Lucien spent a few minutes standing in front of the fire. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind as he replayed what he had seen in Nephis' memories again and again.
Just what exactly happened there? What had made Sunny want to kill Nephis when moments before he was unwilling to leave without her? Why did he suddenly start obeying her orders?
'Lost from Light'
That had to be Sunny's True Name. Everything went downhill the moment Nephis spoke those words.
But why?
Did knowing someones True Name allow you to force control over them?
Lucien frowned, no that didn't make sense. Nephis revealed her True Name to everyone in the Dark City. She wouldn't do that if it carried such a risk.
'Unless she wasn't aware of it back then.' A voice in the back of his head said. 'Coincidentally, most of the sleepers ended up dying during the siege.'
Did…did she plan all this?
"No," He whispered, shaking his head. Quite a few of them had managed to escape, they would talk about her in the waking world. They would reveal her True Name for everyone there.
She would have to kill everyone in the waking world to cleanse that name from the minds of the people.
"…"
That was absolutely something she would do.
No, it wasn't a matter of if she would do it, rather it was about if she could. The waking world had Masters and Saints. Strong as she was, she had no chance of beating Ascended, much less Transcendents.
'Am I just being paranoid?'
Sighing, Lucien pushed that stream of thought away. It was daytime, he should return to searching.
"Let's go, Eurys," He said, gesturing to the skeleton to follow him. Nephis was waiting for them outside. She had donned her armour and weapon, and stared at the vast expanse of the desert in front of them.
Without a word shared between them, they began moving. Their current path traced the edge of the Hollow Mountains towards the heart of the Nightmare Desert.
Aletta could not have crossed the desert as a dormant, even with her aspect ability helping her, That left the Hollow Mountains as her only remaining path. Strangely enough, it was also the safest path. The outer edges of the mountains were oddly devoid of any nightmare creatures.
Lucien spread out his storm sense over the walls of the mountains. With the wind clashing against the cold stone, Lucien would know if there were any paths into the mountain.
There were very few nightmare creatures at the outer edges of the desert, those that remained were hardly stronger than a Fallen Monster. It was only after mid way that they began growing stronger. First it was a Demon, then a Devil, then when they came across a particularly large group of fallen abominations, they stopped.
Hiding behind a large boulder Lucien spread his storm sense out over the ground. There were three groups near them, each lef by a Tyrant. But beyond them, far in the distance…
Lucien cursed under his breath. Terrors, quite a few of them. And beyond that, Corrupted abominations.
As soon as he noticed them, Lucien drew his storm sense back. There was no telling how perceptive a corrupted creature was. If it could sense Lucien watching it, there was no telling what would happen. There was no way he was beating a corrupted nightmare creature as a mere awakened.
"What is it?" Nephis asked, kneeling beside him.
"We can't go this way." He said, relaying what he had discovered.
Nephis frowned, "Is there another path?"
Lucien shook his head, they hadn't found any paths leading into the mountain. It was all solid stone, there wasn't so much as a scratch on the surface.
'Maybe we can try to sneak past them?'
But sneaking by Fallen Terrors and Corrupted creatures wasn't so easy. The Caulborne was prepared for them even before they reached its location.
'The desert then. We could go through it again.'
"My, oh, my, quite a predicament you're in." Eurys chuckled.
Lucien turned towards the eccentric skeleton, "Do you know another way deeper into the desert?"
"Why, yes I do." Eurys said, "Alas it will cost you your life."
Nephis frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Have you already forgotten what I told you about this hell?" Eurys turned to her, "The deeper you go, the stronger the deathless become. Beyond this point, lie the transcendents of the Divine Host and the Daemonic Army. And beyond them…"
He paused, dragging out the silence, "Beyond them lie the demigods and minor gods. If you go any deeper, both of you will die. That is a fact."
Lucien's mind was a whirlwind of questions. There was really no other way? Did mom really go this way? Should he still try to go through? He was fast enough to outrun them right?
"I would suggest giving up boy. She clearly didn't want you to follow."
"…"
Is this really where his search ended?
Lucien didn't know how to feel. He had hoped to find her, even if she didn't want him to. But she knew him too well, she knew exactly where he would go to look for her. Which is why she left her message with Eurys, she knew that he would eventually reach the tree.
She also knew that he wouldn't listen and continue following her, until he couldn't anymore. With her aspect ability, she could go to places Lucien had no chance of getting to. She could have snuck past the corrupted abominations and found a way into the mountain, knowing Lucien could never follow her there. That he'd be forced to turn back.
But why would she go so far to ensure he wouldn't follow her? What was so important that she had left without any explanation?
Surely looking for it together would be better. Not to mention, safer.
Unless, she was hiding something. Something Lucien couldn't know about. That was decided the moment he entered Nethers Citadel, and the ring broke.
Looking up, he found Nephis staring at him, waiting for him to make a decision. What decision was there to make? Their search was fruitless, they were never going to find Aletta. Not when she didn't want to be found. They only ever had one choice.
Gritting his teeth, Lucien forced the words out of his mouth, "We are going back to the citadel. This search was useless."
Nephis tilted her head and asked, "Are you going to give up just like that?"
Turning away, Lucien spat out, "She doesn't want to be found. We will never find her."
"So you won't even try?"
Lucien remained silent for a while, and then quietly said, "We did try."
It was already evening by the time they returned to the cave. They had silently decided to spend yet another night in the cave before heading back towards the Forgotten Shores again. No words were spoken during the return journey.
Just like the previous day, they entered the cave moments before the wall of mist descended upon the mountain.
Lucien spent the rest of the night staring blankly towards the wall of mist.
As the sun rose, the mist retreated up the mountain, and sunlight once again illuminated the cave.
Sighing deeply, Lucien rose up and walked to the opening, staring towards the direction of the Forgotten Shores. They were really going back without her then.
Turning back Lucien spoke to Eurys, "Are you going to come with us to Nether's Citadel then?"
"No, I have a different path in mind." Eurys shook his head, and then paused, "You're heading for Nether's citadel? My, you really do have a death wish don't you?"
Lucien frowned, "What do you mean? I've already been there once. It's not that bad, a bit morbid maybe with all the bodies."
Eurys remained silent for a while, then he chuckled and muttered something to himself.
"What is it?"
"Oh it's nothing," Eurys said, waving him away, "There's just something ironic about one of Storm's children willingly entering Nether's citadel."
Lucien scoffed, "Willingly? I was kidnapped by the Corrupted Tyrant guarding it, and imprisoned for months before he let me go."
"Corrupted Tyrant?" Eurys repeated.
"Yes, though he claimed to be a transcendent."
Eurys remained silent for a moment, and then started chuckling.
"So he too fell to corruption in the end. Oh how the mighty have fallen."
"You knew him?" Lucien stared at the skeleton. It wasn't that unlikely, they were both part of the Daemonic Army.
Eurys shrugged, "I had heard of him from a…colleague. Although he was a Supreme Titan back then, I wonder what changed."
"A Supreme?" Lucien frowned, struggling to imagine the eccentric stone goliath as a supreme being. Those were almost unheard of. In fact, if the hunters of the outer settlements were to be believed, the human world didn't even have one.
"Of course, a daemon wouldn't leave the security of his fortress to anyone weaker than a Supreme. Why, he would have kept a sacred one behind if they weren't at war against the gods."
"I mean, I wouldn't exactly call it a fortress," Lucien said furrowing his brows , "It is only one room after all."
Eurys stared at him for a while, wondering if he had finally snapped. Then, he opened his skeletal mouth and said:
"Then you haven't seen anything of his citadel. Nether's fortress was said to be massive, from the peaks of the mountains to the depths, and into the underworld. You have only seen one room because that's the only place the guardian has allowed you to see."
Lucien frowned, that didn't make sense. He'd scoured the entire room himself, there was no way out of it except the way he came from. There were no more doors in there that lead anywhere.
Then again, did a daemon really need doors to navigate? In fact, didn't the statue of Storm God act as a sort of gateway that sent him to a tower. Lucien didn't know what that tower was, but if what Eurys said was to be believed…maybe it was connected to the citadel itself. Similar to the towers connected to the Bright Castle.
What if the statue wasn't the only other 'gateway' there? What if there were hidden mechanics hidden within the walls that led deeper into the citadel. All of it, kept hidden by the stone goliath. Wouldn't be the first time that happened. He needed to explore the room far more thoroughly when he returned. Breaking out of his thoughts, Lucien turned back to Eurys and asked:
"Anything else you'd like to tell me about it?"
Eurys thought for a moment, making a show of scratching his chin. Then, he stopped and looked up at Lucien.
"No."
"Figured as much." Lucien sighed, and then asked, "You're going to continue your search for the shadow realm then?"
"Yes," Eurys nodded and turned away, towards the hollow mountains. There was a path there he could take, though he didn't know how meritable that was.
Glancing back at the two humans, he said, "May we never meet again Stormforged, you too abomination."
"Good luck on your search, Eurys." Lucien replied, "Hopefully you manage to kill yourself."
Nephis nodded and said nothing else, quietly watching Eurys go.
The eccentric skeleton chuckled, "Hope hm? Quite the word isn't it?"
Saying nothing else, the skeleton disappeared among the dunes of sand, never to be seen again.