Orren let them think on their own and offered no insight.
Just then Cassie called Orren.
“Can… can I keep it for the night?” She asked, gesturing at the mask.
Orren studied the mask for a moment longer before nodding.
“Fine,” he said.
“But bring it back by tomorrow.” “I will,” Cassie replied quickly.
Her fingers brushed over the smooth wood as if memorizing its shape.
“I can tell it’s a special memory.
It’s the first memory of the transcendent rank I have ever held.” There was a small, almost involuntary smile on her face.
‘That last part didn’t need to be said.’ Orren felt it immediately.
Across the firelight, Sunny’s eyes narrowed slightly, and even Nephis shifted her attention toward him in that quiet, assessing way she had, like she was trying to place him into a category that refused to exist.
“I got it from my first nightmare,” Orren said, a little too quickly.
He could tell they were growing suspicious of him.
Nephis was probably thinking he was sent to kill her, and Sunny must be thinking how to off him just because he seemed sus.
He would have probably done that by now if it meant he could get Orren’s memories and echo.
Sunny tilted his head.
“A lot happened in your first nightmare, huh?” Nephis didn’t speak, but her gaze lingered on him a moment longer than comfortable.
Orren exhaled under his breath.
Yeah.
This is how I get stabbed in my sleep.
It makes sense for them to be suspicious of him.
He fights like he has been trained from the moment he was born, has so many memories he claims he got from his first nightmare, isn’t afraid of them and now a transcendent memory.
Even a legacy scion would pale in front of him.
“I’m going to sleep,” he said abruptly, standing up.
He didn’t wait for a response.
If he stayed any longer, the questions would start forming properly and Sunny looked like he was already halfway through building a plan that involved either interrogation or assassination depending on Orren’s next sentence.
….
The next morning, they prepared to leave the stone platform.
That plan didn’t last long.
A growing movement in the labyrinth below, too many creatures, too much noise, forced Nephis to call for caution.
After a brief discussion, she decided they would wait another day, while Sunny went to scout the patterns of movement.
With nothing immediate to do, the group dispersed.
Sunny eventually found Orren sitting at the edge of the platform, legs hanging over the drop, chewing on a strip of dried meat like the chaos below them was someone else’s problem.
He dropped down beside him.
“Aren’t you a bit too relaxed?” Sunny asked after a moment.
“You eat, sleep, and act like nothing here can touch you.” Orren didn’t look up right away.
He tore off another piece of meat, chewing slowly before answering.
“I had a very weird first nightmare,” he said at last.
“So I’m just… resting while I can.” Sunny snorted.
“You say ‘weird’ a lot.
Whenever you don’t want to explain something, it’s always ‘weird.'” Orren blinked once.
“Do I?” “Yes.” A pause.
Then Orren let out a short laugh, shaking his head like he was genuinely surprised by himself.
“Hah… yeah.
I guess I do.” The tension eased slightly, but not completely.
Sunny was still watching him, still thinking.
Before Orren could say anything else, Cassie approached from behind, guided by sound.
She touched his shoulder and returned the mask.
“A gift, huh?” She asked in a mischievous tone.
Orren sighed.
Of course she read the description.
“Don’t read too much into it,” he said.
Cassie’s grin widened in a way that was far too knowing for someone who was supposed to be blind.
“I wasn’t,” she replied immediately, clearly lying.
Sunny made a faint noise of amusement that he tried to hide.
Her smile then turned sad.
“What do you both think, will we be able to return home?” Since she had asked the question to both, Sunny’s flaw forced him to answer.
“Sure.” Cassie turned slightly toward Orren.
He didn’t answer immediately.
Home.
The word didn’t really land anywhere.
It didn’t connect to anything solid.
“Yeah, we will.” In the end he chose to answer her honestly and by knowing the plot he knew the outcome.
Cassie frowned slightly.
“Why?” Orren leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky as if the answer might be written there.
“Because if I don’t believe it,” he said after a moment, “then I probably won’t make it.
So I might as well believe it properly.” The words weren’t heroic.
But they were steady.
And for a while, none of them said anything after that.
….
Morning came anyway.
They had descended from the statue sometime before noon, and the labyrinth had swallowed them quickly after that.
At first, it had been manageable; broken coral paths, shallow pockets of water, scattered nightmare creatures that could be avoided or cut down in passing.
But as they pushed deeper, the pattern changed.
The monsters were no longer scattered.
They were gathering.
Orren slowed as they reached a narrow corridor between two clusters of movement.
Behind them, At the rear there was a large group of monsters.
Ahead, two silhouettes blocked the only visible path forward, their shapes distorted by heat and distance.
He stopped completely.
“Go ahead,” Orren said after a moment, voice casual in a way that didn’t quite match the situation.
“I’ll guard the rear.
You two handle the front.” He sent the two to fight while he stayed with Cassie.
When they returned, both of them looked worse for wear.
Not critically injured but clearly forced to work harder than expected.
Their breathing was uneven, armor scuffed, expressions tight.
Surprisingly Sunny didn’t get an echo this time.
‘The Nightmare Spell rewards one’s efforts but also gives just enough to survive.
Is it because there is my echo here this time.’ He thought and summoned his echo’s runes.
Orren didn’t respond immediately.
His gaze dropped briefly, unfocused, as he reached inward.
Echo: Venomhide Tyrant.
Echo Type: Beast.
Echo Core: Awakened.
Echo Attributes: [Sudden Lunge], [Corrosive Venom], [Granite Hide].
[Transform Echo into a Lost?] He had noticed it when he touched his echo for the first time after entering the dream realm.
His path had started to feel… familiar.
Not identical to Sunny’s, but parallel in a way that was hard to ignore.
‘While Sunny governs shadows, I don’t quite understand what Lost is truly supposed to be.’ He thought.
He had already figured out that his aspect ability is a monstrous one.
The more he used it the more he understood it.
A field of awareness spreading out from him, mapping everything inside it in real time.
Movement, pressure, weak points in bodies and terrain alike.
Not prediction.
Recognition.
‘It’s like I have observation haki, just without the future sight.
I can only instinctively know what’s happening in the moment and find weaknesses in structures, be it a human body or a building.’ He shook the thought away as wind began to rise.
It started small, just a shift in air, a pressure drop that made the labyrinth feel hollow.
Then came the clouds, rolling in fast and low, swallowing the sky in thick darkness.
“How far to the cliffs?” Orren asked.
Sunny glanced up.
“Four kilometers.
Why?” “I have a bad feeling.
Doesn’t it seem odd that there is almost no more beast wandering about.
It’s going to smoothly, I think we should hurry.” He explained.
His reason was solid, they truly were seeing less and less monsters on their way.
Something had changed.
The absence was louder than presence.
Too few creatures.
Too clean a path.
Like everything had either fled… or converged somewhere else.
Cassie frowned slightly, turning her head as if listening to something none of them could hear.
“I agree.” That alone made Sunny stop joking.
Nephis nodded once.
“Then we move faster.” Draco was summoned again without discussion.
They all climbed Draco’s back and Orren gave the command to run.
“Alright boy, full speed ahead.” The sudden acceleration stole Cassie’s breath.
They had only covered over a kilometer when rain started pouring down.
Seeing this Nephis furrowed her brows.
“…Storm.” The word landed like a verdict.
“Good thing we listened to Orren and Cassie.” Sunny sighed in relief.
The labyrinth changed instantly.
Rain thickened into sheets, visibility collapsing until the world became a blur of motion and sound.
Black Water began surging unnaturally fast, rising through the coral channels.
The cliffs appeared only when they were already too close.
They didn’t reach them gently.
They reached them as the sea rose behind them.
Black water surged through the labyrinth like it had been waiting for permission.
They climbed anyway.
No one spoke while they did.
By the time they pulled themselves onto the cliff’s edge, the water had already swallowed half the labyrinth below.
Cassie dropped to her knees, breathing hard.
Sunny just sat down where he landed.
Nephis stayed upright a moment longer before finally relaxing.
Orren, however, remained standing.
He didn’t look at them.
His gaze was fixed on the cliff face, on the strange, jagged formations carved into it.
Sunny noticed first.
“What is it?” “I wouldn’t be so loud If I were you.” Orren said in a voice barely above a whisper.
A pause.
Then, with an almost casual tilt of his head, he added: “So, ladies I have bad news and good news.
Which one would you like to hear first?” A faint smile touched his voice.
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