'What the hell just happened?'
The Centurion's head rolled across the ground, its body collapsing in a lifeless heap. The dark mark on its severed face writhed and twisted like a cornered beast gasping for breath.
Sunny narrowed his eyes at the Centurion Echo, which was already raising its scythes with a disturbingly eager expression.
He blinked, then slowly lifted a hand.
"Don't you dare..."
The Echo froze mid-motion. Its shoulders twitched, the thorns lining them trembling before slowly settling.
Sunny turned away, grimacing at the Centurion's corpse.
"...It's dead."
Unfortunate. There was so much they could've learned. But why? Why had the Centurion taken its own life?
He shifted his gaze toward Nephis, who was prying soul shards from the monster's broken form. She studied the crystals in her hand for a moment before crushing them, absorbing the essence without a word.
"They're just ordinary Awakened soul shards," she said flatly, slashing at the creature's plated chest. Despite her strength, the chitin refused to yield. Finally, pale flames surged to life around her blade, and the carapace cracked open with a sharp snap.
"...Its armor is far tougher than other Centurions."
And not just its armor—its mind, too. This thing had been far more intelligent than it had any right to be. But even that gave them no answers. The Centurion's cave—likely the only place that could have held more clues—was now reduced to smoking rubble.
"The cave's gone," Sunny muttered, just as Gloomy crawled out from the wreckage and latched onto his leg, as clueless and content as ever.
The creature was dead, but its final words lingered with unsettling weight:
"My wish, my nightmare."
Sunny frowned.
What the hell did that mean? Did its wish turn into a nightmare? What would a nightmare creature even wish for? Or was it before it actually turned into one...
He turned to Cassie, watching her closely. "Do any of your visions—"
"They don't," Cassie cut in. "None of them show this."
His frown deepened.
Of course she hadn't told them everything. There were too many threads tangled in her mind, too many visions half-remembered or buried. She might never retrieve them all. But she would've told them what mattered most... right?
At least, that's what he wanted to believe.
Still, this was bad. This entire encounter had gone sideways. He'd hoped it might push him toward a breakthrough in Shadow Step. No matter how much he fought Nephis, something held him back. Even after mastering Morgan's swordsmanship anew, the progress he sought remained stubbornly out of reach.
Was it because he hadn't actually faced a life or death situation?
Nephis was strong, but not strong enough to truly threaten his life. And even if she were... she wouldn't. This battle had been his chance. Now that chance was lying headless on the ground.
Sunny clenched his jaw, turning toward the Centurion's severed head. He picked it up carefully. The mark still writhed grotesquely, as if alive. The sight was revolting—but it might be the key. Clues to the corruption, to what that symbol meant...
...to how he might one day save Cassie.
He couldn't extract anything now, but when Blood Weave returned to him...
He exhaled.
"We'll take this—"
He froze.
A sudden, icy chill crawled over his skin—like death's fingers closing around his wrist. He looked down.
Two circular red eyes stared back at him.
The symbol carved into the Centurion's face was moving—slithering like a living thing. With a hiss, it detached and slinked toward his hand.
What in the—
He flung the head aside with a curse, slamming the creeping mark with the hilt of his sword. But it was too late.
It had already reached his fingers. It coiled across his palm, then slithered toward his wrist—his arm— racing for his chest, toward his heart.
"No, you don't."
Sunny didn't hesitate.
He summoned his sword, took a single breath—and brought the blade down in a clean arc.
His hand hit the ground, convulsing violently. The mark on it writhed like a nest of black veins, still trying to root deeper. The severed flesh was being eaten alive from the inside.
"Sunny, what are you—"
Nephis lunged toward him, reaching out—
Only for his fist to slam into her shoulder, pushing her back.
"Stay away from me."
His voice was cold—detached. Nephis froze, withdrawing slowly. The space between them was consumed by silence as Sunny stared at his hand.
Then, slowly, it began to dissolve.
His severed hand melted into a puddle of black ooze, vanishing into the dirt. In its place, a scorched outline remained—an empty imprint of his palm etched into the earth.
Sunny bit his lip, blood welling.
'What the hell is this thing?'
At last, he looked up. His eyes met Nephis's, and he looked down.
"...are you hurt?"
Nephis dismissed her sword and rushed towards him, grabbing his shoulder. She looked at his severed hand and sighed.
"I should be the one asking that."
A sudden warmth travelled to him, making his severed hand regrow, mending his wounds.
Sunny blinked, flexing his fingers.
Nephis still clung to his arm, her eyes locked onto his. There was something there—something raw and fierce and wordless. A flash of emotion that vanished as quickly as it appeared.
For a moment, neither spoke. Then Nephis blinked and looked away.
She was worried about him. The thought brought a small, genuine smile to Sunny's lips.
"...Are you alright?" she asked quietly.
He lifted the hand, moving it around.
"Yeah. You grew it back perfectly," he said with a crooked grin. "I won't even hesitate before chopping off a leg or two next time—"
He froze.
Was it just his imagination... or did her eyes gleam just a little too brightly for a moment?
In any case, they could finally breathe easier. The symbol was gone. For now, there was nothing left to threaten them until they reached the Ashen Barrow.
The worst part, it seemed, was over.
At least, that's what he believed... until Cassie's urgent voice tore through the moment like a blade.
"Sunny! Check your soul sea! Quickly!" she cried, stumbling down the rubble as she tried to rush toward him.
"Ouch!"
Sunny turned sharply, grimacing.
...What?
Without wasting a second, he gestured to Nephis to check on Cassie, then dove into his soul sea.
A familiar darkness swallowed him.
His soul sea, vast and lightless, opened before him—its only illumination the cold gleam of a lonely black sun.
It was still. Too still. There was no movement, no shift. Just silence. Peaceful, stagnant... empty.
Cassie's voice echoed in his memory. She'd sounded certain—frantic. But nothing seemed wrong.
Nothing stirred. Not a ripple. Not a whisper. Sunny frowned, then began to walk.
Cassie's visions weren't wrong. Something had to be here. Something had to be hiding. He just had to find it.
Ten seconds. A hundred. A thousand.
Time bled away. He kept walking. Unbothered by exhaustion. Unburdened by fatigue.
'Is there really something here?'
The question sank its hooks into him. Sunny stopped walking.
A chilling thought entered his mind.
Could this be... a distraction?
Had Cassie sent him here on purpose? To mislead him? To isolate him while something happened in the waking world?
No.
He exhaled sharply and shook his head.
No... Cassie wouldn't be that reckless. If there was nothing here, then her lie would collapse immediately. She was smarter than that. Even if she did want to isolate him, she knew better than to make it so obvious.
Which meant something was here.
But what?
Sunny turned his gaze to the black sun hanging in the void. Tiny white orbs orbited it in elegant silence—his Echoes. His memories.
Were they the problem?
But why send him here just for that? He could've checked them from the outside. No. It had to be something he couldn't see out there.
He glanced toward the distant horizon.
His heart beat faster. The shadows...
Far beyond, at the edge of his perception, countless black silhouettes stood frozen. Shadows of monsters, humans, everything else he had slain.
He couldn't see them. Not yet. Once he received the Weaver's Eyes... he would.
But if he had it now, he'd probably understand why one of them had begun to move.
...
'Would the shadows of creatures I killed in my previous life be here, too?'
The thought cut through the silence like a blade.
Sunny stood still, surrounded by the stillness of his soul sea, his mind stirring with unease. Were those memories... just that? Memories? Or had he truly lived through it all—died, and somehow regressed back in time?
If so... when had it happened? The last memories he could recall were of the Third Nightmare. But—
"No matter how hard I try... I can't remember the end of it."
No matter how many times he reached for the truth, it slipped away. Whenever he tried to pull the threads together, something... pulled him apart.
"We freed Mordret and Kai from Daeron's island. Then we made our way to Verge. There was ice. The whole ocean was frozen over. Cassie had been acting strangely—so I kept an eye on her. And then—"
Pain.
A sudden, lancing bolt of agony pierced his skull. Sunny clutched his head, teeth gritted. He slammed a fist into his temple, trying to shake it loose. Anything to stop the pain.
It didn't work.
The pain grew—escalated—until it threatened to split him apart. He screamed. Raw. Hoarse. Broken.
It was unbearable... and yet eerily familiar. Like a nightmare he'd already endured and somehow forgotten.
Why hadn't he remembered this before?
This pain—this awful, maddening pressure—he had felt it once. Maybe more than once. And then it had been erased, leaving no trace behind. Would it vanish again? Would he forget everything again?
His vision swam. His skull throbbed with unnatural force. His lungs screamed for air. His eardrums pulsed and trembled on the verge of bursting. Every nerve in his body ignited with fire.
It was getting worse. So much worse.
He could barely think. Every thought was a struggle, every breath an ordeal. His nerves burned like liquid iron. His skin itched and writhed, as though it were being peeled away—slowly, meticulously.
H...help... me...
But the agony didn't end. It climbed. It surged. It eclipsed everything else. Until pain was all that existed.
Then—Something touched his shoulder.
A palm, gentle and deliberate, pressed against his shoulder.
Sunny flinched violently. The movement sent a fresh wave of torment crashing through his body.
Something moved. Something writhed.
He couldn't open his eyes anymore. He didn't have the strength. He shouldn't have been able to stand. And yet, somehow, he remained upright.
Then... a voice echoed in the dark. It whispered through the black silence, soft and sharp like a blade across silk:
"What is it... that you wish?"
His breath caught.
"Your wish..."
"Tell me..."
"Your wish..."
He summoned everything—every ounce of will, every last fragment of strength—and forced his eyes open.
Just for a moment.
He had to see. The one speaking... the cause of this agony... the one buried in his shadows.
But all he saw—
Was a pair of grotesque, obsidian eyes staring back at him. The eyes of his Echo. The creature that had followed him loyally through every battle. Only now... its face was fully marked. That strange, slithering symbol no longer slithered on just half of it. It had consumed the Echo's entire face.
How?
Sunny had severed his own arm. He had stopped the symbol before it reached his heart. He had forbidden the Echo from devouring the Centurion.
So how?
There was no time to understand. And it didn't even matter. Because the voice... Wasn't coming from the Echo.
It came from beyond. Far away. Hidden.
There was someone else. Something else.
Watching from beyond the edge of his vision. Hiding among the countless shadowed forms of everything he had ever slain.
Damn it all...
Someone—something—was playing with his mind. Manipulating his memories. Prodding at the corners of his soul.
And he hated the idea of that someone being-
Silence. Complete and total silence. The soul sea stilled. The pain vanished. The voice went mute.
Sunny blinked.
He stood in the dark expanse of his soul sea, the cold black sun looming above him. The silence pressed in from all sides.
'...Why was I here again?'
'Oh, right.'
She had told him to check his soul sea. And judging by the panic in her voice...
She had seen something important.
But what?
AN: Let's aim for 2 new reviews (21 total) before the next chapter :)
Do share your thoughts in the comments. They are my motivation to write :)