As day turned into night, Sunny ascended the lighthouse once again, but this time, he had a bottle of oil in hand, disguised as a normal water dispenser.
His plan was almost complete, once the moon finished its track towards the center of the night sky, and the man was drowsy enough, he would douse himself in oil, and set himself aflame.
There was no other way for him. If death was part of the race for survival, Sunny would happily die — all to continue living.
As his steps echoed throughout the silent lighthouse, he found it increasingly hard to climb upwards. Looking down at his legs, he found them trembling.
'Damnation! It's to survive, Sunny! If your theory is correct, it is the only way.'
Yet, despite his will to continue, nothing changed, and the ascension was only getting harder.
'Oh.'
Even though his mind had accepted the fact, even though he was convicted enough to do so — his body was not, and it was feeling fear.
The instincts he had long trained in the alleys of the outskirts were telling him to turn, to turn and run down the stairs, out of the door, and never look at the lighthouse ever again.
It was the easy way out, and the most certain way of living in this situation — for just a few days more.
However…
Sunny was stubborn, and nothing could ever change his mind once he decided something. And… Sunny had decided to survive — no matter if he had to burn himself.
Besides, there was no one in his way, and no one stopping him — only himself.
The nightmare was calling him to give up, so Sunny will not give in to its will.
'That's right, how could this compare to the period after mother and father had died?'
Gritting his teeth, he forced his trembling legs to move, and slowly but surely, the top didn't seem so far away.
One step, another. He counted, his eyes determinedly etched onto the horizon.
One step, another. He ascended, the blue sky peaking from above.
One step, another. He climbed, and the ever shining flame could be seen.
After a few minutes, there were only seven more steps yet, but those were the hardest — they signified the point of no return.
He… He was Sunless. Sunny. And… something more, something more that he didn't know yet. He wanted to survive.
The First Step.
He only just knew the taste of coffee, but what about the taste of meat? Didn't he deserve to know it as well?
The Second Step.
What did a life out of the outskirts look like? What would school and a proper education be like? Why did he have to be stuck here in the outskirts? When he could have been Rain — living in a proper family without ever knowing the song of the outskirts.
The Third Step.
What was a friend? What was a family? He was rid of the chance to ever experience those luxuries? But couldn't he start now?
The Fourth Step.
What did life as an Awaken look like? Do they get to breeze through everything? If he actually survived through the horrors of this nightmare, and the Dream Realm, would he get to know the answer?
The Fifth Step.
Why must the Nightmare Spell exist? Would the world have been better without it? No more struggling in the alleyways for food, but instead everyone could have had a proper education!
The Sixth Step.
What more should he continue forward than for himself? Sunny wanted to see everything, know everything. And… what was stopping him?
'The world? The laws? The rules? Fuck it all. I want to live, and who is stopping me?'
The Seventh Step.
The final step.
He saw the top — he shall survive.
Climbing onto the platform of the lighthouse, he looked around, and saw the man already situated there, sitting down near the burning flame of the lighthouse with a grin.
"Father, I'm here." He said, internally brimming with disgust.
The man gave a nod, his hand waving to the seat beside him — he was inviting Sunny to sit.
Begrudgingly, he did so, and turned to the window to get a last look at the stunning, unapproachable view.
The sun glimmered across the horizon, painting the sky in hues of vivid orange, calming pink, and deep purple, casting a shimmering path of light that resembled the staircase to heaven.
'Heh. I must be hallucinating, what staircase to heaven could exist?'
However, the dream realm was mysterious, no one would know if that could actually be true.
'Well… It's not a staircase to heaven for me, more like a staircase to death.'
He thought, as he leaned back for the first time since he woke up, and relaxed.
Of course he was still wary of the man beside him, but… he wouldn't dare hurt Ivan would he?
As the glimmer of the crescent moon overtook the sun, the waves crashed against the cliff of the lighthouse, painting an ethereal scene that he would always remember.
'Forget it Sunny! You're not here to enjoy the scenery! It's a situation of life and death!'
Looking over to the man, he saw his eyelids slowly dropping, and he soon entered the realm of sleep.
Sunny waited for the hue of the sky to revert to the inky black Ivan had known so well, and knew it was time.
He had to set himself on fire.
Dousing himself in the slimy substance known as oil, he gulped before…
Wait.
He couldn't let things end like this.
Dying was too trivial for him. He could have died any time back in the outskirts, yet chose not to.
The man…
He was the one who truly deserved to die.
'So what if I'll fail my nightmare? I'll spite him, I'll spite that fucking monster!'
Why did he have to die!?
If he was stuck in somewhere else, another dimension or whatever…
Surely the damn Spell would appreciate a story of a slave going against his slaver.
At least according to what he knew about it – Aspirants were sent to whatever scenario it conjured, and they had to live through it.
Yet the Spell had sent him to a death trap…
'Who cares about the Spell! All that matters is I survive this! I'll still be able to live!'
'That's right, I'm going to free myself from this, from everything… What if this is just an impulsive decision on the spot? The me from yesterday must have been joking! How dare I even think of ending things like this! I… I still have to see Rain! I still haven't told her I'm her brother.'
Yeah, that's right, even if no one would remember him if he survived or not, why would the world get to have what it wanted?
Sunless wanted to have a better life — he wanted to open a shop, where he could live happily ever after.
He wanted that, and the one who was standing in his way — the man — must die.
But how was he – a malnutritioned brat from the outskirts, able to kill a Nightmare Creature in its own game?
…Sunny felt an idea getting to him, and the only chance was for him to do it now.
Pouring the remains of the oil onto the man, he pushed him, along with himself, into the burning flame.
When the eyelids of the man started to flutter open, it was already too late, flames cascaded before his eyes.
The man let out an agonizing scream, his eyes scanning for whoever had done this.
They landed on Sunny, and he could see its shock of realisation, and the way it was conveying curses to him, yet Sunny paid them no mind, he was also aflame after all.
As the fire trickled his oil-covered skin, Sunny too let out a blood curdling scream as pure agony streamed in his veins. His blood boiling from the sheer heat.
Throughout the semblance of sanity he still held, Sunny maniacally smiled. The prey had turned against its predator, and he was getting sweet, sweet revenge for all those months of suffering in the form of another person.
Looking at the moving mouth of the man, Sunny briefly saw what it was trying to say: why.
In response to the taunt, his grin became larger, and he decided to humor the creature.
Spite.
It glared at him, but there wasn't anything it could possibly do anymore. Sunny had forced it to burn for its sins, even if he'll have to burn himself in the process.
That night, the lighthouse burned brighter than ever, smoke blaring into the air. It was like a shining star ascending the staircase of the divine, burning the demons of hell along with it.
——
Nephis turned to the direction of the thundering noise, only to see rocks and heavy shards of ice raining on them from above. As the slaves besides her panicked, lurching away in a cacophony of screams.
But Nephis? Nephis was calm, unbothered, her eyes narrowing as she studied the opponent before her.
She couldn't be afraid of the Nightmare Creatures, this was only her First Nightmare, and she had so much more she had to achieve before the goal she pursued would even be in sight.
This was only the starting line.
Calm and collected, she gazed at the night sky, her Attribute-enchanced eyes piercing the darkness, and took one measured step back. In the next second, a piece of ice the size of a man's torso hit the ground right in front of him and exploded, showering everything around with sharp shards.
Others weren't that quick. As ice and stones continued to rain, many were wounded, and a few even lost their lives. Agonizing wails filled the air.
"On your feet, fools! Get to the wall!"
A soldier shouted angrily, trying to get the slaves to move towards the relative safety of the mountain slope. However, before anyone could heed his command, something massive came crashing down, sending a tremor through the stones beneath their feet. It fell right between the caravan and the mountain wall, plunging everything into silence for a few seconds.
At first, it looked like a lump of dirty snow, roughly round in shape and as tall as a mounted horseman. However, once the creature unfurled its long limbs and rose, it towered over the stone platform like a nightmarish omen of death.
The creature stilled for a while, before it suddenly moved, slashing its claws in her general direction. But Nephis was one step ahead, she was a master of battle after all: without wasting a single moment, she jumped sideways — as far as the chain allowed — unfortunately placing one of the many slaves between herself and the monster.
The sharp claws of the monster sliced through the slave and sent streams of blood flying through the air, some of them reaching her and staining her garments.
Yet despite the uncomfortableness, Nephis' eyes never left the monster, or the battlefield. As the slave slowly fell on her from above, she sidestepped, and continued looking.
Hearing a chilling howl, Nephis was shocked.
The creature had created a lesser version of itself — an ability that belonged exclusively to tyrants.
Never had she heard of a Tyrant appearing in one's First Nightmare.
However, Nephis stayed calm, panicking would mean death, and for her goals…. She had to survive.
Eyes flashing across the battlefield, a devious plan formed in her mind — Facing a Tyrant might seem impossible… but her will is for it to die, and there wasn't anyone stopping her, was it?