Sunny dreamt of a seed buried in ash.
The world around him was dark and suffocating, lacking in any light and comfort. He could hear something rumbling in the distance, like the footsteps of a colossal beast. Winds howled, and the deep roots beside trembled at the terror of whatever was going on above ground.
The earth shook and quaked, rocked by a dreadful disaster.
Though eventually, the distant rumbling and howling winds quieted, accompanied by a terrible heat, feeling as if he were trapped in the smoldering lava of a volcano. Oh, how it burned…
But after a while, the heat subsided as well. Now, something cool rolled over the surface, water. Bit by bit, the cold liquid seeped into the ash, bringing relief and nourishment. After a while, the water reached the lonely seed as well, bathing it in life.
Only… it wasn't water. If Sunny were himself, he'd have recognised the liquid as blood.
Blood seeped into the ash, sinking further and further into the earth. The ground drank deeply in its magnificent succor.
After who knew how long, the seed felt itself begin to sprout, its outer shell breaking apart and growing into what it was always meant to be.
And yet just as it did, a hand dug through the ash and pulled it out. The sun felt cool on its rough skin, though the biting winds did not feel nearly as pleasant.
The hand tossed the seed up into the air, and when it fell back down it, it landed in shallow water. The liquid this time around was no longer blood. Instead, it was the transparent waters of the Soul Sea.
Despite the shallowness, the seed sank into the sea and vanished.
…And in the depths of that dark soul, it grew.
A tree sprouted from the abyss, reaching for the distant seven suns so, so far above… These waters weren't especially satiating, but from time to time, something quite delicious entered, giving it the nourishment it needed. It bathed the many small beings beneath it in shade, bringing life to the cold and silent sea.
And just as it began bearing fruit…
"Ng…"
Sunny was awoken by the sound of crunching.
"What are…"
In the form of an inconspicuous moving box, the Mimic lay at the foot of his bed, chewing on something.
His brain whirred and spun, trying to remember the last thing he'd been doing the night before.
"You… hey! Spit that out right now!"
Leaping out of bed, he firmly grabbed the Shadow's sides, prying its lid open.
"That is not for you to eat, you glutton!"
Reaching inside, he pulled out the object the Mimic had been munching on, the Shadow Lantern. He'd been studying its weave last night, and he must have fallen asleep during the process…
Tossing the box aside, he closely inspected the Divine Memory for any damages.
'Nothing… phew!'
He shuddered at the thought of that damn thing somehow managing to destroy one of his most prized possessions… If it had, then he may have had to take a page out of the Mad Prince's book and spill the blood of one of his own Shadows.
Glancing at the Mimic again, he sighed.
"Now look at you. Didn't I tell you to stop chewing on random things?"
The Shadow attempted to stick its tongue out at him, but immediately whimpered in pain as its tongue brushed against its now destroyed teeth. A mere Ascended Devil had no chance of even scratching a Divine Memory, and yet that idiot had still tried to eat it anyway.
"Just what were you thinking? Fragments aren't that impor-... tant… you know…"
Sunny trailed off in the middle of chastising his Shadow.
'Fragments…?'
At the thought of Shadow Fragments, a flood of memories rushed through his mind, the recollection of the dream he'd just had a few seconds ago.
His eyes widened, and he immediately clutched his forehead, attempting to hold onto the memory. He shuddered at the lingering feeling of terrible heat.
'Seed… in ash… war and blood… hand… Soul Sea?... what is…?'
Rushing over to his desk he immediately grabbed a sheet of synthetic paper, writing everything down in an attempt to hold on to his memories. After the strange incident with what he thought was Whispering Blade, he'd decided to start recording the weird things he saw while dreaming just to make sure he wasn't going crazy.
'So the seed… I think it's like the one I have?'
Turning to the now sulking Mimic, he narrowed his eyes.
"Open up."
Flinching, it obliged, retracting its mouth and revealing the space within its coffers. Fumbling his hand around a bit, Sunny felt the small metal box containing the seed he'd found at the Desecrated Grove. Grabbing it, he brought it to his face and pried off its lid, curious to see if anything had changed inside.
'Nothing…'
The seed lay dormant, just like how he'd found it.
Scrunching his eyebrows, Sunny tried his best to remember what happened in the dream.
'Blood… caused it to sprout…'
Blinking, he shook his head.
'No… it took way too long… it was when…'
The memory grew hazy, causing him to check the things he'd written down.
"Hand…"
Reaching into the ash, he grabbed the seed. It felt a little cold in his hand, having been left to sit for a while now.
"Soul Sea…?"
Why had he written Soul Sea?
"Soul… Sea…"
Blood couldn't cause it to sprout… but the waters of his Soul Sea could?
Sunny squinted.
'Huh?'
Did he even want to do that? He was supposed to use the tree to power the Chain Breaker's flight enchantments…
'Mmmm… Why not?'
Tossing the seed into the air, he initiated Shadow Step, allowing the small seed to fall straight into his shadow and land inside his soul.
Diving inside, Sunny observed the process, curious to see what would happen.
"Ah."
The seed quickly sank and vanished, disappearing into his soul's depths.
"Oh… okay."
Scratching his head, Sunny stared at the slight bubbling in the water.
"I… I guess I just did that?"
That may as well have been one of the most impulsive things he'd ever done, but he had no choice considering how difficult it was to hold onto the memory of his dream.
'I don't even know what's going to happen to it…'
There was a strong possibility that he had just completely wasted what might've been the last uncorrupted seed of the Sacred Grove…
'Oh well!'
He shook his head with a whimsical smile. No use thinking about the consequences now! Checking the time, he saw that it was the early hours of the morning.
'Mmm… guess I'll go back to sleep?'
Sleep came easily, and Sunny swiftly forgot about the small seed.
***
Another week passed without issue.
"Ugh…"
Sunny rolled over tiredly, shielding his eyes from the blazing sun overhead.
"Come on… wasn't… that bad…"
"Yeah yeah! Come on! Let's find some more!"
Rubbing his forehead in an attempt to get rid of the lingering sensations he felt, Sunny sighed hard.
"Give me a minute…"
"Whatever! Let's spar then, crazy lady!"
"You're… on…"
Having spent the past half hour fused with Solvane while she was locked in a terrible battle, he was not feeling great. Aria and his Shadow seemed to be just fine though, having already started a battle of their own, clearly not done fighting yet.
'She'd fit right in with the War Zealots…'
Sunny groaned at the memory. Those damned maniacs…
Noticing a long stream of blood coming towards him, he quickly rolled out of the way, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
Minutes passed as he absorbed the feeling of Solvane's spirit essence while doing his best to ignore the loud crashes coming from their distant spar.
'I think I'm getting closer…'
Transcendence was still a long ways away, but at least his progress was noticeable. Though… it did feel a little weird how fast he was progressing. Lady Aidre had said that in many cases, the time it took to achieve Transcendence was even longer than the time it took to achieve Supremacy, as the methods of ascension differed from rank to rank. Some took time and experience, while some could be done in an instant if one knew exactly what they were doing. Sunny had no idea which category he belonged to, but he had a sneaking suspicion as to why he was able to progress so fast.
'It may be because I was once a Transcendent myself…'
He didn't know the exact details of his Regression, but considering a couple strange things that had happened a result, he was able to piece one thing together at least, and that was that he wasn't sent into his past body, but rather his current body was sent through time and 'reversed' somehow.
Feeling his headache get worse, he let out a long breath, trying to relax.
It made sense. How else would he still retain his [Lord of Shadows] attribute if he were sent back into his past body? And even if he were sent into his past body, why the hell would he also be placed in a different time period? There were his shadow helpers too. Though it had never happened, he suspected that if he ever lost and regained a Shadow Core, the shadow he got would be one of a different personality, and yet all his helpers had returned the same. Aside from the lazy shadow of course, but he'd never been a Titan back then, so it didn't count.
'So damn weird…'
How had such a thing even happened? He still didn't know. The Tomb of Ariel was strange, sure, but this sort of thing…
"Ugh…"
Another pulse of pain shot through his head, causing him to lose his train of thought.
'Forget it.'
There was no point in pondering such things anymore. It wasn't like he could go back. And even if he could, he couldn't do it with his current strength.
'Stronger… I still need to get stronger…'
Covering his eyes completely, he fell into a meditative state.
Sunny wasn't sure how much time had passed until someone had come up to bother him, but considering the morning sun was nearly directly above them now, it had to have been a while.
'Huh… did I fall asleep?'
It certainly hadn't felt like it… he must've lost track of time while meditating.
Still, his head wasn't feeling great.
"Leave me alone…"
He waved his arm, trying to get whoever was pestering him to stop.
No voice responded.
'Hm?'
There was no movement either.
Cracking an eye open, he looked around. Solvane and Aria were sitting over a campfire in the distance, roasting the bodies of their slain foes while casually chatting.
'Wha…'
If they were over there, then who was bothering him?
Sunny's eyes shot open abruptly. Sitting up immediately, he focused on the senses of his shadows.
'Oh… oh shit!'
The shadow he'd left not too far away from the Sanctuary was alerting him of something.
"You two! Get over here now!"
Their heads turned to him in sync, clear looks of confusion on their faces.
"Now!"
They hurriedly got up, running towards him with worried looks.
"What happened?"
Sunny shook his head, summoning the Mimic.
"Nothing yet. Just get in."
Glancing at the open lid of the dark chest, Aria just shrugged and jumped in. Solvane followed swiftly behind, not at all questioning what was happening, having grown used to his antics. Sunny himself jumped in as well, getting ready to transport the three of them across the isles.
'Not yet…'
Focusing on his shadow, he watched the scene with stark clarity.
On an island close to the Sanctuary lay a tranquil lake, undisturbed by any and all things. Bones of all kinds lined the shore of it, each skeleton more terrifying than the last. And yet, that was not at all what he was paying attention to.
…Because on the chain linked to the island, he spotted a young boy climbing it.
'I told him not to go…'
He remembered his conversation with Mordret from a few weeks back, in which the boy had asked about what Noctis had left with the creature of the lake. Sunny had told him about the ruby knife, and although he very clearly warned him not to go anywhere near the lake, Mordret seemed to have ignored his warning.
'Thought so.'
Although he didn't know much about his true nature, he did remember something the Prince of Nothing had said to him once, a long long time ago. He'd said that a mirror could only reflect what was in front of it, saying that it wasn't his fault that all the things before him were cruel, vile, and deceitful. He wasn't sure if he meant that literally or not, but if he did, then who had Mordret spent the most time reflecting currently?
It was Asterion. And if Sunny knew one thing about that wretched Dreamspawn, it was that the man was extremely curious. So if Mordret had taken anything from him, it would've been that. He'd felt it himself back when they spoke, the burning, unquenchable thirst for knowledge… He wasn't so different himself.
But unfortunately for the Lost Prince, he was young and inexperienced, so there was a high chance his curiosity was about to get him killed. Sunny knew what it was like, as there were many times he'd nearly died because he just couldn't keep himself out of trouble. [Fated] had probably played a role in that too, but still…
Narrowing his eyes, Sunny prepared himself. Mordret had made it onto the island now, quietly creeping towards the lakeshore.
…The Creature of the Lake had already noticed him, unbeknownst to the boy.
'Fool.'
Well… nearly dying was a great way to learn, so he'd wait a bit first.
Moving closer and closer, Mordret dashed from rock to rock, keeping himself out of view from the lake's surface.
Glancing at Aria, Sunny said:
"You don't have to come out by the way. Just wait here until I finish."
"Uh… okay, but finish what exactly?"
"Rescue operation. You're too weak to help, no offense."
"...Whatever man."
Seeing as she wasn't needed, she went off to another corner of the space inside to sulk. Solvane just silently stood next to him, waiting.
Mordret was nearly at the lake shore now, and Sunny had his shadow follow him close behind. His shadow sense didn't seem especially helpful though, seeing as he couldn't sense a shadow beneath the lake's surface at all, despite the bright sun hanging far above illuminating the clear waters.
'I can't watch…'
He knew the boy wouldn't die, but still…
Sighing deeply, he continued observing closely, going completely unnoticed.
***
Hiding beneath the bones of what seemed like a long dead avian creature, Mordret kept his eyes trained on the lake. Deep intrigue and anticipation tugged at him as eagerly awaited to see what was hiding in the tranquil waters.
Though…
'Nothing's here?'
He could spot anything in the lake, despite the plentiful amount of reflections on its surface.
'Was Awakened Sunless lying?'
No… he didn't seem like the type to lie. That man had been nothing but kind to him so far. Even though he definitely knew more than he was letting on at times, he'd still been nothing but kind to him.
'Hm… the lake's empty.'
Were all these bones just for show? Perhaps his initial guess of Sky Tide only leaving this place intact to ward off other nightmare creatures was true…
Approaching the lakeshore, he crouched down and looked into the water, curious to see if he could maybe spot a ruby knife shining in its depths. His reflection did not stare back at him, as it was busy gliding across the lake's surface to search the other side.
Glancing behind him, he waved his Reflection over. His friend was a Monster now, and he felt like they were prepared for anything.
"Beastie, did you- urgh!"
A pale white arm emerged from the water, wrapping its hand around his neck.
'What… what is…'
How?! He hadn't even noticed!
With horror, he realised that there was no reflection of the arm in the water, as if it didn't even exist.
Struggling desperately, he tried to escape, to jump into the reflections, but nothing happened. But… but strangely enough, the hand wasn't even holding onto him tightly, its grip around his neck only strong enough to hold him in place.
'No… no no no!'
His death was not here, so he could not die through regular means, but… with whatever this… this thing was, it was not normal!
'I… I should've listened.'
He felt the breath be choked out of him a second later. Not because the white hand was strangling him, but because his reflection had just been caught as well.
'Oh… there it is…'
On the other side of the lake, the reflection of a pale white arm had seized the reflection of himself.
"B-Beastie…"
He weakly called out to his friend, desperate to escape. His Reflection responded immediately, having already been in the process of rushing towards him, weapon in hand.
…But before it could do anything, another arm revealed itself from the depths, this one as black as coal. With a simple flick of its fingers, his friend was sent barreling away in a terrible gust of wind.
"A-Ah…"
Mordret felt his body grow weak.
'Just… just what is this?'
He'd felt the cold terror of facing Corrupted creatures before, but this… this was something else. Something he couldn't even hope to run away from.
The black hand slowly reached towards his face.
'No!'
Shutting his eyes, he turned away with a muffled cry, as if hoping the monster would disappear if he could just no longer see it.
[Your eyes… so beautiful…]
An impossibly old voice whispered in the back of his mind, sounding mournful.
'I… I can't escape.'
He did not think the Creature of the Lake could get anymore frightful, but it did. It was speaking to him now, complimenting his eyes for whatever abominable reason it might have.
[Give them… to me…]
"N-No…"
His eyelids were slowly pried open by the black hand, forcing his eyes to see. Though strangely, it simply held them there, as if waiting for something else to pluck his eyes out.
…Noticing the shadow of the black hand reaching for his own shadow, Mordret felt ice creep through his veins. He struggled even harder, trying to use his meager physical strength to break free. He'd already tried summoning Memories, but the white hand prevented him from using his essence. If Beastie were here, he probably could've… but his Reflection had been sent quite a ways away. In fact, he had probably been thrown off the island, with little to no chance of ever returning.
'It's over…'
His short, miserable journey was already coming to an end. His grand dreams were never going to be achieved… his desperate fight for survival was already over… his revenge was never going to…
Maybe it was a good thing he couldn't feel sad. Only endless frustration and indignation burned in his soul.
Though just as the dark shadow was about to pluck out his eyes, something happened.
[Hm…]
The hand loosened its grip ever-so-slightly as it noticed something-
A sword flashed, passing straight through the wrists of the black and white arms.
"Gah!"
Falling to his knees, Mordret held his neck as he desperately gasped for air. A white, chalk-like substance lingered on his skin, feeling like charcoal.
"Didn't I tell you to stay away from here?"
Weakly looking up, he saw the familiar back of Awakened Sunless. In his hand was a transparent saber that glimmered in the sunlight, its glass blade marred with pitch-black blood. For a moment, he even thought he saw a hint of gold in the weapon's depths.
"I-It's you…"
Glancing down at the severed hands, he saw them quickly disintegrating as the limbs of the opposing nightmare creature regenerated as if it had never even been injured.
The arms reared back, shaking in… fear? No, in anger…
[You…]
"I suggest you run now, Awakened Mordret."
Before he even got a chance to say anything, a hand picked him up by the back of collar, lifting him up roughly.
"Ah!"
He felt himself get thrown over the unknown person's shoulder, being carried as if he were baggage.
Before he could even react, he was across the island, the howling winds only assaulting his ears for a moment as his carrier moved. After being gently set down, he tried to look at the person, but they were already gone.
"What…"
Another hand pressed against his shoulder, and he felt his mirror sense return as his reflection had been retrieved.
"B-Beastie!"
He turned to face the perfection reflection of himself, feeling much of his indignation fade. Had he been complete, he might've even felt joy and relief. His friend was still alive!
Though he did feel a lingering sense of fear…
Turning back to the now out of sight lake, he clenched his hands tightly.
What about Awakened Sunless? Could a mere scout possibly fight against that unspeakable terror?
'Sunless… just what are you?'
***
[Pretty little shadow…]
Sunny shuddered at the voice whispering in his mind.
'...Shit.'
This thing could talk? This was going to be a lot more dangerous than he thought…
The two arms silently retreated into the depths, retrieving their shadows as well. Finally feeling their shadows move, he could tell one thing.
'Strong. Really damn strong.'
Without being able to get a look at its full body, he couldn't tell what its Class was, but its Rank was most certainly Corrupted, and that was at minimum.
"Mmm… this thing… we should run… Shadow…"
Solvane stood by his side, arms crossed as she stared intently at the rippling water.
"Just let me see what it looks like first, then we're running."
He wasn't planning on fighting this thing, but he didn't exactly want to leave with nothing either. So some information on the enemy would suffice.
Everything was already prepared for him to be able to get away at a moment's notice. Serpent was on standby too in case anything went wrong. He was not repeating Mordret's mistake of standing near the lake surface either, so he felt reasonably safe for now.
"It's… surfacing…!"
Solvane immediately took a battle stance as he casually moved behind her, aiming to use her as a meat shield, just in case.
The surface of the lake parted and ripped as a long appendage rose from the depths. Endless streams of boiling white water fell from the creature's body, revealing…
"Okaywe'releaving."
Stepping into the shadows, Sunny moved to the edge of the island in an instant, jumping into the open lid of the Mimic as he dismissed Solvane. Mordret stared at him with wide eyes when he entered, as he'd left Aria with the task of ushering the boy inside.
"Oh, hey."
"S-Sunless?"
Resummoning the Mimic, he brought them far, far away. All the way to the Ivory Tower.
Sunny let out a long breath, falling to the ground.
'...Close.'
The visage of the terrifying creature remained in his memory. It… it was a strange being, with its body seemingly formed from two opposite coloured halves, fused together at the center. The creature was tall and lanky too, easily standing several meters above water despite the fact that its would-be feet were still at the bottom of the lake. Even stranger though was how it was somewhat humanoid in shape, its pale and charcoal skin wrapped tightly around a bony skeleton beneath. The beast lacked a head however, with its body simply twisting into a spiral at where its skull would've been, looking almost like an amoeba.
Rubbing his forehead, Sunny glared at Mordret.
"It seems you didn't take my warning seriously, Awakened Mordret."
And an even more terrifying thing was the fact that the abomination had another set of arms that remained beneath the waters. Though he'd not seen what it was holding clearly, from where he'd been standing, it had looked like a massive seven-branched sword, radiating with unknown power.
"O-Oh. Um… I apologise, Awakened Sunless."
"You should be. You could've died, boy! That was a Corrupted Terror, you know!"
Mordret paled at his words, awkwardly stuttering as he tried to think of something to say.
"Go easy on the kid, Sunny! He just had an encounter with said Corrupted Terror!"
Appearing from behind the boy, Aria patted him on the shoulder with a smile.
"So? What was it like? Strong?"
Mordret was unable to speak for a moment, but nodded.
"Y-Yes. Unimaginably so."
Aria nodded sagely, grinning wildly.
"Must be! So, who's this runt?"
Turning to Sunny, she patted Mordret's shoulder again, causing the boy to wince in pain.
Sighing and shaking his head, he checked in on his shadow back at the Sanctuary, just to make sure the Creature of the Lake wasn't about to go on a rampage.
"You're hurting him, Aria. And this is Mordret, an Awakened anchored at the Sanctuary of Noctis."
"Oooh… oh! From the Sanctuary? Okay, I don't care then. Bye!"
Letting go of the boy's shoulder, she walked off into the darkness and left the inside of the Mimic to go walk around the island. Shaking his head, Sunny summoned Solvane outside to keep her company.
Looking curiously at where Aria had just disappeared to, Mordret swallowed hard and turned back to him.
"Who… Was that your associate from the other day?"
Smiling, Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"What, you don't know Radiant Dawn?"
"...No? I don't believe I have heard that name before."
With a small laugh, he shook his head.
"Hah, guess she isn't as famous as she thinks! Anyways, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Pursing his lips, Mordret lowered his head.
"I… I thank you, Awakened Sunless. For saving my life. Please forgive me for not heeding your warning."
Snickering, Sunny waved him off.
"It's fine, it's fine. Honestly it's probably my fault for you telling you about that knife in the first place. Forgot how reckless new Awakened can be."
"Ah, it's… it's fine? Though, may I ask what this place is? It's a little… strange."
"This place?"
He paused, stopping to think for a moment. Mordret must've not been able to feel the reflections outside, seeing as he was in a sort of separate space.
"We're just inside one of my storage containers. I'll take you outside in a second, but let's speak for a bit first."
Sunny had thought for a long time of how to deal with the Prince of Nothing, and today he thought he might've finally found a way to proceed.
"Oh, what do you want to speak about?"
If the boy reflected whatever was in front of it, then the two most important people in his life he'd reflected must've been Anvil and Asterion.
"About you."
Come to think of it, it was honestly a miracle he hadn't turned out to be a complete monster and mass murderer the moment he was freed from the Night Temple the first time around. Considering all the terrible people he'd been forced to reflect his entire life, he'd turned out quite reasonable. For the most part anyways.
"About me?"
"Yep."
"Well… what do you want to know? Please forgive me if I don't answer everything."
But that was just the first time around. This Mordret though… Though he'd certainly suffered by the hand of what should've been his family, it wasn't too late for him just yet. If it had been after his six years of imprisonment, he'd have considered him a lost cause. But that hadn't happened yet, and it didn't have to happen.
Sunny leaned forward with a grin.
"Your Aspect… correct me if I'm wrong, but its rank is Divine, right?"
"You…"
Mordret's expression melted away, revealing an eerie stare.
"A Divine Aspect? I don't believe such a thing is even possible, no?"
Emotions rocked the boy's shadow. Fear, confusion, suspicion…
"It is possible. And I believe you have one."
Gritting his teeth, Mordret's eyes began darting around, looking for an escape. Unfortunately for him, there was barely any light around, and the shadows nestling on Sunny's face prevented his eyes from reflecting anything.
"How… what makes you say such a thing?"
Leaning back, he patted himself on the chest.
"How else? It's because I wield one too, of course!"
"...What?"
Mordret stared at him with wide eyes, and Sunny could see his pale reflection within them.
The method he'd devised of making sure the Prince of Nothing never turned out to be a threat was simple. If reflecting cruel, vile, and deceitful people were what made him become cruel and callous, what if he reflected someone kind, considerate, and honest?
Maybe all he'd ever needed was a simple role model. Someone decent to emulate, someone who'd show him that not everyone was an enemy that wanted him dead.
Of course, Sunny wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue, but someone once told him that he was someone capable of being both cruel and kind… so maybe Mordret could be like that too. It wasn't a perfect idea, but it was the best one he could think of.
"That's right. And as a fellow Divine Aspect wielder… I am very disappointed by how weak you are! Unacceptable! So from this day forward, I'm going to teach you how to fight. Understand?"
The boy could only weakly nod, finding his words unbelievable.
"O…kay?"
Seeing his clear doubt and distrust, Sunny inwardly sighed. The boy was clearly the type to be suspicious of everyone, which was much like himself as well. And if he knew himself… he knew this was going to take a long time.
Nodding, Sunny stood up.
"Good. Now come with me."
It was time to show the new recruit around.