Nephis and Sunny observed the creature enveloped in darkness, resembling a black humanoid with white eyes.
They watched as the darkness faded, revealing fair skin, followed by a face that took them by surprise—playful black eyes and an embarrassed yet amused smile.
That Void creature, who had given them some trouble, was none other than Uriel—the same Uriel who had died years ago in Ariel's tomb during their Third Nightmare.
The same one now standing before them.
"Hello again. It's a bit strange since I don't know if you're from another version of my timeline, but I'm Uriel, Lord of Darkness, and well, we were friends where I come from."
Sunny was bewildered.
"How are you still alive? We saw you die. We saw your corpse when you were corrupted," Nephis said.
Uriel blinked.
"Corrupted? My corpse? What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You don't know?" Nephis asked.
"Know what exactly?"
"You died during our Third Nightmare," she recounted.
Uriel's eyes widened like saucers.
"No, that shouldn't be possible. Unless... Yes, that could be it."
"Hey, first things first—let's go somewhere comfortable to talk," Uriel said, pulling out his Rhino from his dark storage—the one he had taken from Antarctica before leaving.
"Where did you get the Rhino?"
"I took it before Song and Valor killed each other. It was useful." Uriel opened the door, inviting his two future friends inside.
After turning on the auxiliary generator, the interior lit up with a soft white light.
From his dark storage, he pulled out several plates of all kinds of food, as well as coffee, water, tea, and natural juices.
"Come on, eat whatever you want," he said, taking a cup of hot tea which he cooled.
Sunny began to eat, savoring the delicious taste. He had completely forgotten that aside from his own cooking, Uriel was the closest to matching him.
Even Nephis was satisfied with the flavor.
The three ate in silence, the plates emptying one after another.
"Alright, now I suppose I'll have to explain. I guess it all started when the gates opened in East Antarctica, near the gate leading to the Black Skull desert of the Nightmare," Uriel began.
"By pulling my anchor, I was sent to the desert. I thought I'd be thrown to a distant place and meet up with you to challenge a seed, but fate threw me right on top of the tomb. I entered through one of the cracks and self-destructed to carve my way through the moths. Then I fell inside the real tomb. And you?" he asked, looking at Nephis.
"We entered the tomb through a Nightmare seed. I spent some time navigating the Great River, though my memory is blurry and I don't remember much of it. I met up with Cassie, then we discovered you had been corrupted. We killed the corrupted versions of Kai, Effie, Jet, and Mordret, and then we killed you—though Cassie delivered the final blow. Then we went to Verge, where I destroyed the source of corruption."
"Wow, you had quite an adventure in there. Though I suppose you've already forgotten Sunny and your memories of your time together."
Nephis didn't know how to respond, frowning. Uriel noticed Nephis's eyes widen slightly before she blinked and asked what he was talking about.
Uriel looked at Sunny, who had a complicated expression.
"So in the end, you did it. Do you regret it?"
"No, it was necessary," Sunny said, his voice devoid of regret, though there was a small trace of guilt.
"But how do you remember me?" Sunny asked, confused. He had been erased from the world, left without a fate, and the records of his existence were completely replaced. Even if he spoke with someone who knew him, they would forget shortly after.
"That's simple. I'm not from this world. So this world's laws don't fully apply to me—that's why I can remember you."
Sunny blinked.
"Wait, you're not from this world?"
"Didn't I tell you before?"
"No, at least not as far as I know."
"Well, I'm not from this world or the Dream Realm. Let's say I'm an external agent."
"So that's what it is. You're an alien," Nephis said, making Sunny cough to keep from laughing.
Uriel wore an amused expression.
"You could say that. But anyway, that's in the past. Let me finish telling you what happened in this place."
Sunny and Nephis paid attention.
"When I landed in this place, I landed at the far end of the future. I was wounded and on the brink of death, so I had no choice but to become a Transcendent without the Spell's help. Somehow, I managed it. With that, I was able to heal and begin my journey. I killed many horrors, and I acquired an army of Nightmare followers for unlimited essence."
"Wait," Sunny said. "Army?"
"Yes, it's my Transcendent ability. I can bend weaker creatures to my will. If I had to give a comparison, it would be like a virus with a hive mind that is me. I can infect them to follow my orders," he explained.
"With this ability, my journey was less dangerous—only slightly. Within a few days, I was attacked by Great Creatures commanding thousands of Corrupted. I was attacked by flying abominations, also by Great Horrors—among them this: 'My Supreme Tyrant, whose name I still haven't decided but will eventually,' which I killed and obtained its echo."
"You actually called your echo that?"
"Yes, it didn't have a name at the time, alright?" he said, looking away.
"After overcoming many trials and all that, I encountered the inhabitants of the river—or rather, he found me."
"He?"
"Yes, Cronos."
Sunny blinked.
"That brat?"
"Yes, that brat—well, he was. Not anymore. Anyway, after an encounter, he caught me up on how the corruption was spreading uncontrollably, how people were dying, how to time travel."
"Wait," Sunny said this time. "Time travel?"
"I'm getting to that, don't get impatient."
Uriel settled better in his chair, taking a sip of slowly cooling coffee. In front of him, Nephis and Sunny watched him with expressions full of attention for his crazy adventure.
After organizing his thoughts for a moment, Uriel continued.
"Well, yes, time travel is possible within this place. Sunny, you must have an idea of what your corrupted version did inside the tomb and all that."
The black-haired man wrinkled his face slightly at the acts of the Mad Prince, planning everything to overcome all obstacles and reach the end.
"Yes," he finally replied.
"Well, I more or less did the same thing, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway, according to Cronos, I had developed a powerful, strange spell that allowed several individuals to travel back in time."
Nephis raised an eyebrow.
"How exactly does this spell work?"
Uriel shrugged.
"From what Cronos explained to me, we developed the spell in the future. In theory, it allowed the complete consciousness of a person to be sent within their same timeline to a point in the past."
"So they're like downloadable data?" Nephis summarized.
"Yes, Nephis—like downloadable data."
"Continuing, in the doomed future, we developed the spell, and the fortunate one to return was Cronos, thanks to his time-related Aspect."
"You're leaving too many details out. Be more specific," Sunny said.
"Hey, I like my secrets well-kept and my mysteries."
"You can stop avoiding the topic, Uriel."
"Well, I tried."
"What I'm about to say sounds like something out of a crazy fantasy and sci-fi story, but it's real. In my first loop—or at least the first time—I crossed the entire Great River until I reached Fallen Grace. There, I learned everything about the Profanation, the dangers of the Great River, and the current state of things. They had no leader because the Sibyl had been profaned. So I took control of Fallen Grace, trained new Awakened by giving them countless Transcendent fragments, and then taught them my dark sorcery."
"Dark sorcery?"
Uriel showed his hands, where thin black threads emerged from his fingers, quickly weaving together into a basic enchantment that Sunny recognized.
"This is weaving. But it's not the same one you use, Sunny—it's different but similar. I based it on Nether's sorcery, as well as the Spell's own sorcery, and Hope's sorcery. From those three, dark sorcery was born."
"Do you have any Memory you've created? I want to see its weave."
Uriel put a hand on his chin before summoning a black knife.
"I made this Memory with a Supreme soul fragment out of boredom. It has an enchantment that induces paralysis with the slightest scratch," he explained.
Uriel transferred the Memory to Sunny, who, after receiving it, summoned it and examined it carefully—his eyes tracing every pattern and connection to the main nexus, which was Uriel's true name.
"How long did it take you to develop this?"
"A few centuries."
"I did it during my Second Nightmare with all that loop business. I just blocked those memories—having centuries of mental time messes with your mind, you know?"
"But continuing. After teaching my sorcery, we managed to strengthen Fallen Grace. Facing the increasing number of abominations, I decided to create a ship capable of carrying those born in the river. I called it the Time Hunter. We sailed across the entire Great River, gathering people to our cause against the threats. We went with the river nomads, with the travelers from outside the tower from the other cities built by civilizations, until we reached Twilight, where the Serpent King Daeron was."
"After forming an alliance with Daeron, we made a plan to gather all the river's people in one place to face the abominations and escape. We managed to destroy the flow of time, which allowed all humans to gather in one place. But with so many human souls together, the indescribable abominations attacked ceaselessly—it was terrifying. We lost many lives. To survive, Daeron devised a plan to attack the source of corruption—that is, Verge. The plan failed, and Daeron was corrupted, becoming a great creature leading the horde of the profaned.
We fought for a while until only three of us remained: Cronos, Ananke, and me. Knowing all was lost, we gambled on traveling back in time. The idea was for the three of us to travel to the past to our younger versions to prepare better. Even if the probability of it working was low, we did it. In the end, Cronos was the one who succeeded.
He did everything—built the Time Hunter, recruited me, and explained everything. In the second loop, we did everything again, except we were already prepared. We built a bastion that resisted the abominations for a time, but again, Daeron wanted to eliminate the source of profanation and was infected, this time becoming a great titan that devastated the bastion. I stayed behind fighting that thing, where I died, but I bought time until Cronos went back to the past.
The third loop was different. We got further. With the two previous experiences, we knew the variables, so we prepared."
"Let me guess—Daeron ruined it again," Sunny said, feeling his respect for the ancient Supreme from another divine world drop.
"Well, not really. According to Cronos, it was a vile, repulsive bird that ruined everything. It attacked the bastion. I fought it for a bit before dying, followed by everyone else, and Cronos returned. This is the fourth loop."
"And before you ask, I know all this because Cronos told me."
"I understand," Nephis said. "You refused to accept fate and decided to change it by force, using time as a tool."
Uriel blinked, looking at Nephis with surprise.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Well, it's just strange to hear you express yourself that way."
"What's wrong with my way of expressing myself?"
"Well," Uriel coughed, "It's usually: goal, obstacle, eliminate, explode, and repeat."
Sunny struggled to contain his laughter at the perfect summary of Nephis's general personality.
The Changing Star looked at the Lord of Darkness with a grim expression.
"Do you want me to explode right now?" she asked in a hostile tone.
"Hey, let's calm down. I don't want you to explode out of nowhere, alright? Here, take this."
Uriel summoned a black notebook, handing it to Nephis.
"What is this?"
"An explosion guide written by me. It has dark sorcery for making things explode, how to improve explosions. Even nice illustrations of the best explosions I've performed."
Nephis flipped through the notebook with strange interest.
"You mentioned time travel earlier—where does that fit into this?"
"Well, let's say I applied the same thing the Mad Prince did. I used the Estuary to travel to the future."