As Sunny stood in front of Nephis, staring at her bruised body... the gateway mere seconds from breaking. Sunny, moving towards Neph, summoned the [Ordinary Rock] and threw it on her face before using the hilt of [Midnight Shard] to slam her shoulders knocking her down.
He smiled and walked towards the gateway just mere steps away from going back to the waking world... 'and maybe I can meet Rain again!' he thought then froze.
'Wait what would she think about me if she found out I left Nephis of Immortal Flame clan like this... Alone. Especially after all her help' he sighed and turned around, facing Nephis.
"You know I just realised something. You were holding back weren't you?" He spoke suddenly.
"I was." Neph replied.
"Why?" Sunny asked as he was about to break the gateway.
"So you could have a chance surviving... I'm sorry to do this" Neph spoke before pausing
"Stop Lost From Light"
Sunny's eyes widened in fear, despair and bloodlust. He used the already planted [Prowling Thorn], which was planted when he had his back facing her, to strike Nephis...
"Pull back" Nephis spoke, Sunny's eyes widened in despair as his body moved against his will.
"Move back and stay there until I leave"
"H- H- HOW? WHY?" Sunny, using all his will power asked, changing the thought process of he command as much as he could just to speak
"How? Cassie told me... She was the first to realise what the vision meant... Back on the hill in the labyrinth. And as for why I'm sorry I can't put my goals away for you. Even if its you."
Sunny watched, eyes wide to her dimming form entering the gateway.
"Ta- I hope you take care Sunny, I hope you survive. I really do"
"You better hope I don't because if I do... If I survive this hellhole I will kill you" he shouted as Nephis left. With a blinding flash behind him the sun was gone and the crimson tower fell.
'Why, why! Why is it always me... This was the one time I trusted someone and THIS is how I get treated? THIS? I treated cas like a sister. Why me dammit'
Right as he landed on the ground again he heard a voice. The spell. It sounded like it was continuing something.
[...Your shadow is overflowing with power]
[Your shadow is complete]
'Damna-'
Something inside him EXPLOADED, drowinging his whole being in indescribable suffering. With a startled yelp he fell down...
***
In the waking world a woman with silver hair woke up, her eyes having a single drop of tear in it. The pod opened to let her sit as a fair girl with black hair and slightly pale face, wearing a white coat, entered.
'Is this fate's way of reminding me of what I did to sunny?' the girl looked almost like him, but with many noticable differences but still many similarities present. She was also obviously much older than him.
"Can you take me to Sunny's room?" She asked the girl in front of her.
"Who?"
"Sorry- I meant Sleeper Sunless"
Sunny... The only man who stood by her side... The only one who she could trust with her back... After leaving him there to basically certain death - 'Ya as if some mere nightmare creature could hurt the noble cockroach...'
She checked her runes, and as if to mock her, she saw
Slave: Sunless
"I- I'm sorry" she choked and held back the few tears threatening to escape "I'm so sorry, I really am." She was suddenly regretting not staying back for him and instead pushing him out of the gateway.
I'm sorry...
After seeing his runes she was a little surprised to see him having a divine rank aspect and even a forbidden lineage! As if to bite her again, the spell showed [Shadow Bond] too, rubbing even more salt to her wounds.
Guilt.
'I'm sorry...
I'm sorry for being weak...
Im sorry for using your true name like that...
I'm sorry for my failures...
And I'm sorry for having the audacity to pry on your secrets after what I did.'
She would lie if she said she wasn't surprised to see a divine ranked memory of 7th tier. She definitely didn't fall on her ass, Definitely not! She would never admit this to herself that 'the changing star' fell in shock!
The girl in front of her replied to her "I'm sorry but there are certain procedures-" The room suddenly grew hotter "Ah I'll take you to his room"
---
When she entered his room she saw a blind girl, wearing a blindfold, quitely sobbing besides his pod.
"Did it work?" She asked as she choked back her tears.
"Yes. It worked. And yes your vision was correct" adding slight anger to her voice she added "You know it could all have been prevented if YOU saw the whole context or the fact only one of us could leave, we could have left *him* behind instead! You got used by your own visions and fate, its pathetic."
Cassie flinched at that and looked away guiltily.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean the (whole) thing" she added, only mummering the word 'whole' instead, and puled Cassie into a hug as both the girls lost control and cried in each other's arms.
***
Sunny woke up after 'wait I don't even know how long, i can't see the sun! Where am I?'
Then everything fell into places.
The siege... Caster... His fight with Nephis...
And then he screamed in agony and hatred. 'Damnation! Why- Why is the one time I put trust in someone, well two someones, both of them betray me! Why dammit!"
He was a slave now, a pathetic slave AGAIN. Curse you Nephis. Curse you Cassie. Curse you [Shadow Bond].
He recalled his conversation with Nephis again and then realised why she held back, it was so she could train him a bit and not hurt him since he didn't have a memory to heal himself with.
He opened his runes as a distraction to check his new aspect legacy relic, only to find a new runes existing in his soul sea. As if to mock him he saw:
Master: [Nephis]
Sunny screamed in agony again, a painful reminder as to what he became.
'just kill me Neph an- no just Changing Star- and spare me the trouble. Im reduced to a mere slave now dammit! Whatever you do I hope you atleast have the decency to protect Rain... She's my only family left.'
What if Rain starts to like Nephis, Changing Star? Would he still be able to have his revenge? Would he just run away? Be a coward? That was how he survived so far after all. That was just the way. No one else to trust.
***
Nephis walked towards the hall, today the forgotten shore survivors were supposed to meet for a party after finally being free from that place.
Entering the hall she saw people very excited and happy- something she wasn't at that moment. All she felt was guilt. Guilt of leaving summy behind for her mere goals. Guilt of taking his chance of meeting his sister away. He actually had someone unlike her and thats why it hurt her more.
"Sunny? Where's sunny?" One of the forgotten shore survivors, Shim, asked and the rest followed up on it.
"Yeah, Lady Nephis. Have you heard from him or anything about him"
Nephis looked away slowly and responded "No, I haven't. I'm sorry"
She went towards a corner (as usual, because of her non existent social skills) and saw Kai and Effie?
She saw a girl stuck on a wheel chair, neph's fingers twitched and reached out to heal her.
"Don't bother" Effie said suddenly "it won't work" a pause.
"Where's doofus?"
"... Yeah what happened to Sunny?"
"He came back to help me out with the terror" she paused, feeling guilt again "and the gateway was about to collapse" Another, longer, pause, this time. "And well I made it b-but he didn't." She lied, a skill she learnt from Sunny, giving half truth and letting others fill in the blanks wrongly.
A longer moment of silence.
"If anyone can survive forgotten shore like that it's him and me. He's like me after all."
"If anyone can survive forgotten shore like that it's doofus! Cheer up princess"
Nephis and Effie said at the same time.
"Yeah what Effie said. Wait what do you mean like me?" Kai asked
"I mean our aspects... I won't go into details because its, well, just our little secret"
Effie and Kai looked at her and Neph blinked
"What did I say something wrong?"
Effie sighed "Nevermind" and did a facepalm "I get what you mean"
Later Awakened Rock anounced what happened, that Sunny and Caster went to help Lady Nephis and Caster died but Sunny was still alive stuck there.
After a while she left to visist Sunny's room.
***
Three Months Later
"Wake up! Your nig-"
"Shut up" he slammed the ordinary rock on the ground, woke up on his bed on the cathedral, and using the [Silver Bell], (instead of [Midnight Shard] for petty reasons, though he would never admit it loud himself) marked another day. There were 6 months worth of lines there and today he would finally leave. He marked the place with the runes for 'Lost From Light'
Runes:
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lost From Height (I mean light mb)
Shadow cores: [3/7]
Shadow fragments: [0/3000]
He smiled in relief, and exited his runes. He looked at saint and flashed a smile "We did it saint! We cleared the dark city and formed a third core! For once fate was on our side with kills!!"
He looked at saint, disappointed from the lack of response and sighed. Seeing that Saint proceeded to hug him Sunny caught off guard smiled "Thank you for being the only one on my side... I hope you don't betray me unlike those ungreatful people"
He realised why he felt so hurt by their betrayal later... Yes for Cassie- no Cassia he already knew why, he treated her like a sister... But as for Nephis it took him 2 months to realise... Realise that he was in love with her, maybe since even before reaching dark city.
Anyways for now he had to focus on today.
Today he would head towards the library before finally leaving dark city to maybe find a clue for another citadel or well a jightmare seed.
Reading the library, he read notes for about an hour before finally picking the last book. Sighing he rested against a bool shelf only for the shelf to move and him falling down...
Huh? What the hell?
"DAMNATION"
He kept falling for a while, getting drowsier every second, 'Ah im going to die. This was a nice run. No it wasn't! It was a terrible run. He wouldn't die just like that'
'Ah i hope Rain's safe and Nephis atleast had the decency to take care of her' were his last thoughts before falling asleep
Sunny, blissfully unaware, didn't know that Rain died around that time due to a gate opening...