"Survive."
To think there would be a day in which he would be glad to hear the damn command...
Life sure was full of surprises. He could do with far less, though.
A quiet, boring life was quickly becoming the most unrealistic of his dreams.
He would have laughed at that thought, were it not for the danger of alerting the Great Beast.
"Survive."
"Yes, yes. I'm trying," He answered absentmindedly.
His brain was occupied with far more urgent matters than the annoying command.
"Another of those dreams," Sunny whispered somberly.
It was the second time he had been afflicted by the mind hex, and it didn't worry him any less than it did the first time.
Scratch that, it worried him far, far more.
The first time, it had been slow, almost gentle. He had grown progressively more drowsy until he finally fell asleep.
The second time, though? Instantly, he was asleep before he even had time to realize he had been hit by the hex.
The Lady of Sorrows -for who else could it be?- did not need to play it slow. Why she did the first time was another mystery to add to the list.
The dream had also been more... real. Not the right word, but the closest he could find.
The first dream had been a hazy and muddy experience. He could remember practically nothing about his dream self's life beyond his conversations with the fake versions of his friends and the time spent with the Lady.
The second, though? The memory was so vivid that he was almost convinced that the real him was Transcendent Sunless, and this was just a bad dream of his. A treacherous part of him... wished that it was.
He could remember his early life in the city of Shade, the only place where living beings were welcomed in the Shadow Realm, where his father -the Shadow God himself- ruled. He could remember his siblings, whom he had deeply disliked due to their endless arrogance and greed. He could remember the Lady, a Shadow just like himself.
He remembered years spent together, climbing the path of ascension. Victories. Failures. Laughter. Quiet moments filled with meaning.
Rather awkwardly, he could also remember some confession attempts that his dream self had been completely oblivious to.
His cheeks reddened. Why was she so fixated on the love route? This dream alone proved that friendship was already working well.
That dream... he had been happy in that dream.
He could say that it wasn't truly him, that the Sunny inside it had none of his memories, that his deep care for the one who played his friend was fake, that all of his feelings were. That it was just a lie forced into him, one he would despise the moment he woke up.
It would be true, but it would also be meaningless.
Because by the end of it... he had truly fallen for it. If not for Nephis' appearance, he would have never woken up. The same traitorous part as before, wished that he hadn't.
And what an insidious mind hex that was.
Its true horror wasn't being trapped inside the illusion. It was that once you escaped, it left something behind. A craving. A hollow ache. A desire to return, freely, eagerly, willingly.
Even now, it tugged at him, whispering promises of warmth and belonging, tempting him to close his eyes and fall back into that beautiful, suffocating lie.
"Survive." The command grew louder, almost a warning.
He dragged a hand through his hair -for the nth time, he vowed to cut it down soon- in irritation, wholeheartedly wishing that for once, his enemies would only try to kill him, instead of also messing with his mind.
Shaking away the morose thoughts, he decided to focus on the situation at hand.
Sunny sent his shadows to scout the surroundings. He had to know if there was any danger creeping around.
And most importantly, to find out if the Great Beast was still searching.
While he waited, he decided to test something.
Sunny closed his eyes and started concentrating inward. He found his essence easily; he had long since mastered the ability, and it was made even easier by having Serpent's aid.
From there, it took a little trial and error, but soon enough, his essence was circulating through his body. The moment he had a good enough grasp of the method, he increased the speed.
When he got used to that speed, he upped it once more. He did it once again. And again.
Each cycle burned hotter than the last, pressure building until it felt as though there was lava coursing through his veins instead of blood.
Five minutes later, a crystalline bead was born in his chest, as small as a grain of sand.
Sunny could have been happy if he hadn't been busy trying to recover his breathing. Short as it had been, it was also the most exhausting thing he had done in a while. He did not care, though.
"It works," He muttered, voice full of awe.
He had to do his best to stop himself from breaking into an uproarious laugh, still wary of the Great Beast.
He had discovered how to Awaken naturally!
Well, more like rediscovered. But nobody else knew about this, so there was nothing wrong with claiming all the merit.
This was going to make him so rich if he managed to overcome the nightmare!
"That dream was worth it just for this alone." He whispered to himself, smiling so hard it hurt.
A test meant for a Saint? Let it try.
He would become an Awakened. Then, he would become an Ascended. And finally, he would become a Saint too. All without even having to leave this Nightmare.
Maybe go all the way and become a Supreme too? The faces of Effie and Kai when he came back were sure to be amazing.
A pity he had no idea how to become a Sacred -his dream self had never intended to go that far, and as such did not bother learning the way- or it would have been tempting.
Would he get the same Aspect abilities as his dream self did? If so, he couldn't wait. Even if he only received the ability to inhabit seven different bodies at once, he would be happy.
While he fantasized about all the awesome things he was going to do, his shadows returned, bringing good news.
All the nightmare creatures in the vicinity were sleeping.
Meanwhile, the Great Beast had been covered once more by the mantle of darkness. He couldn't tell if it was awake or not, and he wasn't going to peek from such an easily spotted place.
But first, there was a question that he had forgotten to ask amidst the emotion of his findings.
"How long have I been asleep?" Sunny whispered.
Naughty raised four fingers, only to instantly be smacked in the head -or the shadow equivalent to that, at least- by Gloomy and correct it to just one, while Creepy made the sign that indicated hours.
"An hour?" He muttered in confusion.
It made no sense. He had only spent two weeks inside that dream, while in the first one, he lived what could easily be months, and only two hours had passed.
He didn't have much data to compare, but it was still troubling to find such a significant difference.
Shaking the concern aside, he got up and, making himself as small as possible, he crawled away from the chimney he was hiding behind. All the while, he was looking through Gloomy's eyes, making sure that there was no reaction from the living darkness.
First step, find a nice, safe place from which he could Awaken.
Second step, profit!
He loved simple plans.
-------------------------------------------
Sunny walked through the streets, sticking to the shadows and whatever cover he could find in the way. He couldn't afford to be spotted, so he had to be extremely careful.
As he walked, his thoughts kept circling back to the hex. How did it work? What was the carrier? What mechanism allowed it to spread?
He was quite sure that he had asked inside the dream, but if she answered, he couldn't remember. It was by design, he was sure of that.
Sunny's fingers brushed against [Weaver's Mask], the dark wood covering his face offering a small measure of reassurance.
He didn't know how effective it truly was at hiding him from her, but even a fraction of protection was better than none. That was why he'd donned it the moment he woke.
For a fleeting moment, he recklessly thought about activating the [Where is my eye?] enchantment, but he dissuaded himself of the notion immediately.
Merely thinking about it had brought phantom pain to his eyes. The memory of the one and only activation still haunted him, and he wasn't eager to get a repeat any time soon.
Besides, it wouldn't be of help.
He was sure that the only thing he would get out of it would be a chain pointing straight at the tower, which was nothing he didn't know about already.
Sunny could feel goosebumps as the memory of those accursed chains resurfaced in his mind.
He had not forgotten about Fate and what it had done. He never would.
With clenched teeth, he tried to force himself to let go of the thought. He tried and utterly failed.
It looked like he was fated to be a slave.
His first nightmare.
[Shadow Bond.]
[Beloved Child of Fate] and the chains it came with.
He hated it. He hated it so much it hurt. It felt like a bleeding, festering wound that only grew worse by the day.
He was going to destroy Fate, shatter it with his own two hands; he had already made the decision back in that accursed cave, and he stood by it.
He was going to break Fate, even if it was the last thing he did.
Sunny shook his head to dispel the dark thoughts and stared up at the sky, where he was met with the same full moon and stars as when he had arrived. Though something didn't feel quite right...
He tried to pinpoint it, failed, and eventually delegated one of his threads of thought to the task. Nearly four months in, and he still wasn't accustomed to the sheer breadth of mind that [Mind Weave] afforded him.
The view was a nice change of pace. As of now, a year and eight months had passed since the fall of the Crimson Spire.
A year and eight months... all of them spent under eternal darkness and then, an endless downpour that obscured sight just as much and made him feel cold and miserable too. There had been times when he had believed he would never see a clear sky again.
Being able to see the moon and the stars once more felt like a dream come true.
Now, there was only a sunrise left to be witnessed, and he would be happy. He had already spent thirteen hours in the Nightmare, and daybreak didn't seem any closer.
Sunny could only hope -he never learned, he complained inwardly- to be able to see it again one day.
-------------------------------------------
"Found you," he whispered.
The City Archives rose from the heart of the district like a living monument to knowledge. Pale stone walls caught the moonlight and reflected it softly, etched with flowing reliefs and patient sigils meant to endure the passage of ages. Slender towers flanked the main structure, their arched windows sealed with crystal panes that shimmered faintly, warded against time, weather, and who knew what else.
Sunny studied it for a long moment.
Solid. Enclosed. Not a single Nightmare Creature in the vicinity.
A slow, sharp grin tugged at his lips.
"This will do nicely."
He slipped inside through a narrow side entrance, easing the heavy door shut behind him without a sound. The air within was cool and dry, carrying the faint, comforting scent of old paper, dust, and preserved ink. Rows upon rows of shelves stretching into the darkness.
Still no Nightmare Creatures to be found.
No encroaching sleep gnawing at his mind.
Sunny exhaled, tension bleeding from his shoulders.
Safe enough.
He didn't waste time. Finding a secluded reading hall tucked deep within the archives, he settled himself between two towering shelves, sat cross-legged on the polished stone floor, and closed his eyes.
Once more, essence burned through his veins. This time, he didn't rush.
He guided the circulation carefully, steadily, reinforcing the fragile crystalline bead in his chest while he built another. Minutes later, another bead joined its sibling.
After a few moments to steady himself, Sunny rose and began to wander the archives properly. He had to give his essence time to settle before continuing, so he might as well explore while he waited.
He passed by endless shelves, eyes skimming through the titles in search of one that would catch his attention.
The tomes were extraordinary.
Accounts of the city's citizens. Treatises on essence manipulation unique to this Realm. Personal journals of Saints and Scholars, their words preserved with loving care.
Then, an idea struck him.
Sunny paused, glancing down at a thick, leather-bound volume chronicling the founding and rise of the city. It included far more: customs, traditions, recipes. It was practically a full encyclopedia when it came to Aleras.
"…Why not?"
He summoned the safebox, and from inside, he retrieved an Awakened shard. Mere minutes later, it was done. Turning a mundane object into a Memory was so simple these days, he could do it with his eyes closed.
[You have acquired a memory, Encyclopedia of Aleras]
Sunny smiled with pure satisfaction.
You couldn't keep things found inside a Nightmare Seed. That was something that everyone agreed on. But now that it was bonded to his soul?
He had the suspicion that it would be different.
"Teacher Julius is going to love this," he muttered fondly.
Smiling warmly at the memory of the old teacher, he kept walking along the dusty shelves, looking for another book that could catch his attention.
Eventually, it was sheer accident that led him to the discovery.
He leaned against a shelf to rest after so much walking, and when he did, it shifted.
Sunny froze, suddenly feeling like the main character of one of the Webtoons he liked to read.
He would like to say that he did the smart thing and just left, not even considering looking any further. Or that he considered all options before continuing. It would be a lie.
Slowly, carefully, he pushed.
The shelf swung inward without a sound, revealing a narrow passage spiraling down into darkness. He expected to be met with some sort of trap, or maybe a Nightmare Creature, ready to eat his face.
Instead, he was met by only an expectant, ancient silence.
Hit by a sudden wave of deja vu, Sunny descended.
At the bottom lay a small chamber carved entirely from black stone. At its center stood a simple pedestal, and upon it rested a needle. It was long and slender as well as impossibly sharp; its surface was stained with golden, dried blood that radiated a pressure so profound it made his skin prickle.
Divine blood, one whose owner he was quite sure of.
Fine skeins of diamond strings were wound around it, glimmering softly, each strand humming with restrained power.
Sunny stared, breath caught in his throat.
"…Of course that asshole planned for this too."
He had already been sure that he was playing by Weaver's expectations when he decided to leave the Temple. Nobody capable of seeing so far would be dumb enough to think he would listen.
The problem was that whatever he chose, he was sure that he would only be furthering Weaver's mysterious plans.
So in the end, he decided to go with what he wanted instead of trying to predict whatever it was that the elusive Daemon truly wanted.
It didn't make it sting any less to know that he had been predicted so easily, though.
"If I ever meet them," he muttered, "the first thing I'll do is punch them in the face."
-------------------------------------------
Sunny stared somberly at the mass of living darkness that enveloped the tower.
He was at the entrance of the archives, from where he had a good sight of the tower, while being impossible to spot. It didn't make the darkness any less oppressive. He kept expecting it to surge at any moment and snuff out his life.
And the one hiding behind it...
Maybe it was just a coincidence, but he didn't think so. That mantle of darkness was far too distinctive. And the pained hiss when it had been dissolved...
The Great Beast was Erelia.
Memories flashed through his mind. Watches spent together, fighting side by side against nightmare creatures, relying on each other to see another day. The quiet moments after, when they would share commiserating silence, or just laugh the exhaustion away.
They weren't the closest of friends, not quite; the watch was her life, while it was just a job for him, which always made for some degree of friction between the two of them, but he still cared deeply about her.
It was disheartening to see her like this.
Just like it had been to realize he had already killed, through Saint, someone he considered a friend. A dream it might have been, but the feelings didn't go away just because logic said it hadn't been real.
Reynauld of Aleras, the Corrupted Beast that had been sleeping right outside the cathedral he started in.
His mind split into two reflections of the past. In one, Reynauld was nothing more than a Nightmare Creature among countless others that Sunny had killed. In the other, he was a jovial man who loved baking and who spent every waking moment after the Weeping doing his best to ease the suffering of the citizens.
There were others, too.
Joachim, a Fallen Beast who had once been a member of the watch. He loved to sing and would often regale others with the many songs he had composed.
Dismas, another Fallen Beast. He had been kind of an asshole, and his sense of humor was beyond offensive. But when it came time to fight, you could hardly ask for someone more dependable.
More memories flashed through his mind, about blissful moments spent in the glory days of Aleras.
About friends and acquaintances he had made. Then, about the places.
The inn down the road from where he was, whose stew was the best in the whole city. The very same archives he was currently in, where he spent many of his free days, eagerly devouring the countless books. The parks, where the Lady would often drag him for a leisurely walk.
It wasn't even real, and he was mourning it nonetheless.
Sunny exhaled slowly, both to push aside the grim thoughts and in an attempt to regain his breathing. He had just finished refining another bead for his core, and he was deeply exhausted.
Struck with a sudden idea, he summoned Saint.
"Can you see through the darkness?" He asked.
Saint stared at it intently, her ruby gaze trying to pierce through it. In the end, she nodded affirmatively.
"Is she asleep?"
Another nod.
So she wasn't immune to the hex either. It was relieving and worrying at the same time.
"What a damn mess," He found himself echoing his dream self.
Just what had happened? How had the whole city been corrupted and then fallen asleep?
Well, the second part was obvious; it was the Lady's doing, but the first still troubled him.
Whatever had corrupted them, it was quick and widespread enough to consume the full city at once. And it did so while still being able to corrupt those beyond the walls, even if at a slower pace, if the murals and the description of the memories he received were to be believed.
Sunny could still remember his dream self's experiences with corruption. It had been rare, but as a Divine Shadow, he was privy to more information than most.
In that age, whenever defilement arose, it was stamped out with extreme prejudice.
Mercy was not merely absent; it was considered a crime. Aiding in any way or form someone who was corrupted was punished by death. Corruption was the enemy of life and the Flame of Desire itself and was treated as such. Anything that might carry it was condemned. It didn't matter if the source was knowledge or some other means. Divine wrath would be unleashed upon it all the same.
People, streets, even whole cities were torn apart and reduced to ash until not even the smallest whiff of corruption was left to be eradicated.
If there was the slightest indication -the faintest statistical possibility- that corruption could cross borders, then an entire kingdom was declared lost. Mountains were sundered to form impassable borders. Seas were boiled away to leave dead salt plains where nothing could crawl or swim. Even the sky was not spared, scoured until no being capable of flight could escape from the containment zone.
And at last, no matter how infinitesimally small, if there was a chance that it could spread even further... the Realm itself would be unmade. A task which the divine had seen to themselves.
Was that what happened while he witnessed time flow in reverse? Was the hazy woman a goddess tasked with eradicating the menace?
It didn't bode well for him.
He wasn't corrupted, he had checked a thousand times already, and he would check a thousand more with the sight granted by [Blood Weave], but how could he convince her of that?
Would she even listen to him?
Sunny shook his head. He would deal with the problems one by one.
He still had a Great Beast and the Lady of Sorrows to contend with. He could deal with the Hazy Woman after that.
Having rested enough, he went back to circulating his essence, trying to form another bead. He had completed four of them so far, and couldn't wait to be done with all of them.
As he did, his gaze drifted up to the starry sky once more.
The sight of the moon and the stars was a soothing balm for his soul. One of which he couldn't get enough.
It was as his eyes danced through the dark sky that he finally realized what it was that had puzzled him before. Back then, the angle didn't allow him to spot it, but from here? It was perfectly clear.
His blood ran cold as the realization settled in.
Sunny could still remember vividly the sky he had witnessed as the Hazy Woman erased the city from existence.
He could feel his chest tremble, a sardonic smile tugging at his lips, which he fought to keep at bay. Try as he might, a quiet, hysterical laugh escaped him anyway.
With one month, he could Awaken.
With three more, maybe four, he could Ascend.
If the method his dream self had used worked, he could Transcend immediately after. If not, probably a month or two to figure out an alternative.
Supremacy wasn't out of the question, but it could take so long that he might run out of supplies and nightmare creatures to feed on -he felt an immediate pang of disgust at the thought of canibalizing those whom he would have fought with his life to defend- before he could achieve it.
If he had the time, he could weave enough memories to make Saint a Supreme, too.
In the end, everything came down to time. With enough of it, he could become powerful enough to render the challenge of the Nightmare meaningless.
It was all about time.
Too bad he only had two weeks.
The moon had moved from its position. It was so little that even now, with the better angle, he was barely able to tell, but it was undeniable all the same.
As of now, he had spent fifteen hours in the Nightmare.
If the moon kept moving at the same pace -and he would carefully keep track of it to make sure that it did- then he only had two more weeks before it was in the exact same spot as it was during the time reversal.
Two weeks.
Two weeks to figure out how to defeat a Great Beast as a Sleeper. Awakening was out of the question; he could, at best, shave it down to three weeks instead of the month he estimated.
Two weeks to figure out how to defeat the Lady of Sorrows. Who, at the very least, was a Great Beast, too. And far more insidious than Erelia was.
And last but not least, two weeks to figure out a way to leave the city before the Hazy Woman arrived, or to convince her to spare him if the solution to the Nightmare wasn't inside the tower.
All in two weeks.
He laughed even harder.
Sunny could practically feel smugness radiating out of Fate's almost-whisper.
'I told you so,' it seemed to say.
Maybe he was miscalculating? Or maybe it wouldn't even be this night. It could very well be months or even years away for all he knew.
Hope tried to rise in his chest, and he snuffed it instantly.
It was a possibility, one that he did not discard. It was also something he couldn't bet on.
He had two weeks, no more, no less. Thinking anything else was just setting himself up for an untimely death.
A smile crept on his face; it was faint and deranged, filled with so much hate and resentment that it was a wonder it had taken shape at all.
Fate sure liked to play games.
Well, if it thought that he was just going to lie down and die, it would be sorely disappointed.
His heart beat faster, rising to a deafening roar that made him acutely aware of the blood thrumming through his veins. He welcomed it, he welcomed it with open arms. It was fuel, and he would need it for what was to come.
He laughed again, low and mirthful.
"Saint."
She turned instantly, ruby eyes shining with readiness.
"Find every Corrupted Beast in the city," Sunny ordered. "Bring me their shards."
A pang of sorrow arose in his chest at the order, but he squashed it instantly. They were people he might have called friends in the fake memories imposed on him, but they were gone, lost to corruption, and he wouldn't put their lives over his.
Saint merely nodded and smacked her gauntleted fist against her chestplate, a silent vow to carry him to victory no matter what awaited him.
"Serpent."
The shadow rose from his tattoo, the same promise gleaming in its eyes.
"Do the same for all Fallen."
Without hesitation, Serpent transformed into a Spire Messenger and shot into the sky.
Sunny smiled, this time genuinely. They were all he had left in the world, and he could only hope to one day be able to repay even a fraction of what they had done for him.
Unwilling to waste any of the little precious time he had left, he summoned the [Safebox of Greed], from which he immediately retrieved all of his arrows, as well as all the Ascended and even the one Transcendent shard he had. He retrieved Weaver's needle, too. He had tested it and found that it made weaving far easier, and he would need it for this.
Silver sparks cascaded over his shoulders, forming a blue mantle threaded with silver.
[The Essence of Combat] was a memory he wasn't particularly fond of. The speech recorded on its description was a little embarrassing -especially that part- and it also reminded him of someone he despised.
Its usefulness was undeniable, though. At a high cost in essence -good thing he had an infinite amount of it, then- it could slow down his perception of time. He couldn't move any faster, but he certainly could think twice as fast, which was sure to come in handy. He also aged at that speed, which made for a big caveat, but the amount was going to be small enough as to be negligible.
A pity the speed of thought did not influence the speed at which he could Awaken, or else he might have been able to pull that off.
He didn't bother to dwell on what-ifs. He had work to do after all.
Before starting his weaving, he summoned one more thing.
The [Midnight Shard] fell into his hand, and he quickly positioned it in front of him, where he could easily analyze its weave while he prepared the other memories.
The task before him was daunting, and yet, he was weirdly eager to face it.
"It's just a Third Nightmare," He found himself muttering.
It was sad, and a little funny, how nostalgic the words sounded.