However, much to his surprise, when Nephis finally spoke up,
Her reaction was nothing close to what he had expected.
***
Nephis looked at Sunny for some time, and then suddenly erupted in laughter.
Her laugh was genuine and pure, not at all muddied by any sort of pretense.
Hearing her laugh had been rare even after they had started dating in the previous life, and now it was just heaven for Sunny.
But still-
"Why are you laughing!?" Sunny asked as his cheeks turned red out of embarrassment.
As much as he enjoyed seeing her laugh, it was still confusing as to why she'd laugh at his question.
Nephis wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye, her lips curling into an amused grin.
"You are so tense while acting as someone so relaxed. It's comical." Nephis looked at him curiously and then continued. "In fact, I would say it's even potetic."
Sunny groaned, he could almost die of embarrassment.
"I told you to stop reminding me of that! And anyways, you didn't give me an answer..."
Nephis gave him an innocent look and tilted her head. "Answer for what?"
Sunny exhaled sharply, trying to suppress his frustration. "You know… whether or not you'd accompany me."
Nephis chuckled again. "Just summon serpent."
Sunny raised his eyebrow but before he could voice his question, Nephis gestured him to just do it.
With a thought, Serpent materialized beside him, its sinuous form coiling in the cool night air. To Sunny's annoyance, Nephis smiled at the demon with genuine affection—almost as if she were trying to make him jealous.
"Here, lie down serpent. You should enjoy some rest in the fresh air too— after all your hard work."
Serpent was confused but quickly listened, curling itself on the ground. Just like every other shadow helper and shadow echo belonging to Sunny, he too was very happy to listen to Nephis for some reason.
And then—without a second thought—Nephis lay down, resting her head on Serpent's smooth scales instead of Sunny's waiting hand.
"Wow seriously? This is your answer?"
Sunny could not believe his eyes.
Nephis was lying right next to him now, just a couple of hand lengths away, and serpent's body was sprawled on the ground in a near straight line with it curving around Sunny's head to avoid hitting him.
Nephis gazed up at the sky. "It's softer. And more practical." She smirked slightly. "Besides, if you're going to ask me for something so bold, you should at least take me to dinner first."
Sunny let out a slow breath and turned his head to look at the star void sky too. "You're serious?"
"Well, it's obvious what you are trying to do, so you should atleast do it properly." She mused.
Sunny's brow furrowed. "Wait, who taught you all of this again?"
Nephis' smile softened as she turned to face the other way— after a moment of silence she spoke. "Cassie did, she was quite lively before the spell struck her."
A silence settled between them.
Sunny let out a stifled sigh. "She was, wasn't she."
The mood turned somber as the two lied in silence. A cold breeze brushed past their faces. Sunny could imagine exactly what Nephis must have been thinking right now, she must have been angry at the spell and wishing to destroy it.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Then, at last, Sunny broke the silence. "So… what happened to the fallen ones fighting in the sky?"
Nephis replied without turning. "The gryphon like monsters killed the beasts. The surviving monsters went further west."
After that there was silence yet again for some time before Nephis recontinued.
"We need to get stronger Sunny, not only to survive this place, but whatever comes after too." She said quietly. "Dont you dare die here. I have high expectations from you."
Sunny turned his head slightly, looking at her. A grin tugged at his lips.
"You too princess, you've promised me a date already. Dont go dying anytime soon."
Nephis chuckled with amusement. "Who said anything about a date? Are you flirting with me?"
Sunny smirked. "Who knows, maybe I am."
His gaze lingered on her for a moment longer. Her silver hair, draped across the dark earth, looked like a river of molten moonlight. Against the backdrop of the pitch black sky, it seemed lonely. Even the dark night had the massive landmass to accompany them.
A quiet longing stirred within him—an urge to reach out, to run his fingers through those silken strands.
But before he could even dwell on that thought.
"Dont even think about it." Nephis firmly stated without moving from her place. A hint of humor in her voice.
"How did you even know?" Sunny questioned her, confused by the exhausting laws and affairs of love.
She remained still. "Know what? I just felt your gaze fall on me with bad intentions."
Sunny muttered something under his breath, staring back up at the sky in defeat.
Nephis yawned lightly, closing her eyes. "Go to sleep Sunny. We have a lot to do tomorrow". She hesitated for a moment and then...
"Good night Sunny."
Sunny smiled slightly. "Good night Nephis."
Without voicing any more of his thoughts, he turned around silently. His mind wandered around a few idle thoughts.
'I wonder how kai is doing...and effie. There's also aiko and the future fire keepers in the dark city, all of their lives must have changed since my regression.
I wonder if some of them are even alive or not?'
And yet, somehow Sunny was sure that they would be. They had survived the original forgotten shore, it didn't just take luck to achieve that. And even with more Nightmare creatures, there must have been more humans too, so their survival was not unlikely.
He also thought about the shard memories.
'Each of them had a guardian creature. The dawn shard, the zenith shard and the sunlight shard aren't a problem.
But the midnight, moonlight, starlight and dusk shards could be somewhere else. They could also be stronger than before if their guardians grew more powerful.'
Within the feeling of anticipation and dread, a hint of greed sparked in his eyes.
Lastly, his thoughts drifted to his family.
'I hope mom and rain are safe back home. Nothing should happen to them, no major gates opened at the time of forgotten shore and the few months after that around the place we live now.
And dad and...Jet. it's so strange that master Jet was adopted to my family. I've come to consider her as a proper sister now, but man was it awkward at first.
It's weird how the Butterfly effect does things that can't ever be predicted.'
Sunny sighed inwardly, overwhelmed by the memories of his family.
'Ahhh, I'm so glad I came back. I still remember my parents from my first life, even if just barely, but now I've gotten to know them so much better.
Maybe that's a bigger gift than any power boost I could ever have. I must become stronger too now, I have to.
I have to stop the needless massacre of human lives at the great domain war and beyond it if I want to live with my family happily and safely.
If I want to protect mom, dad, rain, jet...and Nephis too. I will not fail this time.'
As the memories of his friends' death resurfaced on his mind, as he remembered how mordret had ripped out Neph's heart, how rain had been killed by the pollen of the forest of godgrave, how kai, effie and jet were broken and possessed by mordret at bastion.
How Cassie was possessed and eventually used as one of the thousands of puppets against anvil by ki song.
Sunny's blood began to boil, he didn't even realise when he had started crying. Tears rolled down his cheek onto the dark surface of the hill below him.
'I will become stronger, stronger than anyone ever has been. I will destroy corruption. I will not be weak again.'
He sobbed silently, trying his best not to wake up Nephis, and then eventually he went to sleep himself.
As he did, the only voices he could hear were of his flaw gnawing at him. Urging him to grow stronger.
***
Rain was in her class reading a heavy book. It was recess time so she was finally free to focus on things she actually liked.
The book was gigantic, not meant for a school student at all. It was used by professor julius to teach wilderness survival to his students.
And rain, just like Sunny had gotten an early experience of that course because of her father's demand.
She had hated it at first, but soon grew quite attached to it.
Rain seemed out of place among her peers, as a daughter of a master she was more akin to the child of a famous celebrity or even nobility rather than someone who belonged in the masses.
But she liked it here, it was a peaceful place for her to take a break from her arduous life.
She had to train under an instructor first, then attend the academy's non combatative lectures.
And then when she got home, her brother wanted to train her too. He kept saying things like she needed to be strong to survive their world and what not.
But rain was sure that he was just enjoying himself beating her up!
But still...her brother...
'Sunny, where are you..'
Sunny had entered the dream realm a few days prior during the winter solstice, and even now he had not been sighted at any citadels.
Granted, the full searching would occur over the span of two weeks so it was still too late to say anything.
But deep down Rain had a growing suspicion. Her brother had entered an uncharted territory of the dream realm!
'It would be an absurd idea if it wasn't him.' Rain had been an incredibly talented person. Her skills had already surpassed almost all the teachers that came to teach her. Her ability to learn the non combatative courses of the academy had been just as fast as Sunny too.
And yet, there was a difference between the two. Making a deal with the immortal flame clan, having a divine aspect, fighting in a raid and achieving the highest contribution after the masters.
He was almost certainly the most talented genius this world had ever seen. And that was something.
If he hadn't been thrown in a completely new place of the dream realm by the spell to conquer it, then it was honestly a bit disappointing even.
But still, rain hoped that he would come back soon.
As her mind drifted to the thoughts about her brother, she noticed a shadow standing next to her.
'Come back quickly Sunny, so I can use you to scare these idiots off again.'
She sighed as she turned to look at the person standing next to her, it was a boy from her class.
He was a popular kid in her school, and plenty of girls used to flock to him. And yet, that moron acted like he was blind for everyone else but rain.
"He-hey Rain." He stuttered.
She looked at him with exasperation.
"Hi Xavier. What do you want?"
The boy brought his index fingers together and tapped them.
"Uh, I was uh wondering if..if you would like to have coffee with m-me?"
Rain sighed inwardly, the sight was utterly comical. Did this guy seriously just tap his fingers together like an anime character? Absurd.
But she didn't have the heart to say that to his face.
"No, sorry but I have to go home right after school ends."
Infact, he wasn't the only person who acted like that in front of her. Most of the boys around her were utterly smitten by her.
At first she thought she was being bullied when a guy asked for her number, surrounded by four others.
So she beat them up and went back home and told her mother about it. Only then did she realise that they were hitting on her.
The boy who asked her had simply been the bravest and the rest were covering behind him.
That whole situation made rain confused and bewildered to her bone.
Her parents had to apologise to the school too, about it, and Sunny wouldn't let her live that down ever.
Even her older sister Jet who was always protective of her, seemed to enjoy teasing her about it.
Anyhow, whenever someone bothered her again she just told Sunny to pick her up from school that day. He had a talent for scaring away boys from her, it was probably his only redeeming quality too.
But still, she missed him more than anything.
'When will he come back damnit.'
Soon recess ended, and she attended another class. One of her friends was very happy today. Her sister had been promoted to lieutenant in the mundane military and allotted a mechanical robot to ride into battles.
She celebrated that with her friend and congratulated her. Then finally she went home.
She stopped by on the way however, for a specific donut shop that had been recommended to her mother by a friend of her's.
After purchasing a full bag of donuts she finally walked towards home, one of the sweets in her hand as she ate it.
"Mhmm, aunt noble sure knows her sweets. I should ask her for more recommendations later."
However as she entered her home, all idle thoughts dissipated from her mind.
A bag of donuts dropped onto the floor.
And she screeched at the top of her lungs.