3 months later, in the ruined cathedral of the Dark City, sat a pale man with raven black hair and onyx black eyes.
He sat on his bed, stuffing heavy stacks of meat into a black box, preparing for a long and arduous journey.
Of course, he prepared thoroughly for this journey he was about to take. He hadn't spent these past months lazing around and acting like a crazy madman. Well....
Except that crazy madman part. Maybe he was a little crazy.
Who wouldn't be?
He spent months hunting Nightmare Creatures after being betrayed, with the only method of conversation being with his shadows or Saint.
His usual conversations went something like this:
"Hey Gloomy, look at the new Memory I got! Super cool, right? Yeah exactly! I'm so awesome!"
Or:
"Hahaha! What a funny joke, Saint! You're so funny!"
But there were still good developments. He learned how to navigate his essence a little bit after he acquired his new Shadow, Serpent. He also advanced a bit in the mastery of the second step of Shadow Dance. But mostly, he was a psychopath. His only form of entertainment was hunting Nightmare Creatures, where he would be in a bloody frenzy... a single sight of blood would drive him crazy.
But most of all...
He was lonely.
He desperately longed for someone to talk to, where he could let out all his feelings.
He kept a habit of checking his runes for comfort, though.
Speaking of his runes, Sunny decided to check his runed one last time before he set out on his journey.
His runes read:
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lost from Light
Rank: Dreamer
Shadow Core: Dormant
Class: Demon
Shadow Cores: [3/7]
Shadow Fragments: [1427/4000}
Memories: [Weaver's Mask], [Midnight Shard], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Mantle Of The Underworld], [....]
Echoes:-
Shadows: [Marble Saint], [Soul Serpent]
Attributes: [Fated], [Child Of Shadows], [Blood Weave], [Spark of Divinity]
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However, your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your former master and long to find a new one.]
Innate Ability: Shadow Bond
Aspect Description: [Find a worthy master and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master.]
Before, the runes were dull and lifeless, but now...
He didn't want to think about that.
Sunny sighed, and then stood up. Glancing at his shadows, he said in a whisper
"I guess this is it. I've done all my preparations, and there's nothing else to do. It would've been better to become a Devil, but the number of Nightmare Creatures are starting to diminish in the area. Gee, i wonder why..."
His shadows stared back it him, then shrugged.
Annoyed, Sunny made his way outside of the Dark City. He was about to take a long journey, about 600 kilometers outside the Dark City, to go back home.
He was challenging the Second Nightmare.
Half a day later, Sunny reached the Seed of Nightmare. Before going in, he summoned Saint before going in.
"This is finally it, Saint! We're about to go back home! I can't wait to see people! I've almost forgotten what they look like!!"
Saint looked at him with her usual taciturn face, and then curtly nodded.
Sunny's face lightened, and then he made his way into the Seed.
His face had an unusual expression, a mixture of madness and happiness.
He was about to earn his freedom.
Go back home.
Not that he belonged anywhere.
*********
Darkness.
Complete and utter darkness.
Sunny found himself in an endless black expanse, having nothing to look at.
He was confused.
"What is this?!?! How is this a Nightmare at all?!?! What am i supposed to do, hover all the time begging for the dead Gods to get me out of here?!?!"
He was going crazy.
He already was anyway.
'Ugh.. I'm not crazy you bastard!!'
He tried to summon one of his new memories, the Obsidian Gaze, a tool that made you see through True Darkness, but nothing appeared.
He tried to augment himself with his shadows, yet he didn't feel any connection to his shadow.
Everything was cut off.
His Aspect, the Spell, his Shadows, everything.
He floated there, annoyed.
"What the hell is this?!?! What am i even going to do now?!?! I can't do anything!! Anything!!"
*******
Sometime passed, perhaps a few minutes, or days, or years.
Sunny had no way of knowing.
He sat there, with only his thoughts to keep him company.
Suddenly, he realized something.
The supposed "conflict" of this Nightmare.
It was ironic, really.
There wasn't anything to do here, except float and think.
Which was the worst possible thing for Sunny.
He would rather go through the Forgotten Shore a hundred times over than this.
He would rather kill Fallen creatures rather than this.
Sunny was going mad.
Insanely mad.
He thought of everything that happened in the Forgotten Shore.
The Coral Labyrinth, the Ashen Barrow, the Dark Sea, the Dark City, the Catacombs....
The Crimson Spire.
Where he got ripped of the only thing he wanted.
Freedom.
By none other than his two closest friends.
Sunny suddenly realised something... he hated everything.
Everyone.
There was a time when he liked his friends... possibly even loved Nephis.
But now, it was replaced by something else.
Hatred.
Pure hatred.
He wanted to kill them all.
Even Kai and Effie.
He wanted to kill anyone he ever opened up to, anyone who knew anything about him. Just so he wouldn't be robbed of his freedom again.
Sunny kept thinking for what felt like an eternity.
He would've honestly just choked himself to death if it was the young him. But now...
He honestly understood Nephis.
Her goals were not fueled by anything in particular. She just wanted to do it.
Sunny understood now.
He wanted to survive because he wanted to.
There were other reasons, of course.
Revenge, for example.
But he just wanted to survive.
To spite the world.
Just then, he saw something move in the corner of his eye.
"Was that movement? People? Have I finally found people?!?!?! Can i finally escape this hell?!?!?! Oh how i have waited for this moment! Freedom!!! I can be free!!!"
Perhaps it was just his imagination. Perhaps he was mad.
But there was still that faint glimmer of hope that had already been planted in his soul...
Only for it to crush him into despair even more.
It was nothing. He was still stranded.
That's when he broke.
He couldn't take it anymore.
He broke into maniacal laughter
Listen closely, for I have a message to deliver.
"Curse it all!!! Who says I have to suffer in this eternal hell? Fate? I'll just cut your ever so "ethereal" strings. You think you can bind me?! ME?!?! Who are you to decide what I do or where I am?! You can rot in hell you twisted design. I will escape this hell. I will not rot in here anymore. I will survive. For I am a shadow cast by a God, one that even Fate trembles upon. I loathe anything that thinks it can bind someone. I loathe you all. Every single last one of you. I don't care anymore. You will break. You will bow before me. You will feel my wrath. For I am Death, who are you to defy Death?!?! Light cannot exist without the shadow it casts. Shadows are bound by the light. Well, I don't care. I will destroy the light that binds me. I will roam all reams free from the light. I will make everything return to the dark. For this is the mercy of Shadow. It will al crumble."
Sunny exclaimed, maddened by everything.
Meanwhile, the "void" that he was stuck in was crumbling, as it was not infact everlasting. It was a living being that took Sunny, enthralled him, entered his dreams, and made him endure this harrowing hell. Sunny's sheer will of freedom and existence broke the void that was cast upon him. The creature stumbled, surprised.
The next moment, sunny found himself in a vast, obsidian-black expanse. Looking up, he saw something that made him shudder. It was colossal and huge, but worst of all, it was looking straight at him.
It was an eye. A very ancient eye. It looked beautiful... enthralling. Like an eye of a god.
******
Gotta end in cliffhangers like the GOAT G3, hope he would be proud of me