Limping across the dark expanse of still water, illuminated gently by the pure radiance of the Guiding Light, Sunny stared at his battered reflection. A dark grin twisted his lips into a crooked line.
"Look at us… nearing the finish line, and not anywhere near dropping dead."
The situation was quite unfamiliar. Usually, Sunny would have been at the very doorstep of death, or even past its threshold with one foot by now. But he was strangely in one piece. Sure, he had been mauled and mangled by plenty of dreadful Nightmare Creatures on the way to the Estuary — however, his state was nowhere near as rough as the norm in such moments.
Had he been lucky, or had his tenacity finally reached such an unreasonable level that it was simply too hard for anything to truly bring him down without outright killing him?
"Well, in any case… I'm not complaining. Let's finish this, then…"
His reflection did not answer, leaving Sunny in tranquil silence. He was momentarily unnerved by the lack of a mocking retort, but then remembered that the Sin of Solace was gone. His mind was free of the voice that had haunted it for so long with maddening whispers.
It felt... very strange.
'Sort of… peaceful?'
Now that the curse that had plagued him was gone, Sunny realized that he had been under constant pressure without even noticing it. His mental resistance had prevented the insidious whispers from truly driving him mad — but the act of resisting the loss of sanity itself had been putting a burden on his mind.
That burden was no more, filling him with a sense of levity.
However, he was also exhausted, drained, and deeply shaken by the secrets he had learned. It was a strange mixture of emotions.
'One step at a time.'
Sunny continued walking toward the vague shape rising from the water in the distance. As he did, he wondered about himself and the Mad Prince… about all the versions of himself and the Mad Prince that had reached the Estuary in the previous cycles.
How was it that Sunny — the current him — was the only one who had made it that far?
It was already indescribably hard to find the entrance to the Estuary within the Source. Beyond that, though…
Even now, Sunny could turn back, return to the stone maze, and dive back into the Great River. However, he did not want to, and had no reason to… because the Mad Prince and Torment had already arranged for the Nightmare to end perfectly, with every member of the cohort — and Nephis — surviving its dreadful challenge.
How many attempts had it taken before they learned to manipulate all the events of the cycle in their favor? Too many to count, perhaps. And it was for that reason that Sunny was not tempted to try anew, aiming for a better, and less heartbreaking result.
In short…
Sunny made it that far because he was the inheritor and beneficiary of all the countless past versions of himself that had failed.
It was somewhat poetic, then, that he could only reach the heart of the Estuary by forgetting them all.
And a little bit sad.
…Soon, he could see the dark shape more clearly. As it revealed itself, a strange expression appeared on his face.
Out there in front of him… a mountain of black rock rose from the still water of the hidden lake, rising into the darkness. Its rough slopes were almost vertical, and it had two peaks, one of them broken, one of them as sharp as a spear.
Surrounded by water, the dark mountain looked lonely and forlorn in the empty expanse of the Estuary.
It also exerted a palpable pressure, making Sunny groan and shudder in dread.
'What the hell is this…'
Sunny lingered for a few moments, staring at the peak of the mountain and wondering if he would have to scale it. But then, he noticed a wide vertical crack at the base of the slope.
It looked like an entrance.
Taking a deep breath, Sunny smiled darkly and headed for that entrance. Passing its threshold, he plunged into the darkness dwelling inside the mountain and found himself in a long, winding tunnel.
There was water rushing beneath his feet, flowing to somewhere deep inside, and the walls surrounding him were rough, untouched by any tool.
'Not creepy at all.'
Somehow, Sunny felt… solemn. It was as though the mountain he had entered was a consecrated place — a place more holy than any temple he had ever visited, and therefore more divine.
Perhaps he had only been able to enter it because of the flame of divinity burning in his soul.
But at the same time, the sacral nature of the dark mountain felt strangely mournful.
Frowning, Sunny gripped the Guiding Light and ventured deeper into the tunnel.
He walked for a few moments — or maybe an eternity — before the walls of the tunnel widened, opening into a vast cave.
And as soon as Sunny entered that cave…
He took another step. A small splash echoing as he walked through the small puddles on the ground.
Step… Step… Step…
He continued to walk, the glow of the guiding light slowly turned brighter and brighter.
'It's strangely quiet… Shouldn't something have appeared by now?'
He felt like someone was supposed to have shown themselves… Like his future self for example.
'It had to have been me right? I don't see anyone else being in that position when I first entered the nightmare.'
That was the reason Chain Breaker was here, that was the reason he and Nephis appeared where they did.
And yet his supposed future self was nowhere to be seen. So he continued to walk.
And then, finally…
He had reached the very heart.
Entering a dark cavern, Sunny stumbled and came to a halt.
The cavern was vast enough that he could not see its ceiling, its walls drowning in darkness. Its floor was covered in shallow water, and at a distance, a small island rose from the glossy surface.
There was a beautiful tree growing in the middle of the island. And, nestled beneath its branches…
Sunny's eyes widened.
'What? What is this… why?'
…An unadorned stone sarcophagus stood, its lid covered by withered leaves.
Sunny had reached the very heart of the Estuary.
There, hidden in the depth of a towering mountain, a vast cavern was filled with darkness. A single ray of bright light fell from somewhere high above, illuminating a small island rising from the glossy black water.
There was a beautiful tree growing on the island, its leaves a sea of pale magenta.As the branches of the tree swayed slightly under the wind, the leaves fell down on the surface of the water, making its reflection ripple.
And in the shadow of those branches, a simple stone sarcophagus stood, its lid covered by withered leaves.
It made… for a vivid and breathtaking sight.
The heart of the Estuary was peaceful, like an island of safety and tranquility in a world full of nothing but dread. And yet… It was also poignant and mournful. As soon as Sunny entered the cavern, he felt a strange melancholy fill his heart, as though an echo of a great sorrow that had been experienced here by someone, sometime, still resided in this sacred and silent sanctuary.
He shifted slightly.
'Why… Why is there a grave here?'
The great black pyramid was called the Tomb of Ariel, but it was not the place where the Demon of Dread had been buried. Instead, it was a place he had built to bury unbearable truths. So, it was not really a tomb.
…Or was it?
Sunny stared at the unadorned sarcophagus, struck silent by the overwhelming sorrow that remained here even now, thousands of years after the daemons and the gods were no more.
He knew that the Tomb of Ariel was not a burial place for someone because of the words the Demon of Dread had shared with Weaver. Ariel had said so himself — what he had buried here were the hideous truths he did not wish to remember.
But that was the thing. If Ariel did not remember what he had buried in this tomb of his, then didn't it mean that his words could not be trusted?
Who was to say that he had not buried someone precious here, and then chose to forget about his sorrow?
Suddenly, Sunny remembered the description of the Mirror of Truth. Weaver's strange words…
I have not known that you've built a tomb, nor have I ever seen it. How would I know to admire it? I just happened to be here by chance. Now that I've seen it, my heart is untouched. I feel nothing.
You wanted to be free of the truth, so you didn't deserve it.
Why did it feel… that although Ariel had forgotten his sorrow, Weaver remembered?
Had the Demon of Fate really happened to visit the Nightmare Desert and stumble upon the great pyramid by chance?
And if it was not a coincidence…
Then who was buried here, at the heart of Ariel's Tomb?
Forlorn, and forgotten.
Looking at the sarcophagus that rested under the branches of the beautiful tree, Sunny inhaled sharply.
'Oblivion. The answer… is Oblivion.'
The Tomb of Ariel was where the Demon of Oblivion had been buried by her brother. Somehow, he was sure of it.
Wasn't it sad, even for her death to be forgotten?
'Wait, no… no, that doesn't make any sense!'
Suddenly, Sunny was confused. How could Oblivion have been dead? Six daemons had risen in rebellion against the heavens, while the seventh — Weaver — refused. Because of that, the Demon of Fate had been despised and hunted both by the six daemons and the six gods.
If Oblivion had been dead all along, then how could there have been six daemons participating in the war and pursuing Weaver? Something… fundamentally did not make sense about all this.
And yet, Sunny could not shake off the feeling of certainty about who it was that had been buried in the heart of the Tomb of Ariel.
It was the Demon of Oblivion
'What does it mean?!'
Taken aback and awestruck, he winced and closed his eyes for a moment.
More importantly, what did it mean for him?
Cassie had said that he would gain freedom from fate if he reached the very heart of the Estuary. Well, here he was, at its innermost sanctum. Even if there was a grave of a daemon in front of him… how was it supposed to break the chains of fate that bound him?
Sunny hesitated for a while, feeling a sense of solemn awe at the sigh of the peaceful grave. Then, he took a deep breath and took a step forward.
If he had any doubt that an unimaginable being was buried here, it disappeared as Sunny crossed the still expanse of dark water and approached the small island. The closer he got, the more sacred the silent cavern seemed, and the more pressure he felt.
Even in death, the being resting in the stone sarcophagus emanated enough of it to crush a mundane person and make their soul collapse. Sunny, meanwhile, was able to reach the island and step onto its soil, albeit with difficulty.
As the withered leaves rustled under his feet, he walked to the sarcophagus and stopped in front of it, looking at the weathered surface of the stone lid. Then, following an impulse, he raised a hand and cleaned it from fallen leaves.
There were no runes on the sarcophagus, no carvings. Nothing to indicate who was buried inside, as no mark left to remember them by. It was nestled between the roots of the ancient tree, as if they were growing through it... or from it.
Taking a deep breath, Sunny fell silent and listened to his intuition.
What was he supposed to do here?
His intuition… was telling him to look up.
He did just that, and noticed that one of the branches of the tree was hanging low, pulled down by the weight of a beautiful golden fruit. The fruit glistened as it basked in the light falling from the ceiling of the cavern.
Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then raised a hand and easily plucked the fruit off the branch.
His mind was in turmoil.
'Am I… really doing this?'
There was no answer. But he had already made it so far…
Letting out a sigh, Sunny brought the fruit to his mouth and sunk his teeth into its succulent flesh.
It was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted.
Without wasting any time, Sunny satisfied his hunger and quenched his first by consuming the mystical fruit. He did not know what to expect, exactly, but felt that it would be like the fruits of the sacred tree growing on the deck of the Chain Breaker — which contained soul essence within them.
Granted, it could also be like fruits of the Soul Devourer, which contained soul fragments, as well as enthralled those consuming them with an insidious hex.
However, nothing of the sort happened. After finishing the divine fruit, Sunny received neither essence nor fragments. He was not enthralled, either.
Instead…
There was a strange feeling in the depths of his soul.
A chillingly familiar feeling.
Sunny's eyes widened.
'Don't tell me…'
In the next moment, he let out a terrible shriek and fell on the lid of the sarcophagus.
'Gods… oh gods…'
The pain… was exquisite.
It was inconceivable.
It was the kind of pain that could kill a person, or at least make the pass out in an instant. Sadly, the latter did not happen, because the pain was not physical.
Instead, its source was Sunny's soul, which was being altered and transformed.
Not in a way it had been changed every time a new core was formed, but rather in a way his blood and bones had been altered in the past.
"Aaargh!"
Sunny hit the lid of the sarcophagus with enough force to split his skin and fell to the ground, the carpet of leaves softening his fall.
'Wh—what… what the hell?! How… is… this possible?!'
He knew what was happening to him. However, he had no idea why it was happening, and how eating the golden fruit from the tree growing above the grave of Oblivion had caused it.
In any case, Sunny had no choice but to endure.
He wasn't shy about screaming and howling in pain, though, especially because there was no one here to witness his sorry state.
'D—damn it! Damn it! D…damn it all!'
After an eternity — this time, quite a literal one, considering that time did not exist in the Estuary — Sunny found himself laying on the ground, staring blindly at the beautiful crown of the mystical tree. His body felt weak, and his face was wet with tears.
'...Curses.'
That one was definitely going into the collection of the most horrendous agonies he had experienced. What place? Probably not the first, which was still held by activating the [Where is my eye?] enchantment of Weaver's Mask. But it was a confident second.
Ah…
Sunny groaned, and then shakily rose to his feet. Then, he took inventory of his soul.
It felt… different, somehow. And much, much more potent.
Already knowing what he would see, Sunny summoned the runes.
It can't be… can it?
But it could.
There, in the shimmering field of runes, a new string appeared in the list of his Attributes.
Pale as a ghost, Sunny read:
Attributes: [Fated], [Flame of Divinity], [Master of Shadows], [Blood Weave], [Bone Weave], [Marble Shell]...
And at the very end, a new one:
[...Soul Weave.]
He sucked in air, stunned.
'How the hell…'
Sunny stared at the runes for a while, then dismissed them and concentrated on his soul.
It felt… reinforced, somehow.
His essence felt much more potent, and the rate at which it replenished itself was much faster. The soul itself seemed more robust and durable, capable of withstanding a terrible amount of damage and maintaining its integrity even if large swathes of it were entirely destroyed.
Briefly diving into the soul sea, Sunny glanced at his six lightless cores. They did not look very different, at the surface, apart from the fact that the dark flames burning within them seemed even darker now, and more fierce.
However, once he peered into the depths of his cores… was he seeing things, or had he glimpsed a weave of ethereal golden strings creating a graceful pattern within the six black suns?
Sunny left the Soul Sea, both elated and perplexed.
'So… I inherited another part of Weaver's lineage. Soul Weave. That's great.'
It was, indeed, a remarkable boon.
'...But what the hell was it doing here?'
It was already shocking enough to find Oblivion's grave. But why was a fragment of Weaver's lineage left there? If anything, it should have been Oblivion's lineage… apart from the fact that no daemon except for the Demon of Fate had created one.
It was as though Weaver lost a part of his… her?... soul at the grave of Oblivion, for some reason. But why?
How had the two of them been connected?
And did it have something to do with the strange incongruity in the number of daemons that had participated in the Doom War?
Sunny did not know.
But all of it... was highly suspicious.
And it wasn't even the most pressing question.
'Yes, it's great that my soul has grown stronger…'
But where was his promised freedom? How was Soul Weave supposed to break the shackles of fate?
Sunny pursed his lips, unsure of what exactly was happening.
Had Cassie been wrong? Had she…
But then, something distracted him from these thoughts.
From the corner of his eye, Sunny noticed an ominous detail. Looking down, he stared at the Guiding Light, which had rolled away from him when he fell down, and was now laying to the side of the stone sarcophagus.
The crystal at the top of the sacred staff was still shining.
However, it wasn't pointing at the sarcophagus.
Instead, it was pointing into the darkness behind it.
Sunny slowly looked up…
Just then, he noticed something moving in the darkness.
A hunched, towering shape that filled him with indescribable horror.
'H—how did I not notice… before…'
A giant creature had been hiding in the darkness of the vast cavern, hidden completely from his sight, his nose, and even his shadow sense, despite being the size of a hill. It had a hunched back, a disheveled mantle of messy black feathers, a terrifying beak, and mighty wings that were vast even when folded, hiding its gaunt body.
And a vile soul filled with more Corruption than he had ever seen, spreading outward from six grotesquely giant nodes.
'A… a Cursed Terror…'
Horrified, Sunny took an involuntary step back.
And just as he did, a pair of round, utterly insane eyes pierced him with a demented look.
A terrible pressure crashed into him, making it hard to breathe.
The Cursed Terror that had been hiding behind Oblivion's grave… was a giant, mad, and unmistakably vile bird.
'D—damnation!'
Sunny took a step back, but at the moment, the vile bird lunged forward, its demented eyes igniting with avarice and greed.
Before he could even react, he was drowned by its loathsome shadow.
And then, its talons plunged into his chest.
Sunny gasped.
However, the talons did not rip his flesh apart. Instead, they dove much deeper, finding their way into his very soul.
If he had time to enter the Soul Sea at that moment, he would have seen the shapeless form of the Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn being snatched by the crooked talons.
And yet, they did not stop there.
Passing through Sunny's soul, the talons dug even deeper, into the depths of his being he had not even known existed.
And there, they grabbed onto something else.
Onto countless strings that were wrapped around him tightly, surrounding him like a chrysalis.
Or like the strings that held up a marionette.
Straining itself, the vile bird struggled for a few moments… and snatched those strings, too, somehow ripping them away from his existence.
And when that happened, a ripple spread throughout the world.
The Nightmare was ending.
Sunny opened his mouth, trying to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth.
The talons plunging into his very soul pulled themselves out a moment later.
'A-Ah… Ahhhh!'
The worst pain he had ever felt shot through his entire body, the white hot pain feeling like it was burning his very existence. The corners of his vision darkened, white spots appearing as he faded in and out of consciousness.
Despite the horrible pain coursing through his being, Sunny was still able to see the vile terror in front of him lunge at him again.
'N-no!'
He was unable to dodge.
This time, the terrifying talons wrapped around him.
Sunny was jerked around for a moment, before laying paralysed within the Terror's grasp. Then with one mighty beat of its wings, Sunny was being carried into the air.
The ceiling of the cave that he couldn't even see before was approaching rapidly. Sunny was still convulsing in pain, completely unaware of what was happening.
Yet right before Vile Terror hit the ceiling of the dark cave, it passed through it completely as if it was just a mirage.
Suddenly, they were in the river again, Sunny felt himself being surrounded by extreme pressure and endless torrents of swirling water.
And then with one last warbled screech of the Vile Thieving Bird, the world faded.
***
"Ahhhhhh!"
Sunny shot up with a scream.
'W-What… what… What the hell just happened?!'
He still felt phantom pains coursing through his body, courtesy of the terrible event that just occurred.
Then he heard a sound.
Crash!
A door slammed open, a police officer rushing in, breathing heavily..
"What's going on! Did the aspirant fail?"
'Aspirant?'
Another voice responded as Sunny jumped in his bed in surprise, not realising there was another person here.
'Wait a bed?'
"Oh, don't worry, he's fine."
Sunny turned to the voice, it was a young man who appeared to be a government officer, his uniform adorned with 2 stars.
'An Awakened… Why are these people here?'
Sunny's breathing quickened.
"Oh… Well then, everything seems fine then, congratulations on passing your first nightmare, young man."
The police officer tipped his hat down in respect as he turned to leave the room.
Sunny's mind went blank.
'He's… he's not talking to me is he?'
Sunny looked down at himself, his breath immediately stopped.
'W-w-what?'
His body… was small and scrawny again, his skin seemed sickly and he looked like he hadn't eaten in days. He was also held down onto the bed with several restraints, completely unable to move.
Sunny felt like he was falling.
'What is going on?!'
The Nightmare ended and then…
'Right! The Nightmare!'
Had Nephis made it?! Had everything else made it?! Why was he in this bed? What about Antarctica?! Who the hell are these guys?!
"Are you alright?"
The Awakened next to him, who he had honestly forgotten was there for a moment, spoke up.
Sunny turned to him, his face pale and eyes wide as he was trying to process what was going on. In his distress he spoke rather harshly.
"The fuck do you think? Of course not! Get the hell out!"
The Awakened, not offended at all, offered him a light smile as he raised his arms in surrender.
"Alright, alright, sorry, I'll come speak to you in a few minutes"
He stood up, the scraping of his steel chair echoed throughout the room. He reached towards the bed Sunny was on and released the straps that were tying him down and then left.
Sunny finally had a moment to think.
'Just… just what the hell is happening?'
Hoping for an answer, he summoned the runes.
Name: -
True Name: -
Unable to contain himself, he spoke out loud:
"What?! My name? My true name?! W-where is it?"
Already dreading what was about to come next, he looked further down.
Rank: Dreamer
'...'
Sunny fell back in his bed, staring at the ceiling with a blank expression as he felt himself breathing rapidly.
'No…'
'No!'
He'd lost his rank?! Had that terrible bird pulled the Transcendence out of his soul?!
He continued to look through his runes
Shadow Core: Dormant
'Wha..'
Shadow Fragments: [12/1000]
'What!'
Even his shadow fragments?!
"This… This can't be happening!"
His state… It was back to when he had just awakened!
'Wait. Just awakened?'
He remembered what the police officer said.
"Congratulations on passing your first nightmare?"
He looked around.
'I'm… I'm in a police station…'
'No.. no no no no… No!'
Sunny remembered what had just happened.
He had been carried upwards by the vile bird…. And then… and then…
He was surrounded by water.
The water of the River of Time within the Estuary.
'Have… Have I been shot into the past?'
What about his cohort?! What about Ne-
'No.. calm down… this can't be right. I'll check the year, I remember which year I Awakened in... It was…'
His train of thought froze, as he looked at a small screen in the middle of one of the walls in the room that displayed the date and time.
'The year is… What?'
It was… 10 years before his first nightmare had concluded.
Or rather, 15 years in the past.
=====