Countless thoughts ran through Sunny's mind as he processed Luciens words. He knew what had been done to him. Nephis had told him. She had told him.
Did she gloat about how she had made him her slave? How she and Cassie had schemed to find his true name and use it at the opportune moment?
The familiar pain began building up in his neck, the pain that would eventually force him to answer.
Gritting his teeth, Sunny glared at him and said : "She forced me to leave her behind, that's all you need to know."
Lucien frowned, that wasn't much of an answer, but clearly Sunny didn't want to speak about it.
"Just tell me this, is it because she knows your True name? Could she do the same to me if she learns of mine?"
"Yes. No." Sunny forced out, a part of him wanted to summon the Cruel Sight and attack Lucien right there.
Fighting against that impulse, Sunny instead asked, "How did you know?"
Had Nephis really told him? He needed to know.
"It's a bit complicated," Lucien said while scratching his chin. "I received a memory recently that allows me to look into someones mind and watch their memories. I used it on Nephis, per her own suggestion, and saw her memory of your fight in the Crimson Tower. I asked her about it, but she just told me to ask you later."
'She hadn't told him?' Sunny thought, momentarily at a loss for words. She had actually kept his secret. That…he hadn't expected that.
'That doesn't excuse her of what she has done.' Sunny scowled, his mood souring even further.
"Do you still want to hear the rest?" Lucien asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.
Looking up, Sunny slowly nodded, "I assume you found her in the rubble of the spire."
"Yes," Lucien said, "I wanted to kill her back then, for what she had done. For the people she had manipulated for her own gain."
"What changed?" Sunny asked.
"I realized how much of a hypocrite I was being." He said, "I asked myself what I would have done if I were in her shoes. And sure I probably wouldn't have done it the same way, but the end result would've been similar."
"So you forgave her just like that?"
"Not forgive exactly, more like understanding. I understand why she did what she did, and I was willing to cooperate with her."
In truth, he had already stopped blaming her for their deaths. Sure she had manipulated them, but there was truth in her words. They had fought for a chance at salvation, they had fought to find a way out of the forgotten shores.
Brom had died grinning.
"What happened after that?" Sunny asked, seemingly curious.
"Well, apparently my mother had gone somewhere in the desert, so the two of us went looking for her." Lucien said, "I'll spare you the details, but the desert is a dangerous place, the only reason we survived was because of my speed and her healing. Every night the corpses of the dead would rise up and fight amongst themselves, the remnants of a battle between the gods and the daemons."
Lucien then talked about finding Eurys and Azarax on the tree, freeing one of them, and then heading towards the hollow mountains. He spoke of the Ciphrus, the Fallen Terror he had fought on the edge of the desert.
A few months ago Sunny probably wouldn't believe him, an awakened killing a Fallen Terror. But he had seen Nephis kill the Nameless Sun of the Forgotten Shores. If she could do it as a sleeper, then Lucien could definitely do it as an awakened.
He continued until he reached the part about his return to the citadel and Nephis' subsequent awakening.
After he was finished, there was silence for a moment.
Eventually Sunny spoke, "So, Nephis is in the waking world right now then."
"Not really," Lucien said, "She's currently catching up on sleep in the citadel."
"She didn't change citadels?" Sunny asked, surprised. He was certain Nephis of all people would instantly switch to one of the border citadels just to get stronger
"No. She said she didn't want to leave me alone." Lucien shook his head, and then scoffed. "I was doing just fine during my first stay there."
Sunny frowned, he couldn't say that was unlike her. She had after all forced him to leave due to her twisted sense of right and wrong.
"I'm curious about something," Lucien said, staring at Sunny as his vision switched. He could see the golden light leaking out of his bones and blood.
Sunny frowned, "About what?"
"Your lineage," Lucien said, "It's not Shadow gods lineage but rather something else."
Sunny almost forgot to breathe for a moment. "What makes you think its not Shadow gods lineage?"
"I can see it," Lucien said, his vision returning to normal. "Considering your aspect, I expected your shadow to be divine, but it isn't."
"Do you know about the seven parts that make up a living being?" He asked, and Sunny shook his head in response.
"Blood, Bone, Flesh, Mind, Soul, Spirit, and Shadow." Lucien explained, "Each of the gods correspond to one of these parts, their lineage focuses on it. For instance, Nephis has Sun gods lineage, and her soul is all the more divine for it."
Sunny nodded, echoing the seven parts in his mind. He'd gotten the Blood and Bone weaves, there were five more weaves left to get. Then he frowned, "There are only six gods, how can they correspond to one of the seven parts?"
"I believe there are seven," Lucien said, "Think about it, the spell is obsessed with the number seven. Seven ranks and classes, seven parts of a whole, seven daemons. Why then would there only be six gods. It doesn't add up."
Sunny's frown deepened, "Then who is the seventh god?"
"I don't know," Lucien shrugged, "I've found no traces of them anywhere, no one mentions them, not even the daemons in their writings."
"…" Sunny stared at him for a few seconds, and then said, "So you're just guessing with no proof."
Lucien blinked, "Well if you put it like that…"
"The point is," Lucien said, "Your blood and bone are divine, now I've narrowed it down two possible options."
He raised two fingers, "The first option is you are trying to acquire the lineages of all the gods, that would mean that you have beast gods lineage enhancing your blood, and either Heart, or War, or the suspected seventh gods lineage enhancing your bone."
Sunny remained silent, that wasn't a question so his flaw didn't force him to answer.
"The second option," Lucien continued, putting down one finger, "is that you do not have a gods lineage, but a daemons. Fragmented into seven parts, you have only managed to get two so far."
Sunny stared at Lucien in silence. There was no way he could have guessed that. Hell, he didn't even know it was possible for a daemon to have a lineage until he got Blood Weave. The spell even called it a forbidden lineage, something that wasn't meant to exist.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Sunny asked, "What makes you think such a lineage exists?"
Lucien allowed a smile to show on his face, "Probably because I have one. One part of it anyway."
Hearing that, Sunny's jaw fell, unable to contain his surprise anymore. Who goes around admitting they have a daemons lineage?!
'The same person who reveals his aspects rank to strangers.' A part of his mind retorted.
"Why are you telling me this?" He asked.
"What's there to hide?" Lucien said, "Besides, it's not a real lineage either. It's an artificial imitation of his divinity."
Not a real lineage? What did he mean by that? An artificial imitation…there was only one daemon he could think of who would make their own lineage.
"Nether," Sunny said, his voice hoarse. "It's his lineage isn't it?"
"Correct," Lucien nodded, "I assume the two parts you have aren't his? It's gonna get quite awkward otherwise."
If Sunny indeed had the blood and bone aspects of Nether's Lineage…Neither of them could get the full lineage until one of them was dead.
"It's not his." Sunny admitted, debating on whether or not he should tell him about weavers lineage.
So far only two other people were aware of it, Nephis, and Cassie. One of them had seen his attributes and learned of his true name. The other had enslaved him and could now see his runes. The only people who knew of that secret of his were ones he hadn't told it to. He didn't have a choice.
He stared at Lucien, he had a choice here. He could tell someone about his lineage of his own free will. Someone who had done the same to him. Someone who had told him his true name as a show of trust, and now his lineage. As it stood, Lucien was one of the only four people he trusted now. Well, as far as his trust went anyway. He would never trust someone as deeply as he had trusted Nephis again. Not after what she had done.
Maybe this would just be an act of rebellion, maybe it wouldn't mean anything down the line. But it was his choice, he would choose to divulge his secrets.
Sunny took a deep breath in and then said, "It's Weavers."
Lucien raised an eyebrow, "Master of Lies? Daemon of Fate?"
"You know of him?" Sunny asked, surprised that he recognized the daemon.
"Eurys told me a bit about some of the daemons," Lucien explained, "He seemed to harbour a deep hatred for them, called them a coward and a traitor."
Sunny recalled the description of the [Bone Weave].
When children of the -unknown- rebelled against the gods, Weaver was the only one to refuse the call of war. Despised and hunted by both sides, they disappeared. No one knew where Weaver went and what they did… until it was too late.
"Because he didn't participate in the war." He said, receiving a nod from Lucien.
A few moments later, Sunny asked, "Did you explore the upper levels during your previous visits here?"
"I did," Lucien said, looking up at the ceiling. "The next room is…dangerous. I've nearly died twice in there. The walls are etched with runes that aren't meant for mortals to read."
"Runes?" Sunny echoed, runes etched by the daemon of destiny himself. Now that he was very interested to see.
"Yeah, we can go take a look but be careful. Don't look at too many of them at once." Lucien warned. Especially the ones pertaining to the gods. If Lucien didn't have the mind aspect of Nethers lineage, he'd have died there.
Sunny nodded and stood up, commanding Saint to stay behind them as they went up the stairs.
As they reached the room, Sunny took great care not to look at the whole room. Instead he looked at one isolated section of the runes.
He winced as both of his shadows separated from him and returned to the shrine. Even then reading the runes was putting a heavy toll on him.
Lucien was about to suggest coming back later when a mask suddenly materialized out of white sparks over his face and he seemed to relax.
Sunny's gaze swept over the wall slowly, seeing the runes but not understanding them, until finally he came across something else.
He paused in front of the wall, staring at the image etched onto it.
"Did you see this before?" He asked, pointing at the image.
Lucien frowned and walked up to him, summoning a ball of lightning to light up the wall.
The image was instantly made clear to him. He stared at the smoothly cut lines in the stone, expanding his vision until he saw the whole image.
"A map?" He whispered. No he hadn't seen that before. He'd been focused on deciphering the runes one by one.
Why would Nether carve a map amongst his runes?
He glanced at Sunny and immediately activated Nightveil.