In a brightly lit chamber in the main keep of Mirage Castle, Nephis stood alone, surrounded by marble and lavish tapestries. The marble was white; the tapestries were white, as well, embroidered gorgeously with golden thread. The sheer curtains woven out of finest silk chiffon billowed in the wind like the wings of a celestial creature.
Nephis was looking at the floor, her expression placid. She remained motionless for a few seconds, then sighed deeply and glanced up.
Sunny rose from her shadow, walked over to one of the walls, and leaned on it with his arms crossed.
"Nervous?"
Nephis would have looked like the epito of composure to anyone else, but he could tell that she was uncomfortable — large crows and public speaking were not exactly her elent, after all.
The vast crowd gathered outside was waiting to behold the goddess of humanity, enthralled by her lofty image. However, none of them could imagine that their goddess was actually feeling anxious and uncomfortable at the prospect of appearing in front of so many people.
Nephis glanced at Sunny, hesitated for a mont, and then shrugged.
“A little.”
She sighed.
“It's funny, isn't it? I think I'd feel far more at ease facing a horde of powerful abominations as opposed to a crowd of people. I am a Supre now, and yet, in monts like this, I feel no different from how I felt as a young and inexperienced, ignorant youth."
Sunny smiled.
“I wouldn't say that it is funny. Possibly a little bit amusing."
He shook his head and added in a reassuring tone:
“There's this trick I learned from Effie. When you're out there, in front of all those people, just imagine that all of them are..."
He felt silent for a mont.
The conventional wisdom suggested that one should imagine the audience naked in order to overco stage fright, but when Sunny thought about it... it was actually awful advice! If he did sothing like that, he would feel disturbed and flustered instead of calm — not to ntion that going around imagining what random people looked like under their clothes was sothing only perverts did.
Plus, that was Nephis he was talking about. She wouldn't be disturbed or flustered — at best, she would be completely indifferent. At worst, she would start wondering why all these people were naked, and if more resources needed to be allocated to developing a more robust textile industry in the Dream Realm.
Sunny cleared his throat.
"Just imagine that all of them are Nightmare Creatures."
Nephid tilted her head, then nodded.
“Thank you. Actually, that helped."
Sunny opened his mouth to say sothing, but at that mont, there was a knock on the door — that was the attendants informing Nephis that her entrance was only a few minutes away.
With a sigh, she walked over to the door and stopped near it.
Then, Nephis glanced to the side, at one of the gorgeous tapestries adorning the wall. Her expression shifted faintly. Eventually, she raised a hand and ran it across the surface of the tapestries.
“When did they change it?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
“Change what?"
Nephis gestured vaguely to the surrounding chamber.
“The tapestries, the curtains... everything here used to be vermilion before. The color of Clan Valor."
She studied the delicate embroidery for a while, then turned away.
“Soone had to commission all these and refurbish the decor of the entire main keep... of the entire Castle? And I don't even know who it was, and when it happened.”
A pale smile appeared on Neph's lips.
“Goes to show how vast and imnse the Human Domain is, I guess. It's bigger than you and , at least."
Sunny sighed, pushed himself off the wall, and walked behind her.
Placing his hands on her shoulders, he massaged them gently.
"It is. And now, you need to address that imnse Domain of yours. Relax... I'll cook you sothing delicious when you're done. We can even sneak away to have a picnic."
Nephis smiled.
"A picnic... that sounds nice."
She sighed and then put her hand on the door, ready to push it open.
Then, however, she halted.
A few seconds passed in silence, and then Nephis said slowly:
"Rembrance Day..."
Her voice sounded a little distant.
Sunny folded his hands behind him.
“What about it?"
Nephis shook her head.
"No, it just... I was thinking about that na, Rembrance Day. So I glanced back to rember, as well. And then it hit ”
She exhaled slowly.
“They are dead. All three of them... Aster, Song, Vale. They are gone now."
She stared at the door, an aloof expression on her face.
"I... I did not stop to consider that until now. It never even crossed my mind. All my life, I survived in defiance of them — so much so that my self beca defined in opposition to theirs. And now that they are gone... I have forgotten to acknowledge that fact."
Nephis closed her eyes for a mont and then said:
“It feels like the end of sothing profound. The end of an era."
Sunny remained silent for a mont. Then, he spoke in a candid tone:
"Listen, I hate to be that guy... but technically, the Dreamspawn is not dead. He's still around, albeit sealed away for all eternity."
Nephis laughed quietly.
"Right. How could I forget?"
With that, she pushed the doors open and walked outside. Sunny collapsed into a shadow and glided across the marble floor as well, hiding in hers.
Together, they entered a stone tribune that lood above a vast courtyard, extending into it like a vast spearhead. The courtyard was flooded with innurable people, the crowd spilling onto the lower levels of the Castle, all the way to the shores of the Mirror Lake.
The crowd roared in excitent, welcoming Changing Star of the Immortal Fla clan to the stage.
Nephis smiled, stared at the crowd for a short while, and then raised a hand.
"People of the Human Domain..."
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