Sunny moved through the stillness of the night, stepping from shadow to shadow across the Dark City, instantly collapsing distances. Although his essence pool as a mere Awakened wasn't as vast as he was accustomed to, he held nothing back.
He had spent the entire day in the Shadow Realm. Successfully absorbing the Shadow God's lineage had yielded incredible results, but the arduous process had consumed precious time, forcing him to neglect several pressing matters.
'Damnation! Aiko is going to kill me for taking an unannounced leave... or worse, extort the rights to my own Brilliant Emporium!'
Knowing her, she was more than capable of it.
Then there was Seishan. Luckily, they didn't have a rigid daily schedule, but she had developed a distinct craving for his blood—ever since tasting it, normal blood tasted like bland water to her.
'At least I warned her beforehand,' Sunny mused. He had told her he would be away briefly to complete a project that would benefit them both.
He had temporarily retreated to his sanctuary in the cathedral to complete his awakening, giving Seishan fair warning. Beyond their strange, blood-bound relationship, they had formed a genuine alliance: Sunny was guiding her and her handmaidens toward awakening without the Nightmare Spell, while she systematically expanded her influence within the Bright Castle.
They regularly exchanged crucial intelligence.
According to Seishan, Nephis had already reached out to her for information on Gunlag and to procure the poison she intended to use to defeat him after returning from the Hollow Mountains expedition to retrieve the [Dawn Shard]. Just as Sunny had advised, the Song princess played along. Everything would unfold in due time.
"Finally," Sunny muttered, stepping out from the shadow cast by a ruined chimney.
He had reached the outer settlements, situated just beyond the perimeter of the Bright Castle's outer wall. Before him, perched right at the boundary between the living quarters and the Nightmare Creatures-infested ruins of the Dark City, was a ramshackle yet sturdy hut built from salvaged stone and scrap metal. Effie's place—the makeshift base of Changing Star's cohort.
Sunny had come here for one reason: the evolved nature of his insidious innate ability. When his Aspect evolved from [Shadow Slave] to [Shadow Ruler], his [Shadow Bond] had changed alongside it.
---
[Shadow Bond] Ability Description: [Find worthy companions and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, should you desire it, they shall be bound to you through thick and thin. They will receive your blessing and unconditionally crave your affection. It is improper for a Monarch to lack a Queen by his side—and why settle for only one?]
---
The description left no room for misinterpretation. A slave could serve only one master, but a Monarch could surround himself with as many companions as he deemed fit.
Sunny had no intention of abusing this power for shallow, carnal desires. Although Saint had previously advised him to accept the affection he had denied himself in his past life, he maintained a strict line he refused to cross.
And if he were to choose who belonged at his side... his mind immediately drifted to her.
Cassie.
"Let's go," Sunny whispered, taking a steadying breath.
Using his [Shadow Step], he dissolved into the shadow once more. Gliding along the cold ground as an intangible, formless silhouette, he slipped under the doorframe and into the hut. Using his Shadow Sense to scan the interior, he located her immediately.
With a final shadow teleportation, he materialized inside the blind seer's bedroom, rising quietly from the shadow beneath a small wooden chest.
Appearing like a ghost in the quiet dark, he instantly summoned the [Mythical Rock], erecting a subtle field of isolation around the room so their conversation wouldn't be overheard.
Cassie sat there, gazing out the window. Her long hair cascaded like pale golden silk, her sightless blue eyes reflecting the moonlight like tranquil pools of water. She looked delicate and small, her soft features still retaining a touch of youthful innocence, framed by delicate, rose-tinted lips. Dressed in a simple white nightgown that hugged her slender contours before falling to her knees, her beauty was ethereal—yet beneath it lay a hollow, distant sorrow. She looked like a fragile, broken doll burdened by a guilt she couldn't forgive.
Beside her hovered [Quiet Dancer], the floating rapier suspended vertically in mid-air, its tip pointed downward, vigilant and ready to strike at the slightest threat.
'Cassie.'
Sunny paused for a moment, watching her in silence. The words caught in his throat as painful memories of the past intertwined with a bittersweet ache in his chest.
With his heart pounding against his ribs, he brought a fist to his lips and cleared his throat.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
Cassie startled violently, spinning in her chair as her flying rapier immediately leveled its blade directly at his chest.
Their eyes met—or rather, her sightless gaze locked onto him—and before she could speak, Sunny offered a soft smile.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"Sunny!" Cassie breathed, recognizing his voice instantly.
A radiant, tearful relief washed over her face. Without a second thought, she scrambled out of her chair and ran toward him, throwing her arms around his waist. [Quiet Dancer] immediately stood down, sensing no danger to its mistress.
Sunny found himself engulfed in her delicate warmth. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close into a firm, protective embrace. Resting his cheek against her shoulder, he savored the feeling of his tension melting away. His fingers pressed gently into her soft waist, taking in the soothing scent of her pale golden hair and the warmth of her body pressed against his chest.
'When was the last time I held her like this?' Sunny wondered, a poignant, heavy weight settling over his heart. 'Wait... did I ever truly embrace Cassie for real in my past life?'
The bitter realization lingering in his mind was a sharp reminder of what had been lost.
"Is it really you, Sunny? Have you... have you really come back?" Cassie asked, her cheek brushing against his as she clung to him as if terrified he might vanish into thin air. Her face was hidden from view, but the raw emotion in her voice betrayed her overwhelming joy.
"No, Cas... I'm sorry," he whispered softly, his cheek resting against hers. "I only stopped by to say goodbye."
He felt her fingers tighten frantically against his clothes, her body trembling slightly.
Lifting his head slowly, he added, "Actually, I came because I need to ask you for a favor. Would you be willing to help me?"
Cassie raised her face toward where she sensed his eyes to be. Despite her stoic attempt, her confusion was palpable.
"Sure," she nodded softly, completely oblivious to what was to come. "Anything. What is it?"
Sunny took a slow, deep breath, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders.
"Cassie, please, speak these words for me: Lost from Light."
Cassie froze. Her body instantly went rigid, trembling so slightly it was almost imperceptible. Her back straightened, and her arms slowly slipped away from his waist.
Pulling back, Sunny watched the blood drain from her face, her sightless blue eyes widening in absolute shock, like shattered glass windows.
For a long moment, nothing but silence reigned. Then, her face crumpled. Her lips trembled, pressing together in a painful, desperate line. And then... Cassie broke. Warm tears spilled from her unseeing eyes, two solitary, salty drops that signaled the breaking of the dam.
"W-w-why?" she choked out, her voice breaking agonizingly on every single syllable uttered as hot tears traced down her pale cheekbones.
"Why?!" she repeated.
Because it was a rhetorical question born of pure grief, Sunny's Flaw didn't compel him to answer. In the heavy silence, her fingers curled into tight fists, turning her knuckles white.
"Y-you know," Cassie finally told him, her voice barely a whisper.
It wasn't a question, but a devastating realization. Yet, Sunny answered her anyway, his voice impossibly gentle and calm.
"I know."
"I... I betrayed you." The blind seer lowered her head, her delicate face contorted in sorrow as the tears began to fall in earnest.
"I know." It was the only thing Sunny offered, even though his heart screamed to say more.
Cassie finally let go. She collapsed into a harrowing, gut-wrenching wail, screaming her guilt into the silence of the night.
"Ahhhhh... WAAAAAAH!"
Violent, desperate sobs filled the room. Had it not been for the [Mythical Rock], the sheer agony in her cries would have woken the entire settlement.
Seeing her break down before his eyes, her small hands scrubbing frantically at her tear-streaked, twisted face in a vain attempt to stop the flood... his heart broke. A resounding, silent crack echoed inside his ribcage.
"WAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
It hurt. Her pain felt like a violent, uncontrollable fire flaring up inside him, expanding relentlessly until it consumed all the air in his lungs.
Almost instantly, Sunny leaned in. He gently took her delicate, trembling hands into his own, pulling them away from her face and holding them with all the fierce affection he could muster.
"Cassie? Hey," he called to her, his voice as warm and soothing as the morning sun. "Hey. Please, don't cry."
Choking on her sobs, Cassie momentarily paused her wailing—an agony that was slowly shattering her from within. She stopped and 'looked' at him, her beautiful blue eyes red and overflowing with tears. She looked like a wounded animal, entirely abandoned to the rain.
"H-how can you?" Cassie struggled to ask, the words battling through the overwhelming shame and self-loathing that choked her. "How can you forgive me like this, Sunny? Just like that? I betrayed you! I conspired against you! Even after you saved my life time and time again, I BETRAYED YOU! I am deplorable... cowardly... vile... a useless wretch and a dead weight! You should hate me! You should scream at me until I disgust myself! How can you... just forgive me?"
Meeting her sightless, grief-stricken gaze, Sunny smiled softly. He leaned forward slowly, gently pressing his forehead against hers. Cassie's ragged, heavy breaths washed over his face.
"I know. I should," he replied, affectionately rubbing his forehead against hers. "And truthfully... I already did."
A heavy silence followed the weight of his words. Cassie raised her head slightly to 'meet' his eyes, mere inches separating their faces.
"Truthfully," he continued softly, "I hated you so much that I didn't even know where to begin. However..."
Sunny pulled back just a fraction, a distant, melancholic look entering his dark eyes.
"You had your reasons to do it."
Cassie's lips moved, attempting to form an apology or an excuse, but no words came out—as if she knew any defense would be hollow from the start.
"You betrayed me because you wanted to protect Nephis. Isn't that right?"
Sunny spoke for her, his tone impossibly soft. The blind seer nodded, her tears starting anew.
"Tell me, Cassie, just out of curiosity... did you happen to overhear the conversation Nephis and I had in the labyrinth, shortly after we met?"
"Yes..." she answered immediately, dropping her head.
Sunny lowered his gaze, a sharp pang of guilt twisting his gut. "You see, Cas? The reason I told her I wouldn't help you back then wasn't because I didn't want to. It was because I wasn't strong enough to protect you. Because I was terrified... that with my rotten luck, I would only expose you to further danger and drag you down to an even more tragic fate. After all, to the eyes of others, you might have been a burden... but I was just an Outskirts rat. Discarded garbage that nobody wanted."
"That's not true!" Cassie suddenly burst out, her voice rising in fierce defiance.
"That's not true, Sunny! It's not true that nobody wants you! I need you! I do!" Her tears flowed freely again, born this time of desperate loyalty.
Sunny pulled her into a deep embrace, wrapping his arms securely around her as she slumped heavily against him, holding her tightly so she wouldn't fall apart.
There was still one question he hadn't answered.
After a long moment, Sunny gently gripped Cassie's shoulders, pulling her back just enough to look her face-to-face. He reached up, his thumbs gently wiping the damp tracks from her cheeks.
"Do you know why I forgive you, Cassie?" he asked softly.
"No," the blind seer shook her head slightly, her breathing still ragged.
"Because beneath it all, you are still my Cassie," he told her, his voice a steady anchor in her storm. "You may have given my secret away to Nephis. You may have betrayed my trust. But in my eyes, you are still you. You are still that scared, defenseless girl who clung to me in the dark. I never forgot the ache I felt in my chest whenever I saw you sad. I never forgot the warm, radiant smiles you gave me whenever I managed to make you laugh. And I never forgot the warmth of your hugs."
Sunny paused, lowering his gaze as a bittersweet ache gripped his throat. The ghosts of the past clung to his words, turning them into a solemn vow.
"I never forgot that, once upon a time, it was just you by my side. The lonely, quiet girl who sat with me in the cafeteria every single day. The only one who stayed with me in the dark when everyone else was basking in the light.
I never forgot when you wished me a happy birthday. Wow... that was the first time anyone had wished me well in years. That meant the world to me.
That is why I forgive you, Cas.
Do you want to know why I want you, and not Nephis, to speak my True Name? Because she may have found me, taught me how to wield a sword and how to fight... but before her, there was you. You were my first real friend.
That is why I choose you, Cassie."
I choose you.
Why? Why did those words hurt even more? And since when did pain feel so warm, so exquisitely sweet?
Cassie, hearing his confession, felt the devastating storm in her soul finally break. Her trembling lips parted, and a fragile, breathtaking smile broke through her tears.
She nodded, her sightless eyes shining with unrestrained affection.
"Thank you. I love you... my Lost from Light."
And then, in the safety of the dark, their lips met.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~