Sunny awoke to silence and the first rays of sunlight cresting the horizon. He didn't jolt upright—there was no sudden threat, no echo of combat. Just a dull ache in his arm.
They'd been stranded atop the Slayer statue for several weeks now. The battle with the Bitter Chorus had left their cohort shattered—alive, but barely functional. Time had blurred into tedious recovery, measured by the changing of bandages and grim rations of monster meat.
Their makeshift camp had grown somewhat messy. Strewn across the statue's plateau were markings of their extended stay. Discarded bones piled haphazardly from their hunts, and a covered fire pit hid glowing embers from the oppressive gaze of the Dark Sea.
Sunny's arm was nearly healed. Faint scars traced where the monster's scream had torn through his skin. Blood Weave had accelerated the healing process, though the others had no such luxury.
Effie still lay motionless nearby, her breaths steady and shallow. Her side was wrapped in bandages stained dark from repeated re-openings of her wound. She was strong, but her dependence on others while healing frustrated her pride. She refused help, batting away any hands offering aid redressing wounds. Even in sleep, her brow remained furrowed. The extra rations she required had left a flush of shame on her cheeks.
Aiko sat quietly, flexing her wrist experimentally. She had healed quickly, faster than the rest, though something deeper in her eyes had shifted—confidence mixed with a shadow of guilt. She caught Sunny's gaze briefly and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment before returning to her silent contemplation. She had taken to training with the Quiet Dancer every morning. It showed.
Kai moved through camp with careful steps, his shoulder braced with fresh wrappings. Though mobile, his right arm remained mostly useless. That limitation gnawed at him, his fingers flexing instinctively every time he lowered his gaze. He found it quite vexing to be unable to draw his bowstring, and had grown restless at being denied the opportunity to train.
Caster stood at the platform's edge, gazing across the labyrinth. He moved with care, still favoring his healthy leg. Between the wounded, he would be the next combat-ready. His beard had grown longer in recent weeks, and he scratched at it absently, always distracted.
Cassie lay quietly on her bedroll, eyes half-lidded. Her wound had long since closed, but Sunny knew better than to trust clean skin. Head injuries were slow to heal—subtle but insidious. She slept often, as if waiting for the moment when the fracture in her mind would knit together. When she was awake, her gaze rarely lingered on anyone for long. She avoided eye contact, even with him.
He wondered exactly what was going on inside her head, but wasn't going to pry. He understood the burden of her prophetic dreams much more intimately now. It was not the kind of burden that could be relieved through speech, rather it was one that was shared through silence.
Sunny exhaled slowly, shifting to check his runes.
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lost from Light
Rank: Dreamer
Class: Monster
Shadow Cores: [2/7]
Shadow Fragments: [177/2000]
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Quiet Resolve], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Shadow Lantern], [Seed of Remorse], [Ordinary Rock], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Moonlight Shard]
Shadows: [Soul Serpent], [Stone Saint]
Shadow: [Stone Saint]
Shadow Rank: Awakened
Shadow Class: Monster
Shadow Fragments: [73/200]
Shadow Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Mark of Divinity].
Shadow Description: [Shadow Saint was created by the treacherous Lost From Light in the cursed darkness of the Forgotten Shore.]
Shadow: [Soul Serpent]
Shadow Rank: Ascended
Shadow Class: Monster
Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon], [Soul Beast]
Shadow Abilities: [Soul Reaver], [Grace of Shadows]
Shadow Description: [When the end came, Shadow was the last of the gods to be destroyed. Many have resented him for creating death, but in the end, death embraced all.]
Attributes: [Unchained], [Fatecharmed], [Mark of Divinity], [Shadowtouched], [Inoculated], [Blood Weave]
Aspect: [The Eclipse]
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Innate Ability: [Totality]
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance]
Flaw: [Transparent Conscience]
Flaw Description: [You cannot lie, and your true feelings may not be hidden.]
He had received his second core some time ago during one of Serpent's many hunts. It came without fanfare, though carried many benefits.
Gloomy was delighted to finally have a new companion, and Saint's conversion into a Shadow had expedited her recovery. Serpent had grown several feet in length, and was now quite the imposing creature. All the better now that Sunny had a backup weapon in the form of the Moonlight Shard.
His growth was expected, yet simultaneously astonishing. In his original timeline, the Forgotten Shore had felt like an eternal struggle. Death waited around every corner, and he embodied the narrative of the archetypal underdog. Now though, he commanded a power far beyond his peers. Even proper Awakened would be helpless fighting against him.
He expected to feel some kind of elated triumph at that, but instead all he found was emptiness. For all his power, he knew there were undoubtedly many challenges he couldn't yet face. All that lie ahead was an endless treadmill of accruing strength, hoping he wouldn't fail to clear the next hurdle.
It was a lonely existence.
'Maybe this was how Nephis felt,' he thought.
She had once chased an unattainable goal, and it had alienated her from her humanity. Others had come to see her as a myth instead of a person. How could she ever hope to hold onto herself, when subjected to the agony of her flaw and veneration of the masses. She had no equals with which to share her burdens, practical or emotional.
Except for Sunny.
But who would Sunny have this time?
He had already felt disconnection with his allies forming. They looked to him not as a companion, but like they had once looked at Nephis.
The closeness he once shared with Effie, Kai, and Cassie had changed. He felt it in their silences, in how their conversations halted when he approached. Reverence where there used to be laughter.
Not companions. Followers.
And Sunny hated it.
***
Two more weeks passed before they broke camp. The air was brittle with urgency. The Dark City had claimed who-knew-how-many lives while they healed. Sunny felt every one of those deaths like a weight across his spine.
Effie grimaced as Caster and Sunny helped her to her feet. She leaned on him for only a moment before forcing herself upright.
"Don't push yourself," he muttered.
She glanced at him—really looked—and frowned.
Whatever joke had been on her tongue, she swallowed it instead.
Kai's arm had improved enough to remove the brace, replaced now with a simple cloth sling. He would soon regain the strength necessary to draw his bow, though for now he would be sidelined during fights.
Caster stretched his muscles in preparation of their descent, a grim determination evident in his expression. The close brush with death seemed to have changed something within the boy.
Aiko lingered close to Kai, offering a reassuring presence as they gathered their sparse belongings. Sunny noticed how effortlessly the two had grown comfortable around one another, and silently rooted for his former best friend.
The two shared low murmurs as Aiko adjusted the sling around the boy's arm. Faint, mischievous smiles danced across their faces, as Kai let out a warm chuckle.
Cassie was the last to rise. She blinked slowly, gaze distant as she steadied herself. Her movements were fluid, healthy in appearance, yet she lingered quietly, thoughts clearly elsewhere.
They descended the monument together, Sunny in the lead, and began the next leg of their expedition.
Their pace through the coral labyrinth was measured and deliberate, with great care taken to avoid unnecessary battle. From memories of a future that would never come, Sunny constructed a mental map leading towards the canyon where they would find the Builder Statue. With luck, they would be fully healed in time ride it to the Hollow Mountains.
***
The weeks blurred again as they moved, their progress slowing as the labyrinth gave way to harsher terrain. Jagged outcroppings of coral twisted into barbed arches above them, and iron spiderwebs—most long-abandoned—strung taut through the lands. The air here was colder, and the risk of injury from the inhospitable terrain demanded utmost caution.
By the time they reached their destination, the cohort had returned to an operable level of strength.
The yawning maw of the canyon opened before them like a scar in the earth. Hundreds of meters deep, its inner walls were slick with veiny crimson growths and streaked with flaking metal, as if the land itself had bled and rusted. Somewhere below, the black tide of the Dark Sea was waiting to meet the sky.
They didn't make camp this stop. Instead, the cohort settled near the broken arch of what had once been a bridge—half-collapsed, the far span long since claimed by the abyss. Sunny traced the gaps in the stone with his eyes, then looked down into the mist that clung to the canyon floor.
The Builder would come soon.
The statue moved on no fixed schedule, but Cassie had seen this moment in both timelines. They had some time to prepare before boarding their ride south.
Sunny sat apart from the others, knelt near the edge, his expression unreadable. "In his hand he held a golden rope: Cassie's rope Memory, faintly shimmering in the gloom.
"Once we board the statue," he had said earlier, voice low. "Just focus on holding your breath. My Echo and I will hold both ends of our tether to the statue, so don't bother wasting energy struggling. We come out of the water when it finishes climbing out of the canyon."
No one had argued.
There wasn't anything left to say.
Cassie crouched beside the rope, tying small loop-knots at intervals, measured out for each of them to clip onto. Aiko tested the tension. Kai adjusted the line around his waist. Effie gave her shoulders a roll, and Caster gave a grim nod.
They were ready.
It came hours later, just past twilight. The sun had dipped below the canyon rim, and the dark sea had risen high enough that its breath soaked the wind. Cassie's ears snapped toward the far end of the chasm.
"It's here."
No one needed further warning.
Far below, a shape stirred in the depths—first a tremor, then the echo of shifting stone. Water parted as something impossibly vast moved beneath it. From the depths, a giant climbed—faceless, headless, older than the city they'd left behind. Each step churned the sea and dragged centuries behind it.
Each of its steps sent ripples that climbed the cliffs, shaking flecks of coral loose in showers of dull red. One hand dragged a massive hammer through the sea. The other swayed uselessly, its wrist still wrapped in the remnants of an ancient chain. It did not look up. It did not acknowledge them. It simply walked forward, unwavering.
Just as Sunny remembered.
"Go," he said, rising.
The group dropped down onto the statue below. Saint braced one end of the rope, and Sunny the other, both gripping into cracks atop the stone platform. A single shadow wrapped around both, as Serpent circulated essence through Sunny's arms.
The dark sea kissed the ridge of the Builder's neck, then rose. The statue's platform dipped below the surface of the water, dragging all of them into the sea with it.
The world vanished into blackness.
For ninety heartbeats, they were adrift in the cold—no sky, no sound, just the roar of water in their ears. Yet, they held.
The rope strained. Pressure crushed against them as the current fought to drag them loose—but the tether held. Saint did not falter. Sunny held tight.
The colossus patiently ascended the canyon, towards the surface of the Dark Sea.
Then, with no warning, they broke the surface.
A gasp tore through the silence as air flooded their lungs. Kai choked and swore. Aiko coughed violently. Effie simply lay flat on the stone, eyes wide, as the stars returned overhead.
The rope sagged between them, before being dismissed into a scant few motes of light.
Sunny stared back at where they had come from. The Dark Sea had consumed the lands, the impressive canyon now missing from the world. The Builder did not care. It walked on, step by ancient step, carrying them south towards the Hollow Mountains.