My eyes stay closed as we float along the dead river. I tap my foot, i just want to go home. Or well even if I do, it would not matter much now would it? I'd go from dealing with one terrible annoying person to more terrible annoying people. Plus I would still have to fight and fight and fight. I'm sick of this, I should have sent war to do this instead. Maybe then beast wouldn't have been killed. Oh what does it matter? Their dead, blood is on my hands for choosing wrong yet again, and I still have to kill a cursed terror then a supreme unrelenting storm. Oh and we still have to seal away Asterion, too many things. It's too many things for me to be worrying about. Can't I get a break? Well nobody else gets a break and I'm not special, so I won't get one either. I glance at the plague of steel, at least he's quiet now. Hopefully the bird can put him down. It's not like it's not deserved. He deserves it absolutely and fully
"We are here."
I open my eyes at sunnys voice. She's got a smile on her face, although its bitter.
"So this was where Aletheia came searching for truth. This was what she found... where the curse that haunted and destroyed my people was born."
Sunny nods, although its a shallow comfort
"Yes. But it is not that simple, either."
He looks away with a soft sigh
"Aletheia was not searching for just any truth. She was searching for the truth of how to slay the gods — and she found it here, in the graveyard of secrets that Ariel had chosen to bury. So, it was not just the curse that destroyed your people that was born here... it was the great curse that destroyed the entire world."
he pauses as if testing the words he wants to say
"This was where the Doom War truly began. Where its seed was planted into fertile soil."
Sunny gets a very similar bitter smile to her. Knowing, even with all the good that came after, that it was not worth it
"Land the ship. Turn its bottom toward the stone in advance, though... the laws of existence work strangely here."
I close my eyes once again, going back to leaning on the side of the ship
"What a dreary place."
Ananke's sounded quite off put by even being here. She smiles although its fragile and fake
"I must say... it is a strange thing, to witness the dark truth that lies beneath the surface of your world. We knew, of course, the legend of how the Demon of Dread had built the Tomb of Ariel and created the Great River from the flesh and blood of the Stone Titan. But seeing the Titan's heart with your own two eyes, hidden here in the darkness, is an entirely different experience."
sunny glances over at her with a calm expression then he shrugs like it's no big deal.
"Hideous things hidden in the darkness beneath the bright surface of reality are the theme of all existence, it seems."
He sighs looking into the distance
"Those mountains ahead of us are where we can enter the true Estuary. So... let's go."
None of us speak as we move. The king of ashes has long since dismissed himself from this all. We pass by countless dead nightmare creatures, probably by the bird and it's, likely shadowy, kid. We stop because Ananke as she has a complex look on her face looking at some ruins
"It's the Knowledge Temple of Fallen Grace."
She gestures at it
"It had been sealed, cut free, and carried away by the River long before Fallen Grace itself was destroyed and pulled over the Edge by the currents, plummeting into the darkness. What is it doing here?"
Sunny seems to finally recognize it fully. Its the place we had fought together.
"It must have spent thousands of years laying on the floor of the Tomb. All kinds of things must have accumulated there over the eons... and all kinds of harrowing beings, as well... so the Thieving Bird would undoubtedly visit to pick up a few curiosities."
I shrug
"didn't take it for something that liked learning."
Soon we keep on moving.
"only nephis can go past this point."
Ananke keeps looking on, her hands clench for a second. It's unpleasant to see the place that started all of the ruin her people had faced. Finally she pulls out a arm amulet giving it to neph
"It is fortunate that you are a Shaper, Lady Nephis. I wouldn't have been able to teach you how to use these amulets otherwise."
Neph looks down at them, with a simple nod she confirms she's in on this. Sunny speaks with a worried hint to his voice
"There is no telling what we'll encounter inside. So, summon us back the second you leave the tunnel. Alright?"
Neph looks up and smiles at him for his worries.
"Alright."
Sunny takes a deep breath then speaks
"Well, alright. Let's do it, then."
Neph looks over at me, I nod and the silent plague of steel waves his hand. Finally neph actives it's with shaping. For a second it's a warm, bright meadow. But then we are slammed back into this foolish situation, and everything smells like ash. It takes a while before we can keep moving. This time with a string attached to all of us from ananke. We pass the long dead guardian, that i take. I put it into the fake mimic, so I can study how it was made. Sunny looks at one spot that we pass with a almost nostalgic expression. We pass that as well. Finally we get to the entrance to a grave.
"We will go no further."
I keep my eyes on the inside of that room. I can feel the corruption. Is this what storm felt back in the game set.
"Why is that?"
Sunny tries to come up with a reason, or so i guess.
"This is a grave. It is... a sacred place. I don't want to disturb the peace of the one who is resting there with a fierce battle."
When has Sunny ever respected the dead? He looks over at ananke
"Besides, I suspect that only those whose souls burn with the Flame of Divinity may enter the mountain. If I am correct, Ananke, and him won't be able to accompany us inside."
Sunny clearly is only mentions the plague of steel to be nice. He looks back trying to calm himself down. Sunny might even have fun, i know I'm not going to.
"We'll lure the Vile Thieving Bird here. So, prepare for battle."
Sunny makes his hasty preparations, although i can't help but know something is wrong. Why hadn't it attacked? I sneakily take out the most shinny fork I have and I shake it. In a blink, its gone. So it is watching us. I summon my daggers, luckily they aren't shiny, one is scales that had been worn down over such a long time, the other is ice.
"By the way, Lord Sunless... if I may ask... how, exactly, are we going to lure a Cursed Terror out of its lair?"
He gets the look again. He's about to do something dumb.
"It's easy."
Sunny summons his favorite memory, or well one of his favorites, the silver bell. Its going to be stolen isnt it? I flinch as sunny starts yelling
"Hey! Come out and face me, you vile bird! You repugnant scum! You degenerate fowl! Or are you scared to show your atrocious excuse of a face here, huh?! Come get me, you wretched chicken!"
I shake my head at how stupid that really was. I hear a child like, although it sounds like sunny, giggle. I turn my head to tell sunless off for such a foolish strategy, then laughing about it, and I see two of them.
"Vile? Vile"