Uriel was in his mental space, shared with Shade. Both were simply relaxing, drinking hot coffee, and eating cookies while assembling a puzzle.
Uriel sighed, letting his head drop onto the wooden table under Shade's amused gaze, whose madness had already faded, returning to his normal personality: relaxed, arrogant, and comedic.
"Hey, it feels good not having to act with a metaphorical stick up my ass. I swear, I think I acted crazier than the Sin of Solace," joked Shade, placing a piece.
"Don't remind me. My pride is in pieces. Didn't you see what I was like? Fearful, scared, and crazy—very crazy. I didn't even know anything beyond my name."
"Hey, don't blame yourself. We both misinterpreted the Spell's trial. We thought it was about preventing the destruction of the city of Ydrat when, in reality, it was about killing Isis of Ydrat," Shade sighed.
Uriel felt his heart constrict.
"It was my fault. The whole loop, all the suffering," said Uriel, gripping the cup tightly.
"Yes, it was your fault."
"Shouldn't you say it wasn't my fault and comfort me?"
"Why would I do that?" asked Shade. "I'm your Flaw, remember?"
"Tsk. Evil specter."
"Fearful saint."
"But I understand, in a way. Isis was special to us. She was our friend, doomed to corruption, so we tried everything and started an endless cycle of thousands of years just to change the ending and save her. But it was impossible. No matter what we did or how hard we tried, the ending always remained the same," said Shade.
"Thousands of years. It was so long and yet... it feels incredibly short. There we were, surrounded by beasts whose weakest was of Corrupted rank."
"Yeah, it seems Eurys tricked us. That Seed was meant for Saints, not Awakened like us."
"But we did it, didn't we? We passed it."
"Still."
"Stop thinking about it. What's done is done. We killed all kinds of Corrupted creatures. We controlled and improved our essence flow, being one step away from Transcendence. We can even faintly sense the will of the Domain. We even obtained a damn Supreme-ranked Memory."
Uriel looked at Shade's outburst. He, too, was angry—furious, in fact, just like him. Angry at everything and at the Spell. They thought that if they were strong, they could pass any nightmare by simply saving or destroying something, but the Spell was cruel and gave them a scenario where their strength was insignificant, where they learned despair, madness, and hopelessness for countless years, countless cycles, only to kill her in the end...
Uriel felt like crying, but he couldn't. He was unable to cry.
Shade looked at Uriel, who, to him, was his mentally shattered younger brother. It hurt him too, what they did. They were and weren't themselves.
He had cursed Uriel day after day, sinking him deeper into madness, reminding him of his mistakes, his failures, the cycles of despair, pain, and sadness. Even at the end, when he tried to devour his ego when his mind was shattered into countless fragments from the broken cycles.
Shade was hard on himself for that. He made himself the strong one; he needed an anchor. And if Uriel didn't want to return to the waking world and just rest, he would take his place, suffering for both of them. After all, they had obtained that damn Fated attribute that the Spell, in its grace, had granted them.
Both remained silent for a few minutes.
Shade felt something enter his mind. They didn't dream because when they slept, they simply arrived at the mental space to relax, recover, and wake up refreshed. They even took turns for several hours, leaving one in perfect condition.
"It seems he's here," said Uriel.
"I felt it too when he entered. Let's go before he goes deeper," said Shade.
Both left the mental house, observing the absolute darkness, and advanced calmly.
...
Sunny blinked, confused by seeing only pure darkness. He couldn't see anything beyond thousands and thousands of fragments floating around. Some were giants tens of meters across; others were small. Sunny observed the crystals curiously, wondering what they were.
Nightmare snorted as he looked at the crystals. He could feel that each crystal was a nightmare that needed to be subdued. But his master hadn't given the order, so he simply advanced in silence.
Sunny stopped Nightmare in front of a large, incomplete fragment. He observed curiously: a creature made of true darkness with two front legs, a long neck full of thick black balls, and a deer skull with enormous twisted golden antlers.
Staring at it, Sunny felt fear. For some reason, he knew that thing was powerful—terribly powerful. Sunny averted his gaze, looking at other fragments. He saw an imposing and majestic bright castle, similar to the one in the Dark City. He observed an enormous mass of flesh and tentacles devouring everything in its path. A titanic creature facing a black dragon with golden lines, and on its head stood a stone saint wielding a black sword. He saw a strange group of four people running from a vulture Titan through the day into the night, something that confused him.
"What the hell is all this?" asked Sunny to no one in particular, yet the nothingness answered him.
"They are the remnants of some cycles that haven't yet disintegrated."
Sunny was alarmed by the voice. Hearing footsteps, he looked back. Nightmare went on guard.
From the darkness, under a faint light, Sunny blinked as he looked at two identical versions of Uriel, except for their eyes: one had black eyes, and the other had blood-red eyes that seemed to pierce his soul.
"Hello, Sunny," greeted Uriel with a tired smile.
"Hello, Uriel, Shade," said Sunny, looking at both as he said their names.
"Come, let's talk somewhere more pleasant," said Uriel, glancing at the fragments.
"What are these fragments?" asked Sunny, curious. "And what are those creatures?"
"They are the remnants of the nightmare I had to go through." Uriel waved his hand, hiding the fragments from Sunny's view.
"Come," he said, turning and starting to walk. Sunny and Nightmare followed both for a few moments until they glimpsed a two-story house. Uriel and Shade entered, and shortly after, Sunny entered. He hesitated to let Nightmare in but then shrugged and entered with him anyway.
Inside, the house was quite spacious. Sunny saw a huge communicator screen, at least 100 inches, several sound amplifiers, the interior illuminated with a warm yellow light, the floor made of wood covered by a gray rug made of some animal fur unknown to him.
He noticed that on a wooden table, part of a puzzle was assembled.
Finally, he observed a shelf filled with books in a language Sunny didn't know, but they looked like physical webtoons from the character drawings he could see.
"Sit down," said Shade.
"Where are we?"
"Inside my head," answered Uriel, sitting down and placing a piece in the corresponding space.
Sunny blinked.
"Curious. Your mind is strange."
Sunny sat on the large sofa, feeling as if he were sitting on a glorious, incredibly comfortable cloud that surpassed his own sofa.
Nightmare lay down on the floor, the shadow steed watching his master and the two strangers.
"I see you got a new shadow creature."
Sunny wasn't even surprised that Uriel knew. He always knew things others didn't.
"Was the Weaver's mask useful to you?"
"Yes, it saved my life while falling to a lower sky."
"It's good to hear that," said Uriel.
Sunny furrowed his brow.
"Why?" asked Sunny.
Uriel stopped, looking at Sunny with dull, tired eyes. Sunny shuddered at the emptiness in those eyes. Uriel was always energetic, and his eyes shone with fun or curiosity, but now they were devoid of that spark.
"Why what?"
"Why did you leave me behind?" Sunny finally asked.
Uriel sighed. He knew this would be an inevitable conversation that needed to be addressed now. If he left it for later, he was sure he would regret it.
[Note: Well, here are the first three chapters I promised. In fact, I already have all the chapters of volume three finished; I just need to fix some minor things. So, from now on, I'll continue uploading two chapters daily, in the morning or afternoon.
One more thing: this volume will be more peaceful than the first two, though there will be interesting things, and it will set the stage for the next two volumes, which I'm eager to start writing.]