The scent of citrus and lavender drifter through the air, not the rot and sewer like smell of the outskirts- something clean.
Sunny sat motionless on a red velvet couch he couldn't even dare to look at just 2 days prior, in front of him sitting on a similar couch was his now sister, Revel.
Sunny had experienced so many luxuries that he was at a loss, from eating actual meat to sleeping on something softer than concrete. He felt as if he entered a whole new world.
"O-one more time?" He asked with disbelief, he was practically a statue from how rigid he was.
Revel sighed, "it seems you have been infected by the nightmare spell sooner than anticipated, as such you only have about a week before entering your first nightmare"
Sunny looked up at the beautiful ceiling that was adorned with intricate moldings that curled like vines across its expanse, this was just his luck getting adopted by an illustrious clan then being told that death is less than a week away.
"Oh, don't despair little brother I'm sure you can survive the challenge" She comforted him, but sunny could see a hint of pity in her eyes- too fleeting to be acknowledged, too real to ignore.
"Well, uhm... Rev- sister," Sunny quickly corrected himself, she had insisted on being called 'sister' much to his discomfort and her amusement, "I don't really... have any experience nor training with anything to do with combat or the nightmare spell in general"
Revel arched her eyebrows in surprise, "But you do?" She smiled.
Sunny blinked, "I do?" he said in surprise.
Revel nodded, "All you need to do is survive" She said, as if it was a simple matter, "Oh, and maybe kill a few beasts"
Sunny stared at her, the largest thing he had attempted to hunt was a rat behind the dumpsters and he had failed at that, how was he expected to hunt nightmare creatures?
He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs but given the person in front of him was one of the few saints humanity had, he didn't want to test his luck.
"Luckily for you, I'm free for a couple days, so I have some time to find help and teach you," she said cheerfully, "Now tell me, sunny, what was the biggest threat to your life when living in the outskirts?"
Sunny pondered, he thought back to the weeks on end he had looked for warm enough places during winter, or the days on end he looked for any scrap of food to satiate his hunger, or even maybe the time he ran away from street thugs trying to rob him of his last few credits.
"The environment," he said after a while.
Revel nodded, "The spell will send you to a conflict that you have to survive or solve, and the spell can send you anywhere, be it a battle during winter or a hunt during summer."
Revel paused, the looked directly behind sunny and frowned "Silence, it's not nice to spy on your brother"
Sunny was confused, he turned around to look behind him but found nothing, then he looked in front of him again and almost yelped.
Before, it was only Revel, now there was another figure sitting next to her on the velvet couch, said figure what seemed to be leather hunting armor and gave almost no presence at all.
Sunny wondered if it was really leather, it had to be right? This was clan song after all.
"This," She gestured at the figure, "Is silent stalker, she is an amazing huntress and expert on wilderness survival, she will tutor you personally"
"Can't believe you convinced me to tutor a mundane," Silent stalker muttered, "I take the debt is repaid after this right?"
Revel looked at her with reproach, "This isn't just a mundane, this is the first son of song!"
Sunny had been adopted but he didn't really understand the process, Beastmaster had gone to Raven heart to get permission from someone, who? Sunny did not know but once it did come he was now considered 'family'.
"I am a Saint for spell's sake!" She hissed, "Surely you couldn't just send him to the academy or something?"
"We are one of the 3 great clans; how would it look if we sent our brother to such a place?" Revel argued, "Not that anybody knows we adopted Sunny but still"
When Sunny first discovered the identities of the women, he had to pinch himself really hard to make sure he wasn't drugged in an alley or something. Getting adopted into a clan was shocking enough, but getting adopted by one of the strongest clans in humanity and having some of the strongest individuals as your siblings?
Mind-boggling.
Yet no matter what he did, it was true, he had been adopted by the clan of song.
Silent stalker considered this for a minute then sighed and muttered something about corpses being better company, she abruptly stood up and before sunny could even say anything to her, she was in front of him inspecting him up and down.
"Not much to work with," She studied him as if he was an item for sale, "But he is quite smart from what I heard from you conversation
I'll have the basics down in around 5 days...and if he can't keep up"
Silent stalker shrugged
Revel smiled politely and looked at sunny with something resembling... pity?
Sunny had a bad feeling about the next five days, but he had to prove his worth somehow.
He had 5 days to prove his worth or die trying.