he was about to undo the black screen he used to conceal himself, but he immediately stopped, standing a few meters away from him was a giant wolf with spikes across its body, the wolf laid there, not moving, just staring, staring at his direct position.
'Fuck!!'
Merlin's soul nearly left his body but he realized that his danger sense hadn't reacted.
"It's either it hasn't noticed me, or it has and still doesn't want me dead"
Merlin activated spirit vision and saw it, right in the wolf's chest, three shards, shining brightly.
'A corrupted demon!!... Oh hell nah, I'm leaving'
As he was about to flame jump away, a soft voice came from the wolf.
"You don't have to run away child, I won't hurt you"
It was a female voice, a soothing one at that, Merlin hesitated then thought.
'no way in hell I'm falling for this'
"You don't have to be scared, I may look like this, but I was once like you, just transcendent" the wolf spoke again.
Merlin stood on guard as he removed the black screen and asked.
"Who are you?"
"Nice to meet you Child, I am a survivor of this now lost city of Civilth, you can call me Silver" The wolf said, still laying down on the ground.
"Nice to meet you too, I'm Merlin, a traveller" Merlin said, still on guard against the wolf, Silver. His danger sense hadn't detected anything so he was willing to talk, but on the slightest movement, he would snap out of there.
"A traveller I see, not many people travel these forests… I know you must have a lot of questions, you can ask" Silver said softly.
Merlin thought for a few seconds then asked.
"Why don't you want to kill me?"
"Why would I?" Silver questioned back.
Merlin's lips twitched slightly.
'What's with that answer… that's just making it look like I was expecting death'
He sighed and replied.
"What was that answer? You shouldn't answer a question with a question"
"You also shouldn't question my answer" Silver replied.
"..." Merlin was really feeling the urge to smack this dog, but he held it in. (He would be the one getting smacked tho).
"Are you really a corrupted demon?" He asked directly.
"I was… but then I got rid of the corruption and became a transcendent demon" Silver replied with her soothing voice then continued "it's due to the previous corruption that I can't undo my transcendent form".
Merlin listened quietly, then took out his pendant and recited 'She's telling the truth'...
After receiving a positive confirmation he turned to her and asked.
"How did you get rid of the corruption, as far as I know it's not that easy"
Silver spoke in a low voice.
"It's rather simple really… you can get rid of corruption through death"
"..." Merlin stayed silent for ten seconds before asking.
"So, how did you do it, I mean you're not dead are you?"
"Well as for me, I died, more specifically I killed myself after I was corrupted, then I came back free from corruption" Silver answered like it wasn't a big deal.
"And how did you do that?" Merlin asked directly.
Silver sighed and said.
"Well it's my flaw… I can't die"