CRACK.
"What..." Caster's voice was a wet rattle, a final protest as Asteria's fingers clamped around his limbs like iron vices.
"Just making sure you don't decide to use that famous speed of yours to slip away," she whispered, her voice honeyed with a terrifying, melodic edge. She stood over him, the [Might of Gold] gleaming in the harsh, artificial light, and realized she was genuinely enjoying this.
There was a primal, addictive ecstasy in seeing a proud Legacy scion — the kind of man who looked at the world as his footstool — reduced to a broken, shivering heap of meat.
Asteria herself was in remarkable shape, her ascended physique hummed with power, a sharp contrast to the mutilated wreck before her. His legs were shattered, his arms mangled by the Queen of Nightmare's merciless touch.
'A Terror in a tower, and finally, home,' she mused, the goal finally coming into sharp focus.
But the victory felt incomplete. Beneath the surface of her triumph, a nagging suspicion pulled at her. She looked up at the heights of the Spire, where the searing radiance of the artificial sun was beginning to stutter. The light was flickering, pulsing like a dying heart.
Confusion flashed across her face before softening into a grim, embarrassed smile. 'Why did I expect it to be dead? Even someone as stubborn as Nephis would struggle to snuff out a Fallen Terror alone...'
"Hey, Sacrifice," she said, turning her attention back to Caster, who was slumped helplessly in her grip. "You ready?"
She didn't wait for an answer. She didn't care. But before she could drag him further, the very foundations of the Spire shrieked.
"Oh, sh–"
Asteria blurred into motion, throwing the legacy across the chamber like a discarded doll as a massive slab of red coral thundered down, intending to flatten her skull. The floor beneath her began to groan and disintegrate into the abyss.
She drove the golden blades of her gauntlets into the vertical wall, anchoring herself and catching the tumbling Caster by his collar just as the ground vanished.
As she hung there, an uncomfortable, searing warmth began to bubble within her soul sea. It was a radiant heat, far more intense than her own iridescent essence, calming the rampant waves within her and replacing them with a blinding, multicolored glow. Her internal sky was no longer just violet... it was a myriad of colours clashing in a beautiful, dangerous prism.
Something was wrong. She could feel a shift in the air, an inkling that the Spell was moving within her runes once again.
Attribute: [Soul Conduit]
"Hah..." Asteria sighed, the sound echoing off the coral. "Give up already. Go away! Shoo!"
The attribute initially lacked a description, appearing as a blank, hollow thing — she only knew it existed because she was so acutely aware of the ebb and flow of her own soul. Then, a new notification bled into her ears.
[Glass Eyes are peering into one of your attributes.]
[Attribute: Soul Conduit has been updated.]
'Wow... thanks for the help,' she thought dryly.
[Soul Conduit]
Description: "This sun needs a vessel. A vessel to carry the sins and suffering of many to give light to this Forgotten Shore. Return from whence you came, bringer of light."
'Well, that isn't creepy at all,' she mused, her gaze shifting back to the bloody mess in her hand. "Hey, Caster... do you happen to have a new attribute by any chance?"
The legacy nodded feebly, his consciousness flickering in and out as the pain threatened to pull him under. Asteria's smile grew contemplative. 'I guess making him bird food isn't his highest purpose in life after all.'
The final ascent was a descent into a world of greyscale. The Spire lost its red vibrancy; it was a landscape of harsh streaks of light and deep, abyssal shadows. Asteria finally crested the broken dome of the peak, stepping into the inner sanctum of the Crimson Terror.
The room was vast, dominated by the gargantuan, cooling corpse of the Terror itself — a mountain of dead flesh that she barely glanced at. Her attention was anchored elsewhere.
Nephis stood at the center of the chamber, face-to-face with a figure Asteria would never forget.
Sunless.
The Changing Star was a ruin — almost fitting the translation of her True Name. Her armour was all but gone, revealing horrific, blackened burns. Instead of blood, white flames licked at her wounds — a spectacle that looked as agonizing as it was miraculous.
'The girl actually did it!' Asteria chuckled softly, her boots clicking on the red coral as she approached the tense pair.
"Congratulations on killing a Fallen Terror! Honestly, I thought I'd have to step in and save the day!" she laughed, her voice carrying easily across the vast dome.
The pair turned. Their eyes were a study in contrasts: Nephis's were white and lifeless, weary beyond measure; Sunny's were dark, narrowed, and simmering with a cold, protective anger. A shadow and a light caught in a stalemate. Asteria saw Sunny's knuckles whiten as he gripped his blade, and she saw the slight, involuntary shudder that went through Nephis at her words.
'Oh, Spell... is this a family feud?'
"Why haven't you both left yet?" Asteria asked, gesturing toward the dimly lit gateway on the far side of the dome. "What about the others? Isn't that the exit?"
She looked up at the flickering artificial sun. "Is that the hold-up?"
"We can't leave," Nephis began, her voice brittle. "You and Sunny should go. You have far more to live for than I do."
"Bullshit," Asteria and Sunny replied in perfect, accidental synchrony.
"You always want to play the hero, Neph!" Sunny snapped, his hands flying up in exasperation. "You want to die just to be a martyr for the rest of us? Is that it?"
"Maybe, Sunny. Maybe I am."
"Asteria?" Nephis turned her head toward the golden figure. "Take him and go. Now."
"Why?"
"The Spire needs a conduit to hold the light. Have you not checked your runes?"
"I have," Asteria replied coolly, "but why should you be the one to do it?"
Nephis blinked, her stoic mask faltering for a heartbeat. "Who else could be?"
"Caster."
Nephis's eyes widened, her face filling with disbelief before quickly smoothing back into her usual mask. "He's alive?"
"Barely." Asteria hauled the broken scion up and tossed him like a bag of stones at Nephis's feet. "He'll work, won't he?"
"Yeah... he will." A rare, ghostly smile touched Nephis's lips before she turned back to the shadow in front of her. "Looks like we both get to go home, Sunny."
"I guess I didn't need to use it to get you to stay." Asteria heard her mumble despite the distance — though she firmly believed Sunny didn't hear it even if he was close to her.
'It?' Asteria was confused for a moment, but chose to think nothing of it — if she wanted to know she'd get the answer one way or another.
"Do we just... leave him?" Asteria's voice trailed off as she looked at the unconscious Legacy.
"Leave him," Sunny spat, his annoyance with Caster evident. Nephis shrugged with a cold indifference that said more than any words could.
Gazing at the gateway of shimmering runes, Asteria felt a massive weight lift from her shoulders.
"Did the rest of the Sleepers get out safely?"
"Yes, thankfully," Nephis nodded. "I suppose you've paid off your debt to me, haven't you?"
Asteria hummed, considering it. "I'm not sure. I quite liked this little adventure — even if it was a suicide mission for everyone else."
The three moved toward the circular dais of shimmering light.
Nephis and Sunny were gone, embraced by the gateway. They were the saviors of the Forgotten Shore, the legends who had conquered the impossible.
The gateway flickered, its stability crumbling as the artificial sun above ignited one last time before fading into absolute darkness.
Asteria was left alone in the cold, silent shadows of the Spire.
'Is it because I'm already anchored?' she mused, feeling for the tether that bound her to the citadel she had claimed after her second nightmare.
[Citadel: Theatre of Crystal]
"You know, I do wonder why I can feel my Citadel already... This Aspect really is something else."
She pulled on that anchor, the world dissolving around her. In the blink of an eye, the cold Spire was gone, replaced by scorching heat and the opulence of a Glass Palace — surrounded by a literal mountain of nightmare creatures.
"For the Spell's sake, I forgot about the welcoming committee." Asteria hung her head and laughed, a bright, melodic sound in the desert heat. She summoned [Sentinel's Heart], the blade whistling as it diced a charging worm that dared to cross her path.
[You have slain: Awakened Monster, Glass Centurion.]
"This is going to be a long day... but at least I can actually go home when I'm done."