In the midst of chaos, Sunny turned away from Shifty and Scholar to assess his new attribute, [Unchained].
With the revoking of his consent to be bound, the shackles rattled and strained as they had before. But now, fueled by his active desire for freedom, they began to deform. Metal twisted and groaned, but Sunny hesitated, unsure if his ability would fully shatter the chains. He didn't want to risk locking himself out of escape if the keyhole was warped, so he willed the attribute to halt and picked up the key in the snow.
From there, the nightmare played as he remembered.
***
The three former slaves freed themselves and sent the Mountain King falling down the cliff. Joining Hero, the group discussed their options. After deciding to ascend the mountain, they began their preparations.
Sunny looted the bodies, and killed the slaver once more.
[You have slain a dormant human, name unknown.]
[You have received a Memory: Silver Bell.]
Sunny paused. The evidence of regression was overwhelming, but he still couldn't understand why he ended up back in this Nightmare.
His experience in the strange in-between realm still weighed on his mind.
'Was that last-second tug I felt the reason I ended up in a Nightmare instead of the normal flow of time? If so, what were the odds that it would just so happen to make me land in this exact Seed of Nightmare? That's too absurd to be a coincidence.' Sunny contemplated.
'What's the logic here?'
Sunny could only guess what happened after he lost consciousness.
Given that he now had a dormant Soul Core, his last Shadow Core evidently didn't survive the ordeal. All he could confidently say that returned were his memories and [Unchained]'s rejection of fate.
'Falling back into time... rejecting fate? Why take me here?'
Sunny slumped over the slaver in thought.
'The moment when I was least entangled in the strings of fate... Would I be taken there? Wouldn't that be my birth though? Granted, the First Nightmare also makes sense, I guess. These trials are formed to let people defy Fate.'
Sunny grimaced and pushed himself upright. He added more poison to Hero's flask this time from the berry bushes nearby, and took with him a small knife, before rejoining the rest of the group.
***
The ascent up the mountain began.
Now that Sunny had a wealth of experience to draw from, his movements in ascending the mountain were much more efficient than his original journey. He was still the physically weakest member of the group, but he fared better than the other two mundanes. When you factored in his preternatural avoidance of even the most minor injuries during the chaos, he was left with a surprising reserve of stamina to work with.
By nightfall, though, he crafted the illusion of total exhaustion. The others had come to respect his quick thinking. That made him dangerous. They needed to underestimate him.
The ascent resumed at dawn. Shifty fell. Scholar was slain. The final two found themselves huddled in a indent along the slopes.
***
In the cave, devoid of light, Hero sat hunched over, disheveled and shaking.
He spoke with an uneven voice.
"It's... strange... Usually, I can feel others presences, even in absolute darkness."
He coughed, a harsh rasp that echoed in the silence.
"But you... there's nothing."
Another fit of coughing wracked his frame, forcing him to brace himself against the stone wall.
"It's like you are just... a shadow."
Suddenly, a torrent of blood erupted from his mouth, pooling on the ground. His eyes flared with an unsettling resolve.
"I know this state of mine, and what happened to the others... is because of you" said Hero. "How?"
He reached towards his blade.
Sunny responded with a quiet whisper. "It was poison."
Though Hero's complexion was ghostly pale, Sunny was still astonished by the Awakened's fortitude.
"I see..." In an instant, Auro of the Nine swung his sword towards the whisper.
But Sunny had anticipated this. His positioning, movements, even the whispered tones were all part of a meticulous trap designed to provoke that very strike. In one hand, swirling sparks began to materialize into a silver bell, while the other hand carried the knife he had taken from the camp far below.
Swiftly stepping forward, evading the slash by a hair's breadth, Sunny plunged his knife into the exposed Awakened's neck.
Without hesitation, he released the knife, letting it slip from his grip. He had no desire to carry the, quite literal, scent of blood on his hands.
[You have slain an awakened human, Auro of the Nine.]
In the eerie silence that followed, he rang the Silver Bell, though he found another sound joining it.
[You have received a Memory: Quiet Resolve]
Sunny had expected this. Auro was the only one from this Nightmare deemed worthy of remembrance by the Spell. It was fitting his death would drop something. As he stepped out of the cave, he opened the runes of the new Memory.
Memory: [Quiet Resolve].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Charm.
Memory Description: [A soldier once believed his life to belong to a purpose above all else. His resolve to fulfill that purpose quietly empowered him, giving him focus and endurance exceeding his stature]
The effect of the charm was quite obvious, even without the help of Blood Weave in deciphering it. It was impressive, by Sleeper standards. Awakened too, honestly. Something like this would have been invaluable to his soldiers in Antarctica after all.
He summoned the charm and dismissed the Silver Bell. The Mountain King would soon come to claim the offering, so it was time to leave.
***
Sunny continued his ascent, air thinning as he approached a ruined temple nested on the peak of the mountain.
Bathed in moonlight, he made his way up the crumbling steps leading to the entrance.
As he neared the threshold, A shapeless entity of immense power surged forward, intent on eradicating the intruder before they could enter the sacred ground; Then, just as abruptly, its form stilled, before suddenly relaxing.
The invisible presence, as if feeling remorse for its earlier aggression, let Sunny pass through the doors into the temple's hallowed halls.
Sunny still couldn't perceive the guardian this time around, but his intuition nagged at him, and he suspected he was being watched. However, he suspected it was not just by something in the Nightmare...
Sunny walked to the temple's altar and sat upon it like a throne. The Mountain King trailing far behind him.
With unflinching determination, Sunny bit down on his tongue until the metallic taste of blood pooled in his mouth. He spat upon the altar, watching as the crimson droplets were absorbed into the ancient stone.
The Spell began to speak:
[You have offered a sacrifice to the gods.]
Sunny's voice echoed in the grand hall.
"Gods? Spare the theatrics. I know this temple only worships one."
The spell responded, its normally even tempo quickened:
[The gods are dead, and can not hear you.]
"Not all of them. Tell the truth."
There was a flicker of excitement in the voice:
[Shadow God stirs in his eternal slumber.]
"Good try, but I know what's watching me. I saw the secrets in your sister's tomb, don't patronize me further."
[He sends a blessing from beyond the grave.]
"You said a slumbering god stirs? Tell me, was it a Nightmare? or a Dream?"
The Spell's tone turned exuberant:
[The Dream God stirs in their Nightmare!]
With glee, it proclaimed:
[Child of Shadows, receive your blessings!]
"My powers were never yours—or any god's—to grant me, Weaver. I am Lost from Light! I was not born from shadows, I was born from desire."
Sunny's attribute, [Unchained], surged to life.
"The gods feared Fate, so I will defeat what they could not."
As the Mountain King took its first step into the grand hall, the shadows within instantly came alive. From their depths grew spikes that instantly converged upon the false ruler—rendering them a red mist, carried from the hall by a ferocious gust of wind.
[You have slain an awakened tyrant, Mountain King.]
[Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal...]