And with the number of active Gates constantly increasing, the areas of disruption constantly grew, overlapping with each other and taking entire swathes of city infrastructure out of commission. Humanity was resisting that harmful process, of course. The Gates negatively affecting the most vital hubs were prioritized when sending Awakened to challenge Nightmares, and breakthroughs achieved by the scientists working on adapting human technology to the Dream Realm were swiftly reverse-engineered to improve the situation on Earth, as well...
But it was not enough. The progress was woefully insufficient to contend against the spreading Nightmare, and so, the waking world was slowly sliding into a state of emergency.
The billions of people still populating it were anxious and suffering under immense pressure, of course. Nobody knew if there would be a place for them in the Dream Realm, since sustaining such an enormous population there was beyond the capability of the Human Domain at the moment.
A tense mood suffused the struggling cities of Earth.
But there were positive changes that had happened during and since the Forgotten Years, as well.
There were more Awakened, Ascended, and Saints among humans now than ever before, and more still were emerging every month, as if all of humanity was rallied by the approaching end.
There was a new Supreme to guard it, as well — Song of the Fallen, the trusted aide of Lady Changing Star, was rumored to have attained Supremacy during the Forgotten Years. She did not build herself a throne and preferred to stay away from the public eye, but people still felt safer knowing that two Sovereigns were now watching over them. ...And that these two Sovereigns were companions who shared trust and friendship, as opposed to envy and hostility like the previous ones had.
That wasn't all, either — in fact, there was a third Supreme allied with the Human Domain. And the identity of that Supreme was the most wondrous one of all.
It was a woman known as Ananke, who was a native of the Dream Realm. She wasn't alone, either, ruling over a small nation of people who descended from the survivors of ancient calamities.
These strangers, who called themselves the River People, had established an alliance with Changing Star and joined humanity in the task of preparing for the apocalypse. While their number was not significant enough to move the scales of history, the foreign knowledge and skills they had brought were a priceless boon.
With their help, the initiative to build floating cities in the Stormsea, which had stagnated for a while, was finally moving along... and progressing at incredible speed, at that.
That alone relieved a great amount of pressure on humanity, which was desperate to bring as many settlers to the Dream Realm as possible — it was not an exaggeration to say that the population capacity of human territories in the dire new world was going to increase by a third in the span of a few short years because of the transformation happening to the Citadels of the Stormsea.
All thanks to Ananke of Weave and the River People.
But even more importantly than that...
The world had been shaken to the core when the rulers of the Human Domain bestowed the knowledge of natural Awakening on their people.
It was too incredible to believe, and yet, it was true — the River People were a living testament that the natural Awakening was possible, and as it turned out, Changing Star and Song of the Fallen had been developing a set of techniques to allow all people to attempt becoming Awakened for a long while.
Now, these techniques had finally been perfected and made public, freely available to everyone who wanted to gain power... as opposed to being fervently guarded by those who already possessed it.
The natural Awakening was less assured than conquering a Nightmare, but it was much safer, as well. And even if it was a slow and uncertain process, it gave everyone, not only those chosen by the Nightmare Spell, a chance to become stronger.
All people now had a chance to Awaken without risking their lives in the First Nightmare, and even if they ultimately failed, the process itself was beneficial to their bodies and souls. Awakened could attempt to become Masters without sacrificing countless lives to the Second Nightmare, as well.
This news shook the very foundation of everything humans thought they knew. It gave people a sense that they, too, could survive the apocalypse.
But those who already possessed great power knew that everything they had done was not enough to stop the world from falling into the abyss... because all their accomplishments and all their strength were insignificant in the face of the approaching calamity.
So, they felt far more urgency to grow stronger than those who possessed no strength at all.
'Nothing ever changes.'
Sunny sighed.
He had desperately chased strength as a young man, but now that he was older and already a demigod... he was still desperately trying to become stronger.
Life was far more pleasant now, at least.