Chapter 1394 The Luxury of Being Bored
The Chain Breaker had set sail once again. This time, they had to travel back to the middle area of the Great River, where the sky was azure. They also had to travel some distance into the past — not enough to bring them anywhere near Verge, but deeper than any of the three had ever ventured. Sunny spent the first morning lazing in bed and staring at the ceiling. He was thinking about Wind Flower. The strong winds, the twisted currents, the colossal whirlpool that pulled ships to their doom, and the island flying above the dark abyss... all of it sounded rather nasty. There was the fact that the tower standing on the island had once belonged to a powerful Seeker, as well. The Seekers of Truth were people who had entered the Tomb of Ariel at the same time as the sybils, or even earlier than them, but for an entirely different reason. The Seekers had not been searching for salvation from the devastation of the doomsday war. Instead, they had braved the Nightmare Desert and found their way into the tomb built by the Demon of Dread due to their thirst for knowledge. ...Out of curiosity, basically. They had not been a unified group of people, either, but rather disparate individuals united only by the similarity of their obsession with knowledge.
'Bunch of weirdos...'
Who would climb into a dreadful tomb simply to satiate their curiosity? Sunny would never!
Well... he had entered plenty of dangerous ruins to satiate his desire to explore the Dream Realm. But that was an entirely different matter! Firstly, he received contribution points for his exploits, from time to time. Secondly, none of those ruins had been left behind by terrifying deities. 'Come to think of it, a couple of them were...'
Like the Ebony Tower. But he had not ended up there out of curiosity. He had ended up there out of greed! That was a much better reason, so... he was not like those weird Seekers at all....
In any case, Sunny was not excited to visit the stronghold of a powerful Seeker. Not even considering the fact their desire to learn Ariel's truth had caused the birth of the Defilement, these people did not seem trustworthy at all.
A hidden island where a mysterious Seeker had lived before disappearing without a trace, surrounded by a nearly impassable barrier of water, wind, and twisted time... yes, that did not sound ominous at all. 'Damnation...' VIsit n0(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience
Of course, they did not really have a choice. Effie and Jet were there, so Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie couldn't turn back. 'People fear the unknown the most.'
If the slate had told them that there was a Great Nightmare Creature living at Wind Flower, he would have been reluctantly, but calmly coming up with plans to defeat it. But it was the not knowing what waited for them at the center of the whirlpool that made Sunny feel nervous. In the end, tired of being anxious, he decided to distract himself by doing something useful. Climbing out of his bed with a sigh, Sunny finally left his cabin and went to the upper deck. Saint, Fiend, and Nightmare were standing guard at the bow, middle section, and the stern of the ship. Nephis was holding the steering oar, while Cassie was making preparations to repair the sorcerous circle of the ship.
So, Sunny decided to give himself a day off, for once, and enjoy that peace while it lasted. Walking back to the stern of the ship, he summoned a certain piece of furniture and placed it a few meters away from Nephis. Sitting down on his luxurious chair, he summoned the emerald flute and brought it to his lips. Nephis looked at him in confusion.
"What are you doing? Ah. Trying to raise the dead? But... there are no corpses on the ship..."
Sunny blinked a couple of times. 'Who does she take me for?'
"Is it so hard to imagine that I'm just in the mood for music? Kai gave me a few lessons, you know. So I can carry a tune. He might have begged me to perform as a guest during one of Night&Gale concerts, even!"
She smiled faintly. "I noticed you said "might have begged" instead of "begged". Hmm."
Then, her eyes widened slightly. "...Wait. Night&Gale concerts? Are they planning a reunion? When? Is it going to be old material, or has Gale written a new album? What about new choreography? Who is..."
Sunny lowered the flute and stared at her sullenly. 'Ah. Here she goes again, barraging me with questions...'
"Yes. I don't know, probably not. No clue. No idea. I'm not sure..."
As the sky slowly grew brighter, the Chain Breaker sailed toward dawn. The three Masters aboard the graceful vessel anxiously awaited the reunion with two lost members of their cohort...