In an endless and insurmountable void, where concepts were as fickle as raindrops, where moments were stretched into eternities.
A lone Goddess observed as four Divine beings fought for the right to rule existence, or to devour it whole.
The Reflection of Nothing challenged the Dream into a duel of the soul.
The Light burned its boundless body with heat so absolute that the fabric of space would have been incinerated if it had blanketed this ceaseless void.
The Shadows of Fate decreed Death into the Dream's Fate, as "their" army of shaded deities marched behind their nebulous God.
But "their" attempts were faltering one by one, the Dream's soul was too vast to be fully reflected, "It's" body too unyielding for any flame to melt, "It's" existence too great to be shackled by the strings of Fate.
The Dream was going to win, Song of the Fallen was sure of it now, after decades of watching this divine battle unfold.
[Sunny.]
The blind Goddess whispered in Sunless' mind.
[I'm going to use my sacred ability.]
Cassia's sacred ability, called [Prayer], was their backup plan, and she decided that now was the time to use it.
"Damnation..." Sunless cursed and swiftly gathered his Shadows, disengaged from the battle, and reached Cassia.
"No wonder the dead gods had decided to imprison this grumpy guy instead of destroying him, he might as well be invincible." Sunless said, seemingly trying to hide a frown.
"Sunny, are you ready?" said Cassia with a determined expression
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'm only gonna have a chat with a higher being, what's the big deal?"
"I know you already know this, but you need to be careful, Sunny. We still don't know how severely the ability will affect a Divine." The blind Goddess grimaced, remembering the last time she had activated this ability.
It was also the first time, but that single activation had left her on the verge of Death, a single "hello" from that being had shredded her soul and broken her spirit, if it wasn't for Weaver's Eye, barely keeping her soul and spirit together and Sunny forcing her shadow to not leave for the Shadow realm, then she would've been very dead right now.
"I guess we'll just have to find out then." Sunless grinned, crossed his legs, and sat on a platform of shadow he just manifested, and augmented his body with all of his Shadows.
His presence was already enough to put pressure on her just by standing beside him, but now, his presence felt stifling.
Of course, it would feel far worse than that if he weren't actively suppressing its effect on her.
Cassia sighed, then sat down on her knees behind him and put her hands on his shoulders.
She stopped herself from experiencing the world from Sunny's point of view and began to channel [Prayer].
A sudden pressure invaded the void.
"hello"
Sunny winced when he heard that voice, it felt as if the entire world, no, as if entire worlds were pressing down on him.
'not as bad as I thought.' Sunny thought to himself as he tried to keep his composure.
"Hey there, my name is Sunless."
"I Am #^%@)(!(*^#"
Sunny bled from all his orifices the moment he heard that name. Blood weave was only able to stop the bleeding after two seconds.
It took a few more seconds for his mind to recover and recollect itself.
"..."
"You may address me as Mr F."
'Looks like it can see this space too, not just talk with me' Sunny thought.
"That is correct."
Sunny's eyes suddenly widened, "So you can read my thoughts too, I'd expect nothing less from a higher being."
Mr F. paused for a few seconds and then said.
"It seems you are in a predicament, Sunless."
"You could say that, I'm just having trouble slaying a Dream God that wants to devour my entire world."
"You need help."
"You can help me kill it?"
"No"
"Motherfuc-"
"But I can assist you in a different manner."
Without warning, information flooded Sunny's mind, full of details on how Mr F. could help them.
"That..." Sunny closed his eyes for a few moments, deep in thought.
"That could work."
But before getting the "help" of this higher being, there was one important question he had to ask first.
"What's the price, Mr.F?"
"I only wish to observe; entertainment is all I seek."
'So our world is mere entertainment, huh?' Sunny thought to himself, fully aware that his every thought was laid bare in front of this great existence.
"That can be arranged, we'd only need to modify the weave to include the effect of [Prayer].
I'll contact you again once the spell is complete."
"It is settled then."
Sunny heard a chuckle before standing up and ending the activation of [Prayer]. He looked down to find an exhausted-looking Cassie; it seemed even the activation of the ability alone had taken its toll on her.
"Cassie, contact Nephis and Mordret. We'll need them to buy us a few more decades of time."
Cassie nodded and relayed the message to the two Gods still locked in battle.
Sunny grinned, "This is going to be our magnum opus."
**********************************************
[Half a century later]
"It's complete," Sunny muttered. After 50 years of weaving, it had taken them longer to finish than they initially thought, all because of their attempts at replicating [Prayer], which proved a tumultuous task even for the Fate Weaving Gods, but their grand spell was finally completed.
And not a moment too soon, Sunny's last shade was just devoured over a month ago, and his once innumerable army was utterly wiped out from existence; his soul, once home to billions, now lay barren, currently only inhabited by his trusty shadows.
The Dream God was presently solely held back by the dwindling might of Nephis and the God of Nothing, and Sunny's Divine shadows.
Cassie spared a moment to stare at the tapestry of their sorcery, which rivalled even the Nightmare Spell itself in complexity, it would have rivalled it in size too, if it weren't for the Nightmare Spell's ability to grow since its inception.
"We need to hurry, Sunny, we don't have much time." Cassie put her hand on Sunny's shoulder and prepared to activate [Prayer] once again.
Sunny felt the ability activate and the fearsome presence invaded their reality once again.
"Hello, Mr F."
"Hello again, Sunless."
Sunny summoned Serpent, the Divine Titan was in a sorry state after fighting the Dream God for so long.
"You've done well", Sunny commended his shadow and promptly turned it into a great odachi. Sunny had created many Divine Relics, but none held the same might as Serpent's transformed form.
"Proceed."
With the lusterless black blade in his hands and his body augmented by all of his Shadows, he tightened his grip, the hilt almost denting from the sheer force, and he slashed.
The world shook, and then it bled black, a long gash marred the very boundary of their universe, and even the mindless Corrupted Dream God faltered at the sight, which brought the Gods some much-needed respite.
"Excellent."
Sunny had put half of his nigh endless essence into that one slash. He fell to one knee and sent the damaged Serpent back into his soul to stop it from being destroyed.
"...You better fulfill your end of the deal now #^%@)(!(*^#" Sunny chuckled as he called on the existence's true name, after making sure that Cassie had cut off all her senses, ignoring the blood that flowed down his body like a waterfall, he smiled.
"It is already done, the variables have been implanted."
Sunny saw the wound in the world's boundary disappear as if it were a lie.
"You may activate your spell now, Sunless."
Shaking off the damage, Sunny stood up and turned towards Cassie after deactivating [Prayer].
The pale goddess stared back into his onyx black eyes, as if she wasn't blind, with determination written on her face.
Words were unnecessary at this point, all that was left was to do what needed to be done.
Sunny activated his transformation ability and split into seven bodies, and moved each one into a different position inside the weave of the spell.
Using his shadow cores as nexuses to replace the soul shards they had used to support the weave, he activated the grand spell.
The weave only had two enchantments, the secondary enchantment which encompassed the effect of [Prayer] in accordance with their deal with Mr F.
And the main enchantment, which they wove using the strings of fate themselves, was quite simple.
They had even considered weaving it before their deal with the higher being, but they quickly dismissed it because without his 'variables', it would be rather redundant, because all the enchantment did was rewind Fate itself.
And as great as that was, all it would've done otherwise was trap their reality into an ever-repeating time loop.
"I would've said there was no going back now, but that's literally what we're doing." Sunny snickered, and as soon as he finished his sentence, the world stood still.
And then it rewound.