Sunny recoiled once he heard Orphne introduce herself as one of the nine.
He tried to play off his shock hoping that the presence of Weaver's mask on his face had hidden it enough, but it all seemed to be in vain.
A faint smile illuminated the huntress' face.
"Oh, even after all this time there as still people who know of us. Can't say it pleases me to hear that, ours is a story better left forgotten."
After hearing her mention being one of the nine Sunny became curious, so he shifted his vision and peered into the archer's soul.
What he saw left him flabbergasted.
She was at least transcendent.
There was something strange about it too. Her soul seemed almost damaged.
If he had to describe it, he would say that it looked like it was almost eroded. He changed his previous opinion as he watched something even stranger occur.
'Her soul isn't eroded rather its eroding.'
Almost imperceptibly her soul seemed to grow just ever so slightly darker. It was subtle to the point that he began to think he was just imagining it.
The pain of his flaw was starting to reach the critical stage and broke his concentration, so Sunny was forced to introduce himself.
"I have not heard of the nine. I am known as the Rightful Heir of Death and the Bastard Son of Fate."
Both were lies of course. While Sunny was worthy of both titles and thought they sounded very cool he was nonetheless not known by either, though he would be in the future if Sunny had his way.
Orphne did not seem very impressed by Sunny's grandiose titles as her eyes started to fill with doubt.
"Mmhm is that so. Then if you have never heard of us, why did you react when I said I was one of the nine?"
Sunny didn't like the direction this conversation was going in. With his Flaw if there was anything he hated it was direct questions.
Without the ability to lie, his Flaw had taught him how to deceive with the truth. He had practically turned it into an artform at this point. This had only served to heighten Sunny's skill at lying since deceiving without the truth was comparatively much easier now.
So, he was thankful that he happened to be wearing Weaver's Mask since it gave him more wiggle room when answering questions and more opportunities to mislead people.
"I was shocked because I thought you were introducing yourself with a made-up title so that's why I responded with my definitely not self-proclaimed title."
He tried to fill his voice with sarcasm at the end, but it didn't come off nearly as convincing as he had hoped, likely due to the [Mantle of Lies] enchantment on his mask and not his incredible acting skills failing him.
Based on the look on Orphne's face alone Sunny could tell he didn't have her fooled. This was bad, she was the worst kind of person Sunny could encounter with his flaw.
It was like he was speaking to Nephis but if she actually voiced her doubts and pushed him when she thought he lied.
What made it all the worse is that Sunny couldn't afford to be honest with her, so he had to wear the mask at all times. He didn't know much about the nine, but he doubted she would react kindly to the news that he had killed one of them even if it wasn't the real Auro.
Well killed was a strong word. He personally didn't think he had killed Auro at least not directly, but the spell had given him credit for the kill so he wasn't entirely sure what his Flaw would force him to say.
Orphne still didn't look convinced but Sunny doubted there would be any convincing her so he changed the topic before she could press him any further.
"Why are you here in the Shadow Realm?"
Her expression turned a little wistful.
"Well, when everyone I know is dead then the company here doesn't sound so bad. Besides, these parts of the Shadow Realm are almost peaceful compared to the areas near the center."
'Damnation looks like I stepped on a landmine'
Sunny had always viewed socializing as a battle in a way. He had never been very confident in his skills and had always thought that he had a gear or two missing that made it hard to connect with people.
He was currently losing this battle very badly. He had to dance around so many topics and could hardly find the opportunity to lead the conversation out of fear of stirring up something he shouldn't have in his conversation partner.
Yet he couldn't afford to let her lead the conversation either because there was too much information he wanted to keep secret. He decided that he had to go on the attack again, but Orphne beat him to it.
"You are the first living person I've seen here in ages. So, I'm curious how did you reach the Shadow Realm?"
She was relentless. If the pace kept up like this Sunny would be backed in a corner sooner or later.
"I jumped into the Sky Below in the Chained Isles and this is where I ended up."
She still didn't seem to be buying anything he said.
"Chained Isles, never heard of them where is that?"
Another direct question. Sunny was losing ground fast and if nothing changed, she would figure out that he could only lie sooner or later. As helpful as reversing his Flaw was for Sunny it did leave a vulnerability, that being it was much easier to guess his Flaw as he had to answer questions with the most obvious answers with something that wasn't true.
"Ah you might not know them as the ruins of the Kingdom of Hope."
A smirk started to form on the huntress' face as she gave him a knowing look that Sunny didn't like at all.
"Take the mask off. It's annoying to talk to you when you can only lie."
A scowl made its way onto Sunny's face, "How did you know?"
Orphne laughed, "It'd take a fool to not be able to figure it out after a few probing questions. It's obvious you didn't get here by falling out of the sky when there was a portal right behind where you entered."
'Well, she was bound to find out sooner or later', but he wasn't entirely sure why she knew the mask made him lie. Best case scenario was that she believed the mask forced the wearer to lie. Worst case scenario she knew about the [Simple Trick] enchantment that reverses one's flaw.
As much as Sunny hoped that it was the former and not the latter, he knew that with his luck there was little chance of that. Considering how she seemed to even recognize the mask there was a high probability she had a connection to Weaver and knew of the enchantment.
Still, he really couldn't afford to take off the mask.
"I would not prefer to keep the mask on. There isn't a seer that is after me, so I am not wearing the mask to protect myself against divination."
He was trying to prey on her animosity against seers which she had mentioned earlier.
"Oh please, even if this seer does manage to locate you, which is a big if. How would she even reach the Shadow Realm? As I said earlier, you are the first living person I've seen here in ages, so I doubt she'll cause you any trouble here."
Sunny raised an eyebrow, "You did strike me as the type to underestimate seers. You didn't mention something about a wild goose chase spanning thousands of years you were sent on by a group of seers. I would not prefer to learn from your lesson and protect myself against divination."
He had come off a little blunt at the end and began to worry that he would anger the huntress, but that worry was quickly dispelled as she burst out laughing.
"You make a good point about being wary of seers but let me give you a little piece of advice here."
Sunny was beginning to feel a little more comfortable since it seemed like she could be reasoned with.
That was until he had a terrible premonition.
He felt her gaze sharpen and her presence seemed to almost make the air around them seem colder.
The small amount of killing intent she had just released was only dwarfed by what he had felt at the end of his first nightmare when shadow god had slain the mountain king.
Sunny shivered and forgot to breathe. He instinctively recognized her as prolific killer who he stood no chance of even escaping with his life from.
"Something I've learned the hard way is that the blade against your throat is scarier than the threat in the future, so I'll repeat myself. Take off the mask."
Sunny's face fell.
'I should have known.' He mentally ran through all his options and came to the conclusion that he had no room to negotiate.
He sighed and reluctantly dismissed Weaver's Mask.
As much as he didn't want to, he wasn't left with much choice.
Orphne did have a point that anyone else other than him would have a hard time reaching the Shadow Realm.
It was practically impossible for Nephis to reach the Shadow Realm.
Yet that didn't diminish his worry at all. She had achieved the impossible too many times for him to write off the possibility of her reaching the land of the dead.
Even his theory that the Sky Below led here was just that, a theory. Besides who would have been insane enough to jump into the Sky Below. Anyone would think it a suicide mission.
Still if the Sky Below did connect to the Shadow Realm he was in for a world of pain as he knew someone just insane enough to jump.
Now he was on a timer though. He was sure that Cassie would have a vision of him here soon. His [Fated] attribute practically guaranteed it.
He had at least a month though. That's how long it had taken him to fall to the Ebony Tower going at terminal velocity. If there was an entrance to the Shadow Realm in the Sky Below it would have to be much further down.
Once Weaver's mask had dissipated Orphne let out a chuckle.
"Oh, this is gold you practically look like a shadow yourself how fitting."
A frown made its way onto Sunny's face.
'I can't let her know my name.' if this was all the teasing he gets after just taking on his mask then he'd never hear the end of it if this woman ever learned his birth name.
Almost as if she was reading his mind Orphne gave him a contemplative look.
"Don't you think its about time you introduce yourself properly? What's your name?"
Sunny groaned and palmed his face.
"I can't say I care much about timely introductions. I'm Sunless but my friends call me Sunny."
Orphne blinked a couple times and then gave him and odd look.
"You don't have to keep lying now that you have the mask off so what's with the obviously fake name?"
While Orphne didn't seem to want to believe anything he said it came with the upside of her sometimes-exposing important information to Sunny.
'Good, she doesn't know about my Flaw.'
Sunny sighed and resigned himself to his fate.
"Believe it or not that is my real name. I was born during an eclipse and well, my mother had a poetic soul you see, so you can imagine how I ended up named this."
Even though he had just met Orphne, Sunny already had a pretty good read on her personality, so he braced himself for her reaction.
The huntress let out howls of laughter as tears started to form in her eyes.
It seemed like even in the land of the dead Sunny still couldn't escape Effie as he had encountered someone who had an uncannily similar character.