They ate in silence, quietly enjoying the food in each other's company. It was a comfortable silence, the kind that did not need to be filled with words to feel meaningful.
Sunny let out a contented sigh when he finished. It felt good—genuinely good—to eat actual homemade food after such a long period of eating nothing but dried meat. The warmth lingered in his stomach, grounding him in a way he hadn't realized he had been missing.
Wait… when did that happen?
"I hope today's watch will be a quiet one."
Her voice snapped him out of his impromptu reverie, dragging him back to reality with startling ease. He blinked, shaking his head slightly. His mind was all over the place today, thoughts slipping from one to another without warning.
Focusing on her words, he found himself groaning in open exasperation. "You had to jinx it, didn't you?"
She waved her hand nonchalantly, clearly unconcerned. "It's fine. I'm sure nothing bad will happen."
He facepalmed. Hard.
"Yeah. Something bad is going to happen today."
Shaking his head at the pure foolishness on display, he decided to get up before she could make it any worse.
Sunny left her to clean the table while he washed the dishes, all the while complaining inwardly about the fact that he always ended up with the more arduous task. It was always like this. Honestly, the sacrifices he made for his best friend were endless—and criminally underappreciated.
Minutes later, it was done, leaving them plenty of time to spare before they had to go to their post. Which meant they could take their time and enjoy a leisurely walk instead of having to teleport there through his Awakened ability.
She seemed disappointed by that last fact—the lazy slob.
He couldn't understand why she liked teleporting so much. It was awkward, for one thing. Having to hold hands made it strangely intimate, and it always left him faintly self-conscious.
He shook his head in fond exasperation as he stored away the clean dishes. If he allowed it, she would probably spend all day in bed, doing nothing but reading books or eating.
All tasks done, they left the manor early in the morning and started walking toward the walls of the city.
Sunny took in the beauty in front of him. The roads were clean and polished to a sheen; he could almost see himself reflected in the white stone. The buildings looked full of vigor, not a crack or crevice to be seen despite their age, as if they had been built only yesterday. The Twin Gods certainly hadn't spared any expense to make it shine.
Even the mansion they had ordered built for his stay was impressive, and he was only meant to stay for a year. Honestly, that pair was far too eccentric.
He still hadn't forgiven Liriel—the Water Goddess—for pinching his cheeks until they went red when they met, then having the boldness to declare him too adorable to resist. The gall of that woman!
Yes, he was their cousin, but they had barely met in the past. The sheer indignity of it all.
He hadn't missed the way Vaelkar—the Sky God—had almost burst out laughing either.
He would have his revenge. That much was certain.
As Sunny walked, he didn't miss the stares the citizens were giving him. There was reverence there, as expected when facing a Transcendent—especially one who was also a Divine Shadow and the cousin of the region's rulers—but there was something else too. A faint undercurrent of disdain.
The reason was obvious.
Walking by his side—far too close in his opinion—was his friend. To the people around here, they might as well have been standing kilometers apart.
He needed to talk to his cousins. Their citizens took the whole "never be alone" doctrine far too seriously.
Every single person he passed was in the company of others, walking so close together they might as well have been conjoined twins.
Seemingly reading his mind, she whined indignantly. "One of the vendors called me a spinster and a sinner when I went to buy some bread alone." She shook her fist in fury, as if she were the protagonist of an overly dramatic play.
Sunny tried his best to control his reaction.
He had trained his whole life to have perfect control over his body. He had practiced the [Shadow Dance] until he could command every microexpression. He had spent countless, endless hours mastering the art of revealing nothing—ensuring that no flicker of emotion could betray his intentions.
And yet, he still failed to hide the amused snort that escaped him.
She didn't miss it. Her elbow jabbed into his side. Then, for good measure, she did it again—harder.
Worth it.
She pouted adorably and closed the distance between them, slipping her hand into his. Almost immediately, the looks they were receiving faded away.
Aww. She was blushing.
Still, he hadn't realized she cared so much about the opinions of others.
The thought made his chest tighten faintly. He should be more mindful of how he acted. She was his best friend, and the idea that she might have been hurting without him noticing unsettled him deeply.
"Sorry," he said quietly.
She huffed and looked away in obvious rejection—but she didn't let go of his hand.
The walk after that was quiet, allowing him to take in the view peacefully. The city was truly a thing of beauty, with its tall spires and lush parks woven seamlessly into stone and marble.
The view of endless rivers and valleys couldn't even come close to compare—
Huh. When had he seen that?
"We are here," she said quietly.
Sunny shook away the strange feeling of wrongness and looked ahead. Indeed, they had arrived. He must have been more distracted than he thought.
Standing before them was the city wall, just as radiant as the rest of the city. Perhaps even more so, as it stood as the final barrier against the defiled creatures that longed to devour its people.
The divine rulers of the city were both a shield and a beacon for danger. Their mighty souls attracted the defiled like fire drew moths.
Which was why Sunny was here.
His cousins could easily deal with any threats, but the strongest of creatures were smart—devilishly so. They gladly sent hordes upon hordes of monsters to exhaust the gods, waiting patiently for an opening.
It had happened once already.
The resulting battle had nearly wiped out the entire realm.
Which was why they delegated every battle the defenders could handle to him and his colleagues from the watch.
It was good training and a chance to prove his mettle to his older siblings. It should dissuade them from involving him in their petty schemes if he proved himself too dangerous to be bothered. Which was why he accepted the offer when he received it.
He had agreed to one year of service, and eleven months had already passed.
He couldn't wait to be done.
After that, his plan was simple: an act of defiance, then ascension to Supreme.
Sunny had judged it to be a good spot to stop: strong enough to not be worth bothering, but not enough to be considered a menace by his more ambitious siblings.
Let them fight over thrones and inheritances.
He would gladly live a quiet, lazy life.
Focusing back on the present, he turned toward his friend with a faint smile. "Will you get up there by yourself this time?"
"What do you think?" she replied shamelessly.
He sighed. "I guess not."
Sunny disentangled their hands and spread his arms in silent invitation. She accepted immediately, jumping into them and allowing him to lift her effortlessly.
He could have Shadow Stepped—it would have been faster—but today he felt like showing off.
Shadows stirred at his feet, flowing upward and reshaping into dark, feathery wings.
Huh. Since when could he maintain his manifestations so easily?
Usually, it required focus. Effort. But now it felt almost natural, as if his mind had grown larger—capable of holding countless thoughts at once without strain.
Shaking away the strange feeling, he flapped his wings and took to the air, the city shrinking beneath him as the wind rushed past his ears.
Moments later, he landed atop the battlements, startling a poor guard badly enough that the man nearly dropped his spear. Sunny winced inwardly. It should serve as a good lesson—never assume the enemy will only come from one direction—but still, he offered a quiet apology before moving on.
Together, Sunny and his friend walked toward the post of the guard commander. Or rather, they tried to.
A soft breeze suddenly swept across the battlements, carrying with it the unmistakable scent of ozone and salt. Both of them stopped at the same time.
One moment, there was nothing before them.
The next, two figures stood there as if they had always been.
One was a woman of exquisite beauty, the kind that could drive mortals to madness with a single careless glance. Her dark hair carried faint hues of blue, like moonlight reflected on deep water, and her eyes were a rich aquamarine that seemed to flow endlessly, as if an entire ocean were contained within them. She wore an elegant blue toga that clung and flowed in perfect balance, emphasizing her divinity without ever needing to announce it.
The other was a man whose presence rivaled hers effortlessly. His dark hair bore faint blond streaks, like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. His eyes were gray, vast and distant like a cloudy sky, promising both shelter and divine punishment in equal measure. His white toga rippled gently, moving in time with a wind no one else seemed to feel.
They were the Twin Gods, born of the same dawn and crowned by eternity itself. Lords of the city and the realm alike, their will flowed from the deepest waters to the highest reaches of the sky. No power rivaled their splendor, no legend outshone their names, for their story was etched into stone and tide, whispered by wind and wave since the first breath of the world.
All elegance and mysticism vanished in an instant when Liriel lunged forward, wrapping both of them in a crushing, enthusiastic hug.
Sunny felt his bones protest immediately.
"Let go, you brute!" he exclaimed, gasping for breath.
His friend—the traitor—did absolutely nothing, having long since accepted that there was no stopping nor dissuading the overly affectionate goddess.
"The more you resist, the more she will pull you in," Vaelkar said calmly, his expression perfectly neutral, as if he were a sage imparting wisdom to a particularly slow student.
What was she? Quicksand?!
The illusion of wisdom shattered the moment his lips twitched upward, the barest hint of a grin betraying his amusement.
Sunny ordered one of the stray shadows nearby to form into a mace and swing at the smug god's head. As expected, it failed to do anything more than gently brush his hair.
There was nothing Sunny could do that would even come close to harming Vaelkar.
That knowledge did absolutely nothing to discourage him from trying.
Vaelkar, as if reading his thoughts, smiled even wider.
Thankfully, Liriel finally took pity on his abused bones and released him—though not before ruffling his hair affectionately, like he was some unruly child.
He was an adult, for Spell's sake! —What was the Spell…?— Just because she was thousands of years older than him didn't mean she could treat him like an infant!
"Sorry, sorry," Liriel said cheerfully. "I just couldn't resist. That grumpy face of yours is far too adorable."
She did not look sorry in the slightest.
His revenge would be terrible. And cruel.
"Is there anything you wanted to tell us?" Sunny asked, if only to force the conversation forward.
If allowed, the pair of idiots would happily drag him into even more inane antics. How they could still be so immature after millennia of existence was beyond him.
Liriel's expression softened, her eyes suddenly sad. "Don't you enjoy my hugs?"
No.
"Yes." Damn his flaw.
She raised her arms in victory, as if this were a feat worthy of legend. "I knew it!"
Vaelkar finally gave up all pretense of restraint and laughed openly, his chest rising and falling as even the wind itself seemed to tremble with his mirth.
Sunny was beginning to suspect that the only reason they wanted him here was to mess with him.
It explained far too much.
"I enjoy them too," his friend added, clearly far too amused by the situation.
He had never felt so betrayed.
At that very thought, wrongness crept back into his awareness, stronger than before. For a fraction of a fraction of a second, the world around them seemed to unravel, reality thinning and fraying to reveal countless silvery threads holding everything together.
Sunny blinked.
Everything was normal again.
The sensation faded, along with the memory of what he had just seen, slipping through his mind like water through open fingers.
"We do have two things to tell you…" Vaelkar began.
When had they moved?
One moment, they had been facing each other. The next, all four of them stood at the edge of the wall, gazing out over the fields beyond.
Sunny frowned faintly. He must have zoned out again.
"The first," Liriel continued, "is that we've already found a replacement for you."
"She's a descendant of the Sun God," Vaelkar added smoothly. "I believe she's called Changing Star."
Wrongness slammed into Sunny once more, sharp and sudden—but weaker this time, barely strong enough to seize his attention before dissipating.
He shook his head, pushing the feeling aside, and refocused on the twins. He made a mental note to ask later why his friend looked so startled at the mention of that name.
"She'll arrive in a week or two," Liriel said, "and we hope the two of you will help her acclimate to the task before you leave."
Vaelkar continued, "The second matter is that we received a desperate petition for an audience."
"Apparently, there's a great danger approaching this realm," Liriel said thoughtfully. "The one who discovered it insists on speaking with us directly. It sounds exaggerated to me, but who am I to stop someone determined to make the journey?"
"He should arrive today," Vaelkar concluded. "So be on the lookout for any new arrivals, and bring him to us if you meet."
With that, their business done, the Twin Gods vanished—though not before pulling both Sunny and his friend into yet another bone-crushing hug, Vaelkar joining in this time just to be spiteful.
Those two would be the end of him.
"That was fun," his friend said brightly once they were alone again.
Sunny found himself smiling despite himself. They were immature and far too affectionate for his taste, but he couldn't deny that he liked them.
He just wasn't going to admit it.
They would never let him live it down.
-------------------------------------------
"They are coming," Sunny said, his eyes never leaving the horde of nightmare creatures that was quickly approaching.
She hummed in agreement, looking at them just as attentively. "It doesn't seem that big. Think you can deal with it by yourself?"
Sunny shook his head before she even stopped talking. "I can, but I won't. There is always the risk that this is just the initial wave, so I cannot tire myself too fast."
"You are just scared."
He rolled his eyes. "You won't provoke me into doing all the work again, you lazy slob."
She looked away, her ears covered in a faint pink hue. "I don't know what you are talking about."
He snorted, knowing full well that was her intention but choosing not to comment.
With a flicker of his will, the shadows around them rose, manifesting themselves into an odachi for him and a curved sword for her. Another flicker had them both covered in armor.
His fellow Transcendents always complained about the fact that he could easily create equipment just as strong as he was, while they had to make do with whatever they could scrounge or craft themselves.
For some reason, they didn't take it so well when he offered to do the same for them. Honestly, here he was trying to make an honest living, and yet they wanted his services for free. The ingrates.
Shaking the thought away, he focused back on the incoming horde. Two minutes more, and they would be close enough for his initial attack.
"Whoever kills more doesn't have to do the chores at home," she proposed instantly.
Sunny pinched her side—he ordered the shadows to part for a moment just so he could do it. "I'm not falling for that one again. Your aspect is much better suited for that, and even when I won, you still squirreled out of doing it."
"Coward," she retorted immediately, trying to bait him.
"I'm not making dinner tonight," he shot back.
She folded instantly. "I mean, you are the bravest person I have ever met."
He laughed, not bothering to answer that.
Shadows pooled around his back once more, settling again into the form of wings, and he launched into the air, flying straight toward the horde.
"See you there," he called.
-------------------------------------------
The ground stretched out like a broken mirror, its stone slabs split and uneven, with deep cracks that swallowed what little light reached the surface. Shadows pooled unnaturally in every fracture, thick and heavy, as though the darkness itself had weight.
Sunny stood near the center of the field, odachi pointing down, not yet needed. His eyes followed the approaching horde instead.
The horde broke into smaller groups, heading toward the other defenders who, like him, had preferred to meet them here instead of once they reached the walls. However, as befitted his luck, the biggest group aimed straight at him.
The first nightmare creatures arrived slowly, flooding the cracks that scarred the ground with bodies. Their forms were wildly different—some hunched low with elongated arms that scraped the ground, others moved on too many legs, their bodies twitching as if struggling to remain solid. Pale eyes opened and closed across their flesh, and their breathing sounded wet and strained.
They watched him, spreading out, filling the space with quiet movement and intent.
When they finally attacked, it was in waves. The front line rushed him with surprising speed, claws digging into stone. Sunny shifted his stance, and his shadow stretched forward, flattening and then rising again into a row of dark, jagged stakes. Several creatures were impaled mid-leap, their momentum tearing them apart. Those behind climbed over the bodies without hesitation.
He disappeared as the second wave reached him, dissolving into the shadow at his feet. An instant later, he reappeared behind the attackers, his arm already moving. The odachi elongated, sharp-edged and featureless. He cut through two creatures in a single motion before stepping backward into darkness again, avoiding a snapping jaw that closed where his head had been.
The creatures reacted quickly. Some began attacking the ground, smashing stone and tearing at shadows as if trying to murder their very shadows in a futile attempt to stop him.
Others leapt upward, attempting to strike from above. Sunny responded by incarnating his shadows—two at first, then one more. They rose from the pools of darkness silently, carbon copies of himself in every sense. They stood still for but a moment, and then they exploded into motion.
Each shadow moved independently, engaging the horde from different angles. One charged straight into the mass, drawing attention. Another stayed back, throwing shadow-forged javelins that pinned creatures to the ground and to each other. A third took to the air with a bow in his hand, forcing the horde to split lest they become too easy a target.
The real Sunny kept moving. He watched for patterns, noting which creatures coordinated and which acted on instinct. When a cluster tried to surround one of his duplicates, he swapped places with it, appearing inside the ring and unleashing a burst of hardened shadow that flared outward like shrapnel. Bodies were torn apart, scattering across the field in shredded pieces.
The ground shook as something larger joined the battle. A massive nightmare creature—a Corrupted Tyrant—dragged itself forward, the ground trembling with its every step, its body thick and armored, its head split by a vertical mouth lined with grinding teeth. It roared, and several of the smaller creatures rallied around it. Sunny retreated, teleporting from shadow to shadow to keep his distance while forming heavy chains around its arms. When the beast charged, he anchored the chains into the ground, catching its momentum and dragging it off balance. The stone beneath it collapsed, and the creature fell, howling.
Even then, he did not rush to finish it. Smaller creatures swarmed him, forcing him to divide his attention. He incarnated his remaining shadows, leading them to draw attacks while he dismantled the horde piece by piece. A wall of shadow rose to block a flanking attack. Spikes erupted beneath clustered enemies. Blades, hammers, and restraints formed and dissolved as needed, never lingering longer than necessary.
The fight lasted far longer than the initial clash suggested. The creatures kept coming, attacking him in a frenzy, forcing him to stay alert. Each time, he reacted just in time—teleporting, countering, adapting. He took no visible wounds, his movements never slowing into carelessness.
Eventually, the numbers thinned. The horde lost cohesion after he finished the Tyrant, their attacks becoming reckless and desperate. Sunny pressed forward carefully, eliminating the Devils that tried to regroup the horde, driving the rest back toward the open fields they had come from.
At last, he stood alone in the ruined field, shadows slowly returning to their natural shapes. He waited, scanning the silence for several long moments. Only when nothing else stirred did he turn away, already preparing for the next threat he knew would come.
-------------------------------------------
Sunny lay on the ground, his breath ragged and uneven, lungs burning fiercely from the exertion. Every inhale felt heavy, as though his chest were weighed down by lead. Around him sprawled the remains of countless nightmare creatures, twisted and broken forms that had met their end by his blade or been torn apart by his shadows. The battlefield was silent now, but it carried the lingering echo of violence, soaked into stone and soil alike.
Three more waves had come before the day finally drew to a close, each one pressing him harder than the last. He was exhausted beyond measure, his body trembling faintly as the adrenaline faded. It was a good thing he had paced himself; if he had pushed any harder, he might not have been able to stand at all.
"There you are," a soft voice said.
Too tired to lift his head, Sunny shifted his awareness instead, peering through his shadows. They followed his instructions obediently, revealing his friend. Somehow, impossibly, she looked mesmerizingly beautiful—even though she was just as covered in blood, dust, and grime as he was.
She approached slowly, her steps measured, clearly as drained as he was. When she reached him, she paused, looking down at his prone form. He barely had a second to register the mischievous glint that flickered in her eyes before she moved.
She lay down.
…Right on top of him.
He let out a pained groan when she prodded one of his wounds—it was minor, barely worth noting in battle, but it still hurt, damn it. Even so, he didn't bother trying to push her off. He was far too tired to care, and if he was being honest, it wasn't entirely unpleasant. He shifted slightly, just enough to make the position more comfortable for both of them.
They stayed like that for a long while, bodies pressed together, neither of them speaking. The silence wasn't empty; it was restful. Shared. At some point, her hand began to move, delicate fingers threading gently through his hair, slow and unhurried.
The simple gesture was dangerously relaxing. Wrapped in her presence, surrounded by the remains of his enemies, Sunny felt safer than he had any right to. Sleep tugged at him insistently, and he might have surrendered to it right there on the battlefield.
He would have—if not for her sudden question.
"Hey, Sunny, why do you keep fighting?"
He groaned, more in spirit than sound. Why did she always ask things like that, especially now, when he was too tired to think straight?
Prodded by his flaw, his mind reached for an answer. He thought of the future he wanted, the quiet life he dreamed of building. That was what he meant to say.
"Spite."
The word slipped out before he could stop it.
Wait. What?
"Why?" she asked softly, her voice close, careful not to break the moment.
Wrongness stirred at his own answer, a faint sense of unease crawling up his spine. And yet, he kept speaking anyway, the words spilling out without his consent—unfiltered, undeniable. "The world has always hated me. It has always hurt me. Always taken everything I value away." His voice rose with each sentence, bitterness bleeding through despite his attempts to stay calm.
"So you keep on fighting to spite it?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered instantly, the certainty startling even him. "As long as I draw breath. As long as I keep moving. As long as I refuse to lie down and give up." His lips twisted into a jagged smile, sharp and defiant, shaped by nothing but stubborn will and quiet fury. "As long as I do that… I win. And you know very well how much I hate losing."
Silence followed, heavy and unbroken. Neither of them rushed to fill it.
As Sunny struggled to understand where those words had come from—and why they felt so undeniably true—he felt her fingers resume their gentle motion, grounding him.
"We are friends," she said quietly, with absolute certainty.
"We are," he replied, just as firmly.
"I will always have your back against the world."
Warmth spread through his chest, pushing back the lingering exhaustion. "As will I."
She shifted slightly, lifting herself just enough to look at him. "You are perfect the way you are. Never allow anyone to make you think otherwise."
His brow furrowed. Where was she going with this?
"Sunny, I… I lo—"
A polite cough cut through the moment.
Sunny felt her body tense instantly, muscles going rigid beneath his hands. For a brief second, it felt like the air itself vibrated with her restrained fury. Deciding that now was not the time to ask what she had been about to say, he turned his head toward the source of the interruption.
A young man stood a short distance away, clad in ornate armor that fit him perfectly. He carried himself with natural dignity and grace, noble and composed. His red hair cascaded down his back like a river of fire, almost resembling a crimson cape, and at his side hung a short sword as elaborately decorated as his armor.
The presence he radiated made Sunny's eyes narrow slightly. A Transcendent, most likely. Or perhaps a Supreme deliberately masking his strength.
Seeing that he had their attention—and receiving a sharp, unmistakable glare from Sunny's friend—the man inclined his head politely. "My apologies for the interruption. I have vital information to deliver to your gods, and I cannot, in good conscience, afford to waste even a second."
So this was the mysterious stranger they had mentioned.
With a tired groan, Sunny pushed himself up, tugging his friend along with him despite her obvious reluctance. Once upright, he extended a hand. The stranger clasped it firmly, the grip steady and practiced, the kind that spoke of countless battles and hard-won experience.
"I'm Transcendent Sunless, a member of the city guard. May I know your name?" Sunny asked.
The man smiled, easy and confident.
"You may call me Auro."