387 Withered Flowers

Sunny opened his eyes in the cool cradle of the sleeping pod. The lid was already sliding away, and the lights in the room were gradually turning brighter. The panoramic wall in front of him opened to a view of one of the Academy parks.

The eastern horizon was already painted lilac by the rising sun, but the world was still shrouded in darkness.

'...Made it.'

With a sigh, he rose from the pod and lowered his feet to the cold floor.

These first moments after leaving the Dream Realm were still strange to him. It just… it just seemed weird to be able to escape it so easily, without having to fight through a sea of monsters and struggle against terror, desperation, and pain. How could something so meaningful be so simple?

And yet, it was. In the past two months, coming and going from the Dream Realm had almost become a routine for him. Not that he had done it as often as most Awakened did.

Standing up, Sunny grimaced, then massaged his shoulders and glanced at the sleeping pod darkly.

Now that he was an Awakened, the Academy had granted him a personal living space in one of the dormitories. These quarters were much the same as the room he had lived in during his preparations to enter the Dream Realm for the first time, but with one significant difference: there was a smaller room adjacent to the main one, housing a humble meditation space and an individual sleeping pod.

The problem was, that pod was not at all as advanced and state-of-the-art as the ones used for the Sleepers. It did its job fine as long as an Awakened remained in the Dream Realm for about eight to twelve hours, as most of them did. However, Sunny was in the habit of spending much, much more time there.

His recent adventure, for example, had lasted three whole days… he had to work hard to not fall behind, after all. As a result, his muscles felt sore and heavy.

Circulating essence through his body to chase away the remnants of sleep, Sunny walked to the bathroom and got into the shower. As streams of water caressed his skin and flowed down the scales of the black serpent coiling around his lithe body, he sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

At least his mind felt refreshed. Visiting the Dream Realm was not exactly equal to good sleep, but it was somewhat similar. Mental fatigue still accumulated little by little, but it was easy to remove by meditating or actually sleeping on the other side of the Gateway. Few Awakened ever did, however, since no place there was really completely safe.

Exiting the shower sometime later, Sunny finally felt wide awake and full of energy. He dressed himself, sat at the table, and quickly compiled a report about his recent exploration. Then, he picked up the communicator and checked its log.

No missed calls, a few messages from Effie with photos of all the delicious food she was eating and several memetic jokes of questionable nature, and a few more from Kai, describing his experiences in Bastion.

Sunny waited for a bit, then sighed and put the communicator down.

"Time for breakfast."

Commanding one of the shadows to wrap itself around his body so that he appeared like a normal person, Sunny left his room and headed out.

On the way to the cafeteria, he met a few other Awakened. No one paid him too much attention, though. In recent months, the images and True Names of Cassie, Kai, and especially Effie had been plastered all over the media, but luckily, he had avoided becoming a poster boy for the government's insatiable propaganda machine. As the result, random strangers had no idea who he was, which suited Sunny just fine.

Entering the cafeteria, he got himself a full tray of food, sat at one of the tables, and placed the communicator on its surface.

The call was supposed to come any minute now.

He enjoyed a decadently delicious breakfast in peace and quiet, glancing at the communicator from time to time. No one bothered him, and there was no danger to be worried about.

A content smile found its way to his lips.

'Ah. Life is good…'

Finally, the communicator rang.

Sunny answered the call and listened to the respectful voice on the other side of it.

"Everything is ready? Wonderful. So, when can I… oh, really? Well… great! Then I will… be there at noon? Right. See you later, then."

Finishing the call, he put the communicator down and stared into the distance for a long time, a strange look on his face.

After receiving the contribution points for his Forgotten Shore report and making some money by selling soul shards to other Awakened on the Chained Isles, Sunny had done something that he had never thought that he would be able to do in this life.

…He had bought a home.

A nice, beautiful home in the district of the city with clean air and green lawns.

And now, after several long weeks of waiting, everything was finally ready for him to move in.

Looking down at his cantankerous shadow, Sunny lingered for a few moments, and then smiled.

"...I think we've made it, buddy. We really, really did."

***

The person in charge of renovating his home and bringing it to the desired specifications was going to meet him there at noon, so Sunny had a few hours of free time to kill.

He wandered around the parks for a bit. Now that the spring had come, the air was warm and pleasant. The melodic drip-drop of melting snow disturbed the peaceful silence of the early morning, making Sunny feel balanced and relaxed. Even the shadow seemed to enjoy this tranquil landscape.

Eventually, he visited one of the kiosks scattered around the Academy and spent a bit of credits to buy a bouquet of fresh flowers.

Then, Sunny found himself standing in front of the hospital complex.

With a sigh, he lowered his head and walked through the automatic doors.

Using an elevator to reach one of the lowest levels, he passed several increasingly strict security checks and approached an unremarkable white door.

Inside, it was cool and dark.

Changing the withered flowers with fresh ones, he lingered for a bit, then sat on a chair that stood near the softly glowing sleeping pod.

Entombed within, a young woman with silver hair was dreaming soundly, her face pale and unmoving.

"...Hey, Nephis. How have you been?"