Sunny was running with Nephis's unconscious body in his hands, who had passed out after blowing up her six cores and overusing her aspect.
In front of him was a magnificent black temple. The temple was a massive, black structure, its stone dark and smooth as polished obsidian. Its walls rose high and unadorned, unyielding and silent, as if carved from the void itself. The shape was ancient and weathered, yet impossible to date—no wear or decay, only an eternal stillness that defied time. The temple's sharp edges and towering spires disappeared into shadows, giving it a presence that felt both endless and unfathomably old, as if it had existed before the world began, surrounded by shadows.
Sunny gritted his teeth and went in. Inside, the temple was a vast, shadowed chamber swallowed by darkness. The walls were smooth and black, absorbing every hint of light, making the space feel infinite and hollow. The air was cold and still, heavy with silence that pressed like a weight on the skin.
At the center of the chamber stood a single altar, carved from the same black stone as the temple itself. It was a simple, monolithic block, unadorned yet impossibly imposing—its surface worn smooth by untold ages.
Sunny gently put Nephis down in a corner and sat beside her. Sunny caught his breath and thought back to the situation. He clenched his hands.
'This really happened huh? Dammit! Why did this happen? After we did so much, became so strong and now you're telling me it's for nothing?! This much suffering, pain, sorrow, fight for nothing?'
Thinking back to his companions, Jet, Kai, Cassie, Effie and his... sister Rain. Sunny's eyes softened, tears running down from his eyes. 'What's the point anymore? Everyone is dead, what should—no, what COULD we even do?'
Tears kept coming down his face. Thinking about what had happened and what he could possibly do now. Nephis, who was lying beside him, slowly began to open her eyes. After opening them, she saw Sunny was crying.
Suddenly she remembered what had happened. She abruptly sat up, looked at him worriedly, and asked:
"Sunny, what happened? Are you fine? What happened to Asterion? Why are we here? What happened to—"
"STOP, NEPHIS!" Sunny shouted.
Nephis, startled, realized what he did. He rubbed his hand over his eyes and said, "Nephis, I am sorry, I didn't mean to shout. And what happened? So much happened. I am not fine. Asterion... is alive. I brought your unconscious body here, and... everyone is dead."
Nephis' eyes widened. "What do you mean everyone is dea—" She stopped. She felt it. She felt it in her domain—there was... not a single soul left in it.
Nephis' face paled, her body starting to tremble. Sunny supported her with his arm.
Sunny took a deep breath and continued with a low voice. "As I said, everyone except us is dead. After you passed out, I couldn't do much against Asterion and his corrupted army. So, I tried to... escape. Kai, Jet, and Effie died while evacuating civilians. Cassie already became corrupted. I... sacrificed my shadows for an opening to escape. Even then we barely escaped with my six cores destroyed."
Sunny stopped for a second, for Nephis to process this and to control his own storming emotions. "My essence was nearly run out, this was the nearest place I could teleport from Bastion."
Sunny's face darkened thinking about... his sister. Shadow Clan members were evacuating civilians in Ravenheart. Then Asterion's corrupted army started attacking there as well. He felt it, because of the mark of shadow. He felt it. Marks of shadow disappearing one by one, and the only mark remaining... Rain, and it also disappeared.
Nephis' indifferent face disordered. Tears slowly ran down her face, she couldn't believe it. After everything they did, it ended just like that?
There was only silence for some time. Then she asked in a low voice, still trying to accept this reality. "What should we do now?"
"I don't know. Plus we can't hide for long, in a matter of time he will find us. We don't have much time."
Nephis, after hearing that, leaned toward him and rested her head on his shoulder. Her eyes lost their sparkles.
Instead of Sunny, if anybody else saw this they would think she had lost hope and accepted fate. But Sunny knew better. He knew she still hadn't lost her hope. Still trying to find a solution.
'But what solution is there? The only way to cure corruption is death. Gods themselves had to create death to fight against corruption, what chances do we even have? Even if we somehow defeat Asterion with some miracle then what?'
Sunny thought. He was also trying to find a solution. But he didn't know what solution there was. Matter of fact, they didn't even have much time to think.
Suddenly Sunny's eyes lit up for a second. Nephis noticed it, and asked with a hopeful voice, "Sunny, do you... find something?"
'No—but what can it even do? Even if I use it, what possibly can it do?' But Sunny's intuition was telling him to use it. Forced by his flaw he answered:
"Yes, but I—I don't know if it can work." With that he summoned a mask. This mask had three horns and a demonic face with polished black texture [Weaver Mask].
Sunny sighed, he didn't know even if he used this, what could possibly change. But his intuition told him that he wouldn't regret using it. Sunny took a deep breath.
"If you feel that something is wrong with me or some weird thing happening with my body, then knock me out, okay?"
Nephis nodded without question, with a bit of sparkle returning in her eyes.
Sunny smiled and put the mask on his face. And then he activated [Where is my Eye?] enchantment.
And he saw it was torn and ravaged, the infinity of its splendor having been mangled and mutilated, thrown into disarray. The Strings of Fate were all cut and tangled, swaying aimlessly on ghostly winds.
It was complete and utter, ineffable chaos.
Some of the great tapestry, like the past, remained as it had been, untouched by the carnage. However, the present was utterly in shambles, and the future did not exist anymore.
Well, he had expected this.
Ignoring the pain, he tried to find a single String of Fate, following his intuition in the middle of chaos.
Then he saw it, a single golden String of Fate going somewhere.
His eyes followed it to see where it was going.
His eyes widened.
Sunny was stunned.
'Is this not too much of a coincidence?'
Because that single string was connected with the altar in the middle of the temple.
'Is it really just coincidence? Or Weaver has something to do with it?'
Thinking about it, Sunny gritted his teeth and dismissed the Weaver Mask.
He swayed a little, blood dripping from his eyes. Nephis tried to heal him, but he stopped her.
"I am fine. You don't have to heal me yet."
Nephis hesitated for a bit, then slowly nodded. Sunny stood up and gave his hand to Nephis. Nephis took his hand.
After standing up she asked:
"Did you... find anything?"
"Yes, I did."
He pointed to the altar.
"Something is there."
Nephis froze for a second. And then, with a serious expression, she said:
"Don't you think this is too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence?"
Sunny sighed. "I know, but we don't have much of a choice, plus what worse could happen?" After saying it he was glad once again, that he didn't have [Fated].
Nephis slowly nodded and summoned [Blessing] in her hand.
Both of them made their way to the altar.
Standing in front of the altar, Sunny, following his intuition, stood on the altar and cut his thumb for blood.
Just one drop of blood fell on the altar because of [Blood Weave].
He waited.
1, 2, 3 seconds...
...
.....
Nephis looked at him with questions in her eyes. Sunny shook his head.
Then suddenly he heard a voice. The voice came from everywhere, from every direction. A disordered voice that sounded a bit feminine, and strangely familiar.
[Hello]
Seeing his reaction, Nephis got in a defending position. "Sunny, what happened?"
Sunny looked at her. "You didn't hear it?"
Nephis shook her head.
Sunny tensed, 'Whatever it is, talking inside my head? Some kind of mind hex?'
[Oh, there is nothing to get tensed about, Sunless. Or should I say, Lost from Light?]
Sunny froze. In normal cases he should be happy that someone remembered him, if not for the fact that only three people in the entire world except him knew his true name.
That was Nephis, Cassie, and Mordret, who was somewhere trying to hide from Asterion. And those three didn't remember him. So how the heck did this strangely familiar voice know his true name?
He tried to remember where he had heard this voice. Forced by his flaw, he answered:
"I prefer if you call me Sunless."
Nephis, seeing this, said nothing. Still maintaining her defending position.
[Okay Sunless, do you recognize me?]
"No. I don't recogni—" Sunny froze. And said in a trembling voice:
"Spell?"
Sunny finally recognized this strangely familiar voice. It was Spell's voice. But a bit disordered.
[Finally!]
Nephis looked at him with silent question.
He looked at her in silence for a few seconds, then answered in a low but trembling tone:
"Spell... is talking to me."
WHAT, was the only thing in her mind. Because after spending so much time with him, she realized he was not connected with Spell. She didn't know if he had lost connection with Spell or something. But the most shocking part was that Spell itself was talking to him normally right now.
Sunny didn't know how Spell remembered him, because he was still fateless. But most importantly—why was it talking to him?
[Well, I know you have so many questions. Like why I am talking to you. First off, I am Spell's main consciousness. Weaver created me for the future, if his heir cannot handle things in his first life. My weave is intertwined with Fate's tapestry and Weaver's lineage. So, even if I don't fully remember you, I remember you most out of everyone.]
Sunny's mind was currently in chaos. Still trying to process this information. But one thing stood out among everything: 'if his heir can't handle things in his first life'
"So... are you gonna help us or what?"
After hearing it, Nephis' eyes lit up.
[Yes, but also no. I can't interfere too much with reality.]
Sunny noticed the key words.
"So, what can you do to help us?" he said, with a little bit of excitement in his voice.
[I can send you two back in time.]
"WHAT!" He shouted without thinking. That got a reaction from Nephis.
[Yes, I can take your soul and merge with it. But the problem is, you two will get transported to the first day you came into touch with Spell. This means you will lose all your abilities and your rank will be sealed away.]
Sunny stood there, motionless for a while, then took a deep breath and turned to Nephis to explain what had just happened.
(After explanation)
Nephis' mind went blank. She didn't know what to think of this. After some time to process, she began to speak.
"I am ready. Plus we don't have much time left. So, we don't really have much of a choice."
Sunny nodded. He still had some complicated feelings about connecting with fate again, because Nephis would gain her memories and... Shadow Bond.
Sunny shook his head, telling himself that this was not important right now.
"We are ready."
[Very well. Now count down from 5 to 1 and you will be in the past. But remember, fate doesn't like when someone messes with it. So, your actions will have consequences.]
Of course they knew that. If they changed the future too much, the future would go in a direction they didn't know. But Sunny knew that they would take the future in a different direction, no matter what they did. Still Sunny would try not to change too much in the beginning.
'Plus we will save Antarctic this time, no matter what.'
[1]
Sunny extended his hand toward Nephis with a smile.
[2]
"Are you ready for round two?"
[3]
Nephis took his hand gently.
[4]
And smiled that said it all.
[5]
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial.]
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial]