Waking up next to the gateway of the Sanctuary of Noctis, Sunny looked around.
The day was windy and bright, the seven streams falling from the Sanctuary created several beautiful rainbows in the sky around them.
Greeting a couple people around the gateway, Sunny made his way to his living quarters. Once he made it there, he lay on his bed.
And a few minutes later, he was gone.
He had Shadow Stepped away.
Now standing on one of the titanic chains, Sunny began to move away from the Sanctuary of Noctis.
Why did he do this?
Because he was going to kill a couple Chain Worms. The big ones at that.
If the scary and powerful Corrupted chain worms disappeared every single time Sunny went out of the Sanctuary… It wasn't certain that it could be linked to Sunny, but for now he was maintaining his non-fighter persona.
***
Beneath a titanic chain, on one the floating islands.
A massive and hideous worm was crawling across the bottom of the island. It was moving towards one of the massive metal chains holding the islands together.
And in the next moment…
BOOM!
A massive bolt of lightning struck.
The chain worm lay still, temporarily paralyzed.
And immediately afterwards, a mighty serpent even larger than the chain worm appeared.
Coiling around the still paralysed worm's entire body, the serpent reached one of its disgusting heads, baring its fangs ferociously.
And with a surprisingly loud crunch, its head was bitten off.
[You have slain a Corrupted Beast, Chain Worm Ancestor.]
'That thing had bones?'
Sunny, hidden within the shadows atop the island, looked at the body falling below.
Then, he appeared on the falling body.
Stepping on its squishy skin, Sunny felt a little disgusted.
'This… is in the name of money!'
Pushing his disgust aside, Sunny cut open its body with the Soul Serpent, immediately finding the soul shard with the help of his soul vision.
Smiling as he held a gleaming transcendent soul shard, Sunny stepped back onto the island.
Now that he was a Titan, with Soul Weave at that, he had plenty of essence to spare. For now the problem was simply his control over it, as an Awakened there were some limitations to his ability.
At first he had wanted to turn the Crown of Dawn into a Transcendent Memory, but he decided against it. Instead, he left it with Aria, intending it to become a symbol of her currently rapid growing fame. His most powerful weapons were his Shadows after all, not his memories.
With his Shadows alone, Sunny could already reasonably kill Corrupted beasts and monsters, having an Ascended Titan as a Shadow was simply too powerful.
And augmenting it with seven shadows? Even Corrupted Devils could be torn apart easily if they weren't careful.
'I need to become a Master soon… I'll wait about a year first.'
Immediately attempting the second nightmare after escaping what was basically hell would make him look like an insane person. He wasn't even eighteen yet after all. In fact, even if he attempted the Second Nightmare a year from now he would still look like an insane person.
'Maybe I can do it secretly…'
If he utilised certain memories or Weaver's Mask, he could definitely become a Master in secret and just remain low-key. But attempting a second nightmare alone wasn't on his to-do list just yet.
'I'll only do it if necessary.'
For now, Sunny would just grow his strength as he collected soul shards.
But there was also one more reason why Sunny wanted to wait a year.
Because that was around the time Mordret would Awaken from Sunny's assumption. He'd feel a lot more confident in whatever his plans with Mordret were if he was an Ascended, so that was what he was going to do.
Sunny continued his day, slaughtering nightmare creatures wherever he could find them. Soul Reaver combined with Soul Weave kept his essence filled essentially all the time, so he finally didn't have to worry about that at all.
There were much, much more nightmare creatures here than Sunny remembered there being. He wondered why anyone even chose to anchor here, there were barely any Masters and Saints but there were definitely plenty of Fallen and Corrupted around here.
'Better for me, I guess.'
He'd have a much better time getting as many memories as he could with such an abundance of things to kill. Although it did feel a little strange to kill something and not gain any shadow fragments…
And as night fell, Sunny returned. Gazing at the endless vista of glittering stars in the sky, Sunny touched the Gateway and left.
***
And just like that, two months had passed.
When Sunny wasn't in the Dream Realm slaughtering nightmare creatures, he was in the academy either creating research reports or working as a research assistant.
Despite everything, Sunny still loved making money.
But he also loved relaxing, as well as doing fun things.
Sadly, the Dreamscape was still in its development stages currently, and was only available to a select few beta testers. Sunny applied to the program but had little hopes of joining.
But that didn't matter today, because today was a special day.
He was going to look at his new house after all.
***
Exiting a public train as he ignored the stares from the people inside, Sunny stepped out into the fresh spring air in his stylish civilian clothes.
Taking a deep breath, Sunny slowly walked towards the location of his new home, marked on his communicator. A couple minutes later, he had entered a quiet neighborhood filled with somewhat small but cozy homes.
Sunny found himself in front of one of the bigger homes within the neighborhood as a salesman excitedly approached him.
"Good morning sir! Welcome, welcome! My name is Salm, I'll be showing you around today!"
Sunny noted the slightly humming PTV that the salesman had just gotten out of before looking at the house before him.
The house before him was two stories high, with white walls and a slightly pointed red roof, decorated with several small windows across both stories. There was a small patio outfront with a couple amenities with it, as well as a small driveway that could be used to park a PTV or the like. Surrounding the house was a somewhat tall hedge fence, separating it from its neighboring houses.
Sunny smiled slightly.
'Good enough.'
His first house would always hold a special place in his heart, but sadly he couldn't choose that one again. Of course he could've just forced the person living in it out but he wasn't interested in doing something like that.
Looking at Salm, Sunny nodded as he was motioned to follow him inside.
"Thank you for coming on such notice sir, we managed to complete the renovations as per your specifications. Although I must say, keeping it discreet like you asked was quite a challenge! Anyways, please, let me show you its facilities."
To get this house, Sunny had simply contacted Jet, and she forwarded it to a higher ranked government agent who was able to arrange everything for Sunny at only a slight price increase with a couple calls. The renovations he had asked for were not too different from the past, with an underground dojo installed that he could use for training. Although the dojo likely wouldn't be able to withstand his power for long, it was still a nice thing to have.
Following Salm inside, Sunny listened to him talk about the facilities of the house with a straight face.
The inside of the home was sparsely furnished, but it was still warm and cozy, with soft yellow light pouring through the windows. The first floor had a kitchen, a dining room, a pantry, as well as a living room.
Salm excitedly talked about all the security measures of the house, with the powerful metal alloy plates contained within the walls, the steel shutters that would close on the windows and doors in a state of emergency, as well as the usual air and water filters.
Listening to Salm's long talk, Sunny thought to himself:
'This guy… really likes security stuff doesn't he.'
Sunny continued to listen as he followed Salm around the house. Most of the things he heard he had already heard before, as most of the modifications he had asked for were the same things he had asked for in his old home. Some of the house was powered by Spelltech, but currently Spelltech wasn't as developed as it was before, so it was only used for some electronics as well as being kept as a back generator. Spelltech was still used in much of the city's infrastructure, and it was definitely necessary to keep the city running, but it still had room to develop currently. Most industries required their participation one way or another.
Moving to the underground basement Sunny had requested, he admired the work that had been done here.
'Not bad.'
Glancing at the object he had bought in the corner, he looked at the mighty steel sarcophagus. It was a state-of-the-art sleeping pod, the absolute best model that could be bought currently. Although Sunny didn't plan to remain an Awakened for long, he still wouldn't cheap out on something like this.
After checking out the basement, they left quickly, as Salm seemed to be quite scared of the dark.
'Weirdo.'
Now checking out the upstairs, Sunny noted the several guest bedrooms.
"What's with all the bedrooms?"
Salm glanced at him a bit.
"Ah! I'm glad you asked, the rooms above used to actually be for something else but the previous people who lived here were quite a large family, so all the upstairs rooms were converted into bedrooms. We plan to leave them untouched, unless you wish to use the rooms for something else..?"
Sunny shook his head.
"No need, just leave it."
They proceeded to move on to the master bedroom, in which Salm had heavily emphasized to be perfectly soundproofed, and he also happened to mention that the bedframe was heavily reinforced and not prone to breaking easily. Sunny still didn't understand the fuss over the master bedroom. He was an Awakened, why would he sleep in a bed?
And after looking at all the rooms upstairs, his tour had concluded.
Bowing slightly, Salm concluded everything.
"...Well, I hope everything has been to your liking sir!"
"It's good. I'll take it."
"And another thing sir, would you like to sub-"
"No."
"...Okay."
Slightly embarrassed, Salm pulled out a few papers for Sunny to sign as they concluded their deal.
And after they shook hands, Salm left.
Sunny took a good look at his house, sighing in pride.
Walking inside, he switched on the entertainment system and turned on the news.
Leaving his shadow to watch the screen, Sunny made his way to the kitchen to make himself a simple meal.
Humming a quiet melody as he made himself some fried eggs and synth bread, Sunny sent his other shadows outside.
He was looking for a certain house.
Having finished making his meal, Sunny took it and sat down on the sofa. Sitting comfortably, Sunny continued searching with his shadows as he enjoyed his meal.
And after ten minutes…
'There you are.'
He found his target.
Sunny sat leisurely, taking his time eating. He was thinking hard, still debating on what he should do.
But he did not think forever.
He finished his meal, and he chose to decide once he saw her.
Standing up, Sunny made his way to the kitchen before leaving his plate in the sink.
Then, he disappeared.
***
Appearing out of his shadow, Sunny stood before an inconspicuous looking home.
As he approached the door, he felt eyes fall on him. Eyes from the home in front of him, as well as the surrounding homes.
'They still have quite a lot of retainers at this time it seems.'
Approaching the door without worry, Sunny rang the doorbell.
Extending his shadow sense outwards, Sunny felt someone coming to answer the door.
'Hmmm. I wonder what I'm going to say.'
Through his shadow sense, he felt two people approach the door as everyone else scurried upstairs as two people were ushered into a hidden room. The two people were an older woman and a young girl.
Sunny took a deep breath as the door before him opened.
"Can I help you?"
An old woman answered the door, her grey hair seemed a little frayed, but she had an extremely stalwart look in her eyes.
'This must be her grandmother, Immortal Flame's widow.'
Through his Shadow Sense, he also saw what felt like an Ascended hiding right next to the door, ready to strike.
"Greetings, I am an Awakened Sunless. I've come here to meet you today… because… I…"
Sunny trailed off, seeing something strange in his shadow sense.
The older woman was strangling the young girl!
'Right now?! Why!?'
"Please give me a moment."
Sunny then disappeared.
Immediately, everyone in the home sprung into panic.
"He's going for Nephis! Everyone! Upstairs now!"
Sunny did not hear any of this however.
Appearing within the small room, he saw it.
Nephis was being strangled by what appeared to be her nanny.
The moment Sunny saw this…
An endless rage boiled within his entire body, his killing intent surged to its peak as he immediately grabbed the back of the woman's neck, lifting her upwards.
"Ack- Wha-"
"Shut up."
Sunny immediately threw her. The woman slammed against the wall and collapsed into a heap on the ground, severely injured.
Sunny then turned to Nephis.
He saw a young girl with deep black hair and grey eyes, crying as she grasped her bruised throat, desperately gasping for air.
And the moment Sunny saw this, he had made his choice.
He wasn't going to allow this to happen to her again.
Even if it meant the Changing Star never appeared.
He had remembered that once, in the Forgotten Shore, after he had heard Nephis laugh he had dearly wished that their lives had been different, so that maybe he could hear that laugh just a little more.
Now here it was. A chance to fulfill his own wish.
…And in the back of his mind, Nephis died.
The Changing Star of the future that he had loved once was now gone forever. The Nephis before him was the only one left.
The moment Sunny decided that, a part of him died. Extinguished forever.
The darkness he had felt in this moment he had only ever felt once before.
Kneeling slightly, Sunny moved Nephis' arms out of the way to get a better look at her wounds.
"It's alright child. Everything's going to be alright."
She looked at him with teary eyes, fear still evident within them.
Sunny flinched seeing this, a storm of emotions clouding his soul.
But in the next moment, he stood up and backed away from her before raising his arms upwards.
Just as he did that, the door exploded open, nearly tearing off its hinges as an Ascended burst in.
"Stop!"
The man had a blade in his hand, which was immediately pointed towards Sunny.
After taking a good look at the room, he immediately rushed towards Sunny, aiming to take his life.
Easily dodging the man's first slash, Sunny tried to explain himself:
"Please just wait a second! I know this looks really bad, but I promise I have a good explanation!"
"Silence!"
The man continued swinging his blade, still missing completely.
As more and more people poured into the room, all with the goal of foiling Sunny's supposed assassination attempt, a small, feeble voice was heard.
"...W-Wait!"
Immediately, the Master froze, as did the many other retainers entering.
Everyone turned to the heavily coughing Nephis.
"Wasn't… him…"
She then pointed at the nanny who was sneakily trying to leave the room.
"Her…"
A retainer immediately pinned the woman down, not doubting the young girl's words for even a moment.
And as the fighting stopped, an old woman entered.
"Nephis!"
Immortal Flame's wife entered and immediately rushed to Nephis, wrapping her in a tight embrace.
"Are you hurt?! What happened?!"
Nephis, now only slightly coughing, was finally able to respond properly.
"Miss Flan was trying to kill me… This man stopped her."
"What…?"
The retainers that had been surrounding Sunny lowered their weapons upon hearing that.
They then turned to the nanny who had been pinned down, fury evident within their eyes.
The nanny, seeing that there was no escaping now, began yelling frantically:
"This… This is all your faults! Why?! Why must you keep this abominable girl alive?! The Immortal Flame must be extinguished no matter wh-"
She was unable to finish, as the retainer that had been pinning her down knocked her out with their aspect.
The retainer then looked at the old woman cradling Nephis, questioning what to do next.
"Everybody out. Thrain, remain with me and Nephis."
And as the retainers began shuffling out of the room with the unconscious nanny in tow, Sunny finally relaxed.
A couple seconds later, the only ones remaining were Sunny, Nephis, Immortal Flame's wife, and the Ascended that had attacked him just now.
The old woman spoke first, with clear suspicion still in her eye.
"Well first things first, I must thank you young man."
She bowed slightly, which Sunny immediately reeled upon seeing.
"Please do not bow on my behalf, I only did what was right."
The old woman straightened her back.
"Very well, you said you were an Awakened right? Just who are you and what business do you have here? And what do you know?"
Sunny did not mind answering these at all.
"Indeed I am Awakaned Sunless, and… I was here to meet Nephis. That was her name right? And you're going to have to be a bit more specific in asking what I know."
Upon hearing his response, the old woman tensed as the Ascended readied his weapon once more.
"You were here to meet Nephis?! Why!"
Sunny took a deep breath before responding.
"Because… She is the future."
The old woman glanced at the Ascended, who nodded back at her.
"Elaborate."
Sunny tensed slightly.
"Before I answer that, can you silence this room? I swear on my life that I will not do anything to any of you."
The old woman glanced at the Ascended man again, and then nodded at him.
'I knew it.'
From their reactions, the Ascended seemed to be able to discern truth from lies, making this a lot easier for Sunny.
Sunny then watched as the Ascended summoned a memory that seemed to be an ornamental dagger. The man then stabbed it into the ground, before Sunny felt like the room was sealed off from the outside world.
"It's done."
Sunny nodded.
"I've seen parts of the future, and at its center is her. Changing Star. The Immortal Flame must not be extinguished, no matter what."
Nephis' eyes widened slightly when she heard that.
But the suspicion in the woman's eye did not diminish even slightly.
"You've seen the future? Can you prove that at all?"
Sunny glanced at the Ascended, then summoned a memory.
And as a black lacquered mask appeared over his face, the three people before him tensed, only for Sunny to dismiss it a moment later.
The Ascended man, Thrain, then began to stutter.
"Wha… what was th-"
"That… was Weaver's Mask. A Divine memory of the seventh tier."
The old woman's gaze darkened at the mention of Weaver, while the Ascended dropped his weapon in shock as he began muttering slightly. Nephis could only look on in confusion.
"D-Divine… Seventh? How…?"
Sunny nodded before explaining further.
"I found it on an unknown prisoner deep underground, and one of its enchantments allows the user to peer into fate, although it is currently unusable to me. But within that fate, there is Nephis."
Of course, Sunny did not know that the strings of fate were currently in disarray thanks to him. But thankfully, neither did the remnants of Immortal Flame.
The old woman seemed to be in deep thought.
"Changing Star…"
"Indeed. I have now come to extend my hands in the hopes that you will allow me to help, because… those ghouls don't seem to like you."
The woman and Ascended both fell deep into thought.
As they were thinking, Sunny gave Nephis, who was hiding behind her grandmother's leg, a small smile and a wave.
After about a minute of thinking, the two glanced at each other and nodded.
"I don't have a problem with it. But how can we trust you?"
Sunny then decided to properly introduce myself.
"Well, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Awakened Sunless, no affiliation, I currently live about a fifteen minute walk in that direction, and you may also know me as a survivor of the Forgotten Shore."
Sunny then noticed the old woman glance at the Ascended again as he nodded.
The man then cleared his throat before speaking.
"Then, I should introduce myself as well. I am Master Thrain, the second in command of the Immortal Flame clan."
"And I am Calida, the current clan head."
Sunny bowed.
"Pleased to meet you."
Calida moved to the side slightly.
"Introduce yourself, Nephis."
'Not even a Neph or a Nephie? What a serious woman…'
"H-Hello Mister Awakened Sunless. My name is Nephis…"
Sunny's heart shook a bit upon hearing that.
Her voice was so small, so child-like. He could not see any resemblance to her future self.
'She's… really just a kid.'
An innocent, orphaned child.
And yet the Sovereigns had still decided to kill her.
'How… How could you…'
Sunny couldn't even imagine raising a blade against an innocent human without reason, let alone a child. And yet those ghouls had deemed her death necessary just because she might want revenge in the future.
'Every last one of you needs to be culled.'
None of his emotions showed on his face however, as he responded pleasantly.
"Well hello little Nephis! I'm Sunless, if you ever need anything, please, just ask your shadow…"
The two adults seemed a little confused as Nephis nodded seriously.
Sunny then took a step back.
"Well, if you ever need anything this is my address as well as my contact information."
He tossed a card which Master Thrain caught with ease.
And unnoticed by anyone, a shadow slid from Sunny's feet, lazily entering Nephis'.
Bidding farewell to the lazy shadow, Sunny spoke one last time.
"And by the way, I expect this conversation to be kept secret. Clearly, many of your retainers and servants can't be trusted. So I don't want this information leaking to anyone whatsoever, understand? Not my name, not my face, not my purpose, anything."
As both of them nodded, Sunny then bowed, and in the next moment, he was gone.
***
Unseen to Sunny, a lone man was standing on the roof opposite the house Sunny was just in, leaning against the chimney.
His calamitous power emanated slightly, but not enough to be felt by anyone or anything around him.
The man observed the event that had just happened with interest.
"...Fate?"
***
Within the room Sunny had just left…
Calida turned to Thrain.
"What do you think? Should we trust him?"
Thrain also turned to her, his face serious.
"I don't know… He didn't lie even once. But… his power is no joke, I couldn't hit him at all."
Calida seemed surprised at that.
"Really? But he was just an Awakened…"
Thrain spoke again.
"Indeed, but he also had enough time to kill Nephis at least five times over, but he didn't…"
As both of them lowered their heads in thought, a small voice spoke up.
"We should trust him!"
Both turned to look at Nephis.
"Why?"
"Hm?"
Nephis spoke up once more, a stubborn look upon her face.
"Just trust me! I feel like I can believe in him!"
Calida laughed slightly at the sight.
'She's just like her mother…'
Turning to Thrain, she had made her decision.
"Alright, let's believe him. Just this once."
***
Reappearing upon his sofa, Sunny was breathing heavily.
Endless anger burned within his soul.
And endless sorrow clouded his mind.
His thoughts constantly churned, his head in turmoil.
'Those ghouls… all of them… they all need to die!'
'Neph… I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.'
'Anvil… Song… Asterion! Cherish every last day you live! Because I'm coming for every single one of you.'
'Nephis… would this have been what you wanted? I don't know… Please… forgive me.'
Within the darkness of his own home, Sunny suffered in silence.