"Hey, sis, where do you think Sunny went?" Howl asked in a laid-back tone, her hands tucked behind her head as she walked down the corridor.
Seishan, Eunbin, and Silent followed alongside her through the castle halls.
"I guess it was bound to happen eventually," Eunbin said with a giggle. "First time running away from training. I mean, remember when you ditched morning drills, Howl?"
Howl grumbled under her breath. "Shut up, Bin."
Silent chuckled. "Yeah, and when we found you, you had to do double the work!"
Seishan snorted softly at their bickering. "Focus, you two."
They continued checking every room they passed, calling out Sunny's name now and then, but no answer came. Eventually, they reached the Toy Room.
"Wait," Howl said suddenly, frowning. "Wasn't this door supposed to be closed?"
They all paused, peering into the dimly lit room.
"Yeah, you're right," Seishan muttered. "This door hasn't been opened since... since we got stuck inside that dollhouse."
Her eyes widened as the realization hit.
"What is it, Seishan?" Howl asked, her voice cautious.
Seishan swallowed. "You don't think... he got himself stuck in there, do you?"
The other girls went silent, staring at her.
"No way," Silent murmured. "He wouldn't... would he?"
They stepped inside, scanning the room. The air was thick with dust and an eerie stillness.
"There's nothing to prove he's trapped," Eunbin said slowly, "except that the door was open."
"She's right," Howl added grimly.
Silent crossed her arms. "If he doesn't show up by morning, we tell Mother. We can't risk it."
Everyone nodded.
"Then it's decided," Seishan said, her tone firm. "Let's head back."
The girls turned and left the Toy Room, the heavy iron door creaking shut behind them.
⸻
The next morning, after searching every corner of the castle again, they went to the throne room.
"Mother," Seishan said, bowing slightly.
Ki Song was already watching them from her throne, her expression unreadable.
"Is this about Sunny and his disappearance?" she asked before Seishan could speak.
Seishan blinked. "Ah—yes. How did you know?"
Ki Song's lips curved faintly. "I have eyes everywhere. Especially in my own citadel."
"T-then you know where he is?" Seishan pressed. "We think he's trapped inside the dollhouse. Why haven't you saved him?"
Ki Song leaned back in her throne, her tone calm and cold.
"It's simple, really. He needs to become strong. Training alone won't do it. He needs a sharp mind and an unbreakable will. If I hand him everything on a silver platter, he'll achieve nothing."
Seishan's eyes widened. "So you're just going to let him suffer?"
"Correct," Ki Song replied flatly. "I'll pull him out in a week, just before he dies of dehydration."
She paused, her gaze turning distant. "He will be the blade of the Song Domain. Those eyes I saw that day..."
Her voice grew cold. "Those were the eyes of a killer."
The room fell silent.
Seishan clenched her fists, teeth gritted, before storming out and slamming the door behind her.
She tore through the corridors, her anger echoing with every step until she reached the room where her sisters waited.
"I'm guessing it didn't go well," Hel said, raising an eyebrow.
"No, it didn't!" Seishan shouted, her voice trembling with rage. "Mother doesn't want to save Sunny! She wants to let him suffer so he'll 'grow stronger mentally' or whatever twisted idea that is!"
"She what?" Moonveil exclaimed, disbelief written across her face.
"She wants that kid to become the sword of the Song Domain!" Seishan hissed, glaring at each of her sisters in turn.
Eunbin's jaw tightened. "What the hell is Mother thinking?"
The room filled with tense silence.
⸻
Inside the Dollhouse
'What is this place...? It's so dark.'
Sunny couldn't see anything. Just endless, suffocating darkness.
He'd been trapped there for days. His stomach burned with hunger, his throat raw from thirst. His thoughts looped endlessly, I'm thirsty. I'm hungry. I want to go home. I'm scared.
By the fifth day, he'd accepted it. He was going to die here.
"Curse this life... curse everything and everyone!" Sunny screamed until his voice broke. His throat was dry, tears no longer came. All that was left was despair.
He collapsed to his knees, trembling.
'I don't want to feel like this ever again. If I can... I want to be strong enough to defeat anything.'
⸻
On the seventh day, light flooded the void.
Sunny squinted, thinking he must be dead. But as his vision adjusted, he saw a familiar face.
Ki Song.
"Are you alright?" she asked softly, her expression unreadable but her tone strangely gentle.
A single tear rolled down Sunny's cheek before he fell unconscious.
⸻
When he awoke a day later, he was lying in bed. Rain was curled up beside him, sleeping peacefully.
'Rain...' he thought weakly, a small smile tugging at his lips.
He slowly sat up, careful not to wake her, and left the room.
Down in the kitchen, he found his sisters eating breakfast.
"So, you're finally awake?" Revel said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Sunny replied, heading straight for the food. He piled his plate high and began shoveling food into his mouth, gulping down water between bites.
"You should eat slower," Howl warned. "If you eat too much after starving, it can kill you."
"I'll keep that in mind once I'm dead," Sunny said flatly, stuffing another bite into his mouth.
Hel chuckled, Howl shrugged, and the table filled with light conversation, though everyone was on edge. Sunny noticed but didn't question it. He was just grateful to be alive... more or less.
⸻
After five days of rest, Sunny returned to training.
To everyone's shock, he didn't complain once. He trained harder than ever, taking hits, falling, getting back up, asking for more.
'What happened to him in there?' Seishan thought, watching as Sunny pushed through his limits with dead-set determination.
⸻
Nine years later...
Sunny had grown into a force of nature. He'd watched all his sisters, except Rain — face their first nightmares. He'd seen them return from the Dream World, all except Seishan, who was still out there somewhere.
Even as a mundane human, Sunny could overpower awakened warriors of the Song Domain. He'd been thrown into near-death battles countless times, sent on missions where he had to kill, and he did. At first, he vomited after each kill, but eventually... he stopped.
Now, he was ready.
He was infected with the Nightmare Spell. His trial was coming.
"You ready?" Howl asked, smirking at him.
"I am," Sunny said simply, though exhaustion clouded his eyes.
"Why so serious?" Eunbin teased.
Sunny glared at her. "You do realize I can die in there, right?"
Eunbin rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but you're stronger than most Awakened, Sunny. You'll be fine."
"I have to be ready," he replied, voice low.
Revel cut in before they could argue further. "Enough, you two. Let him eat in peace. It's his last real meal before the nightmare begins."
"Then let's eat!" Sunny said, forcing a grin to lighten the mood.
They laughed and bickered through dinner, though Rain stayed quiet, fidgeting with her hands.
Ki Song sent Sunny and his sisters back to the waking world through her Dream Gate, returning them to the same mansion Sunny had first seen on the day he was adopted.
His sisters and him walked through the mansion to Sunny's room... to his pod, the place where he would sleep under the Nightmare Spell. Moonveil stood nearby, arms crossed, watching him closely.
"You remember everything from your lessons, right?" she asked.
"Yes, I remember. Stop nagging," Sunny huffed, climbing in.
As he drifted toward unconsciousness, Rain's small voice echoed through the room.
"Don't die."
⸻
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]
Sunny dreamed of a mountain.
Jagged and lonesome, it cut through the night sky. The moon bathed its slopes in pale light.
Then, time began to move backward, snowflakes rising to the clouds, bones turning to flesh, slaves appearing in chains.
Sunny looked down at his bloodied wrists, the weight of shackles biting into his skin. A slave, he realized grimly.
'So that's it. My trial is to survive... or kill them all.'
He checked his runes.
⸻
Name: Sunless
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Dormant
Aspect: Temple Slave
Aspect Description: A useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention. A temple slave is just the same... only rarer.
⸻
'A useless aspect, huh?' Sunny thought. 'That won't stop me.'
With a trick he'd learned as a child, he slipped his chains and disappeared into the shadows.
Hours passed. Quietly, methodically, he picked off the soldiers one by one.
[You have slain a dormant human, name unknown.]
"Still no memory?" he muttered, annoyed.
An alarm was raised.
"We're under attack! Form up!"
Sunny hid, wrapping himself in the shadows, his element, his gift. Sunny had found out that he could see through the shadows, so his aspect wasn't as useless as he thought.
When night fell, he struck again.
[You have received a Memory: Silver Bell.]
'A bell?' he thought, checking the description.
A small memento of a long-lost home. Its clear ringing can be heard for miles.
'Could be useful,' Sunny murmured, and then froze as a horrific roar split the night.
Sunny turned to the direction that the roar came from.
The creature that appeared defied reason, towering, monstrous, its claws like blades, fur matted and yellowed.
Sunny's eyes widened. "What the hell is that?"
Slaves screamed as it tore through them, devouring bodies whole.
Sunny grit his teeth, fury boiling in his chest.
'Get lost,' he thought, and charged.
The beast turned, locking onto the sound of his footsteps.
And then... the hunt began.