"... Identify yourself"
"It's me … Sunny."
"Your affiliation?"
"... Evacuation Army, I guess. Army Command, special envoy."
Nephis frowned, but a distant, urgent sound tore her attention away.
"Cassie!"
Spreading her beautiful white wings, she gave him one last look — not of camaraderie or of shared history, but of detached concern, the kind reserved for a lost soul babbling nonsense in a storm. Having decided that this interrogation wasn't well worth her time, considering the pressing circumstances surrounding them, she dashed away, leaving Sunny alone.
'Be careful … of what you wish for.'
The initial elation of losing his [Fated] attribute faded, slowly replaced by the crushing weight of its unforeseen implication, the Shadow Bond formed between him and Nephis was — … no … the bonds formed with Nephis, Cassie, Effie, Kai, Jet and everyone else he held dear were shattered. He slowly came to the chilling conclusion that his existence had been erased from the world.
Despite his mind racing with an avalanche of consequences, a pivotal fragment of Cassie's conversation with him aboard Ananke's ketch echoed vividly in his mind:
"It might not be true for anyone else. But it's true for you, Sunny. If you reach the Estuary … your wish to be free will come true. Free of your bond, free to live your life the way you want. Free of fate itself."
She lingered for a moment, then rose to her feet, too, and walked closer, stopping a mere step away from him. "But, Sunny … you can't have both. You can reach the Estuary from here, but once the Nightmare is over, your chance will be gone. The moment Nephis destroys the First Seeker, your chance would have slipped away."
She smiled bitterly and raised the Guiding Light, offering it to him. "That was what you were truly angry about, wasn't it? That I took the choice away from you."
Cassie pushed the sacred relic into his hands and took a step back. "Well, here it is. Instead of an empty apology. I am giving the choice back to you. You can leave and rush to the Estuary … the Guiding Light will show you the way through the mists of the Source, as long as you don't give another True Name to it. Once you reach the Estuary, use the Mirror of Truth and push to its heart. There … you will find your freedom."
She turned away, lingered for a moment, and then added in a quiet voice:
"But … I hope that you make a different choice. That you will stay with us, despite everything. Nephis, I, and the others … are we so terrible? Is it really that unbearable, to share a bond, if it's based on trust? I think you know by now that it's not. What is unbearable is not having been given a choice about forming that bond, and now, even though the connection between you and her will remain the same … it will be there because you have chosen for it to exist. So … you decide. That right is yours, again."
⋮
"So, Sunny … you must decide. I've given the choice back to you. Now, it's in your hands."
With that, she took a few steps and jumped out of the ketch, landing on the icy shore. The Echo of Torment dissolved into a whirlwind of sparks, leaving Sunny alone in the boat.
Cassie then turned and looked at him expectantly.
Her face was both scared and hopeful.
Cassie, the quiet and unassuming Cassie, who painstakingly engineered the confluence of events since Chained Isles, had given him a choice, a right to choose. It was her attempt to atone for her mistake, made long ago when they were lost kids on the Forgotten Shore, albeit a choice shrouded with vague and frustrating premonitory warnings woven from the best of her oracular ability.
'Freedom, freedom…'
He remembered that this word was a phantom sweetness on his tongue as he navigated his way to the Estuary, a stark contrast to the bitter reality of abandoning Nephis, Cassie, Kai, Jet, and Effie with her newborn child.
Jet had once told him that there was no freedom in this world. That the only freedom there was, was the freedom to choose his own chains … and Sunny came to agree with her, over time. By choosing to stay with the cohort, he would be choosing his own chains. In a sense, that would make him free, as well. But, but …
In the end, he had chosen the Well of Wishes to bury the shackles of fate forever, to be finally released from its hideous torment.
Now, having successfully claimed it — this elusive liberation.
A severing not just from fate, but from … everything.
Being forgotten.
As he crumpled to the icy ground, Sunny's mind churned, tracing the chronological thread that had led him, against unyielding odds and insurmountable obstacles, to this exact brutal end.
A bizarre blend of self-admiration for his own resilience and crushing despair warred within him, bitterly acknowledging the journey he had taken to navigate such a treacherous path.
A grotesque smile split his unsightly face like a jagged chasm, yet tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes.
Taking a shallow breath, he whispered madly: "... I'm free"
'But at what cost?'
That was when the cold truly set in.
Sunny wanted to be free from his fate, so he didn't deserve it.
{End prologue}
{Note}
[Mirror of Truth]
Memory Description: [Weaver was known as the master of lies, while Ariel was known as the keeper of truths. The two were not close and rarely met, which was why Ariel was surprised to find Weaver staring at his pyramid one day.
"Isn't it beautiful, this tomb of mine? Have you come to admire it?" Ariel said.
After a moment of silence, Weaver responded.
"I have not known that you've built a tomb, nor have I ever seen it. How would I know to admire it? I just happened to be here by chance. Now that I've seen it, my heart is untouched. I feel nothing."
Then, Weaver asked.
"But you seem to feel too much, Demon of Dread. Your face is unsightly. You are smiling, but there are tears streaming from your eyes. Why?"
Ariel laughed, "I'm not sure."
He laughed and cried as he looked at the tomb, saying, "I built it to bury the truth. Truth is the most hideous thing in the world, Weaver, and knowing it is a cruel torment. I mean to bury the truths that I cannot endure at the heart of this tomb, and be free of them forever."
Weaver remained silent.
After a while, Weaver spoke.
"It seems to me that you already did. And you already are."
With that, the Demon of Fate turned and walked away without looking back.
Walking away, Weaver whispered.
"... You wanted to be free of the truth, so you didn't deserve it."]