"What?" Cassie asked in exasperation.
"It's been my experience that consuming these things is usually as bad if not worse than forming a core," Sunny said holding out his hand.
"The guy I chose to save the world," she said shaking her head and taking his hand to accept the [Drop of Ichor].
Sunny transferred the memory and then pulled up a certain set of runes:
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [3/7].
First Relic: [Claimed].
Second Relic: [Claim].
Third Relic: [Claim].
He chose "Claim" for both. He might not be able to use the lantern, until after becoming awakened, but it wouldn't hurt to have.
[You have received a Memory: Drop of Ichor.]
[You have received a Memory: Shadow Lantern.]
He summoned his memory:
Memory: [Drop of Ichor].
Memory Rank:[unknown]
Memory Tier: [unknown]
Memory Type: [unknown]
In front of him appeared a golden drop of divine blood. The shadows in the nest grew deeper.
In front of Cassie was another golden drop of divine blood.
"So uh... do you wanna go first or me," Sunny asked.
"You just went so I can go first," she replied with some apprehension, but also deep excitement.
Sunny watched as the golden liquid in front of her turned into streams that flowed into her eyes.
Cassie lifted a hand slowly to her face, and then suddenly grit her teeth and fell to her knees.
Pain. Pain coursed through her body. She felt as though her eyes were melting and had the fleeting though that she had once been lucky to have been blinded without the pain. Her hands gripped the floor. She could do nothing, but wait for the eternity to end.
Between hoarse breaths, Cassie heard:
[You have acquired new Attributes.]
[One of your Attributes is ready to evolve.]
Then...
[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]
This time it was Cassie's turn to feel Sunny's hands tenderly holding her shoulders. She reach up to squeeze his hand to let him know she was alright.
"How was it," he asked words laced with concern.
"I think... I have more appreciation for you distaste of Weaver," she said. "He couldn't have, I don't know made it a little less 'pain of a thousand deaths?'"
"Compassion doesn't seem like his strong suit," Sunny agreed.
Taking her hand he helped her to her feet. After making sure Cassie was alright, Sunny turned back towards his drop.
[You have acquired a Drop of Ichor. Do you wish to consume it?]
Sunny chose "Yes."
There was no "so be it" this time.
The radiance filled his two shadow core and then...
Pain once ran through his body, but it was accompanied by an intense sense of pleasure and rightness. The two conflicting feelings overwhelmed Sunny and yet he did not fall. He did stumble in Cassie's arms.
She held him up as the pleasure and pain subsided. Then Sunny heard:
[You have acquired new Attributes.]
[One of your Attributes is ready to evolve.]
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Fate's Shadow.
Rank: Dreamer.
Shadow Core: Dormant.
Class: Monster.
Shadow Cores: [2/7].
Shadow Fragments: [12/2000].
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Dreadful Burden], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Thief's Pocket], [Akhlut's Hide], [Shadow Lantern].
Shadows: [Soul Serpent].
Attributes: [Fated], [Flame of Divinity], [Child of Shadows]. [The Shadow].
He went to the [The Shadow].
The Shadow: [Shadow god was not just the god of shadows, but held power over Death, Peace, Solace, and Mystery.]
Shadow: [Evolve?].
Death: [Unevolved].
Peace: [Unevolved].
Solace: [Unevolved].
Mystery: [Unevolved].
He stopped before choosing "Yes." Looking at Cassie.
"Did anything change for you?" he asked.
"Yes, I gained an attribute..." she said, which Sunny expected from [Blood Weave]. "...and my aspect is ready to evolve."
Shock was written on Sunny's face and he quickly pulled up her runes.
Name: Cassia.
True Name: Progeny of the Hateful.
Rank: Dreamer.
Fate Core: Dormant.
Class: Beast.
Fate Cores: [1/7].
Soul Fragments: [0/1000]
Attributes: [Fated], [Spark of Divinity], [Blood Weave].
He checked [Blood Weave].
[Blood Weave] Attribute Description: "You have inherited a part of Weaver's forbidden lineage. Your blood has been altered and embued with odd tenacity."
It seemed that consuming Weaver's lineage carried an extra boon for those who didn't have the capacity for multiple cores to begin with. Cassie also either gained or already had [Fated] as well as was touch by divinty.
[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]
"Are you going to evolve your aspect," he asked.
"Yes... will it hurt?" she asked mildly.
"No, at least in my experience, thankfully this is rather painless," he replied.
Cassie chose "Yes." Sunny pulled up the runes
[Aspect Rank: Divine.]
[Aspect Name: Fate Artist.]
Aspect: [Fate Artist].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Description: [You are an artist who has usurped the throne of a hateful Daemon. As an artist, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. Yet artful beauty is always accompanied by that which is darkest.]
Innate Ability: [Tapestry].
Ability Description: [Once a tapestry is made all that is left is to finish it. You are of Fate and as such are burdened with the living edge of what is and what still trembles with possibility. You must see the compromised possible, but it stares back at you.]
"It that much different than last time?" he asked.
"I used to only see people attributes and get visions of the future or past." she said. "The words 'must' and 'compromised' worry me. Oh, and the fact that it seems to be staring back at me is great."
Sunny closed his eyes in thought. It sounded like an overall buff to Cassie's inclinations to Fate. He lamented slightly that he now had another pressing need for soul shards, but more pressing...
"I think it's referencing the forgotten god." she said echoing what he was about to think. "I've been preventing myself from dreams so as to avoid dreaming, but it seems that I must see at least some of it."
"I don't have control over my dreams anymore without Nightmare, but I've noticed some hint of the forgotten god," Sunny admitted.
"The only other thing is that I think I can make memories like you did." she said. "I don't have essence, but my heart tells me I can reach out and weave strings with soul shards."
"I can help you with the essence." said Sunny. "I might even commission a couple before the spire."
Cassie smiled and then looked down sadly pouting.
"Why could I have just gotten my awakened ability early." she said.
Sunny looked at incredulously, to which she looked up with one eye open and an impish smile starting to laugh.
"Dealing with the Fate of the world over here and she is laughing," Sunny said in disbelief, causing Cassie to laugh harder.
"I've seen the world for quite some time now," she said between breaths and then smiled lightly. "I've learned if I don't laugh to myself, I'd probably ended up killing myself."
"And laughing with someone is better than to myself don't you think," Cassie said.
"It is," said Sunny now smiling himself.
Bringing his back to her soul fragments, Sunny's mind went to his first shadow and the many transcendent shards from the [Leviathan's Hatchling] brood he killed. Thinking of shards he summoned the [Thief's Pocket]. Shards were sized relative to the nightmare creature most of the ones Sunny had been collecting over the past week or so were about the size of a fist. So even the capacity of the memory could store a little under four-hundred and fifty thousand shards of that size.
Unfortunately Sunny did not have hundreds of thousands of shards, but he did have twenty-five transcendent, about fifty ascended, and a few hundred awakened. He tossed all the ascended and most of the awakened to Cassie.
"Ascended should give you four and awakened two," he said. "That should bring you to a little over four hundred."
"What about Nephis?" Cassie asked thinking it was a bit unfair.
"She had three full cores by the spire last time," said Sunny. "I will feel better knowing we'll all have at least two soon."
Cassie nodded and turned to crush the shards.
"What about you?" she asked. "I noticed you gained an attribute."
He pulled the runes back up.
The Shadow: [Shadow god was not just the god of shadows, but held power over Death, Peace, Solace, and Mystery.]
Shadow: [Evolve?].
Death: [Unevolved].
Peace: [Unevolved].
Solace: [Unevolved].
Mystery: [Unevolved].
He chose "evolve" and looked back at the runes.
Shadow: [All your connection to shadows are greatly enhanced. You may empower your strikes to target the shadows themselves].
He wrapped Gloomy around him. The boost was even greater than before. He used shadow sense and found that even as a dormant his range was increased and the detail more potent. It was a shame he didn't have shadow step or manipulation yet, but he was sure both would be enhanced.
The second sentence was what really excited him though, he had always wanted to attack his enemies shadow. His heart told him that this damage would be like soul bypassing defenses, but potentially better because it was unique from soul damage. Unfortunately, his also guessed based on his heart doing so would require essence which as a dormant he was not drowning in.
"You okay, you look like a fox that got into the chicken coup," said Cassie with an eyebrow raised. She had finished with the shards.
"Like a what that did what to who," Sunny asked confused. "I'm more than okay, my connection to shadows is better and I think once we get out of the Shore the perks will just keep coming."
She pulled her knees up and looked out through the nest's entrance.
"We should go down soon." she said.
"We should," he agreed as they climbed out of the nest.
Cassie estimated three days to build a ship and seeing as she was most familiar with the Chainbreaker he left it to her with Serpent helping her with the physical labor when Sunny was busy.
Sunny dove twice a day, once at dawn, and once at dusk. Racking up a few more fragments and giving the shards to Cassie. The [Akhlut's Hide] was worth more than Sunny's own weight in ascended soul shards.
On the last night before they launched, Sunny sat looking out at the Dark Sea alone. He became aware of Nephis beside him. She sat without announcement and looked at the Dark Sea and said nothing.
He waited.
Below them, visible through the gap in the rock where they'd made camp, Cassie was asleep. The faint luminescence caught the silver of her hair.
"You should tell her," Nephis said.
Sunny looked at her.
"I'm not completely socially blind," she said flatly.
"I told her I'd give her an answer when I had one."
"That is only a partial answer," Nephis said.
Sunny was silent. She looked at him with her grey eyes.
"What is the the essence of combat?" she asked him.
"Survival," he answered. His answer had changed to her idea of murder at one point, but he returned to his original answer after being defeated so many times and surviving each one.
"I believe it is murder. Each party is in a conflict until the other is dead. It is simple." she said. "We are strong for Sleepers, but if we are dead we cannot tell each other how we feel."
Sunny looked at her, wondering if she was thinking of her parents and wondering if he could comfort her about that yet. As for her point.
"You're right, and I will," said Sunny, he hesitated. "Can I ask why you want to destroy the Spell."
"It took my parents, along with a few others who I will also destroy." she said evenly.
"Is revenge all you have?" asked Sunny.
Nephis didn't respond, which meant she was either thinking or listening. Maybe both.
"When I said I thought about my little sister when the Herald attacked you I was serious." said Sunny.
The silence stretched. The Dark Sea moved below them, patient and vast.
"I don't have siblings..." she said finally. "...but considering I just gave you some sage advice wouldn't I be your older sister?" said Nephis cocking her head.
"Umm..." Sunny scrambled for a response. "...have you been in any relationships."
She slowly turned to look at him.
"...Isn't it more embarrassing that you need advice from someone like me," she fired back like a sibling.
Sunny looked back at her with an exaggerated expression of offense. And then chuckled lightly to which Nephis joined him in.
"Thank you and tell her," Nephis said. She stood, looked at him once more with both pointed meaning and gratefulness before walking back to camp.
Sunny sat alone at the island's edge for a while longer.
They launched at dusk, when the Dark Sea was at its fullest and calmest, and sailed through the Shore's dark hours toward the land mass of a Dark City and a Bright Castle. The crossing was uneventful. The Dark Sea moved beneath them sun started to rise on the horizon. The Dark Sea began to retreat and on the the slope of the giant crater, a dark expanse of land with large city wall could be seen.
Sunny had return to the Dark City.
The trio abandoned the ship and approached the wall. Sunny summoned the [Dreadful Burden] in the form of a knife and wrapped Gloomy and Happy around it. Hopping on a massive rock he casually dropped the knife letting it fall into the rock.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Rolling Stone.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received memory: Ordinary Rock]
He chuckled earning a quizzed look from the two girls.
When they reached the top of the wall they all set their gazes to the ruined city filled with various creatures. Sunny and Cassie had already decided to try and blitz through the city to the castle. Effie was not likely to be in the same spot as last time given how much quicker they arrived.
"Shall we go," Sunny asked them.
Cassie grabbed his hand with a squeeze and Nephis gave a slight nod looking out with light excitement for the upcoming battles.
The trio fought through the city with more caution then they approached the labyrinth. The city was riddled with fallen creatures and while they were more than capable of dealing with the occasional threat, waging a full scale war would waste time.
They made it to the encampment outside of the Bright Castle, and Sunny stop them raising a hand with a grin. His shadow sense felt a familiar figure in the camp.
Brunette hair, olive skin, a robust physicality that her archaic armor only amplified. Effie was eating as the three approached.
"You three are new," she said.
"We just arrived," Cassie said.
"From where?" she asked genuinely curious.
"We came by boat," said Sunny.
"Boat?" Effie's eyebrows rose slightly.
She looked at him for a moment with the considering expression of someone deciding on the spot whether they liked a person. Then she smiled.
"Effie," she said introducing herself. "I know where everything worth knowing about in this city is. Where are you headed?"
"The castle," Nephis said stepping forward.
Effie's expression shifted with disappointment.
"Of course you are," she said. "I'll take you to the gates."
"I hope you have shards." Effie said.
Sunny wordlessly took out the [Thief's Pocket] and pullout a three awakened shards and one transcendent shard just to tease Effie.
"We don't need any transcendent shards right?" he asked.
Effie just looked a him with a bit of avarice and a little disbelief and shook her head.
They walked past the guards.
"Welcome to the Bright Castle, my name is Harper. I'm responsible for guest accommodations today. Let's get you… oh! I don't seem to recognize you guys. Is this your first time paying the tribute?" said the boy at the front of the entrance.
Sunny just nodded.
"Congratulations! You might not even suspect it, but I was once in your shoes myself. In fact, it was just a few months ago. But ever since Lord Gunlaug graced me with his kindness, I've been living in the safety of the castle. You'll love it here too, I'm sure." Harper continued.
Nephis stared at him, Cassie stifled a laugh, and Sunny was thinking about killing him again.
'Ah.. but then he'd be in my soul sea,' Sunny thought.
They listened to his yapping as he guided them to the two room. Sunny entered his and said bye to the two girls.
He sat down on the bed. He thought about his next steps. He needed to purchase the [Mantle of the Underworld], he wanted to go retrieve the [Weaver's Mask], he couldn't wait to meet Kai again, he knew they would need to collect the seven memories of the shore, but most importantly he had to get his very first shadow back. His oldest shadow, his first roommate, his training partner, his most reliable battle partner, his Saint.
He also had one more thing to do, but he was about to bring it about. Walking out to the balcony, he sent Happy to go make a fool of himself on the other balcony.
Shortly after, Cassie joined him outside and Sunny hopped over to the other balcony. Nephis winked at them and closed the curtain near the door.
"I practiced this," he said.
Cassie raised an eyebrow. "How did it go."
"I'm not going to tell you what I practiced because it was considerably more articulate than what I'm about to say."
She waited. She was good at waiting. She was infuriatingly good at waiting.
"I'm not good at this," he said. "I've spent most of my life making sure people couldn't use me, which meant not letting anyone get to close and with...the other time there were complications to be say the least. I was afraid of that happening again, the complications."
"I'm not afraid of it anymore," he said. "Or I am, but I'm going to say it anyway because Nephis told me I was being an idiot and she's not wrong."
He met her eyes.
"I have feelings for you, Cas. I've been pretending I don't know what kind they are, but I do." he said.
Cassie's expression was doing something complicated and controlled.
"And now?" she asked quietly.
"And now I'm doing something about them..." he said. "...I don't know exactly what that looks like yet. But I know I'm not going to push them down or pretend I don't know what they are."
A long silence. Then Cassie reached out and took his hand.
"Okay," she said softly.
He looked at her profile. "Okay?"
"It means yes, Sunny." she said with a soft laugh.
He looked away and looked back again.
"Okay," he said.
They sat in silence for a while enjoying each others company with their feelings in the open. The door opened behind them.
"Do you maybe need to share Sunny's room?" Nephis teased.
Cassie lightly punched her on the shoulder as she sat down next to them.
"I don't wanna intrude, but I figured an hour was enough." Nephis said.
Cassie and Sunny glanced at each other.
"Wait...did you not realize it was an hour," Nephis asked, she examined them. "Did you not even kiss?"
Cassie's cheeks were red and Sunny wasn't fairing much better.
"I take it you wanna discuss our next steps?" said Sunny changing the topic.
Nephis nodded.
"I sent Gloomy to poke around and it sounds like this place is pretty corrupt. The leader Gunlaug runs it like a dictatorship with his commanders. Also there is no Gateway." Sunny said.
Nephis was silent taking in the information. Sunny glanced at Cassie who gave him a look that told him she would follow his plan.
"I need to make a stop in the Castle, but then I want to go to the Dark City I have some hunting and business to attend to by myself." said Sunny.
"That sounds good to me, I'm also thinking of leaving the castle," said Cassie, she looked at Nephis. "I also have an idea about the problem of a Gateway from a vision, Neph can I asked you to help me?"
'Oh to be able to lie,' Sunny thought.
"Of course I will help you," said Nephis immediately.
"Would you be willing to help run an errand if you're going to the Dark City?" Cassie asked Sunny.
"Not a problem," he replied, assuming she wanted him to handle the catacombs while she and Nephis went north.
They looked at each other, all three with a smile. Ready to launch their offense against the Forgotten Shore.
Sunny dreamed of nothing in particular, a dark that was comfortable and familiar, the specific quality of a dream that knew it was a dream. Then the dream weave came.
Indigo bled into the dark, slow and deliberate. Purple followed, deeper and wrong, the two colors moving together in the churning slow-storm pattern he had first seen infecting the sky above the Black Mountain.
Sunny went still.
The first tentacle came from below. Vast and moving with the unhurried certainty of something that had decided on a direction and saw no reason to hurry because the destination was not going anywhere.
He tried to summoned the [Dreadful Burden]. Ir did not come, he was not in his body. He was in his mind.
He ran.
The tentacle followed. Then a second emerged from the right, and a third from somewhere above, and the color was everywhere now, the indigo and purple crowding out the dark.
The first tentacle struck. It hit him in the chest and his knees hit the dream floor. Sunny felt himself becoming influenced by slumber just like last time. However, he felt another presence, an incomplete yet divine one.
The tentacle pressed deeper. Then something slashed through it.
Cassie stood between him and the remaining tentacles. In her hands, were an array of strings. Dozens of them, akin to the tapestry Sunny saw wherever he activated [Where is my Eye].
"Can you stand?" she asked, not looking away from the tentacles.
"Getting there," Sunny said.
The remaining two tentacles moved simultaneously. Cassie's hands moved faster weaving the strings into an incomplete barrier. The first tentacle hit the weave and stopped temporarily before starting to bury into the weave. The second curved around, she pivoted and added to the weave.
The bubble built itself around them as she worked, holding the purple-indigo at its surface. However, Cassie looked stressed and the bubble began to lose integrity.
Sunny got one knee under him.
"We need to go," she said her voice strained.
"The exit," Sunny said. "Where-"
Cassie took his hands and closed her eyes. The bubble held for a second and then the tentacles hungrily broke through, but Cassie was already pulling him out of the dream.
He opened his eyes to the castle ceiling. He shook his head orienting himself. Gloomy and Happy looked at him with concern. He walked outside and knocked on the girl's door. Nephis opened it and let him in.
"Cassie, what happened-," he began as she rose up to hug him.
"I felt it through the Bond a few hours after we all fell asleep," she said.
"The bubble," he said. "The strings."
"Yes."
"You've never done that before."
"Well, after [Blood Weave] my dreams returned but I had more control. After a day I could start to play with the strings" she said.
"Thank you," he said.
She squeezed his wrist once before letting go.
"Don't make a habit of getting stabbed in dreams," she said. "Even by tentacles."
"I'll do my best," he said. "Afterwards, how did you wake me up?"
"I didn't I pulled you out of the dream. You kept sleeping afterwards." she replied.
"Like how the Bond let's you augment me, I can use my powers to help you more than others." she said.
"Makes sense, well I've got a memory to buy and an old friend to meet, so I'll leave you two to your business," he said.
"I'll be waiting by the encampment, Cas." said Nephis with a wink. "See ya in three weeks Sunny."
She walked out and Sunny's hands were grabbed by Cas.
"I guess I'll see you in-," Sunny stopped as Cassie pressed her lips softly against his
It was brief. Gentle. Sunny returned the kiss slightly.
"Three weeks," she said, finishing his sentence as though nothing had happened. Though the color in her cheeks suggested otherwise.
Sunny stood very still for a moment.
"Right," he said finally. "Three weeks."
She smiled and let go of his hands. He watched her walk to go meet Nephis.
He walked out into the castle corridor. He made it approximately ten steps before he stopped, leaned against the wall, and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Happy gave him two thumbs up.
Then he pushed off the wall and went to find the [Mantle of the Underworld].