Sunny stepped out from the shadows and into Cassie's office. There was no one else here but the two of them. Cassie was already looking up at him from her desk, her hands were still on a braille document.
"Sunny?"
"Hey, Cas." He greeted her with a flippant smile, summoning a chair from the shadows to sit opposite of her.
"Did you need something?" Her expression was one of curiosity, and though he could not read minds, Sunny was sure her head was going through countless mental arithmetics to discern his purpose today.
He shrugged.
"You said Nephis and I were special exceptions, that it is unlikely anyone else will achieve what we had. Yet, Mordret exists. He, too, managed to do what we did — natural supremacy."
Cassie was silent for a moment.
"Mordret is a Divine Aspect holder, just like you and Neph."
Sunny shook his head and scoffed. "So what? That doesn't mean you cannot do the same. What matters isn't the rank of your Aspect, you know that."
"I do. But still."
"And you are not any less determined than we are." He paused, then added, "Trust me, I would know."
Despite their mutual goal of defying fate, long ago, it was Cassie who had taken action. She was determined to change the future, because the future she saw was too horrid and terrible for her to bear. It was her greatest desire to make sure the future she saw would not become reality.
And she had succeeded. She had changed fate. Sunny was proof of her achievements.
"But just that is not enough to become Supreme. To be Supreme is to have a conviction so strong the world is compelled to submit to you. And your conviction, Cassie, is very strong."
It was, after all, conviction that had allowed her to do the things she did to achieve her goal.
Cassie stared at him through her blindfold. Then, she spoke slowly, "What about my supreme act of defiance?"
There was a pause.
"It's simple, really."
Sunny smiled crookedly.
"Just defy me."
- - -
"Defy… you?" Her voice was but a whisper.
Cassie wished she could see his face right now, to study his expression, but there was no one else around for her to use her ability on. She could only see herself through Sunny's eyes.
"Yes."
Her brows creased slightly as she looked at the man before her. Or at least, look at where he should be, as she cannot see him.
This man, who had appeared from seemingly nowhere in the middle of Godgrave, over three years ago, to bait the Sovereigns of old, Ki Song and Anvil; who had seamlessly integrated himself into their cohort in the same amount of time as though he had always belonged there; who had gained their trust so easily as though it was only natural to do so.
This man who is Nephis' significant other, her partner, her lover. This man, who is also a brother figure to Cassie herself. This man, who invoked a mysterious sense of familiarity deep within her whenever he was around.
She wanted to ask, How could this be possible? but she didn't. Because she knew. For some reason, this man had been forgotten by the world. They had forgotten him. But though the mind forgets, the soul…
The soul remembers.
She sucked in a breath. "You want me to remember you."
It was a statement, not a question.
Sunny didn't answer, but Cassie knew he was still there; she was still staring at herself through his eyes. He had not moved at all in the past few minutes.
Her mind raced.
Cassie knew her memory was broken. She could not properly recall anything from just before the Solstice when she was sent to the Forgotten Shore so many years ago up to the end of her Third Nightmare. It was like she was permanently disjointed and incomplete, no matter how hard she tried to piece her past back together.
Her visions had also become inaccurate and chaotic. She could no longer see the future, and that had left her in despair for a long time. She couldn't figure out why or how it happened.
Until she met Sunny, or more specifically, Master Sunless. In that instant, she understood why her ability had become useless.
There was a man-shaped hole in the tapestry of fate. An unknown, external variable.
With that she deduced whatever happened, whatever caused Sunny to be forgotten, and for the future to be so chaotic, also caused her memories to become fragmented. She realized that her life, for a long time, was centered around Sunny, and thus when he was erased from the world, so were her memories…
But…
An idea formed in her mind then. A vague feeling that she knew now what she had to do, and how to do it.
She turned her attention back to Sunny. She saw, through his eyes, the faint downturn curl of her lips, the furrow in her brows, like she was thinking too hard about something. Her hands reached up to slide away her blindfold, revealing her glassy eyes that did not see.
"Show me, then." She told him, "Show me who exactly you are to us, to me."
And though she could not see him she could feel the grin on his pale face, feel his dark excitement.
She activated her transformation, and then the world changed.
- - -
Sunny took a deep breath, and then relaxed himself. He obliged Cassie's request, and showed her his memories, from the very moment they first met, back at the academy, so many years ago. It felt like it happened lifetimes ago.
He guided her to the specific memory, and released control over it. He let her navigate his memories at her own pace. She needed to see everything.
- - -
"Happy Birthday."
Cassie saw herself staring back at her. No, at Sunny.
"What?"
'This is… the Academy… We met way back then… Huh? What was I thinking…'
Cassie paused.
She had forgotten something.
She knew what she had come to do. She had delved into Sunny's memories so that she could remember. Yet the memory escaped her like smoke dispersing as she tried to touch it. Just like in Sunny's shop and beneath True Bastion before the Throne War.
Cassie took a composing breath, and steeled herself to try again.
She replayed the memory. She saw the scene again.
And she forgot again.
But she was not to be deterred. She continued to try, to replay, to repeat. And each time, she forgot.
Dozens of times, hundreds of times, thousands… Cassie's frustration slowly grew, but she knew how to disregard and ignore her emotions. And so she kept trying…
'There's… something.'
She could feel a faint sense of familiarity rising from somewhere within her, like something was being stirred deep in her soul each time she viewed the memories. Like the embers of a dying flame. A spark. It was slowly dissipating into a wispy fog.
Her instincts told her that was important, so she imagined herself reaching toward it, to grab on to it, protect it. But just as she was about to grasp it, the spark disappeared without a trace.
And then she forgot.
But now, she instinctively knew what she had to do.
She repeated the same actions over and over again. Reaching for that tiny spark of light and failing each time, but getting closer with every try.
Over and over and over again.
Until finally, she caught it. And once she did, she didn't let go.
It was full of warmth and comfort.
And she could feel some force trying to tear it out of her grasp, and it was all she could do not to let go immediately. Yet it was not enough. No matter how hard she tried, how determined she was, she couldn't seem to hold on to it, and it slipped through her fingers.
The moment it happened, she felt as though someone had torn something extremely precious from her, as if someone had ripped her heart out of her chest.
Still, she tried again. Twice. Thrice. Dozens of times. Hundreds of times. More…
She grabbed onto the spark and was determined to hold onto it this time.
No, not determined.
'What was it that Sunny said?'
Determination wasn't enough. She needed conviction strong enough to bend the world to her will. She needed to make the world hers.
She gritted her teeth.
'Feel my conviction. Submit.'
She wasn't determined to keep hold of the miniscule flame, she forced it to remain. She willed it to stay within her grasp, and she willed herself to not let go.
The fight did not end there, however. Even as she willed it to stay still, she could feel it threaten to slip through her fingers like fine sand. She poured all her concentration into maintaining her Will, to not let it slip away.
All while continuing to view the memory before her. To remind herself.
She saw a grey sky and an endless sea of crimson corals.
This was the Forgotten Shore.
Two girls were walking in the distance. One of them was tall and lithe, with silver hair cut short. The other had long pale blond hair and unseeing cerulean eyes. They were connected with a golden rope.
Cassie recognized herself and Nephis instantly.
She also noticed that her vision had split into two.
'Sunny…'
That feeling of familiarity grew, and so did the tiny spark, becoming a small flame. The force trying to snatch it from her also came back at full force, and Cassie struggled with it for a moment. She willed the flame in place while stamping down on the unknown force. She wasn't going to forget again. That was her Will.
To not forget.
To remember.
She continued to watch the memory play, like a scene in a film.
Sunny had moved out of the shadows and revealed himself now. She saw herself speak.
"I recognize his voice. His name is Sunless. He was second-to-last place in the rankings, right above me."
Nephis frowned. "The pervert?"
A sudden surge of indignation nearly made Cassie lose her grasp on that deep, stirring sensation inside her, on the flickering flame of soothing warmth and comfort.
Usually she would not be so easily swayed by the emotions remembered by people, but Sunny's memories were exceptionally clear and vivid.
She stamped down on the foreign emotion fiercely, willing herself to focus. She went through the memories one by one. Each time, she felt the flame grow.
It grew and grew until it reached a brink. And she knew because she had the sense that she had arrived at the finish line, that all she needed was to take one more step, to cross over…
Most people by this point would have relaxed. But Cassie was not most people. She did not relax. She did not feel relief she had reached this far. Because it was not enough. She had to go beyond.
But it was like she had hit a wall. A barrier, made of still fog that obscured what she wanted — needed to discover.
No, to rediscover.
She willed the fog to disperse, but it did not move.
Frustration welled up in her chest.
She had come so far, just to be blocked… No. She wouldn't let it. She will break through the barrier. She will remember.
And then she recalled an observation that Sunny and Nephis had made once. That Will was most effective when applied directly.
So she imagined digging incorporeal fingers into that barrier of white fog, channeling her Will into the movement, and she willed the fog to tear apart, to break, to be dispelled.
The fog stirred.
It became restless. It churned and it resisted. But Cassie didn't let up. She pushed. She slammed her Will into it at full force. She put her soul into it. She put her entire being into tearing the barrier apart.
And even as she struggled in that war of Wills, she felt her soul and Will undergo a change. Her soul and her Will intertwined together, as though beginning to fuse. She understood what was happening, somehow, but it was not at the forefront of her mind at the moment. All her attention was focused on breaking through that barrier of fog.
It felt as though it went on for an eternity, but in reality it had only been a few minutes. And suddenly…
The resistance gave way and her momentum propelled her forward through the boundary.
She had broken through the barrier.
And she saw…
She saw herself and Nephis in a makeshift camp on a small island, marred with ridges and what seemed to be boulders, as well as the remnants of a great battle.
It was the place where Nephis had killed the Carapace Centurion. The boulders were the corpses of Carapace Scavengers.
Not far away, resting by the fire, was a figure, partly obscured with a faint fog.
Cassie willed it away without a thought, and the fog dissipated to reveal a young man with pale skin and black hair. He was laying lazily on the ground, staring into the sky with a dazed expression, daydreaming.
He was Sunless.
Sunny.
The moment she saw his face, it was as though a piece of the puzzle had slotted into its place. The scene warped then, and another memory was shown to her. Another piece clicked into place.
Once the process began, it didn't stop. It couldn't. Slowly, more and more pieces of her fragmented memory fitted together, picking up speed with each piece that was refitted into its rightful place. Until it became a torrent of blazing sparks whirling around her mind, her soul, her existence.
And she saw everything.
What she had done… What came after…
It was overwhelming. But she didn't let up. She didn't care if remembering hurt.
She is Song of the Fallen. Once, she witnessed the future and carried its burden on her shoulders. Now, she is simply the witness of history. But a witness all the same.
She mustn't forget. She must remember.
Her soul stirred, even as she was piecing back her broken past. She could feel it fully now, how her soul and Will permeated each other, until they were inseparable.
And as the last puzzle clicked into place, she felt a profound change happen to her.
A tiny silvery spark ignited in the depths of her soul. It became a catalyst to awaken her nascent domain, making it swell with life.
Scattered along the surface of the water in her soul sea were countless points of light. Silvery strings connected them to a point beyond the skies of her soul sea. They were the connections she had established through her marks using her Ascended Ability. Now they shone with a soft radiance, lighting up the expanse of her soul sea.
She could feel essence flowing into her through those connections, like a tiny trickle. It quickly grew into a torrent, and with that her own essence underwent a qualitative change, transforming into something more powerful.
She became… a Supreme.
- - -
Sunny was once again aware of Cassie's office. It seemed that she was done looking through his memories. He let out a soft sigh of relief.
'She succeeded.'
He looked at the blind girl, who still had a dazed expression on her beautiful face. He could sense the vastness of her soul, so many times more potent than before.
Her domain was subtly bending reality around her, making imperceptible ripples in the air. In the fabric of reality.
A moment later, his eyes widened in disbelief and exasperation.
'Just… Just how many marks does she have!?'
Cassie did not have her own citadel, having handed it to Nephis long ago. Yet her domain completely surpassed Sunny's expectations. It was as though she had tens of thousands of souls in her domain.
Maybe even a hundred thousand or more.
It was too much for Sunny. He was flabbergasted. This turn of events…
'I suppose I should've seen this coming.'
He sighed again. No one but Cassie knew just how many people served as her eyes and ears in the Dream Realm and the Waking World, after all. And only with such a huge amount of marks could she gather information as quickly as she does.
At that moment, Cassie stirred, seeming to come out of her daze. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
'It must be a relief, to finally remember herself.'
Sunny stared at her for a moment and smiled.
"Now you can finally add 'natural supremacy' to your list of crazy achievements."
But Cassie didn't match his enthusiasm. Instead she flinched and her expression became wracked with sadness and guilt.
Sunny frowned. 'What is wrong with her? She just accomplished something amazing.'
When she spoke, her voice trembled.
"Sunny, I… I'm sorry. I'm really sorry… for everything."
Understanding dawned on him then.
'Ah… Of course.'
"I forgave you a long time ago. I'm just glad that someone remembers, at least."
Then he scoffed.
"You are humanity's new Queen of Knowledge. Being sad over the past is below you now, you know." He paused. "Seriously, Cassie. Congratulations on becoming Supreme."
Cassie was silent for a moment, then, her face lit up with a radiant smile, making her teary eyes sparkle like polished gems.
"Thank you, Sunny. Truly."