"And then I told her, 'Fuck you, Neph!', you should have seen her face. One of the best moments of my life, right there."
The other man, who had yet to give his name—rather rude in his opinion—gave him an unimpressed stare. He wasn't a great conversationalist, that was for sure.
"Yeah, I think you're right, it's kind of sad when you think about it." When it became clear the other man wasn't going to answer, he kept going. "But it's not like there's much to choose from in there. Hey, have I ever told you about that time…"
Sunny kept rambling as he worked, slowly but surely expanding the hole he was digging. Once he was done, he wiped the sweat off his face and turned toward his rude conversation partner. The man had yet to utter a single word, and his unimpressed stare was starting to get on his nerves.
"Well, I guess this is it. Can't say it was a pleasure, but at least you're a great listener."
Having said that, he bent down, picked up the other man, and unceremoniously dropped him into the mass grave, where the other members of the sleeper army were waiting for him with open arms. He was dead, after all.
With the task done, he summoned the [Endless Spring] and took a greedy gulp while looking around for the next corpse. He tried really hard to ignore the stares full of reproach coming from the grave, as if blaming him for their disgraceful state.
"Stop looking at me like that! It's not like you guys weren't willing particip—"
Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—he was interrupted by the skittering noise of many legs quickly approaching. A quick look to his right was all it took to find his guests.
A massive millipede was closing the distance with astounding speed. He shifted his sight and saw three dark orbs inside it. An awakened demon. And it wasn't alone either; farther away but still dangerously close, there was another millipede—this one even bigger and more menacing—a Fallen beast.
Sunny sighed and extended his hand. The trusty tachi fell into it in a shower of sparks, already poised to face the enemy. Gloomy and Happy joined him a second later, having come back from luring the creatures. A little too well, perhaps—the Fallen would be a problem.
Ready for battle, he took off to meet the demon's charge. He had to deal with it before the Fallen beast arrived. In a matter of seconds, they were already in front of each other. The demon kept going, trusting its overwhelming size and strength to crush Sunny.
Sunny, at the last possible moment, took a step aside and slashed, reinforcing his strike with shadow essence right before impact. The austere tachi cut through the millipede's head with astounding ease.
He thanked whoever was up there—with his luck, likely a demon who enjoyed seeing him suffer—for [Shadow Serpent] being the first reward of learning [Shadow Dance]. Its ability allowed him to control essence despite being a sleeper and had already proved invaluable. His hopes of returning to the waking world were still lower than those of a synthpaste tub lasting in front of a crowd of outskirt kids, but at least he had the most minimal chance now.
[You have slain an awakened…]
[Your shadow…]
He spared the Spell only a moment before refocusing on the incoming Fallen. He had received no memory or echo for his efforts; his luck had been truly rotten lately.
Judging that he had enough time, he dismissed the [Puppeteer's Shroud] and instead called on the [Underworld Mantle]. He would have to be quick, or all of his meager essence would be spent keeping the armor as light as possible. This, he decided, was a risk worth taking. A single hit from the Fallen would kill him otherwise.
Deciding to make use of the few seconds he had left before the creature arrived, he started analyzing it, slowly taking in the way it moved to try and predict its exact battle style. He was close to attaining the second mastery of [Shadow Dance] and had to seize every opportunity.
Finally, the beast arrived. One of its many legs was already moving toward him in an attempt to skewer his head. Sunny, having predicted the move, ducked and slashed at its belly. Sadly, he couldn't put much force into the strike before he had to dodge the Fallen's follow-up. A step to the right took him off the path of the attack, and he used the chance to cut off the offending appendage. The screech of pain it elicited was like music to his ears.
That, however, turned out to be a mistake, for the Fallen beast went mad. Its many limbs began striking all at once like a torrent of fury and steel, leaving Sunny unable to do anything but dodge and parry desperately. He tried to counterattack many times, but despite its fury, the millipede seemed to possess a malignant sense of intelligence that went beyond what a beast should have. Every time he tried to counter, the enemy was ready with a strike to maim—if not kill—should he follow through.
While he battled the millipede, black sparks were already forming behind it, soon coalescing into the fearsome form of Saint, who joined the battle by delivering a devastating cut that almost bisected the Fallen beast.
Saint joining the battle proved to be the deciding factor. Just a few minutes later, the monster let out a final screech of pain and went limp after a particularly deep cut from Sunny.
[You have slain a Fallen beast, Arden of Aleras]
Receiving confirmation of its death, Sunny dismissed his weapon and armor, quietly wincing at the burn of one of the many cuts the Fallen had delivered even through his protection.
[Your shadow…]
[You have received a memory]
Finally!
Not wanting to wait any longer, he summoned the memory and pulled up his runes to read its properties.
[Memory name: Bow of the Lone Hunter.
Memory description: After the fall of Aleras, the only survivors departed in search of a new place to call home. They traveled through great peril and nightmarish challenges, slowly but inevitably being consumed by corruption and endless waves of beasts until only one of them remained. The survivor, a lonely hunter who had always wished for the peace and quiet of solitude, despaired upon finally receiving it.
"Curse you, heavens! Curse you for taking our Lady of Sorrows away! Curse you for destroying our home! And curse you for making me the only one left to carry our dream!"
And so, the lone hunter made a vow: he would hunt down the very gods who had taken everything away from him. For that purpose, he crafted a bow whose only objective was to one day pierce the hearts of the gods and deliver justice for his destroyed home.
The lone hunter, as is to be expected, failed and was consumed by corruption too.]
Sunny took a long look at the bow in his hands. Made of a rough white wood that nonetheless provided a comfortable grip, it was covered in carvings whose meaning he couldn't quite discern, yet they filled his heart with foreign sadness. He tore his eyes from the bow and instead looked at the remains of the hunter, pity in his gaze.
"You can rest now, Arden. Your nightmare is over." That mercy, at least, he could provide to the Fallen beast.
Turning back to the bow, he saw that it was an ascended memory of the first tier, its only passive enchantment simple but quite powerful.
[To Pierce the Heavens: The longer this bow is drawn before shooting, the more powerful it will be.]
He doubted it could live up to its name, but it would still be a great help nonetheless.
Deciding to test it later, he set back to his gruesome task. Except that he couldn't—no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find a single human corpse outside the grave he had painstakingly dug.
"It's done."
He almost couldn't believe it. When he set himself to the task of burying the fallen members of the sleeper army, it had looked like it would take forever, but now it was already done. He took a harsh breath, his body trembling with emotion.
Sunny did not believe in any god—they were all dead, after all—but he made a quick prayer nonetheless. He hoped that whatever came next after this life would be a better place.
Prayer done, he started covering the grave with dirt. Once that was done, he took a slab of stone he had prepared beforehand and, with Saint's help, placed it atop the burial mound.
He stood there staring at the cold stone for hours on end, feeling like he had not done enough, yet unable to do more.
Ultimately, he moved on. That was all he could do, and he needed to think about the future. Despite the smell of dead nightmare creatures and humans, there were fewer and fewer monsters showing up lately—his two recent victims were the first in what felt like days—which could only mean that almost none remained. That also meant he had to leave sooner rather than later. If he waited any longer, the chance of starving was a real possibility.
"So what do you think, Gloomy? Happy? Should we pay a visit to the Dark City and then leave?"
Happy gave him an effusive thumbs up, as if saying it was the greatest plan ever. Gloomy, on the other hand, just stared at him silently.
Despite receiving no real answer, he could almost hear Gloomy saying, "Get a grip, you idiot! It's only been two months and you're speaking with corpses and shadows!"
Well, first of all, rude. Second… Gloomy was right. He missed other humans, as annoying as they might be. He would even tolerate Effie's teasing if it meant hearing anything other than his own voice.
He dragged his hand across his face slowly, as if trying to rip the depressing thoughts out of his mind. It didn't work.
He had tried.
Deciding to avoid any more depressing moments, he filled the rough rucksack he had made out of creature hide with as much meat as it could hold. He silently despaired at the fortune he was leaving behind—the sum of nightmare creatures killed by the sleeper army and himself could produce enough Shards to live as lavishly as he wanted for the rest of his life.
Once he was done, he took another long look at the lone tombstone and left. At that very moment, he made a vow: one day he would come back and offer a proper burial to those who had given their lives so others could save their own.
For now, however, he couldn't do more.
-------------------------------------------
Sunny lay down on his bed in the cathedral, having just woken up from his first good night—or was it day? It was hard to tell without the sun—of sleep in what felt like years. Not wanting to get up yet, he decided to check his runes first.
[Name: Sunless.]
[True Name: Lost from Light.]
He stared at his True Name for a long time, silently cursing the Spell for saddling him with such a cruel curse. In order to avoid sinking into one of his dark moods again, he kept going.
[Shadow Cores: 2/7.]
[Shadow Fragments: 794/2000.]
At least the two months surviving alone had proved fruitful. It would almost be comforting… if not for the fact that he only had to glance down to see how far behind he was. What a scare it had been when he first saw her name under his own.
He laughed too. It seemed like he couldn't pretend to be free even in complete isolation from the rest of the world.
[Master: Changing Star.]
[Soul Cores: 4/7.]
[Soul Fragments: 137/4000.]
She was a Devil already. Just catching up to her seemed more and more like a herculean task.
His exploration of the Dark City proved his suspicions true—there were barely any nightmare creatures left, and there was no way to know what he would find once he left. For all he knew, wherever he went, there would only be creatures of such nightmarish power that he couldn't even scratch them, while they could snuff his life like the flickering flame of a candle.
Not wanting to wallow in those thoughts, he got up and added another mark to the wall. His plans were set: the first step would be to hunt all the remaining nightmare creatures in the city. The second step was to stock up as many provisions as he could carry. The final step, of course, was to depart.
The only remaining question was which direction to go.
South was out—the Hollow Mountains were too deadly a challenge for a Sleeper to survive.
North he would rather avoid; it would take him even farther from what little civilization existed in the Dreamworld. If he couldn't find a way out in the other directions, he would give it a try, but otherwise it was out.
East had been his first choice, but just thinking about going there set alarms screaming in his head. Whatever was in that direction, his instincts told him very something very cleary. He wouldn't survive it.
West set off alarms too, but at least it was in a "You are going to die horribly" way instead of the "Even death won't save you" sensation East gave. He thought a little longer but ultimately the choice was clear.
He was going west.
All decisions made, he ate breakfast and headed out. He was sick and tired of the Dark City; the sooner he was done, the sooner he could leave.