Many days had already passed since the departure of The Witness. The waters of the River of Time remained mostly calm this time; fortunately, a time storm didn't stumble upon Sunny, so his sailing went smoothly most of the time, apart from the interruptions caused by some nightmare creatures that he disposed of quickly. Still, his mind didn't feel at ease at all. In a few days, he would reach Verge, and from there he would travel to the Estuary and make an attempt at regaining his fate. He was scared; he was scared of dying by the talons of the vile thieving bird, but he was also scared of success and the repercussions that it would bring. He was scared of being remembered...
....
From Sunny's excellent and precise calculations, it would take him around two days to reach the icy shores of Verge. He was sitting on the front edge of the ketch, dazing off at the horizon that was being painted in different tones of warm orange by the setting sun. His mind started to relax, and his eyelids began to feel heavy. He had already experienced a feeling like this, but his mind couldn't recall the exact moment. But did he have to? He just wanted to rest a bit and sleep for a while. Soon, Sunny's world became dark as he fell asleep, his hand slipping and hitting the deck.
....
When Sunny regained consciousness, there was darkness everywhere around him. He had been knocked out for a while, from what he could tell. Then something clicked in his mind—he knew when he had experienced something like this. It was when The Witness showed himself for the first time, and as expected, when he turned his head, he saw it, sitting on the other side of the ketch in that cat-like pose.
....
"I apologize for the inconvenience, Little Shadow.
I saw you in the distance, and I thought about having another little chat.
You aren't against that, right?"
The Witness's voice resounded within the emptiness surrounding them. Somehow, this time its voice was even more hoarse than before. It seemed as if the creature was struggling to form comprehensible words; perhaps it was a side effect of corruption. Sunny didn't know, yet he responded to the Great Titan.
"I would prefer not to, but I don't mind it that much."
Sunny responded, going around his flaw so as not to offend the Witness.
"Could you tell me why?"
The Great Titan asked.
"It's just that I am near my goal, yet I am scared of achieving it."
Sunny wasn't exactly happy to vent his thoughts to the creature, but doing so might loosen the tension between them.
"And what objective are you trying to accomplish in Verge that clouds your mind so much?"
Sunny knew he was pushed into a corner with such a question, but his flaw obliged him to answer.
"My objective isn't in Verge."
"Then where, Little Shadow?"
The hoarse voice resounded from the other side of the shadowy ketch.
"I am going to the Estuary."
Sunny replied in a quiet tone of voice, praying that the Witness wouldn't ask more.
"For what?"
He couldn't simply say that he wanted to regain his fate, so instead he used the same answer he gave to his friends.
"Bird hunting."
Suddenly, the pressure emitted by the Witness grew deeper as the space started folding itself to its presence. A few cracks appeared on the beast-like face, creating a jaw from each. A myriad of teeth could be seen. The darkness in the eye sockets of the white mask grew deeper as something stirred behind it.
"Bird hunting? As in the Vile Thieving Bird? He is there?"
The voice carried immense weight, and it was fueled with anger. Sunny didn't know what had angered the creature so much, but he became scared of it.
"I am not certain; I believe he is there at least."
Having said that, the tension lessened.
"What's your affiliation with him?"
It wasn't a simple question—it was an order.
"He wronged me in the past, and I want to take back something he stole from me."
The Witness frowned as the pressure it emited on the world weakened.
"I think you don't trust me, Sunless, so how about we make a deal?"
"What deal?"
"Ahh, you see… a truly simple one… You will tell me your story, Little Shadow…
…and I will tell you mine…
You see, I am a very curious being, same as you, I believe, and you piqued my interest.
So what's your answer, Sunless?"
He hated it; he despised that somehow he was so easy to see through. It was the first time for him to face someone who could read him like an open book like The Witness. This creature was worse than Cassie; perhaps it was a more powerful nightmarish version of her. Noteworthy is that Sunny had no other option but to drop his animosity toward the Great Titan; if it wanted to, it could have already hurt him. Perhaps he truly was just a lonely soul longing for company. Therefore, Sunny accepted the deal.
....
The Witness changed his size again; this time he was no bigger than a cat—or whatever that thing was. Sunny had seen them maybe once or twice in his life, so it was hard to say. It circled around Sunny while he was seated on the edge of the ketch, telling his story.
He spoke about his life in the outskirts; his family, at least the little he remembered; his first nightmare; and his stay at the academy. He told stories about his dreadful voyage on the Forgotten Shore and how he was enslaved by the person he trusted the most in the whole world—two, to be exact. He talked about his second nightmare and his time as captain in Antarctica, and about his search for conviction. When he talked about his third nightmare, where he lost his fate to the Vile Thieving Bird and regained his freedom by erasing his existence from the world, the Witness bore a somber expression. He spoke about the years he spent exploring the Dream Realm and everything he came to learn about it. He told it about the throne war and how he achieved supremacy naturally, even if for the Witness it wasn't as big of a feat as it was to Sunny. He finished his story with his tour of the great citadels, wherein Mirage City he learned that being enslaved by the person he loved was pretty similar to marriage, and how he ended up here in the Tomb of Ariel again.
When he ended the story, a bit of silence spread as the Witness looked into his eyes from its feline form. What came next shocked Sunny to his core. The Witness pressed its head to Sunny's side in an attempt to comfort him. Its voice resounded quietly, more human this time.
"You must be tired, Little Shadow… let it go."
As the small Great Titan said that, something moved within Sunny. He felt fluid dripping from his face. They were tears… Sunny was crying. At first, he thought that The Witness had manipulated his emotions, but that was not the case. All the sadness that Sunny had kept locked in his heart for all those years was let out in a single moment. He was vulnerable for the first time in a long while. He embraced the feline body of the nightmare creature as he cried his heart out...
....
When Sunny finally stopped crying, he let go of the Witness from his tight embrace. The creature stretched its limbs and sat in front of him.
"Now it's time I share my story, Little Shadow."
This time its voice didn't sound as alien as before—it was human, or at least its attempt at it was quite astonishing, even if deep down a strain could still be heard.
"You know, Little Shadow… the influence of the void is a putrid thing.
You feel as a mold grows onto your soul, slowly but surely replacing the once bright light with a putrid mass… and the worst thing—
is that you are conscious through the process… Little Shadow…
It is a truly harrowing thing…
To know that you are losing yourself, and yet are unable to do anything…
Just witnessing…
yourself crumbling into something horrendous…
I don't remember much from the time I was a person. My memories are faded, like rays of the sun stretching on the surface of the sea during the last hours of the day in a warm summer…
The most harrowing thing is that…
…I barely remember their names…
…of my parents, of my siblings, my comrades, of my love…"
It paused for a moment.
"I was once a proud warrior of the first human domain. I became transcended at a really young age… I was twenty-five… maybe twenty-seven… younger, perhaps… I had a whole squadron of elite fighters behind me. We shed blood and tears to protect the kingdom of Khanat, our once proud king, and what we held dear in our hearts.
That is, until one day we bit off more than we could swallow.
That day… is the only thing that is clearly imprinted in my memory…"
A brief silence followed.
"We were tasked with banishing a Cursed Beast that roamed on the border of the Human Domain—one that had already slaughtered a few settlements.
I know you are probably thinking that we were crazy…
but we were full of pride instead…
…the will of our supreme flowed through us. We were conduits to his power…
…and there were the gods… they were young back then, yet full of vigor and might…
…we thought that by praying they would help us if things turned dire…
...and when they did...
…they did not…"
A pause.
"…we begged them for assistance… for hope…
…and yet they didn't listen…
…we were alone…"
Its voice grew heavier.
"Oh, my Little Shadow… I cannot fully recall the details of my memories, but that moment is imprinted in my mind as if made with molten steel.
One by one…
each fell.
I saw that bird tear their souls apart with its talons. Those could not be called quick deaths, but cruel and dreadful ones.
They died as I held them in my arms."
A tremor passed through its voice.
"I felt anger and dread when my last subordinate fell. I lunged at the beast without care for my life. I was ready to sacrifice myself, just to achieve my sweet revenge.
Oh, how naive I was back then… how foolish…"
A short pause.
"We exchanged some blows. Miraculously, I was able to keep up with it. A faint seed of hope blossomed in my heart—that maybe there was a chance of beating it.
Yet it was to no avail.
It took only a second of distraction.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of my soldiers move. He was the youngest and weakest member of the whole squad, but there he was—clinging to life with his teeth.
Bloodied and broken, his body laid on the ground, the twitch of his finger the only sign that he had not yet found peace in the shadows.
Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one to notice…
…the bird did too.
In an instant—a flash—it threw itself toward my dying soldier.
That vile creature was just a beast… it shouldn't have been so clever…
…and yet it was."
The Witness's voice darkened.
"I ran the moment it moved. I ran with all my strength, burning the last embers of my power just to save him.
He was just a child… a youngster forced into battle by my own ambition…
In the final seconds, before the bird could rip him to shreds…
…I took the hit."
A long silence.
"It pierced my chest with its talons.
And when I looked up to meet its eyes…
…I saw amusement.
It was laughing at me for throwing my life away."
Another pause.
"I thought it would tear my soul apart.
Instead… it removed its talons.
And the moment it did…
…I felt something enter my soul.
It was corruption."
Its voice became hollow.
"It spread slowly… a putrid mold replacing the light within me.
I fell to my knees.
I remember that my throat was hurting, but I didn't understand why.
Only after the initial shock passed did I realize…
…I was screaming my lungs out.
The pain was unbearable.
Then slowly… my consciousness began to slip away.
The last thing I saw before everything went black…
…was the towering figure of the Vile Thieving Bird."
Silence.
"After that… everything comes in distant flashes…
I remember my city burning. Buildings crumbling as hordes of monsters spread across the streets.
I remember the screams… children… women… full of desperation.
Those screams still keep me awake to this day.
Blood flowed like rivers across the ground…
…a truly horrifying sight…"
A pause.
"I remember slitting the throats of soldiers I once fought side by side with…
crushing the bones of children I had once bought sweets for… and trained…
"Its voice lowered to a whisper."
…yet…
…the worst memory I have…
…the one that haunts me more than anything else…
…is the one where I held, in one hand, the love of my life—Elinor…
…while the other pierced her heart…"
Silence spread across the ketch.Sunny didn't know what to say to the Witnesses as consoling him would be to no avail. These events happened eons ago and doing such thing would reopen old wounds.
"You know, Little Shadow… you look fairly similar to… my Elinor…"
Its voice softened.
"She was a jade beauty, with long raven-silk hair and deep, dark eyes. Everyone used to turn their heads to admire her grace.
Even if each of her traits bore a dark tone, she shone like a lone bright star in a cold winter night.
Her smile was like the warm embrace of a late summer wind…"
A pause.
"After what I did…
…I let it all go."
Another silence.
"I don't remember much more.
My consciousness only truly returned when I became a Devil. It happened somewhere around the Doom World.
I wandered the world back then, searching for a sense of existence…"
Its voice sharpened slightly.
"Until one day… I saw it again.
In the sky.
That disgusting bird.
It was flying, holding a gem-like object from which golden ichor dripped.
When it looked at it, it screamed—and let go of its prey, which plunged into the sea.
It was the Vile Thieving Bird…
with Weaver's Eye."
A pause.
"…that was the moment…"
The air seemed to grow heavier.
"…I decided…"
Its voice hardened.
"…to take revenge."