It took a
while, but the trio eventually reached the hill on which the bright
castle was located. At that point, Ray couldn't help but ask
something that had actually been on his mind since shortly after they
had encountered each other that morning, "Say, Kai, you said
something about rewarding Sunny, but what do you even want to give to
him?"
"Hmm,
well, I wanted to give him some of my shards and bring him to the
memory market inside of the castle…" Kai spoke before trailing
off at the end.
"Exactly.
You can't exactly just walk inside of the castle after you had been
abducted by Tessai, right? It would just mark everyone around you as
a new target."
Sunny
tensed up slightly, hearing that his return had may been completely
for naught.
"Oh…
ehm, do you have an idea for that then, Ray?" Kai asked awkwardly.
Ray gave
him a deadpan look, before sighing and responding, "Well, the
easiest way would most likely be to contact Aiko and ask her to take
him, especially since she should be friends with that Steff, or
whatever he is called."
Kai perked
up immediately, before deflating again, "But how do we contact her,
it isn't exactly easy for the two of us to make an appearance
inside, right? Since, you even went against Tessai yourself."
Ray shook
his head for a second, clearly not that concerned about it, "Just
wait close by, in some alley or so, I'll contact her inside,
explain the situation and then come back out to give you the okay to
go in. I guess, if you give her a shard or two, she'd gladly do
it."
Kai looked
at him a bit skeptical, since besides that confrontation with Tessai,
he had never seen his friend in action – or use his aspect for that
matter – but in the end chose to trust him, knowing that his
confidence seemed to always be backed up by actual ability.
Sunny,
meanwhile, remembered how unfair Ray's aspect seemed to be,
completely – or even just partly – turning intangible –
basically becoming invincible in a fight, as long as he had the
essence to use it.
"Well,
I'll head out then," with those words Ray began moving towards
the bright castle again, though not directly towards the entrance but
rather a bit more to the sight. He looked to be thinking hard right,
with a concentrated look on his face.
"It
should be around here, I think."
The next
moment he activated his aspect and jumped straight into the wall,
coming out on the other side a mere second later. He looked around
and saw that he was about where he had expected to be. Continuing
from there, he began making his way towards Aiko's gambling den,
all while remaining unseen.
Ray didn't
like sneaking around, since it went against his normal rather
straight forward style, but knew trouble wasn't really that useful
right now, and therefore went with it.
Eventually
he reached the large room where it was located. There were already
quite a few people inside, gambling their shards on the rather crude
games. Ray slipped inside with his veil activated, and moved next to
Aiko, who was standing behind one of the gambling desks. Luckily,
right now no one was plying there.
He sat
down on a stool, still hidden from view behind the table, and then
removed his Veil. Aiko jumped, letting out a small shriek as he
seemingly appeared from nothing. Her outburst caused some attention
to her table, but after a brief, flustered apology, most of the
guests just went back to their games, unconcerned. After she calmed
down, Ray began explaining the situation in a low voice while Aiko
listened, acting as if nothing was happening.
-----
Meanwhile,
Kai and Sunny had indeed moved into a small alley close to the
castle. Calling it an alley was a stretch; it was basically just some
empty, refuse-strewn space between two squat cottages.
Both
remained silent at first, the tension from their earlier conversation
still lingering. Eventually, Kai broke the silence, his curiosity
getting the better of him. "So," he began, "how did
you two originally meet?"
Sunny
seemed to weigh his words, a flicker of reluctance in his eyes. But
forced by his Flaw to answer a direct question truthfully, he
eventually spoke, his voice quiet. "After our First Nightmares.
We were at the same police station."
After the
simple, and short statement, Sunny turned the question back on him.
"What about you?"
Kai
chuckled lightly, a hint of self-deprecating humor in his tone. "Me?
I tried to scam him out of a few shards in a game right after he
first arrived at the castle." He grinned. "He beat me
soundly. Since then, we've become something like friends, even if we
haven't really spent much time together."
Soon
after Kai finished his story, Ray appeared at the entrance of the
alley, his form appearing as if from nothing. He gestured for Sunny
to follow him.
As he led
the dirty young man towards the main entrance of the castle, he
explained the plan. "Aiko should be arriving there in a matter
of a few minutes. She's small, dark hair, usually looks like she's
annoyed at everything, well, besides money, of course. Just go with
her, she'll take you to the place we talked about, the memory market.
Kai's payment will cover her services. She should be here any minute
now, just go with the flow then."
After saying those words, Ray didn't continue walking and instead... just disappeared.
When Sunny noticed, he was just as uncomfortable with it as he had been, when he had first saw him use it.
-----
A few seconds later, Ray appeared next to Kai again, "So, you're ready to officially Join the enemy now?"
He chuckled for a Second before responding lightheartedly, "Well, i'd say i'm just finally joining the light side of the force, right?"
Ray looked at him, slightly baffled, "Light side of the force? What is that supposed to mean?"
Hearing this, Kai's eyes went wide, and He looked as If he had just seen a Ghost, "Wai- Wait, you don't know what this refers to? Have you been living under a Rock or something?"
"Is that some band or Something? I spent most of my time training or learning all kinds of things, but therefore didn't have much free time for such things..."
Kai looked at his friend with the same amount of pity, one would give a child who had just lost his parents, "Oh damn, if we ever make it out of this place alive, i will show you everything that you missed."
Ray looked at his friend weirdly again, wondering why he was making such a big deal of that, before shaking His head and Ignoring it.
"Sure, whatever. You can just follow me for now, though. I'll first introduce you to some of my Friends, before bringing you to our Leader - or rather the face of us."
Having said what needed to be said, Ray began moving towards his own hut - and in turn, also Effie's.
The Walk was short, as most were, since the place here was rather limited. They teacher the huts after about 4 minutes of walking.
On the way, many other slumdwellers had turned their heads towards them.
As it seemed, even if he had spent Most of his time Here in the safe confines of the Bright Castle, Kai was rather much liked, or at the very least famous. Many had called out to - or greeted him.
Upon reaching the House, Ray knocked and after the Second Pound on the door, after Hearing Something inside, shouted that there was a guest with him. This caused the steps to slow down for a second, before resuming a moment later.
Then, the door opened and Effie stops in the door, having a sleepy and grumpy Look on her face. She scanned the visitors for a second, Effie knew that one of them must be Ray, since he had called out to her, but she didn't know who the supposed guest was, yet.
In the Moment her eyes locked into him, they went wide, she did a quick doubletake, before suddenly pulling Ray inside and shutting the door behind her.
"Why have you never told me that you know THE Night?" Effie asked in a hushed and flustered tone.
"Was i supposed to? I'm calling him Kai, and that is what i called him when i talked about him with you Guys, too." Ray responded, not knowing what to make out of that reaction. "You know, He is still waiting outside. Since, well, you shut the door in his face."
Effie eyes went wide once more, this time in realization. She immediatly turned on her heel and opened the door again.
Kai still stood outside, Not appearing to be bothered much by what had Just happened.
"I guess, i should properly introduce the two of you, right?"
Kai was the First to respond, "No need, after all there could only be one Person fitting this picture i'm seeing right now, the Veteran huntress Athena. One of the most seasoned and knowledgable people who actively hunting in the dark city."
Effie had a slight blush on her face, which disappeared just a moment later, "And you must be Night, from Night and Gale, right?"
Kai had a slightly wry smile on his handsome face, "Ah, yes. I suppose you were a Fan?"
Before Effie could answer, Ray couldn't stand that weird Exchange any longer, walked right through the Wall next to the door, and pulled Kai away, "Sorry Eff, we still have places to be."
Effie just looked on in stunned silence, 'Was he jealous?' that thought suddenly appeared in her mind and she Just couldn't Shake it off.
With the though still left in her mind she turned around and walked Back into her House, on her face was a satisfactory grin, as well as a now more pronounced blush.
As that was happening, Ray and Kai were already heading in the direction of their 'Headquarters' - well, Neph's house. Henry's home lay somewhere between his and there, so it was in the way.
By coincidence or fate, when the hut was in sight, Ray's pale friend was just leaving and seemed to notice the two of them.
Both greeted each other shortly, "Whats up man, we're heading towards the Main building, you coming?"
Henry hesitated for a Second, looking at Kai, before looking at Ray again and saying, "Sure, but how do you know Night - no, eh it should be Kai, right?"
This way of being recognized was actually somewhat refreshing for Kai, and so He stopped Forward and shook hands with Henry, "Say, from where do you know my name though, most have just referred to me as Night, ever since arriving here. Honestly, it has only really been about a handful of people that called me by my real name, now that i think about it."
Henry looked visvibly awkward, Scratch es his head and answered in a rather timid tone, "Well, we were at the Academy together. Though, i don't think you would remember me, since our paths didn't really cross, but nevertheless, your name was basically the only one being talked about at that time."
"Oh, sorry. I really do not remember many people from my short time at the Awakened Academy," Kai responded just as awkward.
Ray just eyed this exchange in disbelieve. 'Do Most people react to him that way? Is He really that famous?'
"Whatever, you coming or Not, Henry?"
"Oh, yeah sure, lets go."
The three soon reached their destination. Stepping inside, Ray hopef they could immediatly find Nephis somewhere, but that wasn't the Case. Since he didn't see her, nor Caster or Cassie for that matter - Something that already seemed weird, even if Ray didn't care too much, they had to choose between waiting there or looking for them.
The Trio Chose the latter one, choosing to search for them. They First went to Neph's rooms, but found it empty.
Next, was Cassie's rooms.
Luckily, she was there. A Moment after knocking on the door, she opened it.
"Yes, how can i Help, Ray?"
"Nothing much, Just wondering where Nephis is."
"Ah, she Said that she wanted to Take a stroll, though that was about half an hour ago. I don't know more than that, my apologies."
-----
God, writing on my Phone is hell. For the next two chapters i really needs to look for an alternative, but nevertheless, here is another chapter. We're nearing some more action soon, yay 👍