"Think of the last time you rested. When you weren't tensed about what came next."
No one spoke. They all knew the answer — never, not once, since they had stepped foot on the Forgotten Shore.
"Have you forgotten what life was like outside the Dream Realm!?" Leon's clenched fist rose slowly. "When we were treated like human beings. Not pawns. Not customers buying one more week of survival."
Every Sleeper on the Forgotten Shore had gathered here. Leon's rebellion, Changing Star's followers, Gunlaug's ex-slaves — all of them, packed together beneath the dark sky.
"You've sold your lives for one soul shard a week. Bowed down to the Nightmare Spell and let it push you down." His voice didn't rise, and still cut through the vast field they stood on. "Why? Because your luck was bad? Because the Spell decided you deserved to die here?"
Silence whispered throughout the crowd.
Sunny, Nephis and Seishan stood a few steps behind Leon, similarly watching the crowd.
"You did nothing wrong."
Those four words landed like stones.
"This place broke the rules first. It dragged you here without your consent, stripped everything from you, and called it fate." Leon let the silence stretch. "The Nightmare Spell doesn't care about justice. It doesn't care about fairness. It only speaks one language."
He looked across the sea of faces.
"Power."
Someone from the crowd raised their voice. "Then what are we supposed to do?"
Leon looked at them. Fear, everywhere. But underneath it — something small. Something stubborn and alive.
Hope. Perhaps the deadliest poison known to the world — two worlds, even.
"Fight." The word came out without hesitation or thought. "Some of you will die. Some of you will wish you had. And some of you will take every step forward without knowing if the next one is your last."
He paused.
"But not one of you will regret the decision to make that choice."
Another voice rose from the crowd. "What about the ones who already died? Did they die for nothing?"
Leon was quiet.
He thought of his own people. The ones who had followed him and never came back. He thought of the ones who died to Gunlaug, afraid and confused, not knowing that someone was already coming for them.
"Yes," he said.
The crowd stirred. Whispers spread throughout the crowd faster than a wildfire consuming the forest.
"Every shred of meaning you think you had, doesn't matter when you're bleeding out on the ground. No story saves you. No cause keeps you breathing." He looked at them steadily. "Their deaths were meaningless."
The crowd grew silent again. But now, he saw the fury in their eyes. The rage, the anger trapped deep within every single Sleeper there.
"And that is exactly why we cannot let them stay that way."
Leon shook his head. "The dead cannot fight for themselves. They cannot demand to be remembered. They cannot stand up and say — I was here. I tried. I was brave enough to try." His voice didn't waver. "That falls on us, the living. If we crawl back behind those walls and wait to die quietly, then yes — their deaths meant nothing. But if we move forward—"
He summoned the halo. It took the shape of a longsword.
"—then every person who fell on this Shore becomes a reason."
He raised it.
"A reason to move. A reason to be furious. A reason to refuse."
He lowered the blade, pointing it straight at the crowd.
"If you win, you live. If you lose, you die." He paused. "But if you never fight, you've already lost."
He looked out at all of them. Young faces. All this fear barely holding its shape.
"Do you want to go home!?"
Silence.
"Do you want that choice back? The one they took from you the moment you fell asleep?"
The crowd was trembling now. Not from fear, but from excitement. From hope.
"Then take it back with me."
They screamed. All of them — seven hundred voices breaking at once. The sound of people who had been swallowing everything down for months, finally letting it burst out.
Leon watched them.
His gaze stayed dark.
They were screaming for their freedom. Or their death.
They'd find out which, soon enough.
***
"What are you saying, Noah?"
Noah took in a slow breath. "You need to tell Nephis Sunny's true name."
Leon's face went expressionless. "Sunny killed someone to hide his true name. That's not a small thing."
"I know."
"He never even told me willingly. The fact that he keeps it buried like that—" Leon stopped, and gritted his teeth. "I can't do that to him."
"Leon." Noah's voice sharpened. "I know the future. I'm telling you. You need to tell her."
He wanted to say something back. He always wanted to when he spoke like that.
But every time he had gotten into life-or-death situations, it was because of ignoring Noah's advice.
"What happens when someone speaks his true name?"
Noah remained silent.
'Fucking asshole.'
He left the room without another word.
***
He walked for a while before he found himself in front of Cassie's door.
He stood there longer than he should have.
Could he really betray Sunny? The person who had never once betrayed him. The person who had been there from the beginning.
The trust that they had.
Sunny had kept his true name hidden from everyone like it was greater than his own life. And here he was, considering handing it to someone else.
He exhaled through his nose.
Leon stared at the door.
Noah had never lied to him. Not once. Not even when the truth was something he didn't want to hear.
He and Noah were one and the same person. Even Noah saw Sunny as their best friend, so of course Noah wouldn't be lying right?
He knocked on the door.
The door opened with a small click.
"Hey, Cas." He stepped inside. "We need to talk."
Perhaps he had grown blind to Noah, or perhaps... he had forgotten one important line on the runes of his Aspect Ghost.
[Though bound to your soul, it is not loyal to it.]
***
Sunny yawned as he walked toward the Bright Castle.
The two weeks since Gunlaug's death had been strange. Tessai resisted at first, but Nephis had made short work of him. Most Sleepers in the castle were already loyal to either Changing Star or the Mad Scythe by then — Tessai had never really stood a chance.
Gemma and Kido had quietly stood down. Kido was already depressed, blaming herself for the people Gunlaug had massacred with the explosives she made.
The two factions were huge, and had already made a name for themselves, competing against each other — but also allied temporarily.
People who saw Nephis as a Saint, who followed her, called themselves the Firekeepers, which Sunny thought was a bit tasteless.
While people who followed Leon called themselves the Oathless. Which he didn't understand why...
Seven hundred people now moved through the Dark City. Between Leon and Sunny's combined stash, nearly half of them were fully saturated. Sunny still hated giving soul shards away for free. But Nephis had promised to reimburse him.
His lips curled upwards.
What could possibly be better than his new Memory?
[Weaver's Mask]
Memory Rank: Divine
At first, he was not sure whether Nephis and Leon were going to fight for the throne, but somehow... they had a truce?
'Those two are weird as hell! How did I end up becoming their friend?'
Sunny shook his head.
'I am the most normal person in this world. Two worlds even!' He thought, as he tossed a Transcendent soul shard up and down in his hand.
He sighed.
Because of Leon's adamant suggestion to begin the siege as soon as possible, everyone were already at work. Though Leon's request was to begin tomorrow, Seishan explained that the earliest they could start was a week.
After that, Leon had disappeared somewhere for the entire week, just coming back a few hours ago.
Which was where Sunny was heading right now, toward the castle for an 'important meeting'.
***
In a small room in the depths of the ancient citadel, seven people gathered around a table.
Nephis, Leon, Cassie, Effie, Kai and Seishan sat around a table, with the map of the Crimson Spire laid out in front of them.
The map was crude, and only included whatever details they already knew of.
The cold light of a Memory lantern illuminated their faces.
Everyone was silent when Sunny entered.
Cassie lowered her gaze when she heard him come in. She bit her lip.
"What's this? Everyone started without me?" Sunny said, as he took a seat next to Leon.
Everyone greeted him, and the final meeting before the end had begun.
"Why the rush?"
Leon shifted his gaze toward Nephis. "Because I said so."
Nephis frowned and opened her mouth, but soon closed it, knowing Leon didn't want to talk to her.
Everyone grew silent.
"Winter is coming," Leon said.
Noah let out a soft, quiet laugh.
Leon sighed. "The final solstice is barely two weeks away. And on that day, there won't be another batch of Sleepers."
His gaze darkened. "The sun will turn crimson, and every Creature on the Forgotten Shore will grow stronger."
Everyone's breath seemed to leave at the same time.
"And the sun will shine grow bright, its rays will penetrate everyone's souls, even Nightmare Creatures, killing them on the spot if they are not Transcended or higher."
The sun would turn crimson, and its rays would reach out throughout the Forgotten Shore, rupturing everybody's souls.
Only Leonar could say such bullshit with a straight face.
"You need to learn to lie better, my friend," Noah's voice was filled with disappointment.
"That's... not good. We need to hurry." Sunny said.
"Yes. We do," Nephis also sounded quite convinced.
Noah's silence filled the room, as his mouth gaped open.
"So." Effie looked around the table. "What now?"
With that, they summoned their Memories. All the shard Memories were summoned onto the table.
Dawn, Zenith, Dusk, Midnight, Sunlight, Starlight and Moonlight.
When they all brought their shard Memories closer, every single one suddenly burst with a ghostly, ethereal light. Seven beams of light shot toward the center of the room and collided. Then, they fused with each other, and soon, seven objects weaved themselves from that light.
They were keys.
[...You have received an Oath Key]
Leon heard the Spell say.
'And so it begins...'
***
In the dim light of dawn, the gates of the castle opened for the last time. A long procession of humans walked through them, leaving the ancient citadel that had sheltered them for so long.
They walked under the swinging skulls, not paying them any attention.
Three hundred people first descended the hill and entered the Dark City. A few Nightmare Creatures tried to attack them, but they were quickly dealt with before any managed to do them harm.
These three hundred humans were not a defenseless crowd. They were a battle-hardened army, one comprised of exceptionally powerful Sleepers.
Next, another batch of four hundred humans left. This was mainly to avoid the large volume of people getting suddenly attacked. Even though they had tried cleaning up the path a week ago, the Dream Realm was always unexpected.
The only ones that stayed behind were Leon and Sunny, walking throughout the Bright Castle, setting up explosives everywhere.
"We've come a long way, huh?"
Sunny glanced at him. "From the outskirts to two of the most powerful Sleepers on the Forgotten Shore." He looked up at the dark ceiling. "Truly poetic."
"Like your mom's soul?" Noah said, walking down the path.
Leon nodded. "You know the plan right?"
Sunny nodded back. "You and I storm the Spire early, while the rest handle the outburst of Nightmare Creatures. We insert the keys, and open it up." Sunny glanced at him sideways. "Where do you get all this information anyways?"
Leon shrugged. "The Shore tells me things when I'm alone."
Sunny let out an annoyed breath.
They stood there a moment longer.
"Well. This was fun."
"Not really." Leon said, as he snapped his fingers.
The explosion was tiny, but soon fed into another larger explosion. Then it fed into the next one, and the next, until the entire Bright Castle came apart in a cascade of fire and noise.
The fire swallowed the entire castle, painting the black sky orange in its wake.
"Whatever happens Sunny, I'm sorry."
"What?" Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't hear you over the explosions." He said loudly.
Leon smiled and shook his head.
As the flames grew brighter, a shadow and an ocean stood next to each other, gazing upon the fire cleansing years of fear and corruption.
***
It all began with one tiny action.
Trying to win a duel against Nephis.
Then fighting Awakened Monsters, Demons, and also a Terror. Everything backfired.
The fights he started that others had to finish. The plans he made with half the information and twice the confidence, and the people who had bled because of it.
He had told himself, every time, that the outcome justified the recklessness.
He had just been lucky.
Leon had always thought he was alone. He looked back now.
Nephis, who had fought to death, and still chose to stand beside him. Sunny, who asked for nothing and gave did everything anyway. Cassie, who had trusted him with things she didn't have to. All of them — following him, fighting for him, trusting him in ways he didn't deserve.
He had not been a hero. He had been a boy who moved too fast, and assumed that everything around him would just sort itself out.
As Sunny ran ahead to catch up with crowd on feet, Leon flew on top of Birdie, his presence already masked.
He had told Sunny that he would lead the first group of people, so he'd fly ahead.
But Leon, turned the opposite direction of the marching humans, and flew toward the marching dead.
He had lied to his friends yet again.
He was going to abandon them once again.
This was... for the greater good — isn't what he told himself this time. This was a selfish decision, but he was okay with it.
Below, the army marched.
Seven hundred people carrying every shred of hope they had left. If they won, they would go home. If they fought well, if everything held together, they would go home.
He could be part of that right now.
He could fly down right now, take the lead, be the thing they believed him to be. The Mad Scythe standing at the front of the siege, the one who'd given the speech, the one who opened the doors to the gateway.
The one who would be remembered as a hero. A legend!
He looked away from them.
The fog grew thicker in the distance.
If it hit the army from behind while they were fighting the Spire, there would be no recovery from that. Caught between two walls, ground down to nothing. And if his friends turned around to face it — if Nephis, Sunny, Cassie, any of them even tried...
Their souls would be consumed. Taken away as a puppet to a creature with too much knowledge.
He had spent the whole week thinking about how to tell them. How to explain what was coming. And after a week of thinking, he'd decided.
He wasn't going to tell them.
They each had a role, and they were exactly where they needed to be. His job was to make sure they stayed there.
He would buy them the time they needed. And they would walk out of the Spire without ever knowing what had been moving behind them.
It wasn't noble. It was just the only option he had left. One that didn't end with watching everyone he cared about disappear.
Leon took in a deep breath.
He wasn't ready.
There was no peace waiting underneath this decision, no acceptance he could reach even if he thought about it long enough.
He did not want to die on the Forgotten Shore. He did not want to die here, alone, in the fog, before he could become a hero, or maybe just someone worth remembering.
At least... There was no fear.
Sometimes, you have to be selfish.
"Just listen to me." Noah's face contorted in an emotion Leon didn't want to explain. "T-this fog creature was there in the canon. It was too slow! It never even reached the Spire!"
Leon let out a soft breath. "You can stop lying to me, Noah. I can see it in your eyes." His voice cracked around the edges.
"Please! Don't throw away your life." Noah's voice was shaky, and loud. "You will die...it's a Corrupted Terror..."
Leon smiled. "It's just... a Corrupted Terror."
"Don't waste my life..." Noah's voice was so quite, Leon couldn't hear it.
Throughout the week, while the others planned for the Siege, Leon had been hunting. Every Nightmare Creature he could find. Every ember gathered, everything poured back into the crown until it had no more room left.
And at the final day, it evolved.
[Crown of Ember]
Memory Rank: Transcended (Dormant)
Memory Type: Relic
Memory Description: [A faint fragment of divine flame once burned in the heart of a young maiden who longed for a family. She was raised an outsider, yet she continued to protect her people. She never kneeled, not even to the will of gods. She was fated to become a beacon of humanity. Yet her flame was extinguished by a cunning will unworthy of it.
Yet the ember of her will refused to yield. Even now, it continues to burn bright.]
Ember Charge: [2300/5000]
Enemies Slain: [19/10000]
He could almost feel Aurelia's presence right beside, like a continuous source of warmth permeating all around him. The crown was now capable of controlling explosions and flames to such precision, that Leon could explode the energy of a bomb, in the tiny radius of a pebble.
His gaze darkened, as he finally caught the view of the marching dead.
This would be his repentance. This would be — his redemption.
Leon smirked.
'I guess I finally understood how you felt back then... Aurelia.'
Birdie then dove down. He descended into the fog.
***
Below him — far below, beneath the ground, beneath the weight of the army, and the fog creature itself — something stirred.
Something that had been there long before the first Sleeper arrived. Long before the Nightmare Spell.
Something ancient opened its eyes.
And turned its attention upward.