"The city was surrounded by a great outer wall that protected it from the dark sea; most of it was destroyed and full of monsters, except for an area in the middle."
She paused for a moment and frowned, as if remembering it was difficult or painful.
"A second wall, though smaller, surrounded a kind of military camp that had a large castle in the middle where people lived. Inside the castle there was a great hall and a throne occupied by someone. And not much more, really..."
Sunny and Nephis exchanged relieved looks.
"Cassie, do you remember anything else?"
Cassie turned her head to the ground and put her hand on her chin.
"Honestly no, there's not much more. I know there were several thousand people, but…"
Sunny clenched his fists.
"Cass, try to remember, anything could be useful."
She stayed seated, turning her head from side to side trying to recall; her hand scratched her chin.
Both watched the seer expectantly, hoping the plan had worked.
Finally, after a few seconds, the pale-haired girl stopped and opened her eyes wide.
"I remember now!"
She pointed to her head.
"The man on the throne… He had a crown with a single gem in the center."
Sunny and Nephis jumped up and looked at each other.
"Seishan!"
Nephis nodded and said calmly.
"Yes, she succeeded in her mission."
Of course, the man Cassie spoke of was none other than the first Lord of the Shining Castle.
They were not going to let him die in vain and lose such a strong talent as he once was.
- - -
Seishan looked distressed at the scene before her: the two gods of humanity were now sitting side by side, sharing a coffee. Nephis, the Goddess of humanity, was leaning on the shoulder of the God of Shadows.
A deep, calm voice spoke, sounding as if the world itself had spoken.
"Seishan, first of all, thank you very much for helping us all this time."
Coming out of her trance she looked seriously at Sunless, who wore the terrifying mask of a Daemon.
"It's nothing, we all had to do our part. I'm the one who should thank you — if it weren't for you I'd be dead. So tell me, why did you call me?"
Sunny stopped weaving — at least one incarnation of him did — discarded the Weaver mask, revealing a beautiful face: pale, gleaming skin like a gemstone, and long black hair falling over his face.
He slowly raised a hand and pushed the locks away, revealing a pair of deep dark eyes; her skin prickled as if she were looking into the void itself, but she was calmed by a perfectly gentle smile on the man's face.
Sunny laced his hands and began to rub them; his gaze left Seishan and went to the horizon.
"A long, long time ago there was a man who, despite being only a sleeper, faced the atrocities of the Forgotten Coast, led the others of his kind in the liberation of the Shining Castle and established the only safe point in that hell."
Seishan looked confused — she had long let go of the Forgotten Coast more out of duty than choice.
Sunny's expression grew sour and he turned his attention back to Seishan.
"Unfortunately that man didn't live to tell the tale, and his talent was lost in the Nothing."
She stood there, still thoughtful, not understanding what the man meant; then her mind lit up with old memories.
"...The First Lord?"
Sunny nodded slowly, moving as little as possible so as not to wake Nephis.
"Yes… well, it turns out I need you to save him. I'll send you a little further into the past than the rest of us and I need you to find a way to save him; that man could be a very important piece for all of us."
Seishan contemplated her mission for a moment; although it didn't seem very complicated, Fate could make things very difficult.
"Alright, I'll try to do it."
She said with a determined expression, bowed and turned to leave.
Sunny summoned his mask again and continued weaving in the air.
"I wish you the best, Seishan."
- - -
The next day they set off; they had two more locations to go before reaching the ashen mound.
Sunny, although nervous, was also looking forward to this moment; even having seen it fall before, this would be different — now he'd see him as a sleeper.
The road to the great leviathan skeleton was calm, to say the least. They had already killed a large number of nightmare creatures in this area and the few that remained weren't much trouble for him and Nephis.
After a couple days' travel they reached the carcass; the closer they got, the tenser Sunny and Nephis became, which puzzled Cassie a bit — those two killed awakened creatures almost daily and in numbers that even an Awakened would struggle to keep up with.
So… what lay ahead that made even that pair of monsters feel threatened? To her relief she would soon find out.
Night fell and the sea rose; the three sleepers gathered in the center of their small camp — it was time to talk about their next move.
Sunny looked the girls in the eyes and spoke first; his tone was dark but tinged with nostalgia, which confused the seer even more.
"Well… Nephis and I discovered that further ahead there's an area free of monsters and crimson maze; we also think the city you spoke of is ahead."
Cassie got excited, about to celebrate, when Sunny interrupted her.
"However, there's also a danger we have to get through first: ahead there's a mound with a great tree that's being guarded by an Awakened Demon."
Cassie's excitement fell as she weighed her companion's words. An Awakened Demon was something to fear, but she believed it wouldn't be a major problem for her companions.
"But that's not the real problem here."
Cassie considered his words — what could be worse than an Awakened Demon? Only two answers: a Devil or a higher-class Awakened creature, or…
"The mound's tree is actually an Awakened Terror."
The girl's eyes widened; an Awakened Terror — a creature even common Awakened and Ascended would fear — but she didn't lose her composure.
"Then what will I do—"
"I'll go and finish it alone."
Cassie and Nephis turned to Sunny, their expressions a mixture of absolute bewilderment and even anger on one of their faces.
"Calm down, I'm not crazy; it's a decision I made because I'm the one most likely to kill it."
Cassie fell silent waiting for Sunny's arguments, but Nephis wasn't so calm.
"No, being three we have more chances."
Sunny looked at Nephis' serious face and smiled.
"Maybe, but you forget something: just as the tree controls the Crab, who says it won't be able to put us under its control?"
Nephis snapped.
"And why would you be the one to go?"
The corners of his mouth lifted further.
"Because of my memory: my armor gives me resistance to mental attacks, so I'm the one more likely to defeat it. And even if it ends up controlling me, I can be freed from its control more easily."
Both girls fell silent.
Although one of them was clearly unconvinced, in the end they couldn't argue him out of it.
"Alright, I'll stay a couple more days — I want to get a few more fragments before we leave."
- - -
During those two days he hunted as many creatures as he could; if he couldn't complete his second core, at least he wanted to get very close.
The sea began to rise; Sunny sat at the edge of the bone, looking west where the damned tree he hated stood. It was one of the creatures that had given him the worst time — the hatred he felt was immense.
'I'll finish you again soon and you'll rest peacefully in my soul.'
The sea finished rising, stopping a few centimeters from him; it stirred as if trying to reach him, though he knew it wasn't. Right now he did not matter to that sea.
'I'll kill you too, though it will take me a little longer.'
- - -
Nephis watched Sunny from a distance, or rather from where he'd been before all light went out with the arrival of night.
She approached hesitantly and stopped a meter away.
"If you don't give a sign I'll go the day after tomorrow."
Her words were met by darkness and silence, which lasted a few more seconds; she began to wonder if Sunny had left.
"Sun—"
A thin, cold hand rested on her cheek.
"Don't worry, it won't be a big problem."
Another hand rested on the back of her neck and pulled her head down toward the boy's face.
She could feel the warmth in front of her; they were very close, she could almost feel him. Then—
Their lips met and their warmth was shared; her mind cleared as if by magic and she closed her eyes softly.
They stayed like that for several seconds, enjoying each other's warmth and feeling each other; unfortunately for both, they separated.
Sunny looked into her eyes and said mischievously.
"After all, it's just a fallen Terror—what could it do to me, the God of Shadows?"
A smile spread across Nephis' face.
- - -
The ashen desert was interrupted by the march of an odd group.
The sand deformed where that branch of darkness passed; large grooves formed where a gigantic crab walked.
Behind them, the soft steps of a weak human seemed to ring out above everything else in the world; despite being the smallest and lowest-ranked among them, he was the most intimidating.
Not because he gave off a strong aura — quite the opposite — but because precise, calm concentration enveloped his whole body like an expert killer; no… like death itself coming to reap souls.
Ahead, a cloud of dust approached and with it a deformed, sadistic, giant crab came, intending to finish them.
'Come demon, I will give you the mercy of death.'
Serpent was the first to advance, facing the creature three ranks above her without hesitation.
The Shelled Demon sent one of its scythes directly at her; the serpent body of the shadow let her dodge easily, and she attacked one of the crab's legs at the same time.
A pincer flew to cut Serpent's head, then something heavy slammed into its enormous body and distracted it for a moment.
It turned furiously toward the cause; the scavenger's echo looked at it defiantly, without a shred of fear, let out a terrifying shriek and attacked again.
A terrifying scythe flew at the echo, trying to kill it in one blow; its strike was about to connect when it was stopped cold by Serpent's bite.
The Demon, clearly enraged, let out a deafening scream that forced its two opponents to stop — and that moment wasn't wasted. In a completely fierce and deadly attack, it launched its four limbs at the pair of beasts.
Serpent managed to dodge the scythe and took the pincer full on; she survived, though barely; her scales were battered and several cracked.
Unfortunately, the echo didn't have the same luck; the scythe hit its side legs directly, sending them flying and leaving it defenseless before the powerful attack aimed at its head.
The pincer fell with enormous weight — there was no way to dodge, so it used its two remaining pincers to try to block the blow, which worked only partly; both pincers were shattered, ethereal chitin and repulsive flesh rained down.
Without giving it time to react, it sent its scythe again to reap its life, approaching the defenseless echo to try to tear it apart — but instead it met sand.
The scythe passed through the ground and stuck deep into it; the Demon was baffled and for a few moments didn't react — and that was all Sunny needed.
While the echo and Serpent distracted it, he used the opening to circle around and position himself behind the enemy. He waited for the moment; he didn't rush, he didn't hesitate when he attacked — he just stayed there calculating the precise moment to finish the terrible creature.
And that moment came: he dismissed the echo just in time and began to run, jumped with all his might and gripped the hilt of the Azure Sword. The Demon realized this and tried to turn to defend itself, but it was too late.
Sunny stood firmly atop the creature, grabbed his sword with both hands and drove it into the demon's head; the sound was clean, more like what a butcher would make than a bloody battle.
Drops of blue fell to the ground and the demon's face softened little by little, as if a layer of mist had been lifted from its mind. It looked at Sunny with those eyes and died.
The gigantic body collapsed to the ground, raising dust. Sunny remained still, immovable atop the fallen beast.
In his past life the battle against this thing had been fatal; it was one of the most terrifying creatures he'd met on the Forgotten Coast — and that said a lot about both it and Sunny.
But still, the fight lasted less than a minute — in fact, less than half a minute. He looked at his sword dripping blue blood and smiled; now he was strong, much stronger.
'Ah… and to think this Demon almost cost us our lives — this world is certainly something...'
He raised his head and looked at the great tree that rose before him like an insurmountable wall; that's how it felt in his old life, but now it was just another step on the road.
He discarded the Azure Sword and ordered his Shadow to wrap around him; the Serpent, wounded by the battle, withdrew to its sea of souls.
He walked toward the ashen mound with determination — the damned tree was going to die today, and he would take care of it personally.
(End of the first part of Forgotten Shore)
- - -
[I seem to remember the tree was a Awakened Terror, correct me if I'm wrong.]