Sunny hit the ground hard.
He had lost his sense of balance in the gale as he dug his hands and feet into the sand.
A yelp escaped him as that decision proved unwise when the combination of abnormally rough sand and the speed the gale had sent him caused the skin on his feet and hands to start bleeding profusely.
Even [Blood Weave] wasn't able to stop the flow as the sand in his wake was dyed a faint shade of red.
Manifested shadows formed into cleats on his shoes and gloves that proved futile as the gale caught him once again sending him flying even further.
That gale must have sent him a great distance as even his fully unleashed Shadow Sense failed to recognize his surroundings.
He would have sent his shadows out to gather his bearing but thought better of it wary of the being that had somehow managed to track down Orphne and him.
The memories of what just happened replayed themselves as he let himself be sent rolling once again with no will to resist within him.
Despite the massive distance he was sent flying Sunny was still inside the sandstorm which was much more suffocating without the protection provided by the huntress.
Tears began to well in his eyes as he couldn't feel much of anything anymore.
'Why do I always seem to lose those closest to me. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think it's my flaw. First it was my parents and then Rain. I became close with Nephis and Cassie only to be abandoned by both. Now I lose Orphne too.'
He looked upwards as the wind blew the tears from his eyes which now had a hateful look.
"Is this my fate? Must I lose everyone close to me?"
The wind began to die down to just a gentle breeze that delivered whispers to his ear.
The breeze was soothing and mystical. It eased his weary mind and guided him into a state of relaxation that he desperately needed after the day's earlier events.
He felt a familiar feeling overcoming him as the wind seemed imbued with a presence. When he closed his eyes, he could even imagine that Orphne was here hugging him from behind.
Except this time, he didn't even wish to make an attempt to escape the huntress' much needed embrace.
That took him out of his depressing mood as a wistful smile bloomed on his face.
'So, this was why you were whispering into the wind.'
He listened intently as hearing her voice one last time was exactly what he needed.
Orphne's 'death' had been so sudden leaving him feeling that he didn't have enough time with her and hadn't learned nearly enough.
The whispers were warm and Sunny devoured them like a starving man.
"Hey kid, I'm sorry to have left you like this but I can't help but feel happy that my end is finally here. I'm tired. I've been tired for too long. Meeting you let be pass on a happy note and I can't thank you enough for that."
The tears returned but the breeze blew them away not letting him spoil the happy moment.
He couldn't have asked for a better parting gift. Even while staring down death the huntress had still been thinking about him and his future despites her being cut short.
Orphne's will controlled the wind making it seem to come alive and respond to him. The whispers only returned after giving him a chance to react and prepare himself for her final message.
"I have a favor to ask. My shadow won't die. If I know anything about myself its that even my death won't be able to stop me. So, once you're ready come and kill my shadow."
The whispers seemed to develop a wistful tone.
"I've been in the Shadow Realm for too long. I don't want my final resting place to be here."
Her voice became much lighter. She had never been the type of hang on depressing topics not in life nor in death.
"I guess I've kept you waiting for long enough. What kind of teacher would I be if I never taught you the one thing you wanted to know the most."
A grin formed on Sunny's face refusing to go away despite his grief as he guessed what she would say next.
"There are a few ways to get rid of the [Shadow Bond] binding you. You weren't exactly the first Shadow Slave to wish for freedom."
Sunny summoned the Shadow Chair sitting on it while leaning forward attentively.
"First I guess I'll have to explain some history to you."
He leaned forward even more. It's not like had hadn't asked Orphne to talk about history with him before but whenever he had brought up the subject the huntress had avoided all his questions.
"God's I would have loved to see the expression on your face when you hear what I say next. You must believe that there were six gods but you are wrong. Once upon a time there was a seventh."
He was wobbling in the shadow chair as his eyebrows were sent flying straight up.
"The Dream God was betrayed by the gods and trapped in the void. Before he was sealed, he tore his soul into seven parts and threw them past the void cage. I'm sure you can guess who those seven are."
Sunny's hands started trembling from the revelation. His mouth was split by a crooked smile as the words he had seen in the cathedral's prison came to mind.
"Hail Weaver
Demon of Fate
Firstborn
of the -unknown-"
…
He let out a broken laugh at the horrible truth.
"No wonder the daemons seemed to have come out of nowhere. The gods covered up their origins making the dream god the forgotten god."
And another memory resurfaced that being of Hope telling him that "We are their flaw."
He suddenly felt embarrassed that he had never realized the truth despite it being in front of him all this time.
"Wait, Hope said 'We'. How could Hope tell that I have Weaver's lineage? It must have resonated with her somehow."
Sunny had to suppress a chuckle as something blasphemous came to mind.
"To think I am the flaw of the gods while also being the heir of one. Fortunately, the gods and daemons are dead or I'd be in a rather unenviable situation. Weaver, that bastard because of his lineage I'm just like him 'Despised and hunted by both sides.'"
He shelved those revelations for a later time because as valuable as they were he was still eagerly anticipating knowledge that was infinity more valuable to him – the method to breaking [Shadow Bond]
Sunny sent a silent thanks to Orphne for allowing him time to process the groundbreaking knowledge before the wind's whispering continued.
Orphne's whispers now had a grave tone with a hint of what sounded close to regret. Which was unusual in and of itself considering that while he knew the huntress must have had quite the dark past, she hardly showed it.
"Do what you will with that knowledge. You can hardly do worse than what we did with it."
His eyes narrowed as his mind was whirling through all the knowledge of the past he had encountered up to this point.
'Auro told me that he had an 'unemcompassable duty I am sworn to fulfill' Orphne seemed confident that I could do no worse with that knowledge than what the nine had. Hmm what would be the worst possible thing that can be done with that forbidden knowledge.'
Sunny's face rapidly became grim as a certain conjecture came to mind.
"Don't tell me those idiots told the daemons of their origin."
It did seem likely, but he had no way to prove it. A revelation like that would paint his memory of the huntress in a much darker shade so he abandoned it feeling that he owed it to the huntress to give her a benefit of the doubt.
Perhaps that was the huntress' goal all along. After all his last memory with her was the demigod level fight with the intruder. She never struck Sunny as the type to want to be worshipped and revered so she gave him hints of her dark past showing that she too was only human.
This train of thought brought a dark expression to his face.
"Damnation, you were so tired you wouldn't even let yourself live on in my memories. Well guess what I'm spiteful enough to remember you just because you want to be forgotten."
The huntress' voice returned livelier than ever, she must have been happy that she could do right by her only student.
"The reason I'm explaining all of this is because [Shadow Bond] is the reason why the forgotten god was betrayed. You probably believe that deities are in complete control of their concepts but you couldn't be more wrong."
His eyebrows creased with a frown on his face expecting Orphne to reveal another shocking truth.
"The divinities are more like hosts to their concepts that can wield a portion of their power. Think of it this was if Shadow God completely controlled death, then how could he ever die? He would have been unstoppable."
Sunny couldn't help himself from nodding along since she was making too much sense.
"So naturally Shadow God was as limited in his concept of shadows as others. He was the original victim of [Shadow Bond]."
He fell out of the Shadow Chair when he figured out where the huntress must have been going.
'Shadow God carried [Shadow Bond] as well. Who could have possibly been a god's master?'
Sunny crossed his legs and brought a fist to his face in contemplation.
'Knowing Orphne all the earlier hints must hold the key.'
Gradually his eyebrows began climbing upward.
'It must have been the Dream God. Shadow God wasn't happy being a slave either so he was the one behind the god's betrayal.'
Orphne's whispers returned now carrying a hateful tone.
"In one fell swoop Shadow God escaped his master and weakened the [Shadow Bond] with the universal law of imperfection. He played his hand masterfully shame that in doing so he doomed everything."
Sunny was at a loss for words. He never had a high opinion of Shadow God considering what he had been put through because of his 'blessing'.
He broke out into broken hollow laughter.
'Shadow God, that bastard. It's both impressive and disturbing that he could do such a thing.'
Then his mood suddenly changed because the story sounded a little too familiar.
'Well, who am I to judge. His actions are very similar to mine in the first nightmare. That might be why he deemed me worthy of his blessing.'
The next whispers sent a shiver down his spine as they carried the huntress' crazed madden laughter. The kind of laughter that she had never shown him.
"What a joke. Shadow God was born both a god as well as a slave. You would think it impossible to be both at once. It made him a laughingstock among the gods."
Her tone quickly shifted to full of uncharacteristic venom.
"War God, that bastard, found endless humor from Shadow's situation. Shadow clearly wasn't amused."
The whispers returned quieter than ever as the huntress' voice seemed to deflate.
"It'd almost be funny if they didn't doom the world because of it. To think that all of this was caused by a group of siblings that just couldn't get along. Their lack of parents is clear as day."
Sunny scowled as he felt called out.
'What do you mean, their lack of parents is clear. I'm an orphan while also being a paragon of maturity.'
He could easily imagine the huntress scoffing at his thoughts if she was here.
"Putting all of that aside it might just be what Shadow did next that was even worse. Now that the [Shadow Bond] was imperfect he was capable of breaking it. Yet Shadow God, that bastard, he had other ideas for what to do with it."
He felt a boiling rage overtake him. He hadn't thought his spite could grow any stronger until now, how blissfully mistaken he had been.
"Rather than breaking the [Shadow Bond] completely Shadow decided to take a move out of the Forgotten God's playbook as he bound his seven shadows to him."
The huntress' laughter seemed to die down and what replaced it was something even worse, cold mirthless scorn towards the god that even in death harmed those who were dear to her.
"And so, the cycle continues with Shadow awakening to 'bless' you."
Sunny had to stop himself from grinding his teeth.
The wind carried a sense of fake cheer.
"So great news for you. Since the [Shadow Bond] was split into seven parts, its influence is significantly weaker on you."
He didn't let the smile reach his face as he could smell the caveat coming from a mile away.
"Well, that would be the case if there were any other Shadow Slaves left other than you. Unfortunately for you there aren't."
Sunny smiled satisfied with himself for being able to predict the unpredictable.
The whispers returned crushing his joy only to replace it with something better.
"Which is what I thought until today."
His eyes narrowed upon hearing that. There was only one person Orphne had met today.
Her tone seemed full of both bewilderment and a hint of what must have been annoyance or exasperation.
"Who would have thought that I would meet a second Shadow Slave in not even half a year. Really your kind have no manners not even knowing when to die. Why does everyone have to go and become immortal? Don't they know how much harder that makes my job as a huntress?"
Sunny was shocked by this revelation yet his shock was dwarfed by his rage.
It was a pure and unfiltered rage that could only come from something important to him being denied.
He was petty. Perhaps the pettiest man alive. He only made that addendum because Nephis was leagues pettier than him.
Now that he had all the puzzle pieces together, they painted a picture that he despised.
"Dammit, how am I supposed to go get my revenge on that intruder when killing a fellow Shadow Slave would just make my [Shadow Bond] stronger."
Orphne didn't let him ruminate in his anger for long as the whispers soon returned.
"Let me ask you this. Why do you think the [Shadow Bond] enslaves you?"
That brought Sunny out of his dark mood. 'She sure does love to ask rhetorical questions.'
A scolding tone returned with the whispers.
"I can tell you're criticizing me in your head right now, aren't you?" The huntress would never see the innocent smile on his face. "The reason hat the [Shadow Bond] enslaves you is that with the blessing Shadow stole your soul."
Sunny blinked repeatedly as he worse a genuine expression of indignance. 'Hey! You're making it sound like I made a deal with a devil who took my soul in exchange for power.'
The wind even seemed able to express Orphne rolling her eyes. "I mean it literally. Shadow God took your soul with his blessing and only left the shadow of your soul behind. Have you never thought it odd that you have a Shadow Core instead of a soul core like everyone else?"
He furrowed his brows his face wearing an expression of disbelief before it transformed into one of defeat.
He had been too careless. Thinking back, he had been too caught up in never letting someone learn his true name that he had never truly endeavored to break the [Shadow Bond].
It was similar to what he always did. He preferred to avoid problems rather than to face them head on and solve them. If he hadn't been so caught up in that methodology then maybe he would have noticed all the clues and oddities about the bond itself.
Shaking his head he couldn't help but lampoon. 'Perhaps I need to be more confrontational. I really don't want to take a page out of Neph's playbook though.'
If only Nephis could see him now as ambitions of similar scale to hers began forming inside his head.
'Then the answer is simple. Shadow God was able to steal my soul and cast me into a life of being a slave to free himself because I was too weak.'
As his mind returned to the idea he couldn't help but notice that while Orphne had given him a lot of knowledge about the [Shadow Bond] she still hadn't informed him of the method to break it.
He pricked up his ears listening more attentively than he ever before awaiting the next whispers since the huntress couldn't possible delay telling him the solution any longer.
The huntress' laughter rang short and hollow as she didn't bother forcing it out for long.
"Well luckily Shadow God is dead and has no real need for your soul any longer. For some reason even in death, he didn't want to be a slave though. Since Shadow God isn't in possession of your soul all I can say is that it's likely somewhere here in the Shadow Realm. As for how you'll find it your guess is a good as mine but once you do you'll be able to become complete again thus removing the [Shadow Bond] that binds you."
Sunny's face was a mix of excitement and disappointment. Naturally he was thrilled that he finally had the answer behind the [Shadow Bond] and how to free himself. Yet he was also disappointed because while he had the answers they proved to be entirely useless.
'How the hell am I supposed to find my soul in the Shadow Realm. There's no telling how big the realm is and how am I to even know that my soul is still undamaged or 'alive' in such a dangerous place.'
Thinking about all of the possibilities of where his soul could be and in what form was already starting to be a massive headache.
'Hell for all I know it might not just be a soul core sitting in a chest somewhere maybe there's a whole other me walking around here.'