Lucien stared at Eurys for a long time. Struggling to find the words he wanted to speak. In the end, he went with the most simple of words.
"You're lying."
There was no way his mother would say that. No way she would tell him to go away. But then again, she had left without a word.
His stomach dropped. 'Was…was it something I did?'
Was entering Nether's citadel and claiming his lineage the reason she left?
Eurys shrugged, "Well, it's not my place to convince you. She also said that she would return after she finds 'it'."
Raising an eyebrow, Nephis asked:
"What do you mean by 'it'?"
Eurys remained silent for a moment, and then said:
"How should I know?"
"Did…" Lucien paused to think for a moment, "Did you see where she went?"
The skeleton shrugged, "Sadly, no. She simply disappeared after telling us that. If the deathless couldn't see her when she uses her aspect, what hope does little old me have?"
"Right," Lucien sighed. His mothers dormant ability did make her impossible to detect. She could have gone anywhere.
Turning to Nephis, Lucien asked, "What do we do now?"
Tilting her head, Nephis spoke as if she was saying the most obvious thing in the world, "We keep going forward."
"Ah yes, go, younglings, venture forth with no direction and no shelter." Eurys interrupted, "You're not very fond of living are you? A kindred soul."
"Why do you say that?" Nephis asked.
Eurys stared at them for a moment. "You really don't know what this place is do you?"
"Really?" Lucien scoffed, "What gave it away?"
"Your cluelessness," Eurys answered truthfully, "You have seen the Deathless haven't you? Why do you think they fight?"
"Because they are mad?" Lucien answered. He couldn't imagine any other reason for their eternal battle.
Eurys remained silent for a moment, then shrugged, "Well, yes there is that, but , this place was also once a battlefield between the Divine Host and the rebellious Daemonic Army."
He pointed to the part of the desert they had come from, "The deathless you have seen so far are the weakest ones, buried at the edge of the battlefield."
Turning around, he stared at the desert in front, "The deeper you go in here, the stronger they will get. In your state, you will be lucky if you die to a fallen deity instead of one of the countless forgotten horrors of these sands.
Facing them again, the skeleton seemed to grin, "If you want to die, I think there are far more pleasant methods."
Lucien took a moment to digest that information. The deathless they had seen so far had only been the weakest?
It wasn't entirely surprising, considering the other piece of information Eurys gave them. The nightmare desert was a battlefield once. He had seen a battlefield before in his first nightmare, where Storm and Nether had clashed. Their battle alone had left a permanent scar on the planet and in the skies.
Suddenly the existence of undead soldiers trapped in an eternal battle didn't seem so strange.
But, that still left one small problem. Where were they supposed to go now? Surely his mother wouldn't have gone deeper into the desert, knowing the horrors that lie within. Not even her elusive aspect ability could reliably save her then.
That left only two options: either she had retraced her path and returned to the Forgotten Shores and set off in a different direction, or…
Lucien slowly turned to gaze at the chain of mountains in the distance.
Or, she went to the Hollow Mountains.
If she was willing to brave the nightmare desert, then she had to be somewhat confident that whatever she was looking for was in this direction. And if she couldn't advance through the desert anymore, the hollow mountains were the next best option.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." He muttered out, eliciting a response from Nephis.
"What sounds right?"
Sparing her a glance, Lucien gestured towards the mountains in the distance, "We're heading for the mountains. She might have gone there."
Nephis stared at him for a moment and then nodded, "Alright."
"Tell me again, why are you following us?" As the sun began its descent, Lucien glanced back at the skeleton behind them.
Eurys simply shrugged and said, "My, oh, my, you might do well to give me the benefit of doubt here, boy."
Lucien stared at him for a few more seconds, and then turned around and sighed, "Sure, whatever you say."
"I assure you, this is nothing short of a coincidence."
Ignoring him, Lucien walked up to Nephis' side and leaned in, "I saw something when I used my attribute on them. A vision, no, a memory."
Nephis glanced at him, silently asking him to continue.
"There were two of them, one for each." Lucien began, "The memory of Azarax showed me a duel…"
Over the next few minutes, Lucien explained the contents of the two visions to Nephis, making sure to stay a healthy distance away from their skeletal follower.
After he was done, a strange glint appeared in Nephis' eyes. Confusion perhaps?
She glanced back at Eurys and said, "They killed the gods?"
"Well, they tried, and it looks like they succeeded." Lucien said, staring at his companion. That wasn't confusion in her eyes, no.
For the first time in a while, he saw Nephis smile. Not a smile or mirth, or joy, but one of spiteful satisfaction.
"You know," Eurys began, walking closer to the two, "It is not very nice to talk about someone behind their back."
'He heard that?'
Lucien opened his mouth to reply, but Nephis beat him to it.
"Did you really kill the gods?"
The skeleton shrugged, "That's what his vision says. Why? Do you want tips?"
"Yes," Nephis said without missing a beat, "How did you kill them?"
Eurys stared at her silently for a while. Then he chuckled.
"My, aren't you eager to partake in blasphemy? Both of you are rather interested in killing the gods for denizens of a godless world."
"You could say that." Lucien said, joining the conversation, "I'm simply curious though, how do you kill something as powerful as a god?"
Turning to him, Eurys raised a single finger, "Ah but why should I give away my knowledge for free? You seem rather desperate."
"..." Lucien stared at him for a few seconds, then looked up to find Nephis staring at him, as if she was expecting him to bargain with the godkiller.
"Why are you looking at me like that? You know how to deal with people like him better than me."
Nephis raised an eyebrow, "Have you forgotten what happened the last time I tried to deal with Sunny? He went into exile for months."
"...Fair." Lucien sighed and turned to Eurys, "A trade then, you tell us what we want to know, and in return we're willing to do something for you, as long as it is within reason."
Eurys stared at Lucien and shook his head, "I'm afraid there's nothing you can do for me. Unless of course you know of a shortcut to the Shadow Realm?"
Lucien frowned, "What is the Shadow Realm?"
Eurys sighed, muttering something under his breath, then he looked up and said, "It's the realm of death boy. If your actions are any indication, you're headed there soon."
Tilting her head in confusion, Nephis asked, "Why do you want to die?"
Eurys turned to stare at her. "What's there to live for?"
Nephis frowned, "But-"
"They've been alive for millennia Nephis," Lucien interrupted, "Besides, he's nothing but a skeleton now. That's not a pleasant way to live."
Eurys nodded, "See? Your friend gets it."
Still not convinced, Nephis just shrugged and turned away.
Once she did though, Eurys turned to face Lucien and said, "I must say, you smell an awful lot like a Daemon."
Lucien frowned, "Yeah, Weaver. Right? Your… friend, was he? Tree buddy back there mentioned that."
"Not just Weaver," Eurys said, leaning in to whisper, "You smell of darkness, mist, and paths not trodden."
Lucien's frown deepened: was the eccentric skeleton smelling Nether's fragmented artificial lineage on him?
Not letting his thoughts show on his face, Lucien glanced down at the soul sack."You must be smelling this then."
He held the item briefly before letting go. "It's a divine relic he left behind."
Eurys looked down at the memory, and shook his head, "I don't think a mere object would hold such a strong scent."
Lucien's mind raced. Revealing Nether's lineage here would be dangerous. The curious undead could not be trusted. Maybe Lucien could stoke Eurys into revealing the art of godslaying without parting with all his secrets.
"Tell you what," Lucien began, turning to face the skeleton, "I'll tell you what you want to know, if you tell me how you killed the gods."
Eurys remained silent for a moment, and then moved away, "I was simply curious about the divine essence flowing within you."
Pausing for a moment, he continued, "A piece of free advice from an old decrepit remnant like me. Fame and devotion are a double sided blade. Do not seek it if you are not ready for its consequences."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Eurys did not answer.
Soon, night descended upon the desert. The deathless shifted as they woke from their slumber. With no structures around, Lucien decided instead to make his own hiding place. Summoning Mictlan's Demise, he commanded the sand to part and made a small hole in the sand, just big enough to accommodate the three of them.
He commanded the sand to seal them off from the surface, plunging the room into shadow. Even when blinded by the dark, no one risked making a fire. The silence stretched on endlessly between the intruders of the Nightmare Dessert.
Thankfully, the Remnant's enchantment didn't cost Lucien much essence to maintain, so it would be quite a while before he would hit his limit. Especially with four storm cores powering him.
And so, the night passed without incident. Come morning, the three travelers climbed out of the ground, shaking off the sand that had accumulated on them during their stay,
"That is a rather interesting memory you have there." Eurys commented after they were out. His hollow eyes seemed to stare at the daggers.
"Yeah," Lucien admitted, "these daggers were named Mictlan's Demise."
Eurys tilted his head, "Who's Mictlan?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"It's your memory," Eurys pointed out.
"Not a very informative one." Lucien grumbled, "All it speaks about is a titan trying to kill the sun."
Nephis frowned at that, but didn't speak.
"Oh? A sun killing titan you say?" Eurys chuckled, "I wonder if Mictlan was its name."
Lucien raised an eyebrow, "Do you know anything about it?"
"Not really," Eurys admitted, "I think I did hear of an ancient giant, back when I was yet to be hung on that tree. A being so tall that it would dwarf mountains."
"Yeah, that's the one." He was now fully invested in Eurys' words. He had just described the titan he saw in his vision. "What else do you know about it?"
"My, you're certainly interested about this." Eurys spoke with a certain tone to his voice. One Lucien had come to dread.
"Oh come on, not another bargain." He groaned, already starting to consider what he could offer him.
"Don't worry, I'm willing to part with this information for free." Eurys said, and leaned in like he was about to tell them about a terrible secret.
"The sun killer, as they called it. It was an immortal being of chaos, a remnant of the ancient wars the gods fought against the enemies of the Divine Flame. It cannot truly be killed– Shadow cannot bring Death to it as they did with the other remnants. It can only be chained, suppressed endlessly. And so, despite dying many times, it would rise again, taking back what it had lost
"Are you saying that it is still alive?" Nephis asked, finally joining the conversation.
"Maybe?" Eurys shrugged, "How am I supposed to know? Let me tell you, the view from that damned tree is not something I would recommend. I couldn't even see the deathless fighting at night! Can you imagine hundreds of years of nothing but pure boredom? A lesser man would have gone insane!"
"And you aren't?" Lucien replied without missing a beat.
"...Touché."
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A/N: I know its a bit late, but I wanted to upload this today for a specific reason.
I'm 21 now, I can legally drink. Time to get plastered lads!