[You have received a Memory.]
'...'
Sunny lowered his head.
'Saint…'
His shaking hands tightly curled into fists.
'Damn it…'
Sunny's face felt hot as saliva rose to the back of his throat.
'Damn it!'
Sunny had a hand covering his face, quivering slightly.
It was as if he had just lost a beloved friend.
Sunny let out a shaky breath as he slowly lowered his hand.
Saint's body was now gone, and there was only a pile of stone remaining in front of him.
One of Sunny's most trusted and reliable allies had died today, and what was left of them was their silent shadow, standing solemnly within Sunny's soul sea.
With his face drowning in deep shadow, Sunny slowly turned and walked away.
***
A group of ten Sleepers arrived at a ruined city square.
"Gods… Just what the hell happened here?"
"So much destruction…"
The humans stared at the large pile of corpses and rubble.
Their leader, Aria, walked forward.
"It seems there has been some infighting. Worry not, this is common within the Dark City."
'Just not fights on this level…'
But with Sunless nowhere to be found, she had a strong suspicion of how a battle of this scale had come to be.
"Caelum, Percival, Charlotte. You three form a perimeter and tell us if any nightmare creatures approach. The rest of you, let us harvest these soul shards."
"Yes, sister!"
Excited at the bountiful harvest, the Awakened quickly got to work.
***
Sunny watched the setting sun, sitting on the edge of the Dark City's outskirts.
He was looking at his runes.
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteers Shroud], [Weaver's Mask], …
At the end of the list there was a new memory.
…[Stone Sword].
Sniffling slightly, Sunny thought to himself:
'I knew it'd have a boring name.'
Wiping his face with his sleeve, Sunny looked at its description.
Memory rank: Awakened.
Memory tier: II.
Memory description: [The Stone Saints that had been created to bring peace found themselves within the fires of war, born with a sword in hand. Brandishing their stone blades, they fought fiercely until the end came.]
Memory enchantments: [Durable], [Underworld Armament], [Born Duty].
[Durable] Enchantment Description: [This memory has massively increased durability.]
[Underworld Armament] Enchantment Description: [This memory's attacking power can be enhanced.]
This was an active enchantment, and was of no use to Sunny currently.
Sunny sighed, looking at the final enchantment.
[Born Duty] Enchantment Description: [The Stone Saints fought endlessly against the tide of enemies as the flames of war raged, but only those who vanquished the most foes were granted their evolutions.]
Sunny's eyes widened.
[Vanquished foes: 0/2000].
'This… this…'
It was just like the Mantle!
Could it also become an attribute like the Marble Shell?
Sunny sniffled one last time, his gloom subsiding as a small smile appeared on his face.
'Goodbye my friend. And thank you… thank you for everything.'
Sunny bid farewell to his fallen ally for the last time as he stood up and stared at the Crimson Spire, deep in thought.
***
At the end of his second day within the Dark City, Sunny decided to leave.
He was going off to search for the other shard memories, he needed them after all. He didn't have his cohort this time, but he did have his Shadows.
And speaking of Shadows…
Still sitting on the edge of the outskirts, Sunny summoned the runes.
Shadows: [Soul Serpent], [Shadow Amalgam].
With Saint being truly lost, Sunny no longer had any reservations about turning his other Echo into a Shadow instead.
Shadow: [Shadow Amalgam].
Shadow Rank: Awakened.
Shadow Class: Devil.
Shadow Description: [A Devil flew over the endless skies searching for a worthy foe, and a worthy foe it found. Only to find that its foe was a devil far worse than itself. The devil was killed, becoming his Shadow.]
Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Cast], [Magnetism], [Essence Conductor], [Cloak].
The attributes [Steel Cast] and [Lightning Rod] changed, and its [Storm Cloak] ability had changed too.
[Shadow Cast] Attribute Description: [This Shadow was born within a shell of shadow, its steel-like property granting it increased resistances all around.]
[Essence Conductor] Attribute Description: [This Shadow's body attracts lightning as well as shadow, empowering itself with it.]
[Cloak] Ability Description: [This Shadow can use both shadow and lightning internally and externally with varying means.]
It had remained mostly the same, just gaining an additional affinity to shadows. Its usual silver lightning abilities had now turned into an almost black colour though, making it look more akin to… shadow lightning?
'Is that even a thing?"
Maybe it was…
Sunny looked at the counter at the bottom.
Shadow Fragments: [8/250].
Sunny had fed it all of his useless Memories that weren't worth mentioning, or Memories he no longer used like the Deathweed Coil.
But Sunny felt a bit strange.
'I used to get a lot more Memories…'
After losing his fate, the nightmare spell seemed to have gotten a lot less generous with its memories with him. He had barely gotten any and his kill count was already in the hundreds.
'Whatever, I'll be able to weave them later anyways.'
Sunny pushed these thoughts out of his mind as he jumped.
As he fell through the air, a massive beast forged of shadowy steel emerged from the cliffs shadows.
Landing on the Shadow Amalgam's back, Sunny looked down at his new Shadow as they shot off into the sky.
"You… what should I call you…"
Tapping his chin, Sunny was deep in thought.
'My old Shadows had simple names I could call them by like Saint and Fiend… But this guy's name… Amalgam… It's too long!'
Sunny initially wanted to call out the Shadow's name as he summoned it, simply as a childish urge, but…
'It just sounds awkward to say. Amalgam…'
"You need a nickname!"
Gliding through the air, the Shadow beat its wings as it screeched in agreement.
'Even it thinks its name is too long…'
Sunny thought for a while before deciding.
"I got it! You will be… Bird!"
The Shadow suddenly stopped in place.
'...'
"Hey! Why did you stop?"
The Shadow turned at him before giving him a loud screech.
It was as if it was saying: "A proud Devil like me will accept no such name!"
Sunny raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright! Alright… I'll think of something else. I can't just call you Raven.... How about…"
Sunny began to think as hard as he could of a name.
Thinking of all the types of birds he knew, he picked the name of a bird he thought was quite similar to the Shadow Amalgam.
"Alright then… Your name will be… Shrike!"
The raven's reaction was immediate, it flapped its wings in clear satisfaction, as a prideful screech left its beak.
Sunny laughed, feeling the wind blow through his hair, temporarily forgetting the darkness creeping into his thoughts.
"Alright Shrike, let's go!"
They set off once more, flying across the sprawling red labyrinth below.
***
'...'
Immediately after the humorous situation he had with his Shadow, Sunny became quiet once more.
He just couldn't stop thinking about the past and the future.
Fear and grief clawed at his mind uncontrollably, and Sunny didn't know what to do.
He had just lost one of his Shadows, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Just how many other things like this would happen amidst his long journey? So many things could happen as a result of his time jumping.
With Fate now in question due to Sunny's existence, he had to be careful with what he was going to do moving forward, as he could trigger a butterfly effect and potentially throw the world into chaos.
'Or maybe not…'
From what Sunny could tell, the fates of others were still intact, and were most likely still going to do the things they did in Sunny's past life. Jet would still end up as Soul Reaper Jet, Kurt was still going to end up losing his mind to fear, Valor and Song were still going to eventually start a war…
That is, unless Sunny did something drastic.
Something that could reshape the entire world, making it unrecognizable. Something that changed the future so much Sunny wouldn't even be able to remotely guess what the future held anymore.
For now, Sunny hadn't planned to do anything drastic, he planned to bide his time and build his strength. But really, Sunny did want the future to change.
Because in his future, millions of people died in Antarctica because Valor and Song refused to send any help.
In his future, thousands upon thousands of Awakened died fighting each other due to the incompetence of the Sovereigns.
In his future, people like Nephis and Mordret had terrible and traumatic childhoods, shaping them into the broken and deeply flawed adults Sunny knew them as.
Sunny had so many regrets, so many things he never got to say, and he had failed to save so many people.
He couldn't just stand by and knowingly let these things happen again.
'I wonder when I became this kind of person.'
Sunny did not consider himself a selfless person, and yet here he was. Every step he took, every kill he made, it was all for the future, for the ones he loved. Sunny was constantly hurting inside, as he wished for it to end, for him to return to them once more.
But he couldn't, he could only continue forward. And so, that was what he did. He pushed the depressing thoughts out of his head and began to think.
Staring deeply at the Crimson Spire, Sunny thought of an audacious plan. A plan so devious, a plan so treacherous… he almost felt like he was having an epiphany. A plan that, if worked, could set his foundation and save him years of time, while also growing his power massively.
Sunny smiled darkly, as he hummed a quiet tune to drown out the thoughts creeping around his mind.
***
Shrike landed on the ground with a thud as Sunny slowly climbed off its back.
In front of him was the statue of the Slayer. Sunny walked up to and placed his hand on her boot, he could not really make out the appearance of the Slayer, as her entire body was covered in a form fitting cloak, the most pronounced part of the statue being the bow strapped to its back.
After having tested his hypothesis, it seemed the theory Sunny had surmised once before was true, one simply needed to interact with one of the seven statues of the Forgotten Shore before killing a powerful nightmare creature related to them, which would then grant them a shard memory relating to that statue.
Previously, Sunny had interacted with the statue of the Knight before killing a Carapace Praetorian, allowing him to receive the Midnight Shard. Now though, Sunny was simply interacting with the statue of the Slayer in preparation for the future, having no need for the Moonlight Shard currently.
Finishing his task here, Sunny summoned Shrike again and took off.
***
Sunny stood over the corpse of a Spire Messenger.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Cursed Herald.]
[You have received a memory.]
Since it was on the way to his current goal, Sunny decided to stop and interact with the statue of the Stranger, before promptly visiting the Spire Messenger he and his cohort had once killed nearby.
The result was clear, as blood slowly flowed past Sunny's boots while Sunny inspected his runes, confirming that he had obtained the Dusk Shard.
'Five to go.'
***
After several days of peaceful flying later with only a couple stops, Sunny found himself above a crimson forest. He commanded Shrike to take him to the ground, as he did not want to fly anywhere near the wall of mist at the base of the Hollow Mountains.
Sunny had made it to the place where the first lord's expedition had ended.
He sighed softly.
'Last time I came here… It was such a perilous and terrifying journey, but now… I fell asleep at least three times on the flight here.'
Sunny made his way through the crimson forest, descending into the quarry. He glided down it with the Herald's Cloak rather than slowly descend into it, not wanting to waste time. Landing at the bottom, he stared at the dried skeleton of a long dead nightmare creature, whose bones seemed a lot less older than the last time he found it. Ignoring the skeleton, he instead walked to the grave next to it.
Written on the grave was a single solemn line.
"Her nightmare is over."
The simple sentence had affected him deeply the first time he'd read it, leaving a long lasting impression. The sorrow he felt knowing that brave humans like the first lord and his cohort died under the alien sky of the Forgotten Shore had filled him with a deep sadness back then. The image of an unmarked grave, with only an epitaph written for a fallen comrade, had never left his mind.
Perhaps one day, his nightmare would be over too.
But for now, he would continue to fight.
Sunny made his way over to a tall archway cut into the side of the mountain, disappearing into a small opening between its stone steps.
He casually ran deep into the mine, keeping his shadow sense extended as he paid no attention to the rocks surrounding him. Sunny eventually made it to where multiple murals were drawn on walls, depicting the history of the Forgotten Shore, which he promptly ignored, sparing only a glance at the being he assumed to be a Nephilim.
Sunny did not like the history of the Forgotten Shore at all, so many people there had died, and so many of them had been sacrificed as well, and for what? It didn't matter in the end as they all died anyways, and now all that was left of their mortal realm was completely consumed by corruption.
Sunny continued on his way down the abandoned mine, slowly gliding down the vertical shaft. Passing by the skeleton of the giant centipede that had been killed down here, he gave its skull a good kick for no reason in particular.
'This abomination must have been a Fallen Demon at the very least.'
Sunny thought back to the stone skeleton at the entrance of the mine.
'The one up there might have even been a Fallen Tyrant.'
Sunny once again thought about how it was such a shame he hadn't been able to save the first lord, him and his cohort were extremely powerful for a group of sleepers, and they even rivaled Sunny and his cohort when they were in the Forgotten Shore — and they had two divine aspect holders!
The only thing that held them back was the lack of a powerful oracle, and that had been their undoing.
Sunny sighed, pushing these pointless thoughts out of his mind as it was now too late. He made his way to the abandoned campsite, where he sat on one of the five stones for a while.
***
After an hour running through the tunnel to save time, Sunny found himself in front of an underground river. He glanced at the wooden boat that gave off a soft golden glow, it was tied to a post, floating silently within the inky black river…
Lighting a candle, Sunny sighed as he prepared to seal his eyes shut.
Once that was done, Sunny untied the boat as he grabbed the oars and sat on the boat.
Sunny rowed it in silence, crossing the river. He felt the world through his shadow sense he navigated it through the river, avoiding the stray rocks jutting out of the water here and there. And eventually, the boat made it to the other end.
'...'
Sunny stepped out silently, only observing the other boat that had been left here for only a moment. He then began to walk through the ancient hall of rock, the mist that lingered in the air parting as he passed through it.
Eventually, he came across the first lost shadow.
When he felt it, the final hope in his heart that perhaps the first lord was still down here, alive, vanished.
Sunny approached the shadow, he felt its hope.
The shadow had not spent nearly as long as it did here the first time Sunny came, so it was still radiating intense hope, waiting for its master to return.
Sunny approached it, the shadow immediately made its way over to him, thinking its master had returned. But she hadn't, the shadow's master was long dead, turned into nothing by the mist.
Sunny watched as the shadow despaired for the last time, as he held out a hand. The shadow somberly took it, before disappearing into Sunny's soul.
[...Your shadows grow stronger.]
'Find peace within me.'
Sunny continued his journey forward, finding the three other lost shadows that were similarly burning with hope. But their salvation never came, and never would, as they were all embraced by Sunny, resting peacefully in his soul sea forever.
Half an hour later, Sunny finally found a familiar cave entrance with his shadow sense, and made his way to it. After making his way to it, Sunny found himself at the second boundary of the Underworld once more, quietly listening to the sound of the rushing water as he crossed the stone bridge that arched over the river.
Finally finding himself rid of the mist of the tunnels, Sunny unsealed his eyes as he slowly walked along the shore.
Walking up to the body that sat eternally meditating on the shore, Sunny looked at the back of the first lord, seeing it slowly rise and fall, long brown hair spilling over his shoulders.
'Wait… wha-'
"Hm?"
He heard an extremely hoarse voice, as the head of what he thought would be a body slowly turned towards him.
"A-Ah… Are you real?"
Sunny's jaw dropped as the candle he was still holding slipped from his grasp, the melted wax hitting it the ground with a splat.
"I am… You're… you're alive?!"
Sunny couldn't believe his eyes.
He had not expected this at all! He was certain that he would be dead by now!
"Hah… I wish."
Sunny was immediately confused by the statement.
"What… What do you mean I wish?! I can clearly feel that you're alive!"
Sunny definitely felt that his shadow was alive!
He heard a shushing noise a second later.
"Quiet down… I won't be for much longer, hahah."
The man turned a bit more, so Sunny could see what he was talking about.
Sunny gaped as he saw the massive hole situated where the man's stomach was supposed to be.
"H-how the hell…"
"Heheh, come sit with me."
Sunny obliged as he slowly approached, sitting right next to man who he now realised was extremely emancipated, his skin shriveled and covered with sickly looking spots.
The man, Silver, coughed before speaking again.
"Did my cohort make it?"
Sunny felt his breath slow and chest tighten.
"...No. They were all taken by the mist."
The man did not say anything else, as if he had already expected this outcome.
Deciding it was his turn to ask, Sunny decided that he had to know he had survived that grievous of a wound.
"How are you alive?"
The man smiled slightly, his somehow perfect teeth showing beneath his shriveled lips.
"My Aspect allows me to create and preserve life, I'm only limited to creating things like wood though currently, hehe, damn shame."
With Sunny's curiosity sated, he went silent once more, waiting for Silver's next question.
The hoarse voice spoke once again.
"Do you know me?"
"Yeah… You're the first lord of the Bright Castle, Silver."
The man coughed upon hearing that.
"So you do… hmph."
The first lord was practically already a corpse, and it seemed every word he spoke, the closer his death came. If he conserved his energy, he may have been able to preserve himself for a few more days, but so what? There was no way he was going to make the journey back, with his state this terrible, he would be taken by the mist within just a few minutes if he entered it, and Sunny doubted he even had the strength to stand.
Sunny stared at the man sadly.
'I'm…too late.'
He had never expected to find the first lord alive. And now that he had, once again there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had heard so many legends and heroic tales of this man, every Sleeper who came to the Forgotten Shore had heard how it was his cohort who first conquered the Dark City. Without him, almost all the humans who entered the Forgotten Shore were practically guaranteed to die.
And now, Sunny was watching him die.
'Not again… not again… damn everything! Damn this li-'
"What's your problem? You aren't dying too are you?"
Sunny was interrupted from his downward spiral by the man's voice.
"...No. But… this just… this just sucks, doesn't it?"
The first lord laughed before he fell into a coughing fit.
"Ain't that right? Ah, this place is just too terrible ain't it?"
"No, not because of this place."
"Oh, then why?"
Sunny took a deep breath.
"Because I'm from the future."
"..."
The two fell into awkward silence.
"Really?"
"Really."
Seeing as the man was about to die anyway, Sunny thought it wouldn't hurt to share his burden with someone else, if only for a while.
"Oh… So that's why you were so surprised to see me alive… And here I thought Aria sent you!"
The man blinked.
"Oh, if you're from the future, did Aria es-"
"No."
"...Oh."
"Ten years from now, I was sent to the Forgotten Shore. In that time, she had already died trying to conquer the Crimson Spire."
Silver didn't respond.
Realising that he was burning all the hope away from a man that was already dying, Sunny decided he would rather attempt to soothe his soul before he went.
"But don't worry."
The first lord looked him in the eye.
"She won't this time. I promise you."
The man smiled.
"Thank you."
The awkward silence returned, and the man decided to ask questions again.
"If you're from the future then, do you know how to get out of here? The Forgotten Shore I mean."
"I do."
Silver seemed to accept that answer, as he asked something else instead.
"How did you make it through the mist unharmed?"
"... By sealing my eyes."
The man seemed to realise something, as his eyes widened slightly.
"...Oh."
"So then… my cohort… they died be-"
"Do you want to see them again?"
The man gave him a questioning look.
"I… my aspect has a lot to do with shadows…and on my way here I found the lost shadows of your cohort, and they're now resting quietly within my soul sea."
The man's eyes brightened upon hearing this.
"Yes I-"
"But. I'll have to kill you for that. So let's do that later."
"...Okay."
Sunny thought of what he should say now.
"I also… you, I wanted to thank you. For everything. You and your cohort, you were some of the bravest people I have ever known, without your sacrifice, my future probably wouldn't even exist, thank you."
"So I want to ask you — it's there anything you want me to do for you before the end?"
The sentence Sunny uttered sounded quite awkward, he'd never been good with his words.
"Heheh, my only regret would've been never being able to see my friends again, but you've already gotten rid of that."
"So, why don't you tell me about the future instead?"
Sunny nodded, completely fine with that arrangement.
"In the future, has anyone reached Transcendence yet?"
"More than that actually. A few years ago, three people became supremes."
The man's eyebrows raised.
"Hahah, alright! Then, is humanity finally saved, with supremes among our ranks?"
Sunny's gaze dimmed.
"No."
"...Oh"
Silver's head lowered a bit.
"The future…isn't very bright then, is it?"
"It's not."
The man sighed in sadness.
"What are you going to do about it then?"
Sunny had been undecided whether or not he would make drastic moves upon returning to the waking world, but now, he made up his mind.
"Everything I can. I'm actually the bearer of a Divine Aspect, so you can leave the future in my hands."
The man's eyebrows raised further than Sunny thought possible.
"T-That's possible? Incredible…"
Silver was lost in thought for a moment, thinking of his next question.
"Alright how about…"
***
Sunny and Silver continued to speak for a while, as they shared stories with each other about their lives, laughing loudly at the incredible tales they had told to each other.
But it did not last.
"Heheh, it seems it's time for me to go kid."
Sunny said nothing as a blade silently appeared within his hands.
"Thank you for telling me all these wonderful things! To think that they'd make such a terrible movie about this place, what a riot!"
As Silver snorted while laughing, Sunny slowly raised his hand.
"By the way, I just realised I completely forgot to ask for your name, kid! What is it?"
"... It's Sunless, my friends call me Sunny."
"Heheh, well then Sunny, I'll be seeing you! With you around it should be the nightmare creatures I'm worried about, not the humans! Best of luck, friend."
That was the last thing he said before Sunny drove the Midnight Shard straight through his brain, killing him instantly, not wanting him to suffer any longer.
The voice of the Spell echoed mournfully in his ear.
[You have slain Dreamer Silver.]
[...Your shadows grow stronger.]
Sunny took a deep breath, attempting to calm the raging storm of emotions inside his mind.
The first lord of the Bright Castle, was once again dead.
He had felt a strong sense of kinship with the man, Silver, but now he was gone. A band of silver adorned with a ruby clattered to the ground and the man's body turned to ash the moment he died, his aspect no longer preserving it.
'I won't be sad this time.'
The thought sounded hard to believe even in Sunny's own mind.
'It was a blessing to even be able to talk to him.'
Sunny kept thinking this to himself, hoping that he would believe it.
"Rest now, find peace within me."
Sunny lowered his head, his face covered in shadow.
"Your nightmare is over."
Sighing with a shaky breath, he leaned down and touched the simple metal band that rested amidst a pile of ashes.
[You have received a Memory.]
Breathing slowly, Sunny calmly resealed his eyes as he covered his face with a cloth, beginning his journey back outside.