The grand throne of the Jade Palace stood as pristine and white as they ever had been, the normally occupied seat was now empty as the main body of the ruler of Ravenheart was in the waking world.
But the room still had someone in it, he stood ever vigilant. His normally lively eyes were now deep and dark, a consequence of the latest occurrences.
He was waiting for quite a while… Until his Queen returned.
Ki Song appeared on her throne suddenly, sitting on it with her eyes closed.
Her simple arrival changed the room itself, it was almost as if the walls started bleeding, and the other figure in the room felt he could have the very autonomy of his body snapped away from him…
But he knew she wouldn't.
Divine Strategist looked up to the Raven Queen, squinting his golden eyes in something akin to anger.
"My Queen, due to the recent events, I must talk to you."
Ki Song opened her eyes, looking down at the Saint, the cold detachment of a Sovereign returning as a dignified, yet serious expression returned to her beautiful face.
"Jin, you may speak."
Divine Strategist took a deep breath, then exhaled, ready to talk.
"I will enforce once again, I do not believe Immortal Flame joining Valor is a wise decision. Especially now considering the death of Rain's foster parents."
The Sovereign of Ravenheart stared at her counselor unflinching, waiting for him to continue.
"We both know Sunless has feelings for the girl, and the way things went, Valor knows as well, what guarantee do we have that they will trust her? Not to mention that, from what Seishan told us, she is very emotional, what will the knowledge of Rain's suffering do to her?"
Ki Song did not utter a single word. Only staring at the Saint with her deep, dead, red eyes.
Her silence was to the point Jin began to doubt she was even there. He sighed, putting his hands behind his back.
"We can't run from our regrets. You'll have to face her someday, especially if you want Sunless to be happy with her."
Divine Strategist peered into the blood red eyes once again, they were still unmoving.
"You and Blade know Anvil better than I do, and I don't doubt the King of Swords would secure the girl. What I don't trust are the elders of Valor, they will merely use the girl as a pawn to use her followers. Speaking of which, I also have concerns about how many will join Valor on the mere fact the Immortal Flame was–"
"You have made your point Jin."
Her voice cut him like a dark dagger. Interrupting his line of thought as he widened his eyes and bowed deeply.
"Forgive me…"
"No need, I understand your concerns… And agree with them."
Divine Strategist looked up once again.
The Queen had no reaction, it was obvious from her face alone that she was feeling a certain longing.
"But what she chooses is out of my control. All of this planning was merely on the principle that Changing Star's choice to infiltrate Valor would permeate from the Heir of Weaver's vision."
She straightened and began to look down, obscuring part of her face with her cascading raven-black hair.
"A vision she only had once, an unpredictable future. So forget about her for the moment and focus on what is important at the present. Understood?"
Her tone presented finality, making it clear the matter was settled… For now.
Jin was not one to contest with the Queen, so he simply sighed and nodded.
"As you wish…"
Ki Song raised her head and stared at the Saint.
"What is the situation in the waking world?"
As her puppets were scattered all throughout her Domain, there was no need to inform the Raven Queen about the status of the front lines, she was already there after all, in the form of the dead corpses under her control.
But as for the waking world, she needed her subordinates to inform her of the situation.
"Not much is different, Cor is preparing for the Chain of Nightmares, he was surprised at our initiative to help… Even more so with Valor's lack of one."
A smile grew on the Queen's beautiful face.
"He took the bait."
"... The bait, my Queen?"
"Of course, I did a little… Provocation. Now Anvil is more hesitant, he'll take longer to mobilize to Antarctica. Eventually he will present himself, but at that point we'll already have a good image with the Government's soldiers, and soldiers talk Jin… Especially when they feel observed, or ignored. And so do the civilians that are rescued."
Divine Strategist couldn't help but laugh lightly, with a mere provocation, she planned to take advantage of paranoia and make Anvil into a weaker position with the population of Antarctica and the Government forces.
That is how she planned to make up for the gap of forces between Valor and Song. By using the Awakened born and empowered by the Chain of Nightmares.
Such a scheming woman…
She continued on with her questioning.
"Have you secured enough Memories for Sunny's Shadows?"
Jin sighed, this matter again.
"Yes! In fact, we made sure to get even more in case the little Shade gets even more Shadows in the Nightmare!"
Jin rolled his eyes.
"Really Ki, I know Sunless has a Divine Aspect and all, but it's not like he will…"
He stopped completely.
The investment in the Shadow Echoes.
The capture of the many nightmare creatures to let Sunny kill them all and thus accelerate his evolution.
The insistence on checking his evolution. On getting the Divine Lineage of Shadow.
Him leading on Antarctica.
Hel's visions…
It went further than simply making him stronger, she wanted to…
Divine Strategist stared at Ki Song once again, she was smiling…
"No… He won't accept this. They won't!"
The smile didn't leave her face. In fact, the sad smile widened, a humorless, sad, depressive smile.
"Calm down Jin, I'm only preparing, not plunging to the abyss. Moreover, I committed too many sins, I cannot just live without paying for them, besides, Divinity has taken too much of a tool on me. Living without a real body does that to someone…"
"You don't need to do this! Even if that was the case, humanity needs a Sovereign until then! If not–"
"But we will not lose any Sovereigns."
Divine Strategist took a step back.
"What?"
The Raven Queen chuckled.
"Life… Is such a Divine Comedy…"
— —
The Divine Strategist angrily got out of the throne room, he wasn't satisfied with the idea, regardless of how much sense.
'Fate, Fate, Fate! Why is it always Fate!?'
The damn dominion of Fate was always there, always demanding, and always controlling.
And every time he tried to go against it, he they just ended up in the same place, or even a worse place.
He started to walk, stomping the ground, a thousand thoughts in his head. Slowly, he stopped, and breathed in, closing his eyes.
Opening them, the rage was replaced with calm. He started to walk steadily towards his quarters, he was a general after all, he couldn't show anger like this, he needed to follow his own advice.
He opened the door of his quarters and closed.
Of course, it was only the room that he used when he was in Ravenheart, as someone who spent too much time on the waking world or the front lines, the time he went to the Great Citadel was only to report to the Raven Queen, organize future strategies, or, in the past, train the children of the Queen… Something he'll probably do once again…
He proceeded to the edge of the room, where a big window showed the whole city of Ravenheart.
A set of eight chessboards were placed on a table next to the window, forever placed on matches he always did against his students.
It was a way to test them, each time any of them returned to the Jade Palace, they needed to make one move, then, he would make his own once he returned.
The practicality of it was questionable, he was pretty sure Howl barely moved anything, but oh well, in his own personal way, Jin felt he could keep the connection with his little students. He was always the white pieces, they were always the black.
Today, five pieces moved.
Revel, Seishan, Eunbin, Hel, and Sunless.
Revel's board was still on the beginning as they had just restarted, she had advanced her knights in such a way to try and threaten multiple of his pieces at once, trying to cripple Jin's position quickly to not let him use them to their whole potential.
'Still seeing chess as a personal combat. Well, who am I to judge?'
He placed his pawn forward, freeing his queen and making Revel's strategy a little harder to complete.
Seishan had moved her bishop to flank his queen, leaving his King in a discovery check with her rook, leaving him no choice but to sacrifice his queen…
'Clever girl.'
He did as she wanted, taking the king off the check and leaving his queen wide open. Eventually, she would defeat him… If she doesn't hesitate to sacrifice some pieces.
Eunbin was close to promoting her pawns, wanting to make up for her past mistakes as she made multiple pieces to make her plays, leaving her with little options.
'You still need to value your weapons little Bin.'
He moved his knight to block the path of the pawn, Jin would be the winner this time.
Hel… She moved her king forward, right in line for a checkmate. Jin looked at the board multiple times, and it didn't make sense, it was illogical…
'I will have to question her later…'
Hel was quite the unique little girl, one that also suffered with Fate… But in a much different way… The worst way. He simply checked the king with his rook.
And finally, Sunless.
Jin chuckled.
He almost won.
If only he had sacrificed his queen, he would have opened the way to his victory…
A frown formed in the Divine Strategist brows, looking down at the board and comparing it to real life…
Sunless couldn't sacrifice even in a game.
A chilling laugh infiltrated his ears as a new person entered the room.
"Teacher… Why so sad?!"
Jin turned around, and slowly looked at the dark eyes of the petite girl that dealt with so much and pretended to be innocent and carefree…
The Death Singer.
"You won after all!"
A sigh came over Jin.
"I don't want to win little Hel, I want him to learn, and eventually defeat me. It is the wish of any good teacher for the student to surpass them."
"HAHA! Really?! You think Sunny will surpass you?!"
Jin chuckled once again, smiling with a certain longing.
"Yes… Charon, Selene, Hendren, even your mother… We want you all to surpass us, you eventually will, some already have."
It was genuine, if Jin had one wish in his life, it was that his students became better than him, he wants Sunless to be a better man, a better person, someone that leads far better than he does.
Jin never had any children, the only woman he allowed himself to love… Died in his arms in the Third Nightmare, a death he saw so many times, tried to prevent it in so many ways… And it all ended the same way. He accepted that he would never be truly happy in this Godforsaken Realm.
So the least he could do is make his students happy.
Hel twitched her head curiously, as if that sentence made no sense to her. Or like that was an impossibility.
But she soon regained her usual demeanor and basically jumped to one of the chessboards, her chessboard.
"Oh! You checkmated me! I have no other options left!"
Her tone was sarcastic, feigning ignorance like she made a genuine misplay.
Divine Strategist breathed in as his longing was replaced with a stern posture.
"I already taught you little Hel, lying is a good tool, but far from perfect."
"Yes, yes! I know! But I wanted to see your angry face before I die! It is so rare to! So I used your talk with my mother!"
Jin sighed, figuring it was one more of her…
He stopped, and gazed at Hel.
"What do you mean 'I'? And how did you…"
Hel always talked about other people dying, but never herself, or at least she always included herself in other people. And for her to know what the conversation with the Raven Queen entailed…
Death Singer touched her black king, letting the blood on her hand soak the piece, and forced it to drop, surrendering the match.
Then she laughed. Laughed loudly.
"Haha… Ha… HAHAHAHAHAHAA!!"
She laughed so much Jin got spoked.
Because what began as a laugh of elation…
Became a laugh of suffering. A SCREAM.
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
She gripped her hair, she gripped it so hard she began pulling them, she let the blood on her hands defile her beautiful raven-black hair and dropped to the ground, as if in great pain.
Crying intensely for the first time in years.
Jin hesitated in shock, but quickly recovered and rushed to his student.
"Hel!"
He crouched next to her, holding her as she cried. Holding for what it felt like an eternity.
Until Hel stopped, and started to breathe normally.
Trying to console her, he touched her hair softly. He looked around, wondering where the voice of Ki Song was.
"Damn it Ki! Your daughter is-!"
"She won't hear you… She's not watching… At the moment."
Divine Strategist widened his eyes and looked at the girl who now looked at him.
"Hey teacher… Do you want to change Fate? No, even better, do you want to break Fate?"
— — —
Sunny dreamt of boundless blue skies.
Beneath them, a patchwork of islands floated in the air, laid on the backdrop of velvety darkness like a beautiful mosaic. Some islands were verdant and green, some were desolate and empty, and some were covered by ancient ruins, the weathered stones overgrown by moss.
All of them were bound by colossal iron chains that rattled loudly as the islands rose and fell, hovering above the abyss, boundless nothing beneath them.
A lone island soared above that tear, seven torn chains hanging from its slopes, a beautiful white pagoda standing on its surface in a mantle of clouds.
Suddenly, the sun rolled backward, soon disappearing behind the eastern horizon.
The skies darkened, and then were illuminated again as a radiant moon streaked across them, swift enough to turn into a blurry trail of light.
A moment later, it was day again, and then, it was night once more. The skies kept changing again and again without pause, flowing in time.
The islands slowly changed their shapes, as ruins rose from the ground and assembled into unwavering structures, stars started to burn, and the abyss grew hotter.
One after another, fallen islands rose from that annihilating light, the chains that had tethered them to the rest of the mosaic repairing themselves.
Soon, the tear in its center was no more, and instead, a vast ashen wasteland of scorched isles appeared in its place. The Ivory Tower descended from high above, taking its place at the very heart of the wasteland.
An instant later, the ashes were no more, revealing a breathtaking aerial city that sprawled across dozens of islands, all of them connected to each other by arching bridges and overflowing aqueducts built out of pristine white stone, with vibrant flags fluttering in the wind and sparkling waterfalls flowing into the abyss below.
Slowly, Sunny's gaze was pulled west, toward the very edge of the Chained Isles. There, one of the Great Chains anchored them to the lands beyond, and a mighty fortress stood at the precipice, similar to the other border strongholds he had seen before.
The island next to it resembled a vast stone bowl, with rows of seats cut into its weathered white slopes and a circular arena laying at its bottom, painted dull red.
And much further than that was an island with a strange temple where shadows ruled. It was surrounded by a forest that enveloped the whole island.
That was where Sunny was.
Falling face first into the ceiling.
'Damnation!'
He braced himself.
As he was seconds away from crashing into the ground, he noticed that, as he was putting his arms first, he didn't have any arms.
Before he could process the information, he crashed.
The building would suffer a lot of damage after an Awakened Terror plunged itself into it with the help of gravity.
But it hadn't even dented, not the wood, not the columns, not even the very ceiling he hit had anything.
Sunny's mind raced, trying to catch a breath…
'Wait, why am I…'
He wasn't breathing.
He searched through his body, trying to understand why he wasn't suffocating and found nothing.
In fact, he really didn't find anything, because there was nothing to be found.
He had no body, no blood, no lungs, no heart, skin, bone… Nothing.
He was a mist. The Nightmare had put him in the body of a Shadowspawn that had transformed its own body into shadows itself… A Terror.
He didn't have a mouth, or vocal cords, not even eyes. The deep shadow mist itself was his eyes, he was able to see all through it.
The 'body' was all throughout the ceiling, leaking, scattered, a cloud without connections.
And that…
Made Sunless terrified.
He couldn't feel, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't shift around or turn his head.
He couldn't do anything, he was panicking.
His 'body' was still moving, still scattering, a subtle irritation clawed at his mind. But none of that was under his control, so he paid no mind at the moment.
Sunny was too occupied… Suffering internally.
It was torture, it was like his autonomy was taken away…
It was like he was back at the Dollhouse.
'No, no, NO! I am over that already!'
Or at least he thought so it was like the Dollhouse. Soon, the feeling of numbness became pain as the body of shadows continued to scatter away.
Incredible… Destructive pain.
The shadows were his body, and the body was scattering. So he felt pain.
He tried to focus, to manipulate something, but shift something, even to try and understand, to do anything!
But it was all useless.
All he could do was scream silently as the shadows moved, and tore him apart.
For hours, the shadows continued to move.
They scattered further into the ceiling.
They didn't rise, or mend, or reconstruct.
The shadows around didn't react, as they received no command.
Their master was the shadows, and the shadows weren't in danger.
He wasn't in danger.
Yet he was in the most agonizing pain, because of his own nature.
He wanted to scream, but he had no mouth to do so.
For seemingly hours, Sunny had no control of the body he inhabited.
For hours, he felt extreme pain.
For hours… He was alone in his own personal hell.
Until…
[Darkness]: "What kind of brother are you?! You didn't even say goodbye!"
Sunny widened his eyes… At least he thought he did.
'What…?'
[Darkness]: "Sunny, please, I know I wasn't able to talk much in the last weeks, but…"
Sunny was finally able to summon his runes… Was he able to do that before? Why didn't he do that…?
[Darkness]: "Oh… Is this about the reports? Sorry… You must be pretty angry, but to be fair! You will be in the Nightmare for a couple of months!"
He tried to reach for the runes, but he had no body…
[Darkness]: "Or is this about 'Shadow Empire'? Did that girl tell you?!!"
Too much pain…
[Darkness]: "Sunny…? Are you alright?"
He tried again and again… As if trying to reach for Revel's runes…
Until he remembered he didn't need to write anything.
[Shadow]: "R-ev…?"
[Darkness]: "Sunny! What took you so long? Are you in the Nightmare?!
He needed to be precise, he was suffering too much, he could barely focus, and the pain was harrowing, but he had to do it.
[Shadow]: "Y-es… Diff-ent… Bo-dy.."
[Darkness]: "How much different?!"
[Shadow]: "No-t… Hum-an… S-Sha-dow… M-is-t…"
[Shadow]: "P-ai-n…"
A couple seconds passed… Or minutes? Perhaps several hours?
[Darkness]: "Calm. Down. You need to control yourself, find a way to do so. Try to imagine that you became shadows like when you are with your Awakened Ability.
If it doesn't work, try to summon your Memories, or go into the shadows with your Ability!"
Sunny stared at the runes, and tried to do so. Trying to imagine his new body as if he was using Shadow Step to escape the current situation…
But he couldn't, when he became shadows, he still had the same body, human body, he could still feel where he was, he was still held together.
Now? He was scattered, a body strange to himself.
Then he tried to summon his Memories, also useless, the weapons dropped on the floor, and even the uniform didn't stick to his body, simply floating out of it.
He tried to get into the shadows, but even that didn't change the situation, only where he was, or on the ceiling, or in the shadows of the ceiling.
[Shadow]: "N-o… Us-e-!"
A moment passed, he was sure Revel must be cursing right about now…
[Darkness]: "Sunny, listen to me! You are currently in a body made of shadows, that means you are nothing, but you can become anything!
You only need to focus and slowly form yourself to your liking!"
[Shadow]: "Bu-t… I… Can-'t…"
[Darkness]: "You can! Just like the Saints transform their bodies, just like I control my own body… Just try, little, by little. Until you remake your body."
Sunny gazed at the runes with great pain running through him…
But he did so.
He focused on the parts of him that had already dropped from the ceiling to the ground.
He focused on them, and as if lifting a limb, he put all his force into it.
Ignoring all the pain, he tried to control his body as if he controlled the shadows. Ordering himself to lift.
To climb, to reconstruct.
And the shadows that made up his body moved as well, going up a little.
[Shadow]: "I-It… W-ork-ed! A… Litt-le…"
[Darkness]: "Excellent! Now the rest, go, take as much time as you need. If nothing has attacked you by now, there must not be any danger, but stay vigilant."
[Shadow]: "Ple-as-e… St-ay…"
[Darkness]: "I will, I'm not going anywhere. Take as much time as you need."
As such, Sunny started his slow, methodical, reconstruction of his body.
Bit by bit, he controlled his body to reform, all the while he had to ignore all the pain of having your very body being torn apart.
It took hours for a single part of the shadows to finally go back to the ceiling. A little bit of the pain was relieved.
Revel was still there, answering every time he asked something.
It took days for all the parts to return to the ceiling.
Revel was still there.
He had finally received a message from Seishan.
[Blood]: "Sunny, what is your location? Sorry for taking so long, I arrived in the middle of a battle."
[Shadow]: "N-ot… No-w!... Bo-d-y of a T-er-ror… Re-con-stru-cting…"
[Blood]: "I should have known… Where are you?"
[Shadow]: "D-on'-t… K-now! Jus-t… Forg-et… A-bo-ut… Me… F-or… N-ow… Re-v… He-lpi-ng…"
Seishan seemed to understand, as she did not send any other messages.
[Darkness]: "Sunny? Keep going, you can't stop until your parts stop scattering."
[Shadow]: "I… Kn-o-w!"
For a week, he kept reforming, receiving periodical messages from Seishan, just telling Sunny she was fine and there was no need to worry about her.
After weeks, he was finally able to control enough to keep his shadow body from scattering… The constant rising pain had stopped, now, only a constant, minor one remained, but even that one was slowly ending as he put his body closer and closer together.
Now, a big mass of shadows remained on the ceiling of the temple-like building.
[Darkness]: "Alright, now you need to form your body. In a way you are able to constantly in the same form, your form, preferably."
[Shadow]: "Alright… Al-right…"
Now started the hard part: making his body and maintaining his body.
Thankfully, the shadows that made up his new body were real, as in: they were manifested into the world. The reason he had been scattered like this in the beginning of the Nightmare was probably because the owner of this body had transformed into a mist before Sunny took over.
Meaning the owner fell from high ground and scattered his body to not receive fall damage. The question was why was Sunny even suffering pain to begin with, since he doubted the original owner would do this knowing he would suffer…
Or did he really do this because he wanted to?
Either way, the shadows were solid, meaning they could be made into a 'normal' body.
But for Sunny to do that… It took weeks.
He began by forming the overall shape of his body, rather than forming limb from limb, he'd thought that making the shape to only then make the details was more practical.
So he started to connect the shadows of his body, imagining them stitching together like a piece of clothing.
It was a torturous slow process, but it was getting faster as he got better at controlling his mist body.
As the days passed, he was eventually able to solidify a form of a pitch black manequim, no face or detail of any kind, a plain body that didn't even have fingers or toes.
[Shadow]: "I think I'll use my uniform to help maintain the body."
[Darkness]: "It's a good idea, keep your Memory manifested, It will help, especially in fights when you'll have to pay attention to many things at once."
With the idea in mind, he summoned the [Mantle of Shadows]. And it indeed helped, even if it didn't really maintain his body, it helped Sunny's concentration.
With the overall body formed, he began the details. Fingers, toes, hair, joints…
Everything that made up the external body of a human.
[Shadow]: "Should I try to build an internal body? Or even make a nose or mouth?"
[Darkness]: "Do you even need those things…? Well, a bone structure could help you unconsciously, but technically you don't have a body to begin with, so not being bound by a form could help in battle if you can control yourself enough. Even then, think about the form you have: you don't breathe or talk, you don't need a nose, mouth, not even eyes if you think about it…
Why are you making hair?"
[Shadow]: "... I don't want to be bald."
[Darkness]: "... Fair."
With all of this in mind, he decided to only make an external form and let his internal body be made from pure shadows. It could make it tricky to maintain the form, but it could help in the long run.
His face would remain a plain slate of shadows, no eyes, nose or mouth. But even with saving time by not making these intricate details, it took a long time to build himself.
As such, it took Sunny two months to finally make the image of his own, real body, now, made of shadows.
A pitch black individual stood upwards on the ceiling of the building.
The uniform contrasted his body, and fully incorporated his new form of shadows, it also gave him the idea of the limits of his body.
He began to move, finally, after months, being able to control his body as he wished, the mist had become his to control. He was the mist of shadows.
He took one step forward… And his form was maintained.
He took another, and another…
He was walking normally.
He looked at his arms, they were there.
He summoned his odachi, it took some effort, but he was holding it normally.
He was whole.
He still couldn't breathe or talk, or even feel anything really, but compared to before… He was good, he could see with his 'eyes', hear somehow, and feel with his Shadow Sense.
[Shadow]: "I did it Rev… I'm walking normally…"
[Darkness]: "YES! Good job! Now kick this Nightmare's ass!!"
[Darkness]: "I mean… Defeat this Nightmare and come home safe. I have to go, but if you need anything just say!"
[Shadow]: "I will… Thank you Rev… Really."
He still had to get used to it a lot, he was constantly controlling the shadow-made body to maintain this form, but he was already in a good state to fight.
Looking down, he could finally see his companions.
Gloomy, Happy, Creepy, Haughty, Naughty and Crazy had been just like him, a mass of shadows beneath him. Now, they were once again as his shadows, but now they were a mass of shadows, not having any defined form.
'Shame, I wanted to see their reactions.'
He still kind of could, but they showed them by rippling in the shadows, so he could only guess really.
Sunny finally looked up, finally able to look around. He was in a kind of temple, one surrounded by a deep forest that made the…
An irritation suddenly entered his mind, a strange sensation of wanting to sleep-
He immediately sent all his shadow helpers to wrap around himself. Strengthening the [Stalwart] enchantment of his shell.
He was familiar with this, a mind attack.
It must have been as strong as the Fallen Terror's of the Box, he felt sleepy, faltering, he almost fell over…
But he planted his feet down and stood strong. He couldn't just fall asleep in the middle of nowhere!
He was able to compose himself, yet it was at great effort, the mind attack was harrowing, intense. But he couldn't stand down.
A pool of shadows was given birth beneath him as Sunny summoned his Shadows.
Saint and Igris flourished their blades to meet whatever was there. As they were immune to mind attacks, they were the perfect warriors for this case.
The wooden ceiling of the building shook and it supported the weight of two Shadow Saints in full heavy armor before they used their abilities to make themselves lighter.
Serpent rested in its tattoo form on his shadow body, totally invisible in the pitch, black body. Making his essence efficiency skyrocket.
And then he waited.
The three looked around, waiting…
They waited for some time.
Until Sunny sensed a Shadow right behind him.
He turned, brandishing his odachi together with his two Shadows.
Pointing his sword towards two shining red eyes.
And the owner of those eyes was a grand steed. A magnificent black steed, tall and graceful, standing with the silent menace of a creature born from shadow.
Its lustrous coat gleamed like polished onyx over lean, powerful muscles, while its long mane flowed like living darkness around its neck. Beneath a heavy brow, its eyes burned with cold crimson fire. Two immense horns crowned its head, framing a wolfish muzzle lined with cruel, obsidian fangs. Even its hooves were forged from the same unnatural black metal.
It stood motionless, merely staring its angry eyes at Sunny, as if judging him.
It was a Shadow, the same way Remnant was a Shadow.
Sunny could feel the hostility coming from the stead, it was totally different from all other Shadows he encountered, who were always friendly with him.
Even then… He decided to slowly lower his weapon.
The Shadow… He was feeling a deep, madness rage coming from it, but at the same time, underneath it all, a feeling of loneliness seemed to fill the creature…
Sunny couldn't talk, so he simply dismissed his odachi and took a step forward.
The steed furrowed its brows, showing the wolf-like fangs to him, which made Saint and Igris react, raising their guards even more.
But Sunny raised his hand to stop them from advancing. Sending a mental command to stand down.
'Wait… I think I can do this…'
Saint and Igris gave each other a look, but decided to stand their ground and follow their master's orders, but still maintaining their guards up, shield and sword in hand, ready to fight.
Sunny raised his arms, showing his hands and putting a harmless stance, the steed still glared at him, but a little of the hostility was lost.
So Sunny took another step. The horse didn't react, so he took one more.
He took some more steps until he was at arms distance away from the steed.
The eyes of the steed seemed to squint at him, as if trying to recognize who he was, feeling that something was strange with him.
'Probably because I'm the Heir of Shadows…'
Sunny raised his hand towards the steed and slowly moved to touch the bridge of their face.
The steed reacted… But it didn't turn.
It slowly began twisting its head, looking at the being before it more clearly…
Sunless approached… And touched the dark steed, he felt it, what had happened…
The gaze of the steed was filled with centuries of mournful rage, of anger.
'Why?'
Because the steed lost their master, their Lord, they were faithful, they had been loyal… But in the end…
'I understand...'
How could he understand? He didn't pass through the same.
'Then help me understand.'
Sunny released all shadows from himself. Leaving him open to the steed's mind attack.
Soon, he felt his mind wander…
And fell into a dream.
—
In reality only a moment passed, but for Sunless, he had spent hours, months, years… In the dreams made by the Shadow.
He had lived through countless lives, battled thousands of battles, died dozens of times…
All with the black steed as witnesses.
He saw the steeds life in one of the dreams as well, the suffering they when through and the rage they eventually felt to.
And after so many dreams… He waked up to see the eyes of the steed, not showing the same rage as it had before. They were… Calmer.
Sunless had survived so many nightmares, and his soul never gave up. He woke up every time and found the steed every time.
'You don't need to wander anymore, I'll give you a place to live.'
The steed looked once more at the Heir of Shadows, and closed their eyes.
They were slowly absorbed slowly into the grand soul sea of the Divine Shadow.
[You have gained a Shadow.]
Sunny let out a non-existent breath of relief as he looked back at the two Shadow Saints, giving them a thumbs up.
They didn't seem surprised. They were actually kind of indifferent.
'Ahh, you guys don't know what I went through. Well, the Shadow suffered a lot… Might as well give them some time.'
Sunny let a few moments pass before straightening and nodding to himself.
He would check his new Shadow's runes afterwards. After all, he could feel the new Shadow was in some sort of evolution, probably the same thing all the others passed after he became a Terror, given he couldn't summon the steed.
'Alright, now, returning to the matter at hand. Where the f*ck am I?'
None of the islands he visited in the Dream Realm seemed like this one, and there were no noticeable landmarks unfortunately.
He would need to do this the old fashioned way, by foot.
But before that, he opened his runes and went to his connections.
[Shadow]: "Shan, I was able to build myself, I don't know where I am but I'm not in any danger."
Sending the message to Seishan, he turned to Nephis.
Now that he thought about it, it was strange, why would she not send anything for two months.
Suddenly… Fear creeped onto his mind.
'Did something happen to her?!'
He quickly turned to her connection and began sending a message.
[Shadow]: "Neph? Are you there?"
He waited for some moments.
Nothing.
[Shadow]: "Neph… Please answer me."
Still nothing.
[Shadow]: "Neph!!"
He waited and waited… Nothing.
Wherever she was, she couldn't answer him.
He gripped his hair made of shadows and panicking.
'What could possibly interfere with the connection?! Maybe… A runic array? Was she trapped somewhere?'
If that was the case… Fine, her runes were still there, it meant she was still alive, that was good. Even then, he needed to find her, quickly, otherwise something could happen to her…
'Agh, I can't worry about her now, she can take care of herself, I need to…'
Sunny felt something.
He turned west, someone was coming.
And for some reason, Sunny wanted to kill him.
— — —
The Shadowspawn cursed internally as he stumbled onto the temple grounds.
He could barely stand, it wasn't enough that he spent two months imprisoned in a coliseum of a bunch of war mongers where he was forced to fight for something as twisted as 'glory'... But that damn Solvain had killed Elias and ripped one of his hearts!
Two months, two months killing and surviving with his… Friend. And finally escaping… Only for a War Pristress to kill his friend and then leave him for dead.
For better or for worse, an insane man named Noctis said he would repair his heart if he reached this place, or something like that, he wasn't really paying attention.
The Shadowspawn raised itself. His great height, muscles and strength shaking over his great wounds. Trying to realign himself with his four arms.
Taking in a deep breath, he walked forward, his dark lance searching for any–
He felt something.
Suddenly, the pain of his heart disappeared, for adrenaline or something else, as soon as he felt someone, it all went away.
He looked above, there was someone above the temple.
And for some reason, the Shadowspawn wanted to kill him.