It's been some days after it was revealed the three who were looking to be the next leaders of the city were dead. Everyone knew who the culprit was, but they also knew he was far too dangerous to retaliate. Even though it wasn't spoken, everyone knew.
That Sunny was now the new tyrant of the dark city.
Sunny stood before the throne once held by Gunlaug, looking around the now empty castle. Behind him were Cassie, Effie, and Kai. He had grown quite a liking to Kai, so he decided to keep him around.
"First order of business, break down the parts of the castle walls that make entry impossible. Anybody can come and go in here."
Sunny took another step towards the throne, his eyes fixated on its golden exterior.
"Secondly, have someone be able to list and manage all the dark city's citizens and their current situation."
Shadows stirred around the room, making their way towards the golden throne.
"Thirdly, have all capable citizens fall into a role, whether it be hunting for nightmare creatures, farming whatever type of unsightly crops they have here, training others, or even building... in all honesty they can even just help keep the place clean."
The shadows wrapped around the throne, slowly consuming it like how the moon flows over the sun in an eclipse.
"Fourthly, make sure everyone has their needs met and that food, water, housing, and any medical need is distributed to them equally and without fail."
The shadows stopped after they wrapped around the throne and before crushing it, turning the throne into a pile of rocks and shattered gold.
"And finally... the fifth order is to realize that there is no king."
---
Months have passed, and the dark city wasn't so dark anymore. Once, before, you would see people starving while laying out on the ground waiting for death. But now, the distributor of food and such is not the golden tyrant Gunlaug, but the people themselves. Still, despite that lifestyle change, there was still one thing that held true.
The hatred for Sunless.
Every now and then, people go missing from the dark city. Nobody knows where they go, but weeks later a new rock is added to the place where they marked the death tolls in the war against Gunlaug and every death after that. Nobody could prove it, but they all knew it—the culprit, the new tyrant. Some days he leaves into a private room with his blind attendant, and they don't come out of that room for days on end. When they do, the young girl comes out disheveled, with marks on her body. Even after the horrifying things she must have experienced at the hands of Sunless, she still smiled and cared for the citizens, causing her to be beloved by everyone and pitied by everyone as well.
As rumors spread of the tyrant, he made no move to stop them... in fact, he was rarely seen outside the castle, and when he did come outside of it, all he does is throw his arm around Lady Pauline's waist and drag her into the castle with him to do who knows what. But seeing her past profession, everyone could guess. A person did bad things, and the person was hated, and that is the right course of action.
Of course, not everything is so black and white behind closed doors.
---
"Another one?"
Sunny rubbed his eyes as he had just woken up. Cassie was already up and had just told him how another person had attempted to assault one of the female citizens.
He sighed before summoning a memory that looked like a simple tunic shirt and pants, like he was a humble villager.
"Are they in the designated room?"
Cassie shook her head yes before opening the door and sticking her hand out.
"Shall we go then?"
He took her hand before a slightly annoyed smile appeared on his face.
"This makes the 4th time this month... we may have to start doing this publicly at this point."
Walking over to a room that was locked and was marked not to be entered by anybody, the shadows stirred and went towards his hand, turning into a key before going in and opening the door. Inside the room was a man tied down in a chair, obviously trying to escape before he caught Sunny's eyes.
"Sir! This is a mis--!"
The next second his head fell to the floor, an almost unnoticeable string of shadow taking its place.
"Wait two weeks before adding the stone... we need things to stir once more, let them get comfortable."
Cassie shook her head before summoning something. She summoned the echo of the cathedral knight Sunny had gotten. It was a better suit for Cassie anyways, after all. It walked over to the body before brutally chopping it up.
"I was thinking, why don't we start using them for traps instead of bait?"
Sunny tossed her a glance after dismissing the horrifying scene that just took place.
"Isn't that the same thing... you know what, it doesn't matter. You do you. I trust in whatever is happening in that brain of yours."
Cassie let out a sigh before grabbing his shoulder as he tried to walk out of the room.
"Are you sure you're ok...?"
His tone of voice pitched up into a happy one.
"What are you talking about! My skin is a lot thicker than you think, you should know that... don't worry, I'll be fine."
His voice showed that he was, but his face, his eyes...
A face that she could not see displayed anything but being "fine."
He yawned and stretched his arms back.
"I'll go fetch Pauline, and take her out to explore again. That aspect of hers is quite useful."
Pauline's aspect was a simple one. If something could benefit her, she would know. It's not combat-oriented in the slightest; one may think, but it actually is. If it's useful for her to strike at a leg, she'll know. If it's useful for her to kill a nightmare creature, as it will give her a good memory if it leaves one, then she'll know. If going in a certain direction would benefit her, she'll know. It goes vice versa also: if she doesn't feel anything, then it wouldn't benefit her, and if she gets a pain, it would harm her.
That's why every week or two, he scoops her up off the street, after putting on a show, and takes her out into unexplored parts of the forest surrounding the dark city. It helps them gather memories and things they need to help survive.
Other days, he and Cassie go to his room for days, but in reality, they aren't in their room.
During those days, they look for Nephis.