Chapter 451: Bone Weave
'Bone Weave…'
Sunny let the sound of it echo in his mind, overwhelmed by a feeling of savage joy. He didn't know what that Attribute gifted him, yet, but was certain that it would be something special. The Blood Weave had saved his life so many times, after all…
And after his encounter with the Mordant Mimic, he learned that having strong bones was as important as having tenacious blood.
Shifting his gaze away from the runes, he stared at one of his hands, then made a fist. This was the arm that had been shattered by the vile creature, and then slowly healed while he was falling into the Sky Below. Even though Sunny had already been able to use it for the past few days, it used to feel weak, awkward, and slightly damaged.
But now, it was as good as new.
...More than that, actually. It was better than ever before.
All of his bones felt much more durable and resilient. Stronger. His joints seemed to be slightly more agile, too. His teeth felt as though they could crush stones and cut through metal.
The strangest change, however, happened to his fingers. It wasn't very apparent, though. On the surface, it simply felt as though they had grown subtly more sensitive, the tactile feeling of touching things becoming deeper and richer. However, Sunny suspected that the true change was more profound. He just didn't know what it was, exactly.
Blood Weave had altered his eyes in a very fundamental way, so Bone Weave had to have a lot of promise.
He ran his fingers across the soft surface of the Puppeteer's Shroud, vividly feeling the silken fabric slide against his skin.
'...Neat.'
Then, Sunny stretched his limbs, sensing their newfound agility. He was already weirdly limber due to practicing Shadow Dance, which demanded the utmost level of pliability from the practitioner's body. Now, however, it was even further enhanced.
Satisfied, Sunny turned back to the runes and read:
Attribute: [Bone Weave].
Attribute Description: [You have inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage. Your bones have been altered and imbued with steadfast temperance…]
He tilted his head, stunned by the somewhat expected, but still profoundly fascinating piece of information he just received.
'Weaver's legacy!'
So the severed arm had actually belonged to the mysterious Demon of Fate. It was Weaver who had snuck into their sibling's tower while bearing a terrible wound, sliced off their rotting limb, and then fashioned a new one from the parts scavenged from the broken porcelain dolls before sewing it onto their body with diamond strings.
It was Weaver's footprints that Sunny had seen in the basement of the great obsidian pagoda.
He trembled.
Even though Sunny had seen many incredible things and lived through many unlikely events, both wondrous and terrifying, he suddenly felt awe. It was as though... as though he was suddenly in the presence of divinity.
Demon of Fate had been to this dark island, had walked the same halls that Sunny walked, and breathed the same air. The sharp needle infused with remnant traces of their blood was currently inside his storage Memory, as well as the diamond string they had used to sew a new arm to their body. Unlike the miraculous black mask, the needle was not a Memory, either.
It was the actual thing.
But most of all… Sunny had swallowed a phalanx bone of the divine being in question.
'Crazy! This is crazy!'
He blinked a few times, then suddenly thought:
'Was, uh… was this how Neph felt when she first met Kai, I wonder?'
What a random and ridiculous thought…
Then, a slight frown appeared on his face.
…Why would Weaver secretly come to their younger brother's abandoned workshop? What was the harrowing rot that had been spreading from their wound, and what manner of creature could have wounded them so terribly?
What could even damage a deity?
Sunny had so many questions…
Luckily, the description of the Bone Weave was not over. Several strings of runes still remained.
He concentrated and read:
[...When children of the -unknown- rebelled against the gods, Weaver was the only one to refuse the call of war. Despised and hunted by both sides, they disappeared. No one knew where Weaver went and what they did… until it was too late.]
Sunny shivered.
A few things became more clear from this short description. Firstly, it cemented his suspicion that, at some point in time, the seven daemons — children of the mysterious -unknown-, who were also strangely described as having created themselves — had waged war against the gods. Or, rather, six of them… since Weaver apparently decided to not join either side in this conflict.
Secondly, Weaver's reluctance to participate in the war had landed them in big trouble with both the gods and the other daemons… unsurprisingly. One side would have seen the Demon of Fate as one of the enemies simply by virtue of them being a daemon, while the other would have seen them as a traitor... for that same reason.
That could potentially explain how Weaver ended up being ghastly wounded, and why they had to sneak into the Obsidian Tower in secret.
These two pieces of information were extremely fascinating, but it was the third one that gave Sunny pause.
'No one knew what Weaver did… until it was too late.'
That sounded so ominous. That made it seem as though Weaver alone had turned out to be more terrible than both the six daemons and the six gods combined, in the end.
What exactly had Weaver done?
Sunny really wanted to know the answer to this question, and not only out of idle curiosity.
He was carrying two parts of Weaver's lineage inside of him now, after all.
…The lineage that was described as being forbidden.Was the reason for that connected to what Weaver had done?
Just as always, the answers Sunny had received brought him a swarm of new questions.
'Curses!'
With a sigh, he dismissed the runes and stood up. There was no sense in pondering about that now, not without finding more information, both about the daemons and the gods.
After all that had transpired, he was incredibly tired and hungry.
…But mostly hungry.
With a resentful sigh, Sunny gave Saint a sign to follow and headed back toward the first level.
Chapter 452: Above and Beyond
Several days later, Sunny was sitting on a piece of broken furniture in the central hall of the first level of the Obsidian Tower. The Covetous Coffer stood near him, its lid open and its sharp teeth revealed.
He was holding the Cruel Sight in his hand. The silver blade of the somber spear was incandescent with white radiance, infused with divine flame.
…Sunny was currently using said divine flame to roast a piece of repulsive, slightly rotten black meat. That was the last piece of mimic's flesh he had stored inside the Coffer before taking a plunge into the ocean of merciless stars.
Saint was also nearby, staring into the distance with her usual cold indifference.
He glanced at her, then sighed.
"Sorry that I haven't fed you in a while."
The Shadow did not react to his words in any sort of way.
Sunny continued to talk, though, unbothered by the taciturn demon's apparent lack of interest.
"Hey, that's not true! It is not my fault. Blame my incredible luck, instead. What can I do, the Memories I find are just too incredible. How can I let you eat them… I can't..."
He grinned, then threw a dubious look at the sizzling black meat, and sighed.
"I guess it's done…"
Dismissing the Cruel Sight, Sunny brought the meat to his mouth and took a bite out of it. As he chewed, an absolutely miserable expression appeared on his face.
"...Ah, that's the stuff. I tell you, Saint, this meat absolutely delicious. I pity you, really, for being unable to taste this divine… oh damn it, how can anything be so vile!... this divine dish. It's the best devil steak you can possibly eat in a lifetime. Just a single bite… can really… change your life…"
'For the worst!'
At least chewing the damned thing was much easier now. Before the acquisition of Bone Weave, eating mimic's meat felt like gnawing on an old leather boot. It felt pretty much the same now, but Sunny's teeth were different.
They were able to slice and cut through the tough meat of the devil with ease.
Plus, it wasn't raw. That was already a reason to celebrate.
Feeling his eyes tearing up from disgust, Sunny glanced at Saint and forced the smile to remain on his face.
"I see you are left speechless by my culinary skill. Fair, fair…"
However, in the next moment, a voice suddenly resounded in the darkness of the Obsidian Tower:
"...You actually survived!"
Sunny choked on a piece of the vile meat. For a second, he thought that his loyal Shadow had only been pretending to be mute all this time, instead simply choosing not to speak to him…
But no, he recognized the voice.
Sadly, it wasn't Saint...
It was Mordret. The Prince of Nothing was back.
'Thank gods!'
Sunny had been burdened by being all alone on the dark island much more than he was willing to admit. Even though he didn't trust the mysterious voice, he felt relieved to hear it.
Swallowing the meat, he took a sip from the Endless Spring, then looked around the hall and said:
"As you can see. Although, being the honest to a fault young man that I am, I have to admit that it wasn't easy… or pleasant. In fact, I can hardly believe that I survived myself."
He glanced at his body, which was still in a rather sorry state. His burns were healing, but much slower than they would have usually healed. Even though the divine flame had not touched him directly, just the heat radiated by it was enough to leave long-lasting traces that even Blood Weave wasn't able to remove fast.
Mordret remained silent before speaking again, as he usually did. When his voice appeared, it was full of genuine surprise:
"You really found the rift in the ocean of flames?"
Sunny shrugged.
"As it turned out, I was more or less falling toward it the whole time. But even then, I almost burned to death trying to reach it. My most powerful Memories were heavily damaged, and I only survived thanks to a bit of luck."
Which was technically true, although not nearly all of the truth.
The mysterious prince hesitated, then asked:
"...Where are you now?"
Sunny tilted his head.
'How much of my surroundings can he perceive, I wonder?'
The first thing that Mordret had ever said to him was ask why it was so dark, so he probably could see something, at least.
"Can't you see where I am?"
The voice answered, most likely honestly:
"I can see a big hall filled with ancient, broken things. That doesn't tell me a lot, though."
'Makes sense…'
Sunny nodded, feeling the pressure of the Flaw building up in his soul, demanding for him to deliver an answer.
He gestured at the interior of the Obsidian Tower.
"Well… beyond the false stars, the void continues for who knows how much further down. But some distance from the flames, there is actually a single island floating in the emptiness. There is a magnificent black pagoda on that island, which looks like the exact copy of the Ivory Tower. That is where I am right now, inside that pagoda."
Then, Sunny scratched the back of his head, and added:
"But anyway, how come I can still hear you? Haven't you told me that your voice would not reach beyond the stars?"
Mordret sighed.
"That was what I thought. Luckily, I seem to have been wrong."
After a short pause, he said in a strange tone:
"The Ebony Tower… so it does exist."
Sunny blinked.
'I guess it's one way to call it?'
Then, however, a complicated expression appeared on his face:
"Wait... you knew about it?"
The mysterious prince remained silent for a bit, then answered:
"That is what I had been trying to find before… before I couldn't search anymore. There were some hints that a duplicate of the Ivory Tower exists somewhere in the Sky Below. I hoped to reach it."
Sunny chose his next words cautiously:
"Oh, really? What else do you know about that place?"
Mordret thought for a few moments, then answered wistfully:
"It is said that a very powerful being came to this shattered land after it had been destroyed by the Lord of Light. Back then, the Sky Below was not as boundless, and there were much more fragments of divine flame still burning in its empty darkness. That being… wanted to harvest those flames."
Suddenly, a lot of small details about the dark island and the Obsidian Tower became much clearer. Sunny already had suspicions about the true purpose of this place, but now, they were confirmed. The ruined machines outside the pagoda, the blackened worktable, the massive glass vessels covered with soot from the inside, the silver brazier…
The Prince of the Underworld had not truly lived in the magnificent pagoda. It was not his home, just a station he had built in the ocean of flame — which had been much larger back then — to harvest some of the divine fire. Why he had need of it, Sunny did not know.
But he suspected that the prideful demon had either succeeded in his purpose or failed, and that was why he eventually left and sealed the Obsidian Tower, which then stood abandoned for thousands of years.
…And at some point during that time, another child of the -unknown- had come here for a short while, although their purpose was very different.
This revelation came and went. There was a question burning in his mind that had nothing to do with such distant past, instead.
It was much more pressing.
Sunny swallowed another piece of meat and asked casually:
"Harvest divine flames? Very interesting. Was that why you wanted to come here, too?"
Or had Mordret been after something else?
…Was after something else?
The lost prince laughed.
"No, not really. In fact, I wasn't that interested in the Obsidian Tower itself, to begin with."
Sunny frowned:
"Why did you want to find it if you weren't interested in it?"
Mordret sighed.
After a long pause, he answered, his voice dark and full of suppressed emotion:
"What I was interested in was not the copy, but the original. The Ivory Tower. The two are supposed to be connected somehow. If one finds that connection… they might just be able to reach past the Crushing and step foot on the heavenly isle…"
Chapter 453: Shrine of Stars
Sunny remained silent for a while, thinking feverishly.
A bridge between the two towers…
That was his chance to escape this dismal place and return to the real world!
...The problem was, he had no clue what this connection Mordret had told him about was. However, he had an idea.
In the past several days, Sunny had explored the rest of the Obsidian… of the Ebony Tower. He had made a couple of fascinating discoveries, but most of it was now full of nothing except dust and rubble. Pretty much everything inside the pagoda disintegrated due to the onslaught of time after he had opened its gates.
The most promising and mysterious of his finds, though, was situated on the last level of the tower, in a small circular hall that housed nothing except for a graceful stone arch, which stood lonesomely in its center and looked like a misplaced, empty doorframe.
The most intriguing part about the arch was that it was surrounded by a circle of runes… almost like the Gateway in the Crimson Spire had been.
In fact, that was what Sunny assumed it to be — an inactive Gateway. For that reason, he had spent these days trying to find a way to activate it. He had poured shadow essence into the arch itself, as well as every corner of the hall. He had studied the unfamiliar runes, hoping to either find a way to translate them or maybe discover a place where they had been damaged, thus rendering the arch useless.
But nothing had worked… yet.
The information provided by Mordret instantly changed his perception of the arch, though. If what the lost prince had told him was true, then maybe it wasn't a Gateway to the real world. Maybe it was an entrance to the magical bridge connecting the Ebony Tower to its Ivory counterpart.
Still... how was he supposed to make the damn thing work?
With a deep scowl appeared on his face, Sunny asked:
"If this place is really connected to the Ivory Tower… then how would one go about using that connection? Do you have any ideas? There is something that looks like a portal here, but it doesn't work. I tried to open it a hundred times, to no avail."
Mordret thought for a bit, then said uncertainly:
"Have you tried saturating it with essence?"
Sunny grimaced.
"Of course! What am I, a fool? That was the first thing I attempted."
He hesitate for a few moments, then voiced something that had been keeping him worried for a while:
"Maybe… maybe it requires some sort of a key to be opened?"
The voice remained silent for a long time. Then, Mordret said:
"No, I don't think so."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Why?"
The lost prince answered casually:
"Because only doors that can be kicked open require locks and keys. The master of this place wasn't someone who needed such things to keep uninvited guests away."
'Huh… makes sense, I guess. He seems to know a lot about the Prince of the Underworld, though. I thought knowledge of daemons was really scarce…'
Sunny sighed.
"So, how do I activate the connection then?"
Mordret considered the question for a second or two, the said with a hint of doubt in his voice:
"The creator of the Ebony Tower was a builder of things. A genius artifex, but also of practical sort… from what little knowledge of him remains. He would have probably used whatever was at hand, and went for the simplest solution. Builders don't like overcomplicated things, after all."
Sunny considered his words.
'The simplest solution…'
A seed of an idea appeared in his mind.
With a thoughtful expression, he took another bite out of the piece of meat and chewed it thoroughly.
The lost prince politely remained silent while Sunny ate. After a while, however, he suddenly spoke:
"Oh, by the way. I don't want to worry you, Sunless… but there seems to be a powerful Nightmare Creature standing right behind you…"
Sunny almost choked again. If not for the fact that he was looking both forward and back at the same time with the help of the shadows, he would have jumped and summoned the Cruel Sight immediately. But he knew that there was no one behind him. Except for Saint…
He swallowed the foul meat, then smiled weekly.
"Curses, you almost gave me a heart attack! That's... that's not a Nightmare Creature. Can't you differentiate a real demon from an Echo?"
Mordret remained silent for a bit, then said with amusement:
"She is your Echo? Fascinating…"
Sunny frowned:
"What's so fascinating about it?"
However, there was no answer. The mysterious prince was gone once again, disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared. Usually, Sunny was irritated by this annoying habit of his, but this time...
…This time, he was glad.
Sunny couldn't wait to go back to the sixth level, but didn't want Mordret to see what he had found on the level before.
He still didn't trust the lost prince… even though Mordret had been nothing but helpful up until now. Extremely so, in fact. Sunny didn't know if he would have even been alive without his guidance.
'Later… if I manage to return to the Sanctuary in one piece, I'll start trusting him then. A little. Maybe…'
Finishing up his meal — the last he was going to have in a while — Sunny stood up, stretched, and headed toward the stairs.
***
After he had received the Bone Weave and rested, Sunny explored the rest of the third level of the Ebony Tower. However, he had not found anything of note there. He also had not discovered any more traces left behind by Weaver, which disappointed him a great deal.
The fourth level, however… was much more interesting.
The central hall of it was fashioned into a vast, somber shrine. At the center of it stood an altar cut from a single slab of black onyx, and behind it was an incredibly beautiful statue of a young woman dressed in a flowing tunic, her face obscured by a veil. The young woman was holding a star in one hand, and a bolt of lightning in the other.
…Sunny was pretty sure that she was none other than Storm God, also known as the Goddess of Black Skies. Deity of the oceans, of the depths, darkness, stars, travel, guidance, and disaster.
Which was really interesting.
Why would the Prince of the Underworld build a shrine to his sworn enemy at the very heart of the Ebony Tower?
Their relationship, it seemed, was not as simple as Sunny had thought.
He had been much more interested in the altar itself, though. After finding the shrine, Sunny had tried to place magical coins on the onyx surface, and even spilled a bit of his blood on it.
But this time, the gods had not answered. The coins, too, simply remained laying on the altar instead of turning into shadow essence.
It seemed that the altar was not mystical at all. In fact, as far as altars went, this one appeared to be quite mundane. Sunny had quickly lost interest and continued exploring the great pagoda.
And he had not been disappointed by that decision.
Because there was something very, very important on the fifth level of the Ebony Tower…
Chapter 454: Hope
The fifth level of the Ebony Tower had almost killed Sunny.
It was completely empty, its black walls drowning in darkness and unadorned. There was no dust, no ruined pieces of furniture, tools, or strange metal devices. Not even lanterns.
There were, however, countless runes carved into the walls themselves. And almost all of those runes were of the kind that radiated a sickening, dire sensation that made one feel as though their mind was breaking apart.
The same mysterious runes that the Spell used to describe the Unknown, and that Sunny had seen written on the floor by the prisoner of the small cell that was hidden under the ruined cathedral in the Dark City.
Back then, looking at them dealt a heavy blow to Sunny, but he persisted and was eventually able to read a single phrase that the prisoner had written, unlike everything else, in a familiar script…
Hail Weaver, Demon of Fate. Firstborn of the -unknown-...
On the second to last level of the Ebony Tower, however, there were much more of the terrible runes. And most of the seemed far more intense, far more... powerful.
When Sunny had first set foot into the dark hall, he yelped and jumped back, then rolled down the spiraling stairs all the way back to the shrine of the Storm God.
…Good thing his bones were now much more hardy.
Eventually, however, he had returned to the hall of runes.
Sunny knew that looking at the vile writings could destroy his sanity, maybe even outright kill him, so he had done so with his eyes closed and while leaving the shadows behind, so that they, too, could not see the ancient walls.
Even then, he felt a terrible pressure constantly assaulting his mind.
He was not going to leave without learning at least something from this chamber of secrets.
Where else would he ever be able to study writing left behind by an actual daemon?
So, he tried to limit the scope of what he saw and glance at the obsidian walls, one little section at a time.
The experience was nothing short of horrid, but at least tolerable.
…And only when Sunny summoned Weaver's Mask was he able to look at the portions of the hall without feeling like passing out or falling down in a fit of convulsions.
The forbidden runes turned less dreadful, but did not give up their secrets. He didn't know their language, after all. The Spell, too, either refused or failed to translate them.
His exploration, however, was not for naught. Because, while slowly moving around the dark hall, he discovered something extremely valuable.
It was... a map.
Or rather, a strange semblance of one.
Both the runes and the images constituting the map were cut into the stone, their lines smooth and deep. Sunny did not know what tool the Prince of the Underworld had wielded to leave these markings behind, but imagined him simply using his nail to cut into the indestructible stone that even divine fire couldn't destroy.
At the center of the map, jagged mountains were depicted, shrouded by mist. Directly south of them, an island with a familiar silhouette of a graceful pagoda floated above flames. Even further south, separated from the mountains by a vast emptiness, was a mighty castle.
Far to the west, a snowy peak stood near a fuming volcano, and nestled between them was an arched bridge. To the south-west, a strange ship floated on ghostly waves. Sout-east of the mountains, divided from them by a long stretch of nothingness, a perfectly symmetrical pyramid was cut into the obsidian wall.
And lastly, to the north, further away than any other image, above all of them, was… a familiar shape. A fearsome mask stared at Sunny, crowned with three horns.
…Weaver's Mask.
The map was strange, however, because the areas she depicted seemed... disconnected, somehow. There were no borders, no terrain, no measure of distance between them. The ideas of north, south, east, and west were only something Sunny had assigned to the map out of habit. Truly, it could have been the exact opposite, or impossible to apply to the logic of the map altogether.
But at the same time, it fit with the geography of the Dream Realm as he knew it, somewhat.
Each of the images had an inscription near them, written in a runic language that Sunny had trouble understanding. It was similar to the one used by the Spell, but also different enough to make translation either impossible or difficult.
But even without reading the inscriptions. he easily guessed what the images meant.
The mountains depicted in the center of the map were, of course, the Hollow Mountains. Even if the image itself was only familiar, their closeness to the Ivory Tower cemented that conclusion. The Ivory tower, of course, represented the Chained Isles.
The castle to the south had to be Bastion. Although Sunny had never seen it with his own two eyes, he knew its silhouette and appearance from childhood, just like any other human in the real world. Its likeness was the stage for countless dramas, movies, and webtoons, after all. Similarly, he recognized the great stone bridge nestled between a snowy peak and a raging volcano — it was the road to Ravenheart, the great Citadel ruled by clan Song.
Knowing the position of Bastion and Ravenheart, it wasn't hard to surmise that the ship sailing on the ghostly waves represented the Stormsea, where the citadel of the third great clan, House of Night, was located.
Sunny had no idea what the pyramid to the east represented. The seventh image, however, was rather clear… it meant Weaver. By knowing who it described, he was also able to translate the inscription near the depiction of the mask…
It read:
"Fate."
There was another symbol near it, though, which meant something akin to a question mark, an inquiry. So, actually, it was "Fate?". Basically, even the Prince of the Underworld had no idea where his eldest sibling lived.
…And this was what the images were, in Sunny's mind. They represented the seven daemons, or rather, their domains.
Which was nothing short of tantalizing in and of itself, but also meant several things.
Firstly, that the three great clans had inherited their Citadels from three daemons… or at least built their strongholds in the regions of the Dream Realm where daemons had once dwelt.
Secondly, that the Underworld, most likely, was situated beneath the Hollow Mountains. This Death Zone was the very dark and cavernous domain to which the Prince of the Underworld had retreated after his conflict with the Goddes of the Black Skies.
And lastly… that the ruler of the beautiful and prosperous land that had invoked the wrath of Sun God and doomed their kingdom to destruction — and eventual transformation into the Chained Isles — was a daemon, as well.
Coincidentally, the inscription cut into the stone near the image of the Ivory Tower was the only one after that of Weaver's that Sunny was able to translate, since the runes closely resembled those usually used by the Spell.
It was "Desire".
The other meaning of the runes, however, was… hope.
The Ivory Tower had once belonged… to the Demon of Hope.
Chapter 455: Doorway to Heaven
That revelation had given Sunny a lot to think about.
The Demon of Hope… or Desire. A daemon whose power was most likely tied to souls and mind. What act could such a being have committed to cause Sun God to destroy their whole domain?
And what had happened to that being after?
Just as usual, there were no answers.
Sunny was slowly learning more and more, though. For now, the pieces of information he had earned were scattered and disconnected. But if he continued to slowly accumulate knowledge, one day, they were going to start clicking together. And then... what terrible and wondrous truths would he uncover?
Enough to make up for a lifetime of lies, perhaps.
…Apart from inscriptions dedicated to Weaver and the Ivory Tower, Sunny failed to translate anything else. He had, however, memorized every little detail of the unfamiliar runes describing the Hollow Mountains, Bastion, Ravenhear, a ship sailing on the Stormsea, and the mysterious pyramid to the east.
'I'll have to visit Teacher Julius when I'm back in the real world. He has to know something about this script, right?'
Thinking about the map, Sunny entered the rune hall, kept his eyes closed, and walked to the entrance to the stairwell leading to the sixth level of the Ebony Tower.
The last one.
When he entered the chamber of the stone arch, he sighed with relief. The pressure emanated by the terrifying runes was finally gone, leaving his mind at ease… the headache caused by them, however, was going to persist for a few more minutes.
Sunny sat down, leaned his back against the wall, and stared at the arch while waiting to fully recover.
The highest level of the great pagoda was not very large, in comparison to the six others. It was just one big hall, circular in shape, and almost completely empty. The only thing inside of it was the arch itself.
It was tall and composed of the same material as the rest of the Ebony Tower. In fact, the arch didn't seem to have been built… instead, it was almost as if it had simply grown out of the floor, without any seam separating it from the black stone. It looked like a doorway that someone had put in the middle of the chamber, for some reason, and then forgot to attach a door to it.
This was Sunny's only hope of escape.
He stared at it for a long time, thinking about how to make the portal work.
In the past, he had tried a lot of things to activate the arch, as well as studying the circle of runes surrounding it. But nothing he had done accomplished anything.
His recent conversation with Mordred, however, had given Sunny an idea.
What had Mordret said? That the Prince of the Underworld was somewhat of a divine smith. A builder of things… but also of the practical sort. That he would have used whatever was at hand, going for the simplest solution.
That more or less confirmed what Sunny knew of the prideful daemon already. After all, Saint and her kin had been created by the Prince of the Underworld. In retrospect, Sunny had completely failed to understand the magnitude of that accomplishment.
To create a living being from nothing… a whole race of them, really. That did sound like something that only a god would be able to do, didn't it?
The Prince of the Underworld, however, was not a god. He was a daemon, a lesser deity. Was the creation of Saint and her people his way of showing the true divinities that he was in no way inferior to them? Or was he guided by some different ambition?
'I wonder how the gods reacted…'
Teacher Julius had described daemons as terrible beings that inspired fear because of their unknown origins and strange powers. What happened after one of them had accomplished something that was supposed to be in the purview of only the gods? Saints description, back when was an Echo, said that she and her kin were designed to bring peace, but were born into an endless war instead...
'Huh.'
But regardless, that was not the point. The point was that Saint was made out of stone. Sunny had always thought that it was an integral part of her design, a fundamental aspect of the vision her creator had for the living statues. To make them stronger, perhaps, or harder to destroy.
But after witnessing the porcelain dolls and speaking with Mordret, Sunny was not so sure anymore. The broken dolls showed that the material from which to make his creations had not mattered to the Prince of the Underworld too much.
'What was at hand… the simplest solution…'
Was Saint made out of stone… simply because there was a lot of stone in the Hollow Mountains for its Prince to use in his experiments? There was nothing but stone there, really.
'That, uh… can't be right, can it?'
But somehow, Sunny felt that it was, indeed, right.
He glanced at Saint and blinked a couple of times.
'...Lazy bastard!'
Sunny shivered, half-expecting to be struck down for thinking about the mighty daemon in such unflattering terms. When nothing happened, he shook his head and returned to his thoughts.
There was plenty of stone in the Hollow Mountains, but there was literally nothing around the Ebony Tower. But what about in the past? What had there been a lot of around it back at the time the Prince of the Underworld resided in the Sky Below? What would he have used to power his magical engines?
This pagoda had been built to harvest divine flames, after all.
Feeling the headache finally retreat, Sunny stood up and walked over to the arch. Then, he summoned the Cruel Sight, activated the [Dark Mirror] enchantment, and poured his essence into it, watching the silver blade become infused with incandescent white light.
Then, he hesitated for a moment, and lightly pressed the tip of the somber spear against the cold black stone.
…Immediately, it was as though the floodgates had been open in his soul. The shadow essence flowed into the Cruel Sight, and through it, the divine flame flowed into the arch.
Sunny staggered.
In just a few seconds, all of his essence was spent.
However... the portal did not open.
Something in the hall did change, though.
The circle of runes surrounding the obsidian arch began to glow with weak, shimmering light. That light was dim and barely visible, but it was, without a doubt, there.
Sunny stared at the runes for a long time, and then, a wide grin appeared on his face.
"...Bingo!"
Chapter 456: Leaving Nothing Behind
For the next few days, Sunny's life became rather monotonous. He would meditate while circulating the shadow essence through the coils of the Soul Serpent to enhance the speed of its recovery, pour it into the obsidian arch… and repeat the process.
With each cycle, the runes surrounding the portal became brighter and brighter. The portal was slowly coming to life, feeling Sunny with hope so intense that he struggled to contain it. He had no doubt that he would be able to activate the arch.
And then… he would go to the Ivory Tower, find a way to descend back to the Chained Isles, somehow, and return to the real word.
And by a new refrigerator.
'And stock it with all kinds of food!'
Sitting on the stone floor of the highest level of the Ebony Tower, Sunny looked at the Covetous Coffer, which stood nearby, with a resentful expression. He knew full well that there was no meat left there, or any other kind of food.
Who knew he would miss the vile flesh of the Mordant Mimic one day?
'I guess one should never say never…'
Sunny was close to fully replenishing the shadow essence, so his thoughts began to wander.
Out of boredom, he dove into the Soul Sea, stared at the shadows for some time, then paced around, then summoned some of his Memories and read their descriptions for the hundredth time, then stared at the looming black suns of his Shadow Cores, then paced some more, the summoned a few other Memories.
'Boring… so boring…'
After a while, something finally attracted his attention.
The runes of Weaver's Mask... had apparently changed a little.
Before, there was a [???] in place of the name of its third enchantment. After Sunny had activated that enchantment… almost frying his brain in the process… the name changed, however.
He blinked a few times, then looked at the runes again.
'Did I... did I read it right?'
But no, there was no mistake. The first two enchantments were just as before, [Mantle of Lies] and [Simple Trick]. The third one, however, now had new runes describing it...
Memory Enchantment: [Where is my eye?].
[Where is my eye?] Enchantment Description: "Helps the wielder peer into the tapestry of Fate."
Sunny looked at the runes with a deadpan expression for a few moments, and then laughed so hard that it threw him out of the Soul Sea.
"Oh… oh gods… where is my eye! Priceless!"
By the time he was done laughing at Weaver's strange naming sensibility, the cycle of restoring the shadow essence was complete.
Sunny shook his head, smiled, then stood up and summoned the Cruel Sight.
By now, the circle of runes was burning with a furious white radiance, turning the somber black hall into a stark tapestry of darkness and light. It seemed as if the air inside the arch was rippling slightly, hazy from heat.
He walked toward the obsidian arch and, without wasting any time, touched it with the tip of the silver spear. Once again, his soul essence was devoured at terrible speed.
This time, however, only half of it was consumed.
As bright light suddenly hit Sunny in the eyes, he took an involuntary step back and raised a hand to shield them. A cool breeze caressed his face, and he could suddenly smell... bark, grass, soil.
Life.
When his eyes adjusted to the brightness, Sunnyslowly lowered his hand and looked at the arch with a bewildered expression.
It was as though a rift in reality appeared inside the Ebony Tower.
All around the portal, the hall was just as it had been — dark, somber, cut from lusterless black stone.
…Inside the portal, however, was a clear blue sky. Sunlight had suddenly invaded the Ebony Tower after thousands of years spent in utter darkness, and brought with it the sounds of the wind and the rustling of leaves.
Sunny could see the skies, but also the ground. A beautiful green meadow continued from where the obsidian floor ended, full of vibrancy and life. A shadow of a tall tree shaded the proximity of the portal, and there was a path of white stone leading from it toward…
Some distance away, a pristine white wall rose higher than Sunny could see through the portal. Surrounded but the blue skies, clouds, and vibrant green grass, it seemed to be the epitome of beauty and tranquility.
The whole sight was like a paradise.
He swallowed.
'The… the Ivory Tower. Mordret was right!'
What's more, judging by how softly the grass swayed under the wind and how lazily the branches of the tree moved, the heavenly island was really… it was really not affected by the Crushing.
In that regard, at least, it was safe.
'Yes!'
Suddenly tense, Sunny quickly glanced at the circle of runes. Just as he had expected, it was already growing dimmer. The portal was burning through the meager amount of divine flame Sunny had been able to charge it within these past days, and was going to close soon.
"Curses!"
Well… it was not as though he had not been prepared to go through the arch as soon as it opened. He had done everything he wanted to do in the Ebony Tower, given the circumstances. There was not much to be done here, to begin with. Time had destroyed every possible trophy he could have found, and the most valuable treasures — the Bone Weave and the knowledge of the map left behind by the Prince of the Underworld — were already in his possession.
Now, he just had to escape alive.
Dismissing all of his Memories, Sunny wrapped both shadows around his body… and dashed toward the light.
'Please, please don't be an illusion!'
He appeared near the portal, dove inside… and stumbled, falling to his knees.
His fingers touched the soft grass, and, with his tactile sense enhanced by the Bone Weave, Sunny felt every tiny detail of its texture, of the rich soil beneath, of the heat of the sun on his skin.
It was all real.
It was wonderful!
As the portal shimmered and closed behind him, Sunny closed his eyes tightly and let out a short, quiet cry. He had too many emotions boiling in his heart to put them into words.
He made it. He escaped from the void.
He left nothing behind…
***
While Sunny was feeling the joy of escaping from the Sky Below, something else happened.
Somewhere far away, or maybe close by, there was a room built of cold stone, full of deafening silence. It was dark and empty, arranged in the shape of a heptagon, with seven corners drowning in deep shadows.
There were seven mirrors standing at each of the seven walls of the room, pointed at its center.
There was nothing there.
…However, in each of the seven mirrors, a figure of a young man reflected, sitting on the stone floor with his hands chained behind his back.
The young man was still and motionless, almost as if he was just a statue and not a living being.
But then, something changed.
A few moments after Sunny crossed the portal and appeared on the isle of the Ivory Tower…
One corner of the young man's lips curled upward slightly, forming a hint of a smile.
Mordret was glad to see Sunny escape, too.
Chapter 457: Ivory Tower
"Saint… come look at this…"
Sunny sat on the soft grass, enjoying the sunlight and the cool wind. He had not even known how much he missed them... missed everything, really. Looking back, it was hard to imagine that he had endured more than a month of utter nothingness without losing his mind. His experiences in the Dark City, it seemed, made him far more resilient.
...The shadow of the Ivory Tower was slowly moving closer as the evening approached, marking the passage of time. It was peaceful and quiet on the green meadow of the heavenly island.
Answering his call, the taciturn demon appeared nearby and stood silently, observing the magnificent white tower. Her ruby eyes, however, did not show any emotion.
He sighed.
"...Well, I think it's lovely."
The soaring island was not very large, so Sunny could more or less see its edge not too far away, surrounded by floating slates of shattered marble. There was a meadow on this side of it, a grove that rustles under the wind, and a graceful gazebo built of the same white material as the Ivory Tower itself. The stone arch inside of it was also white, and empty. The portal was gone.
Some distance away, connected to the gazebo by a stone path, stood the magnificent great pagoda that had once belonged to the Demon of Hope. If its copy in the Sky Below was somber and ominous, the original was the complete opposite. It was beautiful, graceful, and slightly surreal, as if too sublime to exist in the mortal realm.
…In a sense, it did not.
Something about the Ivory Tower made Sunny uneasy, however. He couldn't quite describe the feeling, but it was as though he simultaneously felt pulled toward it and threatened by it. The sensation did not come from his intuition, but more so from the deepest corners of his soul. It was rather strong.
And there was also something strange in the shape of the tower itself.
There was a weird thing that went around the base of it, circling the whole perimeter of the great pagoda and disappearing from view. That thing was almost of the same color, but slightly less pristine, and made out of long and weathered sections.
After looking at it for a while, Sunny finally realized what the thing was.
…Bone. Wrapped around the tower was what remained of the tail of some giant, dead creature. He frowned.
'...Good thing it's dead. I hope it remains this way.'
Sunny sighed, used the Cruel Sight to help himself stand up, and headed toward the edge of the island. Saint followed, putting the blade of the Midnight Shard on her shoulder.
Reaching it, he cautiously looked down and saw the disjointed patchwork of the Chained Isles far below. From this high, they looked like pieces of a beautiful mosaic that someone had laid out on the backdrop of velvety darkness, with a scattering of radiant stars shining in between.
Sunny gazed down for a while, then picked up a rock from the ground and threw it over the edge.
The rock fell for a hundred meters or so without meeting any resistance. Then, however, it suddenly cracked and exploded into shards, which then became dust and were scattered in the wind.
'...Curses.'
It seemed that the Crushing was still there. It's just that the Ivory Tower itself was not affected by it, as well as the island it stood upon and a small area surrounding it.
How was he going to come down?
Sunny stood at the edge for some time with a resentful expression on his face, then turned around and walked deeper into the island, circling the Ivory Tower from the left.
On the other side of the great pagoda was a clear lake, with streams of water flowing out of it and falling over the edge of the island. In the bright sunlight, it seemed as though the entire surface of the lake was shining with pure golden radiance. Sunny looked at his reflection in the water, then at an intricately engraved bench standing near it, cut from white stone.
Finally, he walked further on and reached a vantage point from which the gate of the graceful tower could be seen.
'Oh…'
The gates looked very similar to those he had opened in the depths of the Sky Below, with the main difference being the color and the absence of soot.
…As well as that there were skeletal remains of a giant beast lying in front of them, its serpentine body wrapped around the tower, its massive skull resting right near the tall white doors. Each of the terrifying fangs of the great beast was as long as Sunny was tall, at least. Deep darkness nestled in its empty eyes.
He shivered.
'Is that… a dragon?'
Indeed, it was. Right in front of Sunny were the weathered, snow-white bones of an actual dragon. The image of the mighty creature laying dead in front of the pristine tower was solemn, mysterious, and terrifying.
What could have killed such a being?
Thinking that he didn't wish to know, Sunny lingered for a while, then headed toward the remains of the dragon. He was desperately hoping that the great beast would not stir and come to life. If that happened… well. It was better to not even think about it.
Reaching the white skull of the mighty creature, Sunny hesitated for a bit, then walked between the terrifying fangs and approached the gates.
…They were slightly ajar, so he didn't even need to use essence to unlock them.
Sunny gathered his courage, raised his hand… and pushed the gates open.
Suddenly, he felt a bit sleepy.
'What… what is this?'
Shaking his head to chase the sleepiness away, Sunny walked inside the tower and found himself in a great hall, bright light streaming through its tall windows. The air inside, however, was infused with a strange, shimmering darkness.
And in its center, there were…
Chains.
Seven chains sprawled from the pristine white floor, as if growing out of it, each ending in a broken shackle. The shackles were inscribed with a myriad of runes and marred, their metal torn. They were also the source of the strange shimmering, which rose from their surface in ethereal wisps.
A chaotic, everchanging mass of pure darkness pulsated in the very center of the great hall. No, it was not darkness… rather, it seemed like a rift in the fabric of reality, one that could devour even light itself.
Sunny tensed, then took a tentative step forward, hoping to see what was hidden behind the darkness.
As soon as he did so, however, a familiar voice echoed in the silence of the great hall:
"Stop, Sunless! Turn back if you wish to live."
Chapter 458: Shackles of Hope
Sunny froze, then took a careful step back and stared at the walls of the great hall.
Mordret's timing, this time around, was impeccable.
It was not like Sunny had planned to get too close to the mass of darkness, but he might have underestimated the danger it presented. To be honest, he felt that he wasn't thinking entirely straight... it was not like he had lost control, but the strange pull he felt outside the tower was much stronger here, exerting a subtle effect on his mind.
Sunny tensed and glanced at the pulsating dark rift, then realized that the pull emanated from the shackles that were the source of it.
"...Why? What is that thing?"
The lost prince remained silent for a few moments, then sighed.
"I really can't make sense of you."
Sunny blinked.
That was not the answer he had expected!
"What? What is that supposed to mean?"
Mordret answered with a bit of doubt in his voice.
"Nothing, really. It's just that… some things about you suggest a certain background, but then there are as many contradictions. Don't you know what a Seed of Nightmare looks like?"
Sunny jumped back, then cautiously looked at the mass of shimmering darkness again.
So… that was a Seed of Nightmare. A vile manifestation of the Spell that grew in the Dream Realm and eventually blossomed, opening a Gate to the real world for the Nightmare Creatures to enter. The thing that Awakened were supposed to seek out and destroy by challenging the Nightmare contained within.
No wonder it exerted a pull on him.
He scowled, then said with annoyance:
"How am I supposed to know what a Seed of Nightmare looks like? I only became an Awakened a few months ago!"
Mordret spoke in his usual polite tone:
"Have your clan elders not taught you anything?"
Sunny opened his eyes wide, a shocked expression appearing on his face.
"Clan? What clan?! Do I look like a Legacy to you?!"
The lost prince did not answer, letting Sunny boil with outrage in silence. Eventually, he slowly exhaled and asked dejectedly:
"Anyway… are you sure that that's what it is?"
Mordret lingered for a long time, then said quietly:
"I am. I searched for it for a long time, after all."
Hearing these words, Sunny frowned.
'...What?'
"Wait… is that why you were trying to reach the Ivory Tower? To challenge a Nightmare?"
He rubbed his face in frustration, trying to find a way to make sense of that statement, then shook his head:
"Why the hell would you do that? There's no shortage of Seeds of Nightmare everywhere in the Dream Realm, ones that are not hidden behind endless voids and oceans of divine flame!"
These things were not so numerous that one stumbled on one every day, but also not so rare to go to this lengths to reach one. What had Mordret been thinking?
The lost prince answered after a short pause, his voice slightly amused:
"...You are not a Legacy, indeed."
Sunny let out a heavy sigh.
"Either you are extra obscure today, or I can't understand you for some reason. What do Legacies have to do with any of this?"
Mordred thought for a bit, then said:
"This Seed of Nightmare… is a very, very special one."
'What is he going on about?'
The only thing that differentiated Seeds, in Sunny's mind, was their Category. A Category Two Seed would blossom into a Category Two Gate, and contained a Second Nightmare. If an Awakened challenged it and passed the trial, they would become a Master. If a Master challenged a Category Three Seed and survived the Third Nightmare, they would become a Saint.
The same thing went for Sovereigns, although there only had been three Fourth Nightmares conquered in all of human history, as far as Sunny knew… and he knew more than most people.
How could a Seed be special?
As if guessing what he was thinking about, Mordret spoke:
"There are a lot of Master, but not all Masters are equal. There are a few dozen Saints, but not all Saints are equal. And similarly, there are numerous Nightmares… but not all Nightmares are equal."
Sunny scowled.
"How so? Is it easier? More difficult?"
The lost prince sighed.
"Neither. As far as the difficulty of the trial is concerned, the Spell is always fair… in its own perverse way. However, that doesn't mean that the outcome is always the same. What enemies you vanquish determine what Memories and Echoes you receive. What battles you fight determines what experience you will bring back."
Sunny thought back on his own arsenal of Memories, and had to admit that the more unique Nightmare Creatures he had thought, the greater the reward was. In that sense, challenging a… "unique" Nightmare would certainly pose more risk, but also promise a greater boon.
Add the existence of the Lineage Memories into the equation…
A deep frown appeared on his face.
Mordret, however, was not done talking.
"...But more than that, the nature of the Nightmare you challenge determines what knowledge you will receive, and what secret you will be able to glean. As a researcher, you should know that the lessons humans can learn from the decrepit ruins in the Dream Realm are not that profound. Where do you think most of our knowledge comes from? It comes from the stories people bring back from their Nightmares, of course."
That… made sense. There were actual natives of the Dream Realm out and about in the Nightmares, after all. Like Auro of the Nine.
Even if he was really just an illusion, an illusion created by the Spell was no simple thing.
Most of the knowledge Sunny possessed was built on the foundation of what he had learned from the noble swordsman and Scholar. How much more would he know if he had gone into the Nightmare with the intention to not only survive, but also learn?
Sunny glanced at the dark Seed.
It had grown in the tower that had once belonged to one of the seven daemons. What mysteries would such a Nightmare reveal?
Mordret gave him time to think, then said in an even tone:
"For that reason, Legacy clans — not all of them, but the truly powerful ones — select the Nightmares for their members to challenge very carefully."
Sunny lingered for a bit, then raised an eyebrow:
"...What crazy clan chose that cursed Seed for you to try and find, then?"
The lost prince laughed.
"Oh, no! No one had wished for me to seek it. It was my decision alone. In fact, I suspect that only two people in both the waking world and this one know about its existence. Me… and now you."
He chuckled again, and then added:
"But that is what makes it so special, as well. None of them could have learned of its existence, reached it, and taken its rewards as their own."
After that, Mordret suddenly grew silent. He remained that way for a while, and then added quietly:
"Well… it's not like I managed to do it, too."
He sighed, lingered for a few moments, and then added in a wistful tone:
"Can you imagine what secrets that Seed hides? What one would learn from that Nightmare? A Nightmare... a Nightmare that was created from the chains with which Hope herself had been bound…"
Chapter 459: Seed of Nightmare
'Hope… herself…'
Sunny stared at the seven chains, finding new meaning in their cruel visage and the misshapen, torn remnants of the seven rune-inscribed shackles.
So the Sun God's ire had not been quelled by just destroying her kingdom. He had gone a step further, binding the Demon of Hope at the heart of her decimated domain… for how long?
And how had she escaped, in the end?
He tilted his head.
"So the Demon of Hope was chained here?"
Mordret answered with a hint of surprise in his voice:
"...You know of the daemons?"
A crooked smile appeared on Sunny's face.
"I do... a bit. Why wouldn't I? Although truth be told, there's not a lot of information about them, even among the Dream Realm researchers. So… the ruler that you had told me about was one of the daemons? A lesser deity?"
Mordret kept silent for a bit, then said dejectedly:
"Yes. I am not sure that those two words really go together, though. I also don't know what Hope had done to earn the wrath of the Lord of Light. However, I do know that these seven chains are what holding is the Chained Isles from falling into the Sky Below."
Sunny raised his eyebrows.
"What?"
The lost prince sighed.
"People think that there are numerous heavenly chains connecting all the island, but in fact, there are only seven, and you are looking at their roots... or rather, there were only seven. Each of them had to be broken for the Ivory Tower to become untethered, of course. So, now the islands are linked by the fragments of the original seven chains, many of them severed from each other. That is why they are slowly crumbling, one after another."
Sunny thought for a bit, trying to correct the way he used to think about the Chained Isles. The new information was interesting, but not very useful…
Shaking his head, he turned back to the Seed of Nightmare.
"So… what is the category of that thing? I guess it contains a Second Nightmare, since you wanted to challenge it?"
Mordret answered succinctly:
"Correct."
'...That's one way I can get out of the Dream Realm, then… but am I suicidal enough to go into the Second Nightmare alone? Whole cohorts of experienced Awakened routinely perish in their attempts to become Masters. What would my chances of survival be with no one to cover my back?'
Just as Master jet had said, no one survived in the Dream Realm alone. She probably knew from experience.
He scowled.
"Wait… will this Seed create a Gate in the real world if it's not destroyed?"
When Mordret answered, his voice was almost indifferent.
"Indeed. But not for a long time… maybe in a few years, or a decade. It has not matured enough to be able to bloom, yet."
Sunny hesitated.
"But it can be challenged, right?"
The lost prince did not answer for a while, but then finally said:
"Yes. A Seed can be challenged before it blooms, as well as after. If the Seed is not found in time and a Gate opens, challengers can fight their way through and enter the Nightmare directly. The Gate also disrupts the anchors of those near it, so Masters and Saints that enter the Dream Realm will appear in the vicinity of the blooming Seed. After that, they can lead Awakened to it."
He paused, then added:
"In fact, most of the Seeds are not found in time, because the Dream Realm is vast and only partially explored. That's why the Nightmare Creatures are entering our world so often. Challenging a Seed before it blooms is much better. In this case, however… I would advise against it."
Sunny turned away from the mass of shimmering darkness, then asked in an even tone:
"Yeah? Why?"
Mordred let out a heavy sigh.
"Conquering a Second Nightmare alone is not impossible, but attempting it is tantamount to gambling your life away. The chances of returning alive are very slim. That is why Awakened challenge them as members of cohesive, experienced cohorts. Even then, many don't survive… most, even. But this Nightmare is actually far worse. Entering it is a guaranteed death sentence, regardless of how many challengers there are. Unless…"
Sunny kept his ears open, suddenly very attentive.
"Unless what?"
The lost prince remained silent for a short moment, then said:
"There is a black altar in the place you call Night Temple. On it lies an ivory knife. Only those who have shed blood on the altar and received the Memory of the knife have a chance to survive the trial that hides within this Seed."
Sunny blinked a couple of times.
'Wait… that sounds very familiar!'
He thought for a few seconds, then asked:
"Would the obsidian knife from the white altar of the Sanctuary of Noctis work?"
Mordret laughed.
"Sure. Having both would be even better, incredibly so. However, I don't know the method to receive the Memory of the obsidian knife. The ritual seems to be different from the one required for the altar in the Night Temple, and I have never figured it out."
'You didn't… but I might have.'
The image of the Covetous Coffer appeared in Sunny's mind, full of golden coins. There were almost fifteen hundred of them inside. Would that be enough to allow him to lift the obsidian knife off the altar?
He had a feeling that it would.
"What do these knives actually do, though? And how the hell do you know all this?"
However, there was no response. Mordret was once again gone.
Sunny was left alone in the beautiful hall of the ivory pagoda, staring at its white walls and the darkness that had taken root between them.
The Seed of Nightmare was calling to him, demanding to be challenged… and destroyed. Or maybe simply to be fed a delicious human soul.
'Crazy. This is crazy…'
Challenging a Second Nightmare alone was very similar to throwing his life away, and that was even without the particular piece of information that Mordret had given him — that no one would be able to survive this very special Nightmare without a Memory of one of the two altar knives, or better yet, in possession of both.
The question was… what was worse?
Challenging the Nightmare, or attempting to survive the Crushing?
Chapter 460: Fight or Flight
Sunny remained in the Hall of Chains for a while, looking at the Seed of Nightmare and the shimmering darkness that suffused it.
Then, he walked outside. Full of thought, Sunny passed between the jaws of the dead dragon and slowly headed toward the lake. There, he sat on the stone bench and stared at the water with a dark expression on his face. The wind lightly caressed his face and his pale skin, soothing the few remaining burns that he had received in the Sky Below.
Saint stood silently by his side, her graceful onyx figure reflecting in the clear waters of the lake.
A heavy sigh escaped from his lips.
'...I am almost home.'
More than a month ago, he had ventured on an expedition to explore the Shipwreck Island and search for clues about the whereabouts of the treasure left behind by mysterious Noctis. He had only planned to be gone for a week.
He had found the treasure, but also fought and defeated two devils: one Fallen, and one Ascended, receiving two powerful Memories in the process. After that, he gazed at the tapestry of Fate through the eyes of a divine mask, and plunged into an endless abyss.
He spent several weeks plummeting through a sea of nothingness, only to be met by an ocean of flames in its depths. On the other side of the fire was a black tower built by an ancient demon, and in it was a severed hand of a deity, consumed by a terrible rot. There, Sunny swallowed a phalanx bone of Weaver, and received the second part of their lineage.
After that, he used divine flames to open a portal between the dark void and the sunlit heavens, and found the seven chains that a god had once used to bind Desire, the daemon of Hope.
And somewhere along the way, he met a lost soul who called himself Mordred, the Prince of Nothing… a disembodied voice that came out of nowhere, and helped him along the way.
Now, Sunny just had to do one last thing… either plunge into a deadly Nightmare, or off the edge of the Ivory Island, to be met with the obliterating fury of the Crushing.
With a heavy sigh, he turned around and stared at the white bones of the great beast that had wrapped its mighty body around the base of Hope's beautiful tower once, thousands of years ago, before succumbing to death.
"...Let's get this show on the road, I guess."
***
Some time later, Sunny was leaning on the wall of the Ivory Tower. He was in a tight spot between the tail of the dead dragon and the white surface of the great pagoda, with Saint standing near him, her weapons dismissed.
With a crooked smile, Sunny wrapped the two shadows around his body and circulated shadow essence through the coils of the Soul Serpent, preparing for what was about to come.
Then, he looked at the taciturn stone demon and raised his eyebrows.
"What are you waiting for? Push!"
Saint gave him an indifferent look, then took a step forward, placed her hand on the surface of the massive bone in front of her, and pushed with all her demonic strength. Her feet sunk into the soil by a few centimeters, but the ancient bone did not move.
…Until Sunny joined his Shadow, that was.
Pressing his shoulder against the adamantine white surface, he poured shadow essence into his muscles, and pushed, too. Although it felt as though the strain was going to kill him, the bone finally gave.
One of the massive vertebrae comprising the dead dragon's tail rolled over, separating from the rest.
"Come on! Keep at it!"
…Of course, Sunny was not going to challenge a Second Nightmare alone. What was he, crazy? Well, maybe he was a little. But being suicidal was not a part of his very mild, borderline charming craziness.
Instead, he was going to throw a piece of the dead dragon's tail off the edge of the Ivory Island and ride it all the way down to the ground, hoping that it would survive the onslaught of the Crushing.
If a dragon couldn't, then what could?
"Put your back into it!"
Saint didn't really need his encouragement… or advice… so Sunny was mostly shouting for his own benefit, since producing loud noises seemed to help him cope with the strain of trying to push the ancient bone, for some reason.
Luckily, now that it had been dislodged, the process became easier.
Together, they slowly moved the massive vertebra past the gazebo containing the inactive portal, then past the grove of ancient trees, and finally to the very edge of the island.
There, Sunny stopped for a moment and tried to catch his breath. Then, he cautiously looked down.
That… was a mistake.
If before the colorful mosaic of the flying islands far below was simply a breathtaking sight, now that he had to actually jump down, it made Sunny dizzy and frightened out of his wits.
"Uh…"
But it was too late to change his mind.
...Wasn't it?
Gritting his teeth, Sunny tried not to think about the inconceivable height and climbed inside the vertebra, which, of course, was hollow at the center. There was just enough space there to fit his body, and that was the reason why he had chosen this particular one, in the first place.
He lingered for a long time, trying to gather his courage.
'Maybe it's not too late... maybe I should just enter the Seed. What's the big deal, anyway? It's... it's just a Second Nightmare.'
But no, there was no way back. He simply had to do it.
Inhaling deeply, Sunny held his breath for a moment, and then screamed in a small voice:
"Saint! Push it over!"
Outside the massive vertebra, the taciturn demon stared at the surface of the ancient bone for a moment.
And then... gave it a devastating kick.
As the tail bone of the dragon plunged off the edge of the Ivory Island, giving Sunny a serious rattle, he yelped, dismissed Saint, and dissolved into the shadow that dwelt in the hollow space inside the vertebra.
Of course, he wasn't going to try and survived the Crushing in his physical form… he just needed a large enough shadow to hide in. As long as the dragon bone endured, the shadow would too, and he would be safe.
…If it endured.
For a couple of seconds, everything seemed fine, but then the vertebra left the bubble of safety surrounding the heavenly island, and suddenly… an inconceivable pressure struck it from all sides like a hammer of a wrathful god, making the porcelain bone produce terrifying cracking noises.
Once again, Sunny was plummeting with terrible speed through the sky. Only this time, the vehicle he had chosen to transport him was even stranger, as well as spinning like crazy, with the wind roaring deafeningly all around. Luckily, he couldn't get sick as a shadow… otherwise, his already empty stomach would have become emptier.
'Curses! Don't break, you damn bone!'
The vertebra of the dead dragon was cracking and slowly breaking apart… but, miraculously, still holding together.
At this height, the Crushing was deadly enough to pulverize the flesh of a Saint — a bona fide demi-god — into a bloody paste. Maybe even a big, red cloud. But the adamantine dragonbone was only now beginning to slowly crumble apart.
Once the process started, though, it became unstoppable.
Sunny panicked as he watched wides crack appear on the white surface all around him. Then, a piece of the bone flew away, letting in a chaotic flood of light. Cursing, he shifted away from the breach, but seconds later, another appeared, and then another. The size of the shadow he could hide in was growing smaller and smaller.
'Crap!'
Soon, there were more holes and cracks in the bone than he could count.
And then... it crumbled completely.
At the last second, Sunny slid onto the biggest remaining slab of the ancient vertebra, and then went into a crazy dance, shifting from one side of it to another as the fragment spun and exposed different parts of it to the sunlight.
Small pieces broke off from it, and then, the fragment itself cracked, too.
'Argh!'
Finally, the piece of the adamantine vertebrae disintegrated into a rain of splinters that were too small to fit Sunny into their shadows. With nowhere else to hide, he was thrown out into the physical world, his body instantly becoming the victim of the bone-breaking force of the Crushing.
…Luckily, his bones were now much more robust than before.
And the Crushing was already not as irrevocably obliterating as it had been higher up.
As a loud scream escaped from Sunny's mouth, he continued to fall, feeling his body go through a cruel meatgrinder. But with the help of two shadows and a generous outpour of shadow essence, it wasn't enough to kill him, or even seriously wound him. It was simply painful, damaging, and unpleasant.
The tail bone of the dead dragon had carried him down for long enough to go through the worst layers of the Crushing.
Now, all he had to do was stick the landing.
With a suppressed groan, Sunny struggled to control his fall and finally managed to stabilize his body, preventing it from spinning madly.
The Chained Isles were now much, much closer than they had been before.
In fact, he could even recognize a few nearest ones.
'Don't you dare miss, you pale bastard!'
He really, really didn't want to repeat the whole damned process again.
Summoning the Dark Wing, Sunny waited for a second for the dragonfly cloak to activate its enchantment, and then slowly started to turn his fall into a glide.
A single thought rang in his mind:
'I made it… I actually made it… crap, I really did!'
***
Some time later, a figure of a young man fell from the skies and nimbly landed on the index finger of the giant iron hand that lay in the center of a peaceful, quiet island. The young man looked a bit strange… he was naked above the waist, with several half-healed burns covering his pale skin, and a menacing, intricate tattoo of a coiling black serpent covering his arms, as well as a large part of his torso.
His black hair was wild and disheveled, and his dark eyes seemed a little crazy.
Sunny swayed a little, caught his balance…
...And turned to a group of Awakened who were sitting around a dancing campfire, staring at him with their mouths wide open.
A bright smile appeared on his face.
"Ah! Good day to you, fellow humans. Say…"
As mad intensity appeared in his eyes, Sunny licked his lips and asked hoarsely:
"...Is that food I see roasting over your fire?"