Sunny didn't speak again.
He didn't need to.
---
After a while, Caster pushed himself off the ground, limbs trembling. He leaned against a jagged outcrop, sweat clinging to his brow.
"P—Please… I beg you… not again…"
His voice was shredded, hoarse from pain too deep for words.
Sunny didn't even glance his way.
Instead, he clapped his hands lightly and said, "Alright then. Who wants to learn about Sovereigns?"
This time, it was Cassie who answered.
"Sunny…" She inched closer, still holding his hand. Her tone was gentle, but firm. "As much as I'd love to know what happens when you complete the fourth Nightmare… maybe we should talk about the now first?"
Sunny turned to her, and smiled.
"Fair enough, Cass."
With a casual motion, shadows coiled around him and took shape—forming three seats from shadows and will.
One formed beneath him.
Another for Cassie, who sat and hesitantly let go of his hand.
And the last, a step away, for Nephis—who remained standing, arms crossed.
Caster was left where he was, slumped against the rock.
Sunny exhaled, settling into the chair like a graceful sovereign on his throne.
"First of all," he said, voice cool, "I never completed the fourth Nightmare."
A beat passed…
Then another.
"I became a Sovereign without it."
Shock flickered through the group like a crack of thunder.
Cassie's eyes went wide. Nephis narrowed hers.
And Caster… he went still. Again, that same dread overtook him.
Sunny's voice grew quieter.
"And no, I won't be explaining how—at least, not all of it. Not yet. Because…"
He steepled his hands beneath his chin, eyes shadowed.
"There exists knowledge that corrupts people, just by being heard."
A silence stretched, heavy and aware.
Then, he shifted his tone.
"However, before we get to that, let's focus on what happens next."
He looked from Cassie to Nephis, then finally back to Caster.
"I could open a Dream Gate."
He let the words hang in the air like bait on a hook.
"Similar to a Gateway. It would take you home. You'd even return as Awakened."
For a second, two of them lit up. One knew.
Hope bloomed.
"But…" Sunny said.
And it withered.
"I won't."
Cassie flinched.
"Why?" she asked, quieter this time.
Sunny leaned forward, shadows coiling lazily around his shoulders.
"Two reasons. First: If I do that, I expose myself. People will ask questions… The others Sovereigns will realize, if not my existence, then at least that of another Sovereign. I do not intend to do so yet"
"Second," he continued, tone hardening,
"I need you all to become stronger. Humanity's survival isn't set in stone. It's a constant war. And you people are fated to take part in it. Everyone is."
He let that truth settle like dust.
"There's a settlement east of here," he said. "It's ruled by an Overlord, Gunlaug, and his lieutenants. Your task is simple: take control of the settlement. When you do, I'll carve the way to the Gateway."
His gaze swept across their faces.
"Until then, forget my strength. I'm not a Sovereign. I'm Sleeper Sunless. I will act like Nephis' partner as we tread this deathzone."
A malevolent emotion clear on his face as he spoke,
"I will be fighting any duels."
He grinned,
"Fun, right?"
Then—
He leaned back.
"Any questions?"
Caster opened his mouth—
"Wha—"
He didn't finish.
His shadow surged up and wrapped around his mouth like a noose.
Sunny didn't even look at him.
"Not you." He gestured toward Cassie and Nephis.
"I was talking to them."
Nephis tilted her head, eyes sharp as ever.
"How did you become a Sovereign… without the spell?"
A pause.
"And… how old are you, really?"
Sunny blinked.
Then smiled.
Not wide. Just amused.
'Does she think I'm old?' he grumbled internally. 'I'm barely a few millennia old… and 17 at the same time.'
He spoke smoothly, voice carrying a strange mix of reverence and irony.
"Before Weaver—one of the seven Daemons—created the Spell, people ascended the old way."
He leaned forward, elbows on one knee.
"They spent arduous hours to form their soul cores. Then rose above their mortal nature by improving the quality of their soul and body. This was similar for anyone who took upon the path of natural ascension."
His eyes gleamed.
"Everyone's path to Sovereignty, however, is different. Mine involved dying to myself. And coming back."
A shrug.
"Simple, really."
He smiled, ignoring questioning stares.
Then, to her second question:
"As for my age…" he said, eyes glinting with mischief,
"That depends."
A beat.
"Chronologically? Existentially? Literally?"
He leaned back, smiling again.
"Let's just say… the best guess is seventeen."
---
Currently, four Sleepers—one of which was an imposter—were traversing a Labyrinth.
A vast sun loomed above them—silent, watching.
Cassie had somehow found herself mounted on the neck of one of Sunny's Shadows—specifically, the large simian one.
Gralk.
She'd been skeptical at first. Understandably.
But after a bit of reassurance, she agreed.
Sunny walked in front of the cohort alongside Nephis.
Cassie was center.
And Caster… well, he was the rear guard. Where all cowards and future trauma victims naturally belonged.
Not that there was much danger.
Sunny could easily deal with any troubles that arose.
And trouble tended to be very aware of that fact.
Still, he noticed Nephis casting him glances.
Not shy ones. Calculating.
"Want to ask something?" he asked without looking.
Nephis slightly shifted her gait, closing the distance until they walked shoulder to shoulder.
"There are a lot of things I want to ask."
Sunny smiled.
"Ask away then. Just keep them open-ended. I dislike yes or no questions."
Nephis nodded once.
Straight to business.
"Well, first—just how strong are you?"
She tilted her head, then added:
"And can you tell me anything about the other Sovereigns?"
Sunny considered for a beat.
Then shrugged.
"About my strength… I don't have an exact figure. But—"
He raised his voice slightly. Just enough for it to carry.
"—I once killed a god while fighting a Sacred… as a Saint."
There was a pause.
Then—
"JUST HO—"
Caster, in the back, tried to yell something.
But his own shadow slithered up like an overworked bouncer from Thailand and clamped his mouth shut.
Sunny didn't even glance back. Just shifted.
"I didn't agree to answer your questions."
He turned back to Nephis, casually continuing like he hadn't just silenced a grown man with dramatic irony.
"As for the other Sovereigns… I know a fair bit.
Anvil is holed up in Bastion, forging a sword.
His ability has to do with metals. He can convert what he kills into weapons. Real poetic stuff."
He gestured vaguely.
"Song? Her body's still slumped on the throne in Ravenheart. Hasn't moved in quite some time. There's a sword jammed through her chest like a bad breakup, though… I doubt she's ever been in a relationship.
She controls puppets now. Humans, nightmare creatures—the lot."
A moment passed.
"…As for the third one?"
Sunny tilted his head.
"Honestly… I know nothing. Just that he's currently locked up on the moon with an unholy titan."
Nephis blinked slowly, processing.
"How do you know this much?"
Sunny's grin returned, lazy and wolfish.
"I have two of my Incarnations watching them from the shadows."
She was about to ask another question, but then—
A carapace scavenger lumbered into view, its grotesque form glistening under the oppressive sun.
Sunny didn't even blink.
He stepped slightly to the side, as his shadows rose and constructed a plush chair beneath him.
He sank into it like a man born for indulgence.
Gralk followed suit, settling beside him.
Then gestured expectantly.
"You really can't stop, huh?"
Sunny sighed.
Then, with a flick of his fingers, a shadow-formed banana appeared in midair.
Gralk took it reverently, peeled it from the stem like a cultured gorilla, and began eating it as if it were a delicacy instead of manifested darkness.
Cassie, still perched on his back, looked equal parts impressed and vaguely concerned about what she was currently hearing.
Meanwhile, Nephis and Caster stepped forward, summoning their weapon Memories. Ready.
Sunny called out, tone instructional, like a bored professor in an arena class:
"Remember, three weaknesses:
First, obvious—joints.
Second, the connector between torso and carapace.
Third, a cavity in the rear armor, aligned with the eyes. Hit that, you poke the brain."
He leaned back as a shadow footrest rose into place.
Luxury.
"Um… Sunny?"
Cassie's voice was quiet, nervous.
"What's happening?"
He grinned without looking at her.
"Oh, nothing major. Just an Awakened beast. Nephis and Caster have it."
Cassie gulped.
"…And if they don't?"
Sunny responded without missing a beat:
"Then I'll have it find peace within me."
And so the fight began.
Caster used his aspect to disorient the creature. Running circles around it.
Nephis closed in, blade flickering with precision, targeting the vulnerable points Sunny had listed.
The scavenger screeched, limbs collapsing, until it was left twitching and very much dead.
Sunny watched the whole thing like a movie critic.
"Not bad," he mused.
"But it takes too long. I'll deal with the rest from now on. You guys can split the soul shards."
That way they would make it to the dark city in only a few days.
Nephis moved to gather them—but was stopped by his voice.
"No need."
He gestured casually.
The scavenger's shadow stirred.
It shifted… then dug into the corpse it once mirrored, carving out the soul shards.
Then it walked to Sunny, holding them like offerings.
"Nicely done!"
He welcomed the shadow with a smile.
[A shadow finds solace within you.]
Just fragments, no shades.
Not like he killed it.
---
To the east of the Forgotten Shore,
Past where maps fade and compasses forget,
Lies a desert without memory.
The Nightmare Desert.
There, entombed in silence and sun-scorched sin,
Stands a mausoleum of flesh and ruin—
Raised by Ariel, carved from the corpse of a profane deity.
And beyond even that—
Where dunes should roll and winds should whisper—
There is no desert.
There is no land.
No time.
No truth.
Only decay.
Time rots.
Space collapses.
Life curls in on itself and weeps.
And at the eye of this wound…
He waits.
The Walking Sentence.
The Wound of the World.
Sealed from the mercy of death.
Ruin given form.
He does not sleep.
He does not breathe.
He walks.
…
He prepares