In the midst of her sobbing, a rustling noise came from outside. Her ears immediately perked up. Though she was blind, Cassie had learned to navigate using her other senses. Over time, she'd become adept at discerning even the smallest of sounds, differentiating them with precision.
She hastily wiped her face with her robe, pushing herself to her feet. Nephis was out gathering the other settlers from the outer areas along with Effie. She wasn't supposed to return until later, and this place was secluded enough for Cassie to stay alone for short periods. No one else was meant to know about it or come near right now.
Her heart quickened. She was nervous, but she wasn't the naive girl who had first entered the Dream Realm. No, she was tired of her helplessness.
The room she was in was full of broken furniture, pieces of her past. She dropped to her knees, hands moving quickly as she searched for anything she could use as a weapon.
After a few moments of frantic searching, her fingers brushed against something hard, long and metallic. It wasn't much, but it felt sturdy. She gripped it tightly.
The footsteps outside grew louder, closer. She crept silently toward the front door, positioning herself beside it, waiting. Her body tensed, prepared to strike at the first sign of a threat.
Then, just as the presence crossed the threshold.
"Yo, Cass, you he—"
Before the voice could finish, Cassie swung the metal object with all her strength, twisting her body clockwise, her muscles coiling as she launched the attack.
Swoosh!
The metal whistled through the air at terrifying speed, a razor-sharp blur, promising to cut through anything in its path.
even though cassie was weaker then most sleepers, she was still a sleeper and therefore much stronger then a mundane.
"Holy shi—"
The figure, caught off guard, ducked just in time, losing their balance on their heel and stumbling backward, cursing in surprise.
The metal object narrowly missed the figure's head by a hair's breadth, instead striking the door frame with a deafening crash, splintering the wood and leaving a huge chunk of the frame shattered.
The figure, now completely frozen in disbelief, gasped, "What the hell?!"
Cassie, still struggling to regain her balance after the force of the swing, recognized the voice. It was unmistakable, as clear as the morning sun—the voice of the one she cherished more than anyone.
Now, it was her turn to panic.
With worry and panic thick in her voice as she called out, "A-Adam?"
***
Adam POV
"Damsel in distress, my ass!"
"She could've killed me with that strike, even if I had been prepared for it!" Ivan cursed internally, as the apparition of Adam stood beside him, agape.
Even though Hanged Man Adam was an apparition and could not be physically harmed, one could almost see a trickle of sweat running down his forehead.
"D-damn… I take back what I said before," Adam stammered nervously.
Several Minutes Earlier…
"Hey… I just noticed, but you're a little different?" the apparition asked, walking with a distant, lost gaze.
"Huh? How so?" Ivan responded, unsure of how to address the sudden comment.
Ivan had been on his way to meet Cassie when the apparition first revealed himself. He had left Cassie in Nephis's care while he sorted himself out.
Naturally, this wasn't a big deal, as Cassie and Nephis had spent the most time together after Sunny left. Knowing how the environment always seemed to push characters back into their original roles—just like in the novel—Ivan didn't feel the need to worry too much about Cassie's safety. Still, he kept his vigilance and had Adam go and keep watch, just in case.
and strangely he didn't seem to have a limit on the distance he can move away from him.
then there was also the matter of the Quill of Alzuhod. Ivan had used it to force Sunny to speak his true name aloud for the story to follow its original path. This had been on his mind the most.
First, his intervention raised a question: In this reality, I had gotten involved and forced Sunny to say his true name, and both scenes unfolded exactly as they had in the original novel. This disturbed him because Cassie's vision had clearly shown the end of the Forgotten Shore happening differently. Yet, both the novel and this reality seemed to align in the same way.
Does this mean the original novel isn't the original story?
There was also the fact that multiple timelines existed, each with different routes and stories, but according to Adam, the original story had always remained unchanged.
if Cassie's vision showed the original story, and the novel only showed the best route? what happened to the original story, did it even happen?.
This was a thought Ivan didn't voice out. He suspected that there was an original story that wasn't the novel. The main body—Adam—had ensured that this story followed the original novel exactly, not the original story.
"Hey!"
This was groundbreaking. Even though Ivan wasn't "real," he believed that his memories, outside of his persona, were real. The main body, Adam, was indeed from another world, and their memories were shared—true to the most part. But if he recalled correctly, no one had ever questioned this to G3. Everyone simply accepted Cassie's betrayal and the pivotal moment that had changed the course of the story. But what if Cassie's betrayal in the novel wasn't a natural development? What if someone—or something—else had caused it?
"Then what is the novel Shadow Slave?"
"is it truly sunny's story?"
"HEY!"
Ivan blinked, startled by the sudden call. He stammered, "Y-yeah? What?"
"Did you even listen to what I was saying?"
Slightly embarrassed, Ivan scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, just got caught up in my mind…".
"You've been zoning out more often lately. I thought you said you were over that," Adam said, his voice carrying a trace of frustration.
"No, no, it's not about my existence," Ivan responded quickly, waving a hand dismissively. "It's just… I'm unsure how to proceed from here on out."
He frowned slightly, rubbing his chin with a peculiar expression.
After a moment, he turned to Adam with a more focused gaze.
"Adam… how much of the novel do you actually remember? I can't seem to recall much of it."
Adam paused, the irritation from earlier fading as he tilted his head in thought. "Hmm…"
He appeared to search his memory, eyes narrowing slightly in concentration.
"Not much, really," he admitted at last. "Just bits and pieces from here and there. The last clear part I remember reading was when Little Ling was born."
"What about you?" he added, glancing over.
Ivan's eyes narrowed, and with a slight shake of his head, he muttered, "Around the same point."
"The story wasn't even finished anyway," he added after a beat. "Our main body probably has plans for when we get to that part."
"So, when that time comes, we'll finally get the answers?" Ivan pressed.
"Most likely."
By then, the two had entered a semi-secluded settlement—one of the more isolated areas where Nephis had left Cassie while she gathered the sleepers from the outer zones. They'd been walking and talking the whole way, so they arrived without delay.
Ivan glanced around as he walked, eyes scanning the quiet surroundings. Without turning to Adam, he spoke almost as if to himself.
"This feels… strange. I don't really know how to describe it, but—this is reality. The air I breathe, the ground beneath me… Sometimes it's so overwhelming I feel like I'll pass out from sensory overload."
Adam chuckled heartily at that. "Yeah, you'll get used to it. When I first woke up, I was seriously losing it—cursing everything and everyone. But if I'm being honest…"
He exhaled, voice softening.
"It felt good."
Ivan gave him a long stare, the kind of look usually reserved for old men reminiscing about their glory days.
Adam, slightly embarrassed, cleared his throat and coughed into his hand.
"Ahem. Anyway, we should get going. Our lovely damsel in distress awaits her handsome savior—or saviors, I should say."
Ivan shot him a look of disbelief. "Saviors? Who's we? You mean me?"
"Why does that matter?" Adam said with a mischievous grin spreading across his face. His eyes curled into crescents.
Then, drawing out each word with theatrical flair, he leaned in ever so slightly and teased, "Oh my… are you… perhaps jealous?"
"Yes."
there was no hesitation, one would even argue that he didn't even listen to the question, but against a spectator, that argument holds no weight.
for the first time, it seemed the apparition was truly lost for words.
Adam had stopped walking and simply watched Ivan walk by as if nothing was wrong, he was going to say something when Ivan stopped to turn and say,
"Cassie is mine, remember that", he said with an almost threatening tone.
Adam taken back even more by ivan's change of attitude, simply laughed awkwardly.
Cassie's room is about couple steps away.
"your quite honest aren't you", adam asked.
to which Ivan replied with a shrug "i might not be the most honest man in the world or two worlds even, but" he paused.
"i am honest to my own feelings." ivan replied, there was an unexplainable air around him.
and almost immediately after, breaking the serene air around him, "like come on, who wouldn't want to get together with their most beloved character Ever.", he stated as a matter of fact.
Adam simply looked at Ivan with an unimpressed look with one word in mind, "Simp.".
and finally they reached Cassie's Room.
Ivan shooed Adam away and with an voice as bright as the morning sun."Yo Cass, You he-"
Swoosh!.