Sunny fled the waking world and escaped the unbearable pressure of its draconian laws.

At the same time, a different incarnation of him moved from shadow to shadow, slowly scaling the walls of the Castle. There were thousands of excited people crowding its many courtyards, and the sun was high in the sky, illuminating the sprawling vista of Bastion.

Bastion had always been the most prominent human settlement in the Dream Realm. It had been the first foothold humanity had established in the frightening world of the Nightmare Spell, connecting the isolated Citadels located in its heartland both to each other and to the Stormsea. And even if the basin of the River of Tears developed swiftly later on, Bastion never lost its exalted status.

After Godgrave, it became the seat of Immortal Flame's power as well...

But it was only today that Sunny felt that he was looking at the greatest stronghold of humanity — at its beating heart.

The Ivory Tower drifted among the clouds above the Mirror Lake. Some distance away, on the other side of the Castle, the Night Garden cast a shadow on its battlements. And somewhere far away, the brilliant Dream Gate towered above the lively streets. Today was a special day when the Dream Gate connected Bastion to Ravenheart. People could travel freely between the two Great Citadels, ostensibly turning them into one colossal city.

Mundane people, Awakened, Echoes, enthralled Nightmare Creatures — all of them flooded the streets, serving as an unmistakable reminder of how powerful humanity had grown. The four Great Citadels seemed to have become one, lending their immense weight to that feeling of strength.

Looking at it, one could just believe that humanity could really withstand the apocalypse.

"Ah, damn it..."

On top of the main keep of the Castle, Effie was standing alone on a secluded rampart, her tall figure contoured beautifully against the brilliant sky. When Sunny arrived, she was engaged in a strange ritual.

There was a scattering of small white balls on the stones in front of her, and she was holding an odd alloy weapon in her hand — not quite a war hammer, but not quite a mace either. As Sunny emerged from the shadows, she swung the weapon in a graceful arc and sent one of the balls flying into the sky with a thunderclap.

The ball glistened like a tiny meteor and disappeared into the distance, never to be seen again.

Sunny stared at all that with a confused expression.

"Who are you trying to kill? And why are you using such a strange method?"

Effie inhaled deeply, then turned to him and smiled.

"Hey, Sunny."

She used her odd weapon to roll another ball into position and looked into the distance.

“I am not trying to kill anyone. Just... trying to relax. This here is an ancient ceremony from before the Dark Times — something called golf. I read in a book that people performed it to relax."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Really? So what's the purpose of this ceremony?"

Effie hesitated.

“To get the ball into a small hole, I guess? Wait!"

She opened her mouth, her eyes glinting with mischievous light, but then just sighed.

“Ah, forget it. There are no golf holes in Bastion, so I am trying to get the balls into the Stormsea instead."

Sunny looked into the distance.

"There are hundreds of kilometers between Bastion and the Stormsea."

Effie grinned.

"Exactly!"

With that, she swung her club again, producing another thunderclap. The ball disappeared behind the horizon.

Effie watched it fly away, then shrugged.

“Honestly, I sort of get it. I don't think that the goal even matters. It just feels nice to give something a good whack sometimes. Wait!"

She opened her mouth again, but then just shook her head again.

"Wanna try?"

Sunny considered it for a moment.

Could he get the ball into the Stormsea? Honestly, it was not impossible. He had bombarded the Winter Beast with heavy javelins from at least twenty kilometers away as a Saint — he wasn't a Saint anymore, and the golf balls were way lighter than those javelins had been. So, there was no telling how far they would fly.

They would undoubtedly fly over Rivergate, though, which meant that he did not run the risk of killing someone by accident.

“Sure, why not?"

Sunny took the golf club from Effie, chose a ball, prepared for a few moments... and whacked it with all his titanic strength.

The ball disintegrated with a loud boom, and the club exploded into a cloud of metal shrapnel.

Effie laughed.

“Oh, right, I forgot to say! The fun part is trying to find the right balance between a forceful whack and a... ah, I think I'll stop here. Anyway, it's a good exercise for learning how to precisely control your strength. In fact, I stumbled onto this whole thing when coming up with ways to train Dumpling, back when he couldn't control his Transcendent strength yet."

Sunny stared at Effie somberly for a while, then asked in a dark tone:

"What's wrong with you?"

Effie blinked a couple of times.

“What do you mean?"

He shook his head.

"That was what, at least four flawless openings for a dirty joke? And you just ignored them completely. Where is the real Effie, and what have you done to her?"

Effie remained silent for a little while, then looked away.

“The real Effie just wants to whack some balls in peace."

Sunny smiled.

“Sorry for breaking your club, then."

She gave him a long look and chuckled.

“Are you joking? I did mention that I made this for Little Ling, did I not? I had four hundred of them made, and he only destroyed half of them."

With that, Effie leaned down and pulled another club from a storage Memory.

"Now, then... let's get the next one into the Stormsea, for sure.”

She sent another ball into the sky and sighed in satisfaction, looking at the sprawling city below them.

"Hey, Sunny, did you know that Bastion is larger than NQSC now?"

Effie leaned on the club.

"NQSC has a way larger population, but it is also built vertically. Most buildings have countless floors both above and below ground. Bastion, however, is mostly horizontal. So, it covers much more ground... an immense amount of ground, really."

She pointed southward.

"And despite our tram system, the bicycles, the Echo rickshaws, and the ferries, traveling from one part of the city to another still takes too much time. Around half of the people living in the south have never been to the northern reaches of Bastion. In fact, they have not even been to every district in the south. And despite the fact that a constant torrent of settlers is leaving Bastion for other Citadel Cities, the population is still growing... which brings its own swarm of problems."

Effie looked down.

"What I am trying to say is that we are at capacity. We are way past it, actually, and there are still billions of people who need to be settled somewhere in the Dream Realm. That's pretty bad."

Sunny lingered for a short while.

"Yeah, I know. Of course I do. But why are you telling me this now?"

Effie shrugged.

“Just to illustrate why I am here swinging a club. This is the kind of problem we are facing today."

Effie sighed and rolled the next ball into position.

"So... challenging the Nightmare seems trivial in comparison, doesn't it?"

She raised the club, remained motionless for a moment, and then lowered it with a heavy sigh.

“It should seem trivial. But it doesn't."