14 [14]Prince of all Shadows

The pain was excruciating, but Sunny had long been used to torture. Nephis was worried that he would scream, but he had stuffed his mouth with disgusting dried seaweed beforehand. He hoped that he didn't catch a disease from it.

Back to the main point, Sunny had endured the pain of the Drop of Ichor from Shadow god surprisingly well. He didn't even bleed out of every orifice in his body. Luckily for him, the process also only took a few minutes.

By then, Cassie had become distracted from what she had seen in her dreams, and realized that something was happening to Sunny. She could hear his muffled groans and pains.

"Neph, what's happening to him? Is Sunless going to be okay?"

"I don't know. His runes say that he unlocked an Aspect Legacy. He then asked me to watch the camp for a while, then he laid down and started writhing in pain."

Sunny opened his hurting eyes and turned to stare at them. For some reason, Nephis and Cassie felt suppressed by that gaze, even though Nephis' will was ridiculously strong, and Cassie was blind.

"Thank you for not trying to use my bond to steal my Aspect Legacy. I seemed to have consumed a strange divine memory. I need some time to check my runes, so will you hold on a bit to explain what you saw in your nightmares Cassia?"

Cassie nodded. She was clearly in no rush to explain what she saw. She . . . had quite a lot to think about.

Sunny began to summon his runes, and this is what he saw:

[Name: Sunless]

[True Name: Lost From Light]

[Rank: Dormant]

[Memories:Silver Bell, Azure Blade]

[Echoes:Carapace Scavenger ]

[Shadows: Soul Serpent]

[Shadow Cores:1/7]

[Shadow Fragments:30/1000]

[Attributes: Fated, Spark of Divinity, Prince of Shadows,Rewoven]

[Spark of Divinity: Every fire starts from a spark. Somewhere deep within your soul, a radiant spark shines with divine light.]

[Prince of Shadows: Shadows recognize you as their royalty. There is no such thing as a Shadow unrevering to you.]

[Aspect:Shadow Slave]

[Aspect Rank: Divine]

[Innate ability: Shadow Bond]

[Aspect Legacy: 2/7]

[Flaw: Clear Conscience]

[Master: Nephis]

[True Name: Changing Star]

[Rank: Dormant]

[Memories: Dream Blade, Evertwine, Puppeteer's Shroud]

[Echoes: ]

[Soul Cores: 1/7]

[Essence Fragments:34/1000]

Sunny was pleasantly surprised at the runes, knowing that they indicated that Sunny could have improved his Shadow Control. He immediately tried to use his Shadow Sense, and was extremely shocked. Sunny's Shadow Sense was greater than it had ever been, even as an Ascended Terror.

Sunny quickly found that his Shadow Sense was not different in only that Aspect. Sunny tried to look at himself through his shadow, but he realized something else. His vision split into four.

He was watching himself though his shadow, and studying his shadow through his own eyes. That wasn't all, however. The two extra points of view that Sunny could perceive the world through . . . turned out to be the shadows of Neph and Cassie!

His Shadow Sense was also now so detailed, that he could easily guide the girls through the labyrinth of coral for miles, even without his own Shadow. In fact, he seemed to be able to connect his mind with that of every living being's Shadow around him.

It was a dizzying new ability, but Sunny had other problems. Finally, he turned to Cassie, and spoke up.

"Can I have some water?"

Cassie turned to him and scowled, as though confused by the question. Then, she suddenly gasped and opened her eyes wide.

"Oh! Oh, sorry. Yes, of course..."

She summoned the limitless water bottle and offered it to Sunny. He took it with a curt nod and proceeded to drink a few gulps before giving the bottle to Nephis. Eventually, it returned to Cassie.

"You drink some too."

After she did, he tightly clasped the blind girl on the shoulder. At first, Cassie was a little shocked, but she found Sunny's grip more comforting than what she would have first suspected.

"Everything seems to be fine now. Uh... did you dream of another vision? You can tell us. If you want."

Cassie hesitated for a bit before saying:

"I... don't know. Maybe it was just a nightmare."

Sunny and Nephis exchanged glances. They both doubted that what Cassie saw was a simple nightmare. After all, people usually did not dream in the Dream Realm. The blind girl, meanwhile, continued:

"I don't really remember. It's all in fragments."

Sunny held his tongue, trying to not look at Nephis, and let her realize his dark resentment.

"You can just tell us what you remember. Maybe we'll be able to make sense of it together."

Cassia sighed and tentatively nodded. After a long pause, she finally found the courage to speak:

"At first, I saw a... a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something vast was churning in the darkness. I felt like if I directly saw it, I would lose my mind. As I watched, terrified, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained. And then that seal broke, too."

She trembled a little.

"After that... I don't know. It was as though my mind shattered into a thousand shards, each shard reflecting its own image. Most of them were dark and scary. Some I have already forgotten. The other..."

Cassie fell silent, remembering.

"I saw the human castle again. Only this time, it was at night. There was a lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden armor sitting on a throne; a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer trying to pierce the falling sky with his arrows."

Finally, she looked up, her face full of horror.

"In the end, I saw a colossal, terrifying crimson spire. At its base, seven severed heads were guarding seven locks. And at the top, a... a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel bleed, I suddenly felt as though... as though something so precious that it can't be described with words was taken from me."

Her voice became quieter.

"Then, I felt so much sorrow, pain and rage that what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear. That was when I woke up... I think."

Nephis was quiet, pondering what she had just listened to. Sunny turned west, aloowing a dark expression to fall over his face.

'Is the prophecy the same because I chose to not do anything about it? Maybe the changed I make can't be predicted, even by Cassie? I have no idea. I still need to decide whether I can allow Nephis to go through that cruel crucible of the nightmare desert, or if I will take her back to the waking world, and have her avoid the Great Clans another way.'

Sunny sighed.

"We'll make it through together Cassia. I can't say what you dreamt about was nice, but I'll drag the two of you to the other end of the dream realm before I go and let you both croak, so don't worry about it."

***

Some time later, they were sitting on the western edge of the stone platform, looking at the scavengers below. Sunny's shadow was busy scouting a path to the next high landmark. Well, it was pretending to, at least. It was actually serving as an anchor for Sunny's improved shadow senses. Sunny was creating a perfect mental cartography of the area and its inhabitants in his mind.

"Were there always that many?"

Sunny glanced at Nephis and shook his head.

"No, there were much more. They seem to be almost done with the carcass. I doubt it will last until nightfall."

Nephis frowned. Sunny knew that she wanted to move west today. He knew that she would change her mind.

After a while, she said:

"I don't want Cassie to spend another night near this statue. Let's leave now."

Sunny thought for a while, then opened his mouth to offer his own opinion. However, a sudden commotion below prevented him from speaking.