"For now, I am Sleeper Sunless."
---
Sunny turned to Nephis.
"Call me Sunny for now. It would look awkward if we proclaimed ourselves friends and still used titles."
Then, a glance at Caster. Just a flicker. His eyes drifted to the ruins ahead.
"You will call me Sunless."
Before them stretched a vast expanse of ruined cityscape.
Majestic once, now broken—its proud stone towers shattered, many crumbled entirely into heaps of forgotten rubble.
There were no people. No whispers of life. At least, not nearby.
Only Nightmare Creatures.
Cassie's voice rang out from atop Fenrir, uncertain.
"What's going on, Sunny?"
"There is… a vast, ruined city built of weathered stone," he answered slowly. "And there are numerous monsters wandering its streets."
The city walls, thick and tall, enclosed the devastation perfectly—like a coffin sealed tight.
And in the heart of it all, a castle.
Its walls were stark white. Gleaming. Starkly alien amidst the red coral.
The castle ruled by the hosts of this forsaken place.
Gunlaug. And his lieutenants.
"In the center of the ruins," Sunny continued, "there is a great castle made with radiant white stone… there are people… many people there."
He clicked his tongue, a bitter sound.
Old memories resurfaced—unwelcome, unforgotten.
"…Let's go."
He walked to the edge of the city wall and stepped off.
Beneath his foot, a slab of darkness bloomed.
A staircase of shadow, spiraling into the broken city below.
"Come on already," he called without turning back.
Fenrir, however, had no interest in stairs. The great beast simply leapt from the wall, landing below with a thud that made the rubble shiver.
Sunny rolled his eyes.
'Oh, so you think you're fast now, huh?'
Eventually, they all reached the ground.
And there, beneath the ruins, Sunny felt them—lurking.
The fallen monsters.
"If they come…" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else, "I'll take care of them."
But his focus was elsewhere. Sharpened. Reaching.
A Supreme's senses were already beyond human—heightened to impossible precision.
But Sunny's shadow sense? It eclipsed them all.
The last time they'd arrived here, it had taken much longer. That delay had led them to Effie.
He hadn't expected to find her again. But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
His [Fate's Favored] attribute had done its job.
He felt it.
A familiar presence. Dimmer than before.
Effie.
But that wasn't all.
Unbeknownst to her… a Spire Messenger was rapidly closing in.
"Change of plans," he called out abruptly.
The others looked at him, puzzled.
"You do not know the me wearing this mask. Not in front of other Sleepers," he said flatly, summoning Weaver's Mask with a thought as a tiny Dream gate opened and a shadow slithered through, manifesting in the form of another Sunny.
It was Lazy.
He'd been wondering how to reintroduce himself to the rest of the cohort.
It seemed fate had handed him a stage.
He broke into a run—sliding through the ruins like water through a river.
Awakened monsters crossed his path… and collapsed, lifeless, from his mere presence.
The rest—including Lazy—followed behind—distant, warily eyeing the sovereign among them.
[I am going to take upon another persona: The Lightless Heir.]
The message echoed in their minds through the mental connection made by the [Blessing of Dusk].
[Oh, and Cassie—I'll let you know when I'm back to being Sunny, alright?]
He had to tell her separately. She couldn't see the mask, after all.
[Alright, Sunny… just—be careful.]
Sunny scoffed.
'Seriously… what here could pose a threat to me?'
He focused again.
On Effie.
And the Messenger.
'I need to put on a good show for her… Can I? Should I?'
Oh, he wanted to summon a colossal hand of shadow—slam it down in one glorious display.
But that was going to attract to much attention.
But that didn't mean he'd appear weak.
He called upon Serpent.
The onyx snake uncoiled from his body, flowing into the shape of a tenebrific odachi.
He moved through the ruins like he had always belonged here.
Like this place remembered his footsteps.
Eventually—
He found her.
A tall, attractive young woman with hazel eyes and brown hair. Sitting amidst rubble, gnawing on monster meat.
Hidden in shadow, Sunny chuckled.
'Just like last time.'
He waited.
The Spire Messenger drew closer with every breath. No real threat to him, but to a Sleeper?
Suicide.
Not that the cohort was ever in danger. Sunny had watched them from the start.
The pieces moved.
Effie from one side. The Messenger from another. The cohort a beat behind.
But the Messenger would arrive first.
Soon enough, the creature came into Effie's range.
She drew a long knife—just in case—and prepared to run.
Then—
He appeared.
A silhouette cloaked in shadows, a fearsome mask with three horns stretching outwards, and a black odachi radiating death.
Effie froze.
The figure… was too strong to be a mere Sleeper.
He took a single step forward.
"Who are you, bastard!" she yelled, trying to sound brave.
The man stood still.
Silent.
Then he spoke—
"I am the Lightless Heir."
A shriek split the air.
A massive, winged creature descended from the sky. Pale flesh, black feathers, a grotesque hybrid of raven and lion.
To the Sleepers, it looked like a harbinger of death.
Sunny had seen worse.
He wasn't impressed.
Effie raised her blade, unsure.
"What do you want?" she shouted, her voice uncertain.
The figure shifted.
No.
The world around him shifted. As if listening. Waiting for his command.
"I want nothing. I take everything. That is death... Everything will one day find peace within me."
The Spire Messenger closed the final distance—its claws reaching.
But the man turned.
Just enough to face the creature.
The shadows turned with him, obedient and reverent.
Then he spoke—
"Who are you to dare stare me down, beast?! I am the Lightless Heir, who was proclaimed the Scion of Shadows. I am the divine heir of death and the favored bastard of fate. Wherever I go, death follows. If you had any sense, you would have run away as soon as you saw me."
The Spire Messenger didn't care.
It lunged. Talons gleaming.
The man didn't flinch.
He didn't fear it.
He raised his blade—
Then—
The world snapped.
The Messenger had been inches away from rending him apart.
And then—he was gone.
Reappeared on the opposite side.
A moment later—
The creature split in two.
Blood. Ichor. Silence.
A harbinger of death had been slain…
By one who claimed to be death.
Sunny—or rather, the Lightless Heir—didn't move.
Effie stood frozen, her knife still drawn, chest heaving. Her eyes never left the menacing man.
The cohort finally caught up, boots crunching on gravel.
Effie turned to them, her sword pointed towards the man clad in shadows.
Lazy, who was currently standing with the cohort, shouted.
"Are you human?!"
"Of course I'm human, idiot!" Effie retorted.
"I wasn't talking to you…" Sunny replied, summoning the [Origin Blade] he had gotten from Auro.
"No." Responded the Lightless Heir, still holding on to his odachi.
Sunny took a step forward,
"What are you then?"
The Lightless Heir spoke,
"What am I?" The voice was still, but the shadows shivered. "I don't know. Not anymore."
He turned to face Sunny.
"What does it mean to be? I am nothing. Yet— I am something."
The wind whispered through the ruins,
Effie narrowed her eyes, unsettled.
"You talk like a nightmare creature."
The masked figure tilted his head.
"Perhaps I am. Monsters wear many faces after all."
Nephis stepped forward, ever composed. "Are you a threat?"
That made the figure pause. The silence was answer enough..
"Yes," he finally said. "I am the greatest threat to this world."
A beat.
Then, softly, almost kindly:
"…I've come for a friend. That's all."
Effie bristled. "Friend? Who?"
The figure turned his gaze back to her, unreadable beneath the mask.
"You'll know. In time."
He took a step back.
And the shadows rose with him—twisting, coiling.
Effie blinked.
"Wait—what are you?"
The mask turned one last time.
"I told you," he said simply, as his body began to dissolve into a shadow. "I am death. I am fate's bastard. I am the Lightless Heir."
Effie looked around, visibly shaken. "You all saw that, right? He just vanished."
Nephis spoke calmly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred. "We saw it."