Sunny woke up, groggily rubbing his eyes.
'Oh… gross.'
Feeling his knuckles sink into his face like that… was not a good feeling.
'Do I need prosthetics?'
While not exactly the same, missing eyes were somewhat like missing teeth. The lack of them would slowly cause the face to change shape, caving in slightly. The skin around his eyes would wrinkle, and the bone would collapse, causing his face to look quite different.
'I should probably just wear a blindfold or something.'
He wasn't planning on staying in the Nightmare much longer. Once he recuperated, he'd put his plan in motion. He had all the knives aside from the iron knife, and he knew the weaknesses of the most dangerous of the Chain Lords.
One advantage for him was the fact that they couldn't truly unite. Noctis and Sevras were polar opposites, with one being weak during the day, and one being weak during the night. All he'd need to do is pick them off one by one.
Of course, they had to know he was going to try that too.
So Sunny was going to use a secret technique…
He was just going to wait.
Although he did just tell himself that he wouldn't be staying in the Nightmare much longer, his plan still hinged on the fact that… the Chain Lords simply didn't get along. With three of Hope's Shackles breaking in less than a month, her poison was intensifying quickly. Tensions were high between Noctis and Sevras, even with Aidre and the Sun Prince trying to keep the peace, they were ticking time bombs. As long as he just waited, an opportunity would present itself.
'For now… I'll gather my strength, and try to get some information.'
He'd waited long enough, and his curiosity was practically burning a hole through his skull.
It was probably Hope's Poison at work, but… he really, really, really wanted to meet Hope.
Meeting a daemon that wasn't in the position to immediately kill him? When else would he ever get that kind of chance?
He had to!
Still, before that, he'd need to recover more.
Cleaning his wounds, Sunny meditated for a while to recover his essence, and then went back to sleep. Normally, a person missing their eyes would find themselves having their sleep cycle disturbed, with the eyes not being able to detect light from something like the rising sun. But for someone like Sunny, who spent the majority of his time in the darkness, it did not matter. It was even more so, considering the fact he was in the Shadow Lord's body, someone who literally lived within a fragment of Shadow's domain.
***
Within the Ivory City, a tense silence had fallen over the remaining Chain Lords.
"Noctis… tell me again why you can't find him?"
Sevras had his head lowered and hands rested against the table.
"Marks gone. Maybe he cut it off?"
Semos and Aidre were quiet, saying nothing.
"Cut it off? You said it was unnoticeable."
"It was. The ritual he performed probably did something to it."
Sevras growled.
"Probably? What d-"
"And what did I tell you before we went in there? It was a trap. A damn trap. And now look, another one of us is dead. Played all of us for fools."
Sevras went silent.
Despite the fact another Chain Lord had died, none of them seemed too sad.
In fact, they were all probably thinking the same thing:
'Thank the gods it wasn't Lady Aidre.'
Solvane… wasn't exactly a delight to deal with. Aidre was far more reasonable, as well as far kinder. She maintained a good relationship with most Chain Lords. In fact, she seemed to be the only one perturbed by Solvane's death, having been silent the entire time.
"Noctis."
"What now?"
The room grew subtly hotter.
"Find a way to bypass whatever happened to your mark. I don't care how, just do it."
"And if I don't want to?"
Semos' impassive expression grew tense, and Aidre glanced upwards, noticing the tension.
Perhaps Noctis was a fool for antagonizing one of his only reliable allies, but that was just the type of person he was.
"Just do it."
"Fine."
Clicking his tongue, he left the room.
Sevras sighed, massaging his forehead.
"Semos… set up trips all around the city, set to go off if they detect any Ascended or higher."
"Of course, brother."
Semos nodded and left the room.
Aidre also stood up to leave.
"Wait."
She visibly flinched at his words.
"Will you really not tell us what happened?"
Aidre glowered at his words.
"I've already told you what happened. Whether or not you choose to believe me is up to you."
Neither of them said another word, the conversation ending.
Sevras sighed, standing up and looking at the city through the window. Its citizens were walking the streets without a care in the world, laughing, chatting, and lazing around. Besides the sudden surge in adultery related incidents, the city was blissful.
It was the city he'd sworn to protect. The one he'd been leading for centuries now, alongside his brother. It hadn't always been his city, and had once been the capital of Hope's Kingdom, and where the daemon herself resided.
He still remembered the day he had been made immortal. Made to swear an oath to guard the city with his life. Made to chain the demon forever.
'Oh Lord of Light… won't you guide me?'
He hadn't received a response from the god for a long, long time now.
His only hope was that the one hunting him would at least spare his city.
'Can… Can we win?'
It was a foolish thought. A mere Ascended? Killing all of them?
But… that mere Ascended had already killed three of them. Two of his victims were some of the most dangerous out of the seven as well. The glass, iron, and obsidian knives were all unaccounted for, with now only the ruby knife remaining in Noctis' hands. The thought did not bring him any comfort. The only one he could even trust anymore was Semos. Aidre was… off, after the death of Solvane, while Noctis was just Noctis. Whether he ever once took the oath seriously was a question he asked himself everyday.
Sevras lowered his head, muttering a silent prayer.
"Oh Lord, shine thine light upon me… Let my soul burn unextinguished, as the sun can never be extinguished…"
It was a common prayer among Sun God's followers, one even children knew. It had brought him comfort, ever since he was a young. Only now, he knew that the sun could be extinguished. In the Age of Heroes, he'd seen it himself — horrific beasts tearing down the skies… humans covering the world in fog… gods blocking out all light. He wondered what it would've been like, to live in the Age of the Gods, where apparently such a sight wasn't uncommon.
'Terrible, I imagine.'
Sevras side again, running his hand along the windowsill. He felt no peace, looking at the city below. Many worries clouded his mind, and it had not been getting any better.
He could only pray to the Lord of Light to restore the knives.
'Even if we win… Even if we kill that bastard. The damage is done. We might win today, but the war is lost.'
Sevras gritted his teeth.
What could he do? His enemy was untraceable, crafty, and deadly. They had destroyed one of his powerful servants, but who knew how many more he had? For all he knew, he could've actually been killing his fellow Chain Lords to turn them into Shadows, enslaving them eternally.
He shivered at the thought.
'Why… Why are you forcing me? Why is this happening?'
Why couldn't he just live in peace? Look after his city, spend his days with his brother… Weren't Shadows supposed to bring peace?
He sighed.
'I'm deluding myself.'
Something like this was bound to happen one day.
Perhaps by design, or perhaps by a twist of fate.
If Sun God wanted Hope to be chained forever, why did he even create the knives? A god was perfectly capable of creating a perfect prison, one that could never be opened, never found, never touched.
He could've just killed Hope, and be done with it. But instead, he'd been tasked with being warden, a job he'd grown weary of over the centuries.
Sevras' hands were gripping the windowsill tightly now, his nails digging into the stone. A soft breeze tousled his hair, causing him far more frustration than it should have, his irises burning ever-so-slightly.
***
'Hm… this won't do.'
Sunny had burrowed deeper into the island, far enough into it that he could feel the shadows of the city above him. Without his eyes, he couldn't spy on them from a distance, and he'd have to be a complete moron to send his shadows into the city. All of the Awakened within were likely on high alert. One mistake, and there'd be four Transcendents running him down.
'Then again… I can just run.'
Sunny's ability to flee had improved severalfold with his new attribute. Without somebody to help him test it, he had no idea what it was fully capable of, but from what he'd been able to figure out himself, [Veil] hid his presence very well. It wasn't perfect, but if Sunny were looking for himself, he probably wouldn't find him. There were also other things it did, like hide his presence, as well as his power. Normally, powerful Awakened like him have a certain aura to them, like Master Jet giving off a cold chill, or Sunny darkening the shadows around him. But with [Veil], that effect vanished.
Without his eyes, he couldn't test whether or not it also hid his soul cores, but if it did, that would make it much harder to estimate his power.
'Probably does.'
The reason for Sunny's assuredness was the new changes to his soul sea. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it — clouds of black mist shrouding his seven soul cores in a veil of darkness, hiding the potential energy they gave off. His first thought was one of slight disappointment in the fact that he'd never be able to appreciate the view of the lightless suns ever again, but as if responding to his thoughts, Sunny felt the clouds part, the chill from his soul cores washing over him.
'I can change its potency…'
He was delighted to discover that the attribute could be made both weaker and stronger, only needing a thought and a bit of essence to change its state.
'It'll be even harder to track me now…'
Sunny had gotten his hands on yet another powerful anti-divination tool. The fact he was able to weaken it was a blessing, as the fact he gave off no information was information in and of itself. He had no idea what sort of disguises he'd need to don in the future, and if several people seemed to strangely possess the exact same method of anti-divination, it wouldn't be too difficult to link them back to him.
Still, that was all just speculation for Sunny, he had no idea if it'd be truly useful in the future.
'Good to have anyways.'
Though the darkness of the clouds did feel a little strange, and there was that other incident with the [Dark Soul]...
'I'll figure it out later, hopefully once I regain my eyes.'
With a pulse of essence, Sunny made the Veil as powerful as possible, hiding himself as much as he could. Although he was happy with his new attribute, he wouldn't foolishly rely on it to hide himself, there were still likely many ways of bypassing it. A single attribute wouldn't be all powerful.
So, in the spirit of caution, Sunny simply shadow stepped straight to his destination. He had felt many traps being set up above, — methods of detecting him no doubt — and he decided to move to a place none of the Chain Lords would expect him to be. Collapsing the burrow he dug to erase his traces, he sent the crazy shadow to go hang around on a nearby island before stepping to where the happy shadow was — right in the center of their city, the Ivory Tower.
There was certainly a possibility they'd guess he was there, but there was a reason the Ivory Island was barren. With Hope's power seeping out of it, it was mostly concentrated on the island where it was coming from. Spending long periods of time there was likely a bad idea, and they'd want to avoid it. It was a great hiding space for him. Even if they did come to look for him there, he'd simply hide and wait for them to leave.
'Sure is great, being this covert…'
Sunny finally felt he was making full use of one of his Aspect's many capabilities. Back when he had first awakened, he had imagined himself to be an assassin, one that struck from the darkness, completely unnoticed. Unfortunately for him, he ended up being a frontline fighter, always right in the midst of the melee. Now though, he wasn't participating in a war, nor was he defending a siege capital from a horde of Corrupted, he was simply biding his time while escaping the notice of a couple old bastards.
Appearing under the bed on the top floor of the tower, Sunny grinned at the happy shadow.
"Isn't this nice? Nobody knows where we are… nobody knows what we're doing…"
The happy shadow froze for a moment at his words, before giving him a thumbs up.
Shuffling out from under the bed, Sunny stood up and dusted himself off. He looked around sheerly out of habit, trying to assess his location and search for key details. He saw nothing.
'...At least I know it's daytime.'
Judging by the shadows outside, as well as the heat on his skin, Sunny could still tell the sun was up. He'd spent several days in hiding now, ensuring he had truly shaken Noctis off his trail, and he was glad to be outside again.
Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, Sunny sunk into the shadows and began descending the pagoda. Most of the floors were dark and empty, the living spaces that had previously existed there emptied out
'Sure… is strange…'
'Living with… living with…'
Stumbling footsteps echoed across the halls.
'Your priso…ner…'
For every floor he went down, his thoughts became more and more muddled, to the point where he couldn't even maintain his Shadow Step, clumsily stumbling out of the shadows.
'Is… this… really a… good idea?'
Meeting a daemon… her power wasn't completely sealed currently.
'No.'
He was going anyway. He wanted to.
'I'll… meet her.'
At some point, Sunny summoned Weaver's Mask.
'I have to. No matter what.'
Sunny didn't even notice the moment he reached the first level. Only when an ethereal voice echoed across the hall did he snap out of his delirium.
"Is that you…"
He jolted, straightening his back immediately.
"Weaver?"
'Where am I?'
Sunny couldn't see anything.
'Oh.. right. I'm blind.'
Extended his shadow sense outwards, he felt… he felt…
"It's me."
The shadow of a human?
Despite his muddled thoughts, Sunny could feel the unmistakable shadow of…
'No… that's no human.'
The proportions were far too strange, they were far too tall, and Sunny could feel the seven fingers on their hands, a massive pair of wings on their back, and something strange crowning their head.
"You… lie…"
The ethereal voice echoed across the hall once more, sounding like the voice of countless prayers, of the rustling of countless leaves...
Like the wind that blew between the stars.
'It's… it's Hope.'
Sunny couldn't even remember when he entered the hall, and yet he had already found himself standing before the daemon.
'Oh… gods…'
And he had just lied straight to the demon's face, about being their sibling, no less!
"Take off your mask."
Sunny flinched at her words.
'Should… should I?'
He swallowed nervously.
'Yeah… better not anger her.'
The mask vanished in a shower of sparks.
"You-"
And the moment it did, Sunny blacked out.
***
Hope stared curiously at the human.
'Why?'
She knew who he was. He was the Shadow Lord, one of her eternal shackles, created by Sun God.
Or was he? That man was supposed to be dead, after all.
Her long, emaciated arm reached out, a sharp fingernail pointing towards him.
Hope poked him on the face.
Images flashed through her mind, of her kingdom, of… another version of her kingdom? And another even stranger world.
With her power restrained so severely, she was only able to catch a glimpse of his dreams.
'Not Shadow.'
Someone else. Something else?
Here to kill her.
***
Sunny's consciousness slowly returned.
'Ow…'
He could feel a splitting headache, and he rubbed his head groggily.
'What… happened?'
He had dismissed the mask, and…
'Gods!'
Sunny sat up, immediately backing away.
Hope! It was Hope!
Strangely, Sunny's mind was clear, free of Hope's influence.
Just now, when he had dismissed Weaver's Mask, he had suddenly felt an incredible pressure through his shadow sense. It seemed that the mask had filtered it out, until he had foolishly dismissed it.
Now though…
He tried extending his shadow sense again.
'What's the worst that could happen?'
Perhaps against his better judgement, he immediately tried sensing Hope's divine shadow again.
This time, although his splitting headache worsened severely, he didn't pass out. He could feel it now, clearer than ever.
'So… so weird…'
Her anatomy resembled a human's, but at the same time it didn't. It felt eery and uncanny, but at the same time… she was beautiful. Sunny felt as if he was looking at a masterpiece.
For a daemon to be so similar to a human… it made sense. Gods and humans came from the same source, after all. Sunny didn't know whether or not that was where the similarities ended or not, but he desperately wanted to find out. Hope's Poison wasn't clouding his decisions anymore, and yet he still desperately wanted to know more about her. He was an explorer and researcher at heart, and if he were to give up such a chance, he'd never forgive himself.
"Uhm, h-hello… Lady Hope."
Sunny nearly slapped himself on the face.
'Stuttering?! Now?!'
"Who are you?"
The ethereal voice resounded once again, sounding slightly faint.
Now that Sunny had gotten a better look at her shadow, he noticed that she wasn't looking so great. Her long limbs were extremely skinny, making it look like she was starved. Her wings were in tatters, many of its feathers were missing, as if burned off long ago, and there were still many shackles on her body. Sunny had removed three so far, and he noted that the three shackles missing were for a wrist, wing, and a neck, leaving one on her other wrist and wing, and both her ankles. There seemed to be something else on top of her head, but Sunny couldn't tell what it was just yet. Hope was kneeling in the center of the ring of chains, seemingly by choice, as the shackles still allowed some degree of movement.
"I'm Sunless, Lady Hope."
"Why are you here?"
Sunny swallowed nervously.
'There it is.'
Depending on how she reacted to that question… it would determine Sunny's plan moving forward.
"I'm here to kill you."
"..."
Silence reigned the room for several long seconds.
"...Why?"
Sunny took a deep breath.
"What I'm about to tell you may seem a little unbelievable…"
"Tell me."
If it were a human, Sunny probably would've started with small talk, trying to build a rapport with her before telling her his true plans… But she wasn't a human, she was a daemon. He had no idea how their minds worked compared to his, but they'd probably appreciate the truth, right?
"It's about your sibling, Weaver."
"Mmm."
'Right, she saw the mask earlier. She knows I'm related to Weaver somehow.'
"Well actually, let me ask this first. Do you know why Sun God imprisoned you?"
Sunny felt a gaze land on him, and he heard the sound of rattling chains.
"Why?"
He felt the gaze bore straight into his soul, his desires laid bare.
Sunny took a deep breath.
"It was because you were worshipped."
The burning gaze diminished slightly, as if disappointed.
"I already knew that."
"I know, but do you know why you were imprisoned for that?"
"Why?"
Sunny grinned slightly.
"For you are Hope, Demon of Desire… Daughter of the Forgotten God."
"..."
Once more, silence fell upon the hall.
"Forgotten...?"
"Thats right. Or rather, Dream God."
Sadly, Sunny could not see Hope's facial expression, he couldn't even begin to guess what she was thinking. Then again, there was a noticeable change in the air around him.
"Dream God. Why then?"
"During the Age of Chaos, or the Age of the Void, before the world was even created… Seven gods were born. I'm sure you know what happened back then, but at the end, when the gods sealed the void, one of their siblings was caught in their net. The Dream God. Dream God then split themself into seven pieces-"
"Us."
"Right, those pieces were the daemons."
Hope was silent, so Sunny continued.
"And when the gods failed to save their sibling, they finally knew shame, and were perfect no longer. Thus, the monument of their failure, the daemons…"
Sunny trailed off, waiting for Hope to finish the sentence.
"...Were their flaw."
Her ethereal voice grew more intense, as if sounding angry. It was difficult to read any emotional inflection in her voice, given the fact she sounded like countless people speaking at once.
He did not need to explain why she would be imprisoned for being the daughter of the Forgotten God. She'd be able to quickly figure it out, given that she likely knew more about longing and desires more than anyone else.
The silence that followed was quite oppressive, and Sunny thought he felt himself sweating slightly.
Sunny said nothing, giving Hope time to think. At least that's what he thought she was doing.
'I can't believe I'm speaking to a real daemon! Incredible!'
He and Hope had spoken once before, but it was only a single question and a single answer, there wasn't much in that. Now though, they were having an entire conversation.
'Teacher Julius would cry if he ever heard he missed this chance…'
There were several minutes of silence before Hope spoke once more.
"Why did you lie?"
Sunny jolted.
"Lie? About what?"
He had not lied at all! What he told her was the honest truth! Did she not believe him?
"About being Weaver."
"...Oh."
Sunny scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed.
"That. When I'm wearing the mask, I can't tell the truth."
"...Why? What does the mask do?"
Sunny blinked.
'She doesn't know? Right… Weaver wouldn't have created the lesser versions of the mask by this point, and there was no reason for them to tell their siblings anything about it.'
"The mask? It reverses your Flaw."
The rattling of chains echoed throughout the halls.
"...What?"
"It also hides your identity, and lets y-"
"Flaw reversal? It is possible?"
…Sunny really wished he could see the expression on her face.
"Correct, Lady Hope, it's possible."
'Did the daemons have Flaws? Might as well ask…'
"And since my Flaw is that I cannot lie, the reversal of it would be that I can only lie. Why do you ask, Lady Hope? I was under the impression that daemons did not have Flaws…"
Perhaps he was an idiot to tell his Flaw to a daemon so casually, but he really needed some trust right now.
"No. We have Flaws."
She did not continue, not wanting to tell her Flaw to a stranger, especially one wearing the face of her jailer.
'Fair enough.'
Sunny was the weird one… telling her his Flaw so casually.
Hope shifted her head slightly, and spoke once more.
"What does the Forgotten God have to do with you being here, then?"
'Right, we were talking about that…'
"Well, that's because I was actually sent here from the future, by something called the Nightmare Spell."