Heavy smog and dust hung over the air around the area. The place had fallen into disrepair years and years ago so there weren't any air filtration systems around, well, there weren't any working air filtration systems around anyway.
He'd been worried that a lookout from afar might notice something if he tried to affect the sky, but if he did this properly…
'Tyris once mentioned to him that she could feel the sky… she probably meant that literally, right?'
Sunny sighed quietly.
If only he still had Shrike, this would've been all too easy…
He could've had Serpent take the form of the Great Spirit Gatherer too, but that beast's presence wasn't at all subtle like Aranea's was.
'How the hell am I gonna form a message in the sky?'
Maybe he could try to cause a distraction elsewhere instead, just to make Madoc give up on his task here. If he even was here. The shadow he had stationed in one of Valor's bases was in a prime position to ambush the tens of Awakened working there.
'Can't…'
That wasn't an option either. The timing was far too suspicious, and he didn't want to implicate Sky Tide by any means as she'd been far too kind to him, and he'd hate to make things difficult for her. There wasn't a guarantee of Whispering Blade going to stop him either, seeing as he wasn't exactly nearby.
'Guess I'll have to do it myself…'
This factory seemed particularly old, still having a long smokestack on the roof. Its age was likely the reason for its abandonment in the first place. Stepping through the shadows, Sunny appeared inside the chimney-like structure.
Gliding through the darkness, he made his way to the top of it, preparing to manifest its long shadow.
'Just in case…'
From where Serpent was, he tried manifesting a swarm of flailing tentacles, just to see if Tyris would notice the air stir.
She paused in the middle of drumming her fingers, her breath halting for a moment.
'Oh!'
Looks like he didn't need the sky at all, he just needed to stir up some wind.
'Good, good… this'll be a lot safer.'
The sewage system around these parts were quite spacious, giving him plenty of room to write on the air. Merging the swarm of tentacles into a single straight one, he began to precisely slice the air, writing letters.
[DO]
[NOT]
[MOVE]
Tyris let out a breath and began drumming her fingers again, her inhuman eyes darting from place to place, searching.
Sunny felt a hint of concern seep into her shadow.
[WHI]
[SPE]
[RING]
[BLADE]
Still maintaining her composure, she silently stared out at the distant city, no longer searching with her eyes.
[JUST]
[GO]
[DREAM]
Sunny scrunched his nose in annoyance.
'This is harder than I thought it'd be.'
[TRY]
[LATE]
[MEET]
[AT]
[SANC]
With an extremely subtle nod, Tyris stood up, stretching slightly. Placing a foot on the window, she jumped out, leaping from wall to wall until she reached the roof of the factory.
'What is she…'
Sitting on the sloped part of the roof, she laid down with a tired breath and stared at the sky.
He watched for a while, confused.
She seemed to be… stargazing?.. Only instead of the stars it was just a cloud of raw pollution.
Sunny had already stepped away the moment she began moving, so he was currently underground with Serpent, who was still attempting to find anything using Aranea's abilities. He'd left the other shadow behind, with it still sitting just beneath the windowsill, remaining deathly still.
He sat still for a while, waiting to see what Tyris was doing.
After several minutes of quiet boredom, the Saint raised a hand towards the sky, whispering something to herself. His shadow wasn't close enough to hear what she said, but it sounded like a song of sorts.
'She's… singing?'
Tyris began twirling the hand she'd raised towards the sky, seemingly drawing something in the air. With the slight changes on the shadows far below, Sunny realised she seemed to be shaping the clouds around, as if scribbling some kind of drawing.
With another shadow he'd stationed further away, he tried to get a look at what she was doing.
'...Nothing.'
Sky Tide was simply just twirling the winds around carelessly, having a bit of fun.
'Ohhh, I get it now.'
She was making it seem like she was out here to spend some time alone and have fun, rather than have a suspicious meeting. That was his guess anyways.
After about fifteen minutes of silent observation, Sunny began to get a little bored. Moving further underground, he stepped out of the shadows and sat down. If they were going to play the waiting game, he didn't want to waste essence. He wasn't close to running out yet, but the longer he kept the ability active, the more essence it would drain. His reserves were still quite dry after the incident with the Dreamcatcher as well, so he needed all the essence he could get.
'Right, there's that…'
Since he was alone, he might as well summon the Sorcerer's Robes. It's [Fine Silk] enchantment would help with his recovery. He also quite enjoyed the feeling of its [Master of Sorcery] enchantment. Though it didn't solve all his problems when weaving, it certainly made the process of weaving itself faster.
After nearly thirty minutes of idling, Saint Tyris stood up with a satisfied sigh. And a few seconds later she was gone, having travelled between worlds.
Clutching the suitcase, Sunny narrowed his eyes, focusing on his shadow sense.
…Even after Sky Tide left, the area remained barren with not a soul in sight.
'Was… was I really just being paranoid?'
Even minutes later, nobody appeared. Sunny had somewhat expected Whispering Blade to reveal himself once Tyris left, but he was mistaken.
'Can't be right… can't be…'
Did he seriously just waste that much time over nothing?
'Whatever…'
Better safe than sorry. Even if it was a little annoying, he didn't regret it. Maybe Whispering Blade had been here and simply left without dismissing his Transformation. He'd never know.
It was all very frustrating.
'If only I were a Saint…'
But if Transcending were easy, he'd probably have accidentally stumbled upon the method of attaining it back when he was Fated. While the method Lady Aidre had taught him didn't seem that difficult to do, it was probably similar to something like the method of travelling between worlds. With the Spell it wasn't very difficult, but without it? It would take years and years to discover, let alone make work. He shuddered to imagine how difficult it would be if one didn't even know Transcendence existed.
For now though, he'd save those thoughts for later.
Stretching out his shadow sense as far as he could, Sunny continued to go deeper underground, searching for small pockets of open space to step into.
Once he felt he was deep enough underground, he placed a tether and summoned Serpent to guard the Covetous Coffer before leaving for the Dream Realm. He'd already tried to take the Coffer with Aria in it with him before, but the world didn't seem that easy to trick, leading him to lose a bunch of essence while not even managing to cross the border between realities.
This time though, he appeared in the Dream Realm just fine.
Night had fallen on the Chained Isles, bathing the world in shadows. Standing up and looking around, Sunny groaned.
'Right.'
He still needed to clean this place… he'd ignored it for a long time now, but if he was going to bring Aria here…
'Wait.'
Since she was the one who wanted to come here, shouldn't he leave cleaning it to her? He could even disguise it as allowing her to explore the ancient home of a long dead daemon…
'Genius!'
Leaving a shadow behind, he left the Ivory Tower through his usual way, wincing at how much essence it cost. He rarely ran out of it nowadays, considering the fact he wasn't at war with a Chain of Nightmares or lost in the rivers of Ariel's Tomb…
As he jogged from island to island to conserve essence, he realised something.
'I don't really have a reason to kill nightmare creatures anymore?'
He was completely capped out on shadow fragments, barely getting any Memories, and even had a Flaw that stopped him from targeting anything below Fallen now…
There were times now where he went days or even weeks without spilling blood. It all felt so strange. Aside from the random skirmishes here and there or when he sent Solvane out for a hunt, he didn't kill all that much anymore. Not compared to a couple months ago anyway.
'Is this how regular Awakened live?'
Laughing to himself, Sunny shook his head.
Maybe it was. Though a lot of Awakened never even left their Citadels, so probably not.
'So why do I even do this anymore?'
He tried to think of a reason. The obvious one was to cull the population of nightmare creatures while also deepening his pockets with soul shards. But the one he thought of more was…
'I guess to bring peace to the world?'
The less nightmare creatures there were, the less danger there was, so all that was left in his wake was peace. Sure, humans would probably never truly live in harmony, considering the fact they were always at each other's throats, but still… The less Corruption there was, the better.
So… despite not having a dire need to slay nightmare creatures anymore, he'd still do it. For peace and all that.
Seeing the Sanctuary of Noctis in the distance, he smiled.
'Right. For peace.'
***
Night had fallen over the dusty streets of NQSC, and while most of its streets were still lit up by bright lights, the street Sunny had been waiting at was silent and dark.
And as a gust of ethereal wind blew over it, Sky Tide appeared, as if she had been there the whole time.
After casually looking around, she leapt off the rooftop she'd left her tether at, disappearing into the dark streets below. Though she was taking light steps, winds seemed to gush beneath her heels with every footfall, pushing her along the ground so fast that she may as well have been sprinting.
Passing through a particularly dark street she stopped at an unremarkable building, disappearing inside for a short while.
Leaving the building as if nothing happened, she yawned and tossed something away. Upon closer inspection, one might recognise it as a finished cigarette.
Getting rid of the scent of smoke on her, Tyris continued her trip home.
***
"Think that worked?"
"Probably. If it didn't… you'll probably be fine."
Dusting himself off, Sunny took a look around, trying to figure out where Sky Tide had left them. Aria looked around with wide eyes as well, taking in the surrounding scenery.
"Wow…"
The sun was slowly rising above the Chained Isles, bathing it in an orange glow. It was quite an idyllic scene, one that would certainly leave a good impression on somebody visiting the place for the first time.
"This is the Chained Isles?"
"Yup."
As Aria took in the beauty of Hope's Kingdom, Sunny focused on the shadow he'd left in the waking world.
Since he suspected that Tyris was being followed, he'd used a simple trick. The Saint would just enter a seemingly random building, except he'd placed the entrance of the Coffer right in front of the door so that it still looked normal. As Tyris entered, he'd had her place a tether then take both Aria and him to the Dream Realm before going back immediately, and since all of it had taken place inside the Coffer, none of the energy that leaked when travelling between worlds would be exposed. It was simple and devious, something that one wouldn't notice even when watching closely. There was the possibility that Whispering Blade had somehow entered as well, but considering the fact he'd been able to dismiss the Coffer immediately after leaving, it was clear he didn't.
'Success.'
The small detail of making it look like she went inside to smoke had been Aria's idea, one that Tyris didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about partaking in, though she did anyway.
"Where did you get that cigarette from?"
The production of tobacco and many other nightshades were quite limited nowadays, so it was quite surprising for her to have something like that on her, considering the fact she spent much of her time in the Dream Realm.
Having been interrupted from her reverie, Aria turned to him with a wry smile.
"Found it at home. My mom left some behind."
"Oh."
He knew her mother was a touchy subject, so he didn't press any further.
"Okay, let's go."
Aria raised an eyebrow.
"Go where?"
Sunny scoffed.
"My Citadel, obviously. Or would you rather just stay on this island in the middle of nowhere instead?"
Shaking her head, Aria smiled.
"Oh, so we're going to the Sanctuary of Noctis then? I heard a little bit about that place, that it's… what's the word… Eh, I don't remember. But nobody really had anything nice to say about it. Nothing bad either, but yeah."
Sunny laughed loudly, causing her to frown.
"What? What did I say?"
"Of course people wouldn't speak much about this place, there isn't much of a reason to come here other than to resupply or something. In fact, I'm pretty sure one of its main attractions is the fact a Saint rules over it. But if you want to see some Saints, why not just go to Bastion, right?"
"Right… So what's your point?"
"Don't really have one. It's just that I don't live in the Sanctuary."
Aria scrunched her eyebrows, confused.
"Huh? Do you live in the… Night whatever then?"
"Nope."
Now a little frustrated, she gritted her teeth.
"Then where?"
"Where?"
Sunny pointed at the sky.
"Over there of course!"
Following his finger, Aria's gaze landed on the distant Ivory Tower.
"There?"
"Yep."
Sunny half expected her to drop to the ground in shock, but instead she just turned to him with a deadpan stare.
"What? Why?"
"Wha-"
He found himself outraged at her reaction.
"You don't know what that is?"
Squinting, Aria tried to get a better look at the place.
"No? Looks pretty small though."
Sighing, Sunny shook his head and began moving towards the titanic chains of the island they were standing on.
"Right… you really do still have much to learn. Come, I'll explain on the way."
"Huh? We aren't gonna fly or something?"
Pausing, he looked back at her.
"Fly? How would we fly?"
"Well don't you have that big ass bird? Why would we walk there?"
Sunny opened his mouth to say something, but slowly shut it.
"...Right. I forgot to tell you."
Aria's expression immediately fell. They'd barely had a moment to speak since he'd returned from the Second Nightmare, and he'd completely forgotten to inform her of Shrike's untimely demise.
"What? Tell me what?"
"It died. In the Nightmare."
Her expression darkened even further.
"...Oh."
Sunny looked away, sighing.
"So yes, we're walking. Cover your face and summon that Memory Seishan got you."
Not saying a word, Aria summoned some armour, fully hiding her face behind a visor. A couple seconds later, an eerie looking charm appeared around her neck. It was a necklace holding a single piece of jade, and on that jade was a carving of a slowly blinking eye.
'Not bad.'
It was a gift that Seishan had hastily given her after Jest's visit, an anti-divination charm to divert any scrying eyes. He didn't know how good it was, seeing as he wasn't a diviner and all, but the jade it was made from seemed high-quality, so that had to mean something, right?
Glancing at the distant sun, he sighed.
They had a long journey ahead…
***
Chains rattled beneath them as they crossed from island to island. Light winds blew past from time to time, causing Aria to shudder in fear.
Doing her best not to look at the abyss below them, she turned to him.
"So you live in this… Ivory Tower?"
"Yep. Though I wouldn't exactly say I live in it. I'm just anchored there. You'll see what I mean once we're there."
Glancing at the island's distant silhouette, she looked at him.
"And how are we supposed to reach it through this crushing thing?"
Sunny shrugged.
"You won't be reaching it. I'll just step you up there."
"Oh, okay… But how are you supposed to actually reach it?"
Looking back at her, he grinned.
"You have to jump."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Jump where?"
Saying nothing, Sunny simply pointed down. Aria shivered as she glanced at the sky below.
"...Forget I asked."
Trying to distract herself from the terrifying canvas beneath her, she asked him another question.
"What do you even do here? Seems kind of barren…"
"That's because I'm a good scout."
He'd had shadows circling them the entire time, avoiding any and all contact with the locals. Though he'd like Aria to familiarise herself with the regional nightmare creatures, now wasn't the time for that. He needed her anchored at the Tower of Longing before anything.
"If you're such a good scout, can't you just put me in the chest thing and run me over there instead? This place…"
She glanced down and shuddered again, not finishing her sentence.
"Of course I could, but if you're going to be staying here, now's the perfect time to familiarise yourself with the landscape and stuff."
"And why is now the perfect time exactly?"
Lifting up a foot as he climbed to the next chain link, he glanced at her.
"Because you're with me of course! Aside from the members of the White Feather Clan, I doubt you'd be able to find anyone better to show you around."
Aria nodded in agreement.
"Makes sense. But do you think we could at least fight something along the way? I've been itching for some action after being locked in that thing for so long…"
"Huuuh? You weren't even in there for a week!"
She clasped her hands, pleading with him.
"I know, I know! But come on! Just one creature! It doesn't even have to be Fallen!"
Sunny felt his eye twitch.
"Just one?"
"Just one!"
Sighing, his shoulders dropped.
"Fine. I'll find you something."
***
"There. Go crazy."
Sunny pointed at a distant nightmare creature, grazing alone near a small lake.
"Alright!"
Aria immediately broke out into a sprint, charging at the unsuspecting Fallen Beast as she summoned two axes.
'Barbarian…'
She seriously didn't match the portrayal the government made of her at all. Though she certainly looked like a strong-willed, no nonsense leader type, that wasn't what she was at all. Aria had the heart of an adventurer, one that found battle particularly fun, just not when it was in large groups.
"I declare…"
Waves of golden light left her mouth as she activated her Awakened ability.
"...my strength will grow explosively, but only when fighting Fallen beings!"
The light spun around her body like a halo, the vow activating. The Beast noticed her immediately, bearing its jaws as it rushed towards her in a frenzy.
Sunny watched their battle play out, semi-impressed. Aria was quite skilled for an Awakened, but from the time he'd come from, there were plenty of people at her level, his own cohort included. She still had plenty of room to grow.
'Though…'
Her skills seemed to have stagnated slightly, likely due to her losing motivation during her time with Valor. Not that such a thing would be a problem anymore.
'Guess I'll just have to treat her like Solvane.'
The two seemed to be kindred spirits, reveling in the heat of battle.
'Good, because no way am I gonna chaperone her around all the time.'
Thinking about it some more, he realised it was a perfect solution. If Solvane wanted to go hunting, he could just send Aria and her out. He'd stopped letting his Shadow go out alone since receiving his new Flaw, but now… Solvane could just leave the killing to Aria.
Sunny nodded to himself, smiling at his genius.
'Yes… yes… then I can have them gather soul shards for me while I just hang around in the waking world… perfect!'
Aria wouldn't be needing any shards anyways, seeing as she couldn't exactly sell them. So he'd be providing her with a living space and endless things to do in exchange for just a couple shards… It was pure genius!
He'd still need to appear in the Sanctuary of Noctis from time to time to keep up appearances while also searching for Mordret, but all was well!
As Sunny moved closer to Aria though, he spotted something. A fleeting reflection atop the lake's surface.
'Speak of the devil…'
"Awakened Mordret."
The reflection froze as he noticed it, slowly turning to him.
"Oh… you saw me. Hello, Awakened Sunless."
The lake's surface shimmered and rippled for a moment, and the boy stepped out of it a moment later.
"Fancy seeing you here."
With an awkward smile, he looked at the Fallen Beast in the distance before looking back at him.
"To you as well. Who is… your associate?"
Sunny laughed, glancing at Aria, who was currently laughing madly as she mounted the Beast's back.
"That's… a friend of mine. Aria. Just showing her around."
"Oh? Is she a new resident of the Sanctuary?"
He shook his head.
"No."
"Who is she then? If you do not mind me asking."
Looking around for a moment, Sunny leaned in and whispered to him.
"Actually, she's a former member of the clan Valor. She didn't really like them though, so she asked me to take her away."
Mordret blinked, his mercury eyes glinting in the sunlight.
"Why?"
He shrugged.
"Who knows? As you can clearly see, she's quite the maniac. What brings you around these parts anyways?"
"Oh… just… looking for remnants of the past."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"The past? How far in the past exactly?"
Staring off into the distance for a moment, Mordret met his gaze.
"Before this place was consumed by Corruption, I suppose? I quite enjoy learning about the history of this place."
Laughing slightly, Sunny waved him over.
"History? I can tell you about this place's history easily! What do you want to know?"
Looking slightly stunned, the boy took tentative steps towards him.
"Oh… how about the history of that one lake? The one near the Sanctuary that nobody approaches?"
Sunny's gaze darkened immediately.
"That… I know a little bit about that, I guess."
Sitting down on a nearby rock, he motioned for Mordret to sit with him, which he did.
"While I can't tell you much about the thing that lives inside the lake, what I do know is that the ancient owner of the sanctuary, Noctis, was friends with it."
The boy's reflective eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Really! They say he was losing his mind, he left something with the creature inside, telling it to only give that thing to someone with a pure heart, whatever that means."
Leaning in a little closer, Mordret asked another question.
"Do you know what it was that he left with the creature?"
Rubbing his chin in thought, Sunny remained silent for a moment. Of course he already knew exactly what Noctis had left to it, but he didn't want Mordret to know that.
"I think it was… a ruby knife? Oh, weren't you looking for that obsidian knife too? There's that, then."
The boy smiled slightly, his gaze eerie. Sunny could not feel any joy from his shadow, only dark curiosity.
"I see, a ruby knife! Do you know anything about the creature living in the lake? Anything!"
Sunny shook his head.
"No. And if you know what's good for you, don't go near it. Even Sky Tide doesn't dare get near that thing… whatever it is."
Nodding, Mordret moved away.
"I understand. Thank you for telling me, Sunless. It seems your associate is finished with their battle now, so I will be taking my leave."
Seeing the boy stand up, Sunny casually waved to him.
"Sure."
Before vanishing into the lake's reflection, Mordret gave him one last look.
"Do you think that I could ask you more about this place's history some other day?"
Waving him off, Sunny nodded easily.
"Sure, sure. Anytime. Don't be shy about it, I really don't mind."
With a grateful nod, Mordret vanished into thin air.
Looking back at Aria, Sunny kept his expression neutral.
'That went well.'
But he couldn't help but notice a perfect copy of Mordret in the distance though… staring at him.
'He's trying to reflect me.'
Although it did annoy him a little, he understood completely. Because if he had an ability that could glean other people's runes, he'd use it nonstop too. Seeing as the Reflection was struggling though, he surmised that it couldn't reflect things above its rank, or it just couldn't reflect him because of the Veil. Either way, Sunny was glad. He did plan to eventually reveal the fact they both wielded Divine Aspects, but today was not that day.
"Sunnyyy!!"
Aria's voice called to him from a distance. Waving excitedly, she was running back towards him, drenched in blood.
'Gross…'
Even if he was quite the butcher himself, he made it a point to not get himself covered in guts whenever he could help it. It was simply professional courtesy.
"Had enough fun?"
Despite her covered face, he could still feel the immense joy and relief coming from her shadow, as if she'd regained something long lost.
"Damn straight I did! Can I-"
"No. You said one."
Deflating immediately, Aria's shoulders slumped.
"Aw…"
Tapping her shoulder, he pointed towards the nearby lake.
"Now go clean yourself up. I'm not getting blood on my Citadel."
"Awww…"
As she took sad steps towards the lake, Aria paused.
"Wait."
Her armour disappeared in a swarm of sparks. A second later, another set of plated armour covered her, free of blood.
"There we go! How come you didn't just tell me to do that instead?"
Turning away slightly, Sunny snickered.
"I just wanted to see if you'd actually get in the lake…"
…Far above, the sun continued its journey across the sky.