They were on the run. The Nightmare Desert welcomed them with immaculate purity and lethal heat, the white dunes stretching toward the distant horizon — the merciless sun burned in the azure sky like an incinerating well of molten silver, and a harrowing enemy was following them across the sands like an inescapable omen of torturous death.

'...I'm tired.'

Sunny was bone tired. He had long exhausted his reserves of essence, leaving just enough of it untouched to not be helpless in a fight. Not that fighting the Gate Guardian was a real option… Nephis might have destroyed one of its vessels, but it had almost killed her. The rest of them did not possess Aspects that countered the creature's powers, either.

Fighting the puppets of the Great abomination meant giving up on life — or, much worse, their very humanity.

Blindly advancing deeper into the desert was not much better.

There was a terrible foe pursuing the battered group of survivors, but there were also countless dangers ahead of them. The dunes hid all kinds of Nightmare Creatures, and several people had already been killed in the short, but brutal and unavoidable skirmishes with the wandering abominations.

None of those abominations had been weaker than Corrupted. The people fighting them were all tired, wounded, and in a desperate hurry, as well.

There were only thirteen of them left.

Looking at the exhausted survivors, Sunny wondered how many of them would live to see nightfall.

How many would survive until dawn?

The mighty Masters were already resembling walking corpses. They were moving forward with grave expressions, suffering silently as the terrible heat pressed them into the ground. Their hair and armor were covered in sand. Those with Echo mounts were in the vanguard, those without shakily followed behind.

Sunny and Kai were serving as the scouts of the party. Morgan, Nephis, Jet, Effie, and Seishan were the main strike force… the rest were just trying to stay alive.

Worst of all…

Everyone knew that it was pointless.

Even more disheartening than the sea of abominations ahead of them and the Great horror pursuing them was the fact that the party was aimless. They had no clear goal, just a stubborn hope to survive.

Before, these people had the same plan as Sunny — reach the Black Skull and escape into the waking world. Now that they knew what was out there in the pristine white purgatory of the Nightmare Desert, though, the Citadel had become the source of their fears.

That was because Mordret had slaughtered every Awakened sent there by Clan Valor. And the corpses he had left behind were the perfect vessels for the Gate Guardian.

One Great abomination was terrifying, while seven of them were beyond the concept of fear. What about dozens, then? The Citadel that the survivors had been putting their hope into had turned out to be the gates of hell.

So, there was nowhere for them to go anymore.

Then why continue forward at all?

For now, they walked out of fear and out of a growing sense of panicked urgency. They continued forward because there was a creature of pure dread following them from behind.

Escape the pursuit, find a place to wait out the night. They would come up with a solution later.

'Ah… I'm really tired.'

Sunny was walking with Nephis as his shadows scouted the path ahead. One of them was gliding across the dunes side by side with the swift shadow of Kai, who flew high above. There was no real need for both Sunny and Kai to keep an eye on the same stretch of the desert, but this way, Sunny was able to reach him with the Blessing of Dusk.

[Up ahead, behind the crooked dune.]

[...Yeah. I sense it.]

A tall figure in an intricate suit of onyx armor emerged from the shadow. A few moments later, two arrows pierced the flesh of a Nightmare Creature that was slumbering in the shade of the tall dune. The creature exploded forward in a fury of sharp fangs and claws, its roar spreading far and wide across the desert.

By the time it reached Saint, it was shaking under the weight of numerous arrows. One more fell from the sky like lightning — the abominations swayed and toppled, falling heavily into the sand.

[One more for me.]

Sunny smiled bleakly.

[You have a better vantage point, cheater.]

Then, the smile slowly disappeared from his face.

Accompanied by one of Sunny's shadows, Kai was far ahead of the party. Two more shadows kept to the left and right of the survivors, separated from them by several kilometers of white sand.

One more was far behind them.

And it was that one who noticed a dark silhouette appear from behind the crest of a towering dune.

The figure froze for a moment, then turned and stared directly at the shadow.

Sunny shuddered.

'The Gate Guardian…'

His dry lips cracked as he shouted: © 2024.

"It's coming! Move!"

The exhausted Masters paled and gritted their teeth. Then, they gathered all the strength they had left and dashed forward, running as fast as they could.

The incandescent sun was drowning the world in blinding light and immolating heat.

As the shadow that had noticed the pursuer flew away, another figure crested a dune several hundred meters away from it.

And then, another.

'Damn it…'

Sunny ran, carefully considering his options.

He felt… aggrieved.

He felt indignant.

He was appalled at the fact that he had been reduced to the state of only being able to run away and hide, like a frightened rat.

But that was, and had always been, reality.

Humans were small and weak in the world of the Nightmare Spell.

Even humans like Sunny, conquerors of Nightmares and slayer of titans, were no more than mice.

'I'm tired… I'm tired... I'm tired of being powerless. I'm tired of being weak. I want to be stronger… much stronger... so much more...'

Overcome by a deep, painful longing, Sunny gritted his teeth and ran.