Sunny froze. How did Lucien know that?
Stone Saint looked nothing like she did before she became his Shadow. Even then, the chances of him recognizing one of the countless nightmare creatures in the Dark City just by one glance alone were nonexistent. So how did he know?
Just as the pain started to become unbearable, he finally said:
"How can you tell that?"
"She looks like a stone child," Lucien said, staring at her. "Her armour has the same patterns as theirs."
He tapped his own armour, "I got this from killing one of her kind."
"You've fought them before?"
"In my first nightmare," Lucien nodded, "I killed thirteen stone children, the terror was one of them."
Sunny shuddered. Even as an awakened monster, Saint was a force to be reckoned with. But as a terror? That was not something he wanted to fight.
'Just how did he manage to kill it?' He stared at Lucien. There was no way a mundane human could kill an awakened terror. He was only able to do it because of the temple. A god had risen from his slumber to help him.
Sunny frowned. He vaguely remembered Lucien mentioning something about channeling the divine lightning of Storm goddess to kill the terror. Had a god risen to help him as well? Was that why he too had a divine aspect?
He had too many questions and too few answers.
Lucien, meanwhile, stared at the echo. Its eyes seemed to follow his every movement. His eyes fell on her sword; it looked eerily similar to his stone spear. He was only getting more and more certain about its identity.
Glancing to his side, he saw Sunny staring into space.
"So?"
"Huh?" He looked startled, as if he didn't remember where he was.
"Is she a stone child?"
"...Yes." In the end, Sunny chose to tell him the truth. He would have figured it out by himself anyway. But he didn't say anything else.
Lucien sucked in a breath. 'I knew it.'
The constant storms, the starless black sky, the dark sea that came and went every day, and now the stone children. He was certain, the forgotten shores were a part of Storm's world.
"Nether's creations huh…" He whispered, dismissing his armour.
"What?" Sunny whipped his head towards him, "What did you say?"
"Nether's creations," Lucien frowned, "Did the spell not tell you that?"
Sunny shook his head. "The spell only mentioned the last child of the unknown."
Lucien furrowed his brows, "Last child of the unknown?"
Was that another title of Nethers? And who was the unknown?
"So he's called Nether…" Sunny muttered. "What can you tell me about him?"
"Only that he was a Daemon, who were mysterious beings that came out of nowhere. They each rivalled the strength of a god. He's also known as the Daemon of Destiny, and the ruler of the underworld."
Sunny remained silent for a while. Beings who rivalled the gods? Was Weaver a Daemon? Was that why his lineage was forbidden? If so, what was he the Daemon of?
Sunny sighed in frustration. He only had more questions now, and even fewer answers.
Damnation!
"Anyways," Lucien suddenly said, breaking his line of thought. In front of him, half a dozen memories manifested from a shower of sparks. "Take your pick."
Sunny blinked. Ah, right, he had made such an arrangement.
In the end, Sunny took all of the memories and paid a total of 9 awakened soul shards for them. A small price to make Saint stronger.
Lucien soon left the Dark City, a small sack of soul shards in hand. He'd have to give them to Nephis to drain out most of the soul essence inside. He didn't like making her stronger, but who else could he give them to? Effie was staying with Sunny, and his mother had already saturated her core.
'I suppose I could give them to Cassie?'
While he didn't fully trust the seer either, she was still better than Nephis. And maybe being able to see more of the future could help them survive what was coming.
A few days later, Aletta visited again. This was expected. A few days ago, Nephis had given Lucien another letter to pass on to Seishan. What she wrote in it was beyond him, but it had to do with their upcoming expedition. Otherwise, his mother wouldn't have arrived in such a hurry.
His mother had a troubled look on her face, and she was fidgeting with something.
Lucien smiled, "Hey, Mom, what brings you here?"
His mother sighed before looking at him.
"You're leaving for the mountains."
It was as much of a statement as a question.
"Yes," Lucien nodded, "We leave tomorrow."
"..." She looked at him strangely, "You know how dangerous it is."
"I do, but the people I'm going with are strong. You know that."
Lucien narrowed his eyes as he said that. Something was off. His mother wasn't usually this concerned. Sure, his next expedition was dangerous, but for her to act like that? It wasn't like he was going alone.
"Even still, be careful in there. That place…is not what it seems." She struggled to find the words. Glancing down, she extended her arm. On it lay a simple silver ring adorned with a red gem.
"Wear it, and never take it off," She demanded, "At least not until you're back."
Lucien raised an eyebrow, but took the ring nonetheless. Did she know something?
As soon as he wore it, a dim glow lit up the gem embedded in it.
"As long as you wear it, it will keep glowing. It will only stop if the ring is destroyed, or if you die." She explained, "So please don't take it off."
"I understand," Lucien said. He truly did. This would be their biggest expedition yet. They wouldn't see each other for months. This would let them know if something happened to the other.
"Another thing," Aletta's face turned grim, "If you see a massive stone gate. Run."
"Huh?" Lucien blinked in surprise, "What?"
She grabbed his shoulders, her face looked almost… afraid.
"Run and don't look back. Nothing good awaits you there."
"I-alright." He said. His mother looked shaken; whatever that gate was seemed to terrify her. "If I see such a gate, I'll run away as fast as I can. I promise."
Hearing that, Aletta sighed. A smile slowly replaced her grim look, and she pulled him into a hug.
"Please come back alive." She muttered in his ear.
Lucien silently stared ahead. Just what had happened to make her act that way?
A pressure seemed to have left her body, and she relaxed again. The two of them talked well into the night, recounting their experiences and catching up with one another. For a moment, it reminded him of the old days, when Gunlaug hadn't become a threat to them yet.
But all good things must come to an end. She soon bid him goodbye and left to return to the castle. Lucien stared at her as she walked. He did not know when he would see her again. The expedition would take at least a few months. That was if nothing went wrong.
'I wonder, how much will I have changed after this expedition?'
The next morning, he left for the Dark City with the rest of Nephis' cohort, plus Kai. Lucien had no qualms with that. Kai was a good archer, and he could fly. He was useful to have around.
The sun had only just risen when they reached the cathedral. Sunny and Effie were standing in front of it, waiting for them.
Once they arrived, Sunny stared at the archer before saying.
"Night… uh… why are you here, buddy?"
Kai smiled.
"Ah! I'm very happy to see you too, Sunny, my friend. Lady Nephis has asked me to join her on this expedition, and after careful consideration, I have decided to agree."
Sunny blinked a couple of times.
"Alright, I know that I'm crazy, but when did you lose your mind too?"
Kai looked at him with a strange expression.
"Wait.. crazy? What do you mean, you're crazy?"
Sunny sighed.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not really crazy…that much."
"You live alone in a room above a Fallen Devil, and you have your echo beat you up daily. If you're not crazy, then I don't know what is."
Sunny gritted his teeth. "That was training! And she didn't beat me up."
"Yeah, right, she was only throwing you around like a sack of potatoes."
Sunny glared at Lucien, but he had no retort to that. After all, he couldn't lie. Clearing his throat, he turned to Nephis.
"About your request. I'm ready to join the expedition, but on one condition. I will not become a part of your cohort. Rather, you can provide sufficient compensation to acquire my services."
Nephis looked at him for a while, an inexorable expression on her face. Then, she said in an even tone:
"Do you have something in mind?"
Sunny grinned.
"As a matter of fact, I do. Behind us, you can see a magnificent ancient cathedral. Inside that cathedral lives a creature which is called the Black Knight. He's a Fallen Devil. In return for my help during the expedition, I want your help after it is concluded. Once we return…"
He paused for a moment.
"...I want you to help me kill him."
A dead silence fell on the small square. After a while, Caster finally spoke, an expression of subtle shock on his face:
"Sunny… did you perhaps misspeak? We are only Sleepers, after all. How are we supposed to kill that Black Knight of yours? A Nightmare Creature of his rank and class…"
Sunny's grin widened. Then, with an immense feeling of vindication, he looked at Caster and said:
"...It's just a fallen devil."
"..." Lucien remained silent. Sunny was right; it was only a Fallen Devil. If they couldn't handle that, what hope did they have of fighting a Fallen Terror?
After all, they were planning on conquering the citadel after returning from the expedition.
After a while, Caster was finally able to answer:
"Just a fallen devil? Did you say j…"
However, Changing Star interrupted him. Glancing at the cathedral, she simply shrugged and said:
"This is acceptable."
With some satisfaction, Sunny nodded.
"Don't be so quick to judge. We won't be going into that battle unprepared. I spent months studying the bastard. I know his every ability, every trick, and every weakness. More than that… if you can't even handle someone like him, how are you going to challenge Gunlaug? Isn't that what this expedition is all about?"
Lucien couldn't help but agree.
"It'll be a good way to gauge our abilities before we challenge the spire. A Fallen Devil is nothing compared to that."
Nephis nodded.
"Sunny is right. It's not like it's impossible to kill a Fallen creature. In fact, both Gemma and Tessai had done so in the past, not to mention Gunlaug himself. It just takes a lot of preparation and a little bit of luck. By the end of this, we should be able to take on a single devil and win, provided that we learn its secrets in advance.
Sunny smiled.
"Exactly! Oh, right. Speaking of preparations…"
While everyone was looking at him with confusion, he took the rucksack off his shoulders and placed it on the ground. Then, he opened it, revealing the soft shine of numerous soul shards.
"Welcome to Sunny's Brilliant Emporium! This here is around fifty soul shards, each of them of the Awakened rank. Since we will be venturing into the Labyrinth, I've decided to give you guys an opportunity to empower yourself a bit before facing the terrible dangers of that ghastly place. Of course, I'll give you a family discount…"
Lucien shrugged. 'I'll pass.'
He had no need of soul shards; he still had a few storm shards in his bag. They would last him a while. Besides, the others could use them to get stronger. They needed to be stronger to have a better chance at surviving.
"The rules of the emporium are rather simple. You give me Memories, I give you shards. I don't care about how powerful or useful the Memories are. In fact, the worse, the better! Any useless junk you have gathering dust in your Soul Sea will do. If you don't have any — no problem. You can just promise to give me a Memory in the future, once you receive one in the Labyrinth."
He smiled at the members of Neph's cohort.
"Not bad, right? No need to thank me, really…"
Kai stared at the shards, then raised his eyes and looked at Sunny:
"Sunny… buddy… please forgive my bluntness, but why do you need all these Memories?"
Sunny grinned.
"Uh, you see… how should I put this? Let's just say that there's a beauty I know who just can't get enough of them. If you know what I mean..."
Saying that, he winked at the pretty archer. With a strange expression, Kai turned away and shook his head.
'Does he mean the stone echo?' Lucien raised an eyebrow. Why would it want memories?
In the end, Sunny was able to exchange his shards for five Memories. Nephis distributed the shards between five of the six members of the cohort, with each of them getting ten.
This was a boon equal to slaying ten awakened beasts. After absorbing the shards, all five of them were going to receive a significant boost to their power.
Without wasting any time, Neph, Cassie, Effie, Kai, and Caster absorbed the soul essence from the shards.
When everyone was done absorbing their shards and getting accustomed to the changes caused by the sudden influx of soul essence, the cohort was ready to move out.
The six of them headed south, cautiously traversing the cursed city.
Nephis was walking in the front of the party, her stark black and white plate armor contrasted sharply against the grey stones of the ancient ruins. A step behind her and to the right was Caster, clad in a polished scale mail that glistened in the morning light like the skin of a silver dragon. To her left was tall and powerful Effie, clad in the archaic bronze armor with a white chiton beneath.
A few steps away, wearing his elegant lamellar armor made out of burnished brown leather, walked Kai. On his back, there was a quiver full of heavy arrows. Cassie was walking beside him, her light tunic and bright cloak just the same as before. However, now there was a sheath with a graceful rapier attached to her belt.
At the very back, with an unhappy expression on his face, was Sunny, wearing a ragged light armor made out of dark grey fabric and black, lusterless leather. He was periodically lowering his gaze and grimacing, as though unaccustomed to being in the sun.
At the center of it all, between Nephis and Sunny, the final member of the cohort stood. Wearing an armour made entirely out of stone and a spear that complemented it, Lucien walked with purpose. A pale purple sheen encapsulated his being, ready to act out at a moment's notice.
Lucien glanced back at the Bright castle and the outer settlements. The place he had spent his entire life in, the place where he grew up. Burning that image in his mind's eye, he turned away.
At the moment, he did not know this, but he would not see this view for a long, long time.
And so began their journey to the edges of the Forgotten Shore.