Shadow Slave Chapter 1488 The First Plague

1488 The First Plague

Sunny felt a headache approaching.

Sothing was very wrong here.

How could the Six Plagues exist?

The Great River was a ti loop — just like Aletheia's Island had been, but also different.

On Aletheia's Island, ti moved in a circle. A single day endlessly repeated itself, and a new cycle started each ti that day ended. The Great River, however, was a bizarre place where ti and space were one and the sa — it flowed from the future into the past, and so, those who traveled it were also traveling across ti.

The cycles of the Great River did not start once a certain period of ti passed. They were both a asure of ti and a asure of space — to reach a new revolution, a person had to travel all the way to the Estuary, which was also the Source, and cross the boundary between the past and the future.

Then, they would be sent to the point in ti and space when they had first entered the Tomb of Ariel. So, if the Chain Breaker sailed past Verge and braved the Source, the mbers of the cohort would be sent to different places on the first day after they had entered the Nightmare.

Sunny would find himself on a piece of flotsam, Nephis would be stranded on the corpse of the Black Turtle, Cassie would return to Fallen Grace on the day the other sybil succumbed to the Defilent, and Jet and Effie would be back to living the harsh lives of the River Nomads.

Sunny shifted slightly.

Still, it did not explain how both the mbers of the cohort and the Six Plagues could exist at the sa ti. If their version from the previous cycle had braved the Source — on purpose or by accident, while searching for the entrance into the Estuary — they would have disappeared.

More than that, the Plagues had been rampaging across the Great River for decades, perhaps even centuries. How could that be?

'Well, why not? There's all kinds of weirdness happening with ti in the Tomb of Ariel. Do I really want to doubt that sothing like that is possible?'

Especially now that Sunny knew about the Source — a misty place where the past and the future t, and where the aning of ti lost all reason — he could not be surprised by anything.

What would happen, for example, if soone entered the Source, but then turned back and left the way they had co instead of crossing the boundary of the future? What would happen if they left from a different point than where they had entered? What would happen if they stayed inside the Source for a while, allowing the current to move past them?

He did not know.

Sunny did know one thing, however.

The thod of starting a new revolution might have been different from Aletheia's Island, but its effect would be the sa.

Once soone returned to the past, their mory of the previous cycle would be erased. Their soul would be restored to how it had been before. No signs of them having traveled the Great River in the past would remain.

Which ant…

Sunny shivered.

'Not again, please!'

The words he had shouted while waking up, on the first day in the Nightmare, echoed in his ears.

'H—how… how many tis have we challenged this Nightmare?'

The existence of the Six Plagues proved that there had been at least two cycles. But there could have been more. Ten cycles… a hundred cycles… a thousand cycles…

There was no way to tell. Since no one rembered the previous revolutions, nothing would change when a new one started. They would repeat the sa actions over and over again, just like Jet had fought and been killed by UndyingSlaughter over and over again.

Until Sunny arrived, and beca aware of the loop.

Suddenly, he felt his heart beating wildly.

'Wait…'

Despite being trapped in the ti loop of Aletheia's Island, Sunny had eventually gained the ability to rember the previous revolutions. He did not know how long it had taken, but at so point, he was assaulted by a persistent sense of déjà vu, and then beca fully aware of the loop.

That was because the Sin of Solace was stuck in his mind, and the loathso sword wraith was sohow immune to the effect of the repeating ti.

Sunny felt that he was on the verge of realizing sothing extrely important.

'The Sin of Solace…'

The Mad Prince was haunted by the odious apparition, as well.

So, if the cohort was trapped in the infinite loop, didn't it an…

That he would have gained the ability to rember the previous cycles of the Great River, as well?

'D—damnation!'

Sunny's eyes widened.

The Mad Prince… no, perhaps even an earlier versions of himself… would have realized the cyclical nature of the Great River. And from that point forward, each cycle would have been different.

Because Sunny had beco a variable.

He must have tried to change things. He must have tried to conquer the Nightmare desperately… and in such a way that none of the mbers of the cohorts died.

And Nephis survived till the end.

...But, for so reason, he had failed.

Or maybe that mission had been dood from the start.

Had he beco aware of the grand loop before and after becoming infected by the Defilent?

The Defilent, after all… was knowledge. Terrible knowledge that corrupted the souls of those who possessed it. So, even if Sunny reached the Source and returned into the past after being infected by the Defilent, the infection would have returned with him.

Had he gone mad under the ntal strain of endless loops first, or had he found the true Estuary and been driven insane by the Defilent first?

Had Sunny been the first of the Six Plagues, and the one who had infected the other five?

In any case…

'So why do I not rember anything? If my version from the previous cycle was corrupted by the Defilent, why is my soul free of it?'

He flinched.

Wasn't the answer obvious?

What could cure the infection of cursed knowledge?

…Oblivion could.

In order to be cured, he had to forget the cursed knowledge before returning to the past.

'The Key of the Estuary.'

A mysterious mory that had been there, in his soul, when he found himself in the mist on the first day of the Nightmare. A mory that possessed a passive enchantnt that did not seem to have any effect on him.

An enchantnt that consisted of two parts — one directed outward, one directed inward.

And which had sothing to do with the Sin of Solace.

Sunny took a deep breath as the truth of the Estuary Key finally revealed itself.

'It's... a muzzle.'

The purpose of the mysterious mory… was to prevent the Sin of Solace from sharing any knowledge of the previous cycles with Sunny. So that he never rembered what had happened in the past, and therefore never learned the cursed knowledge of Defilent.

That was one part of its enchantnt. The other, much more burdenso part… was ant to make the Estuary Key immune to the change of cycles. To make it remain in Sunny's soul even if he crossed the boundary of the Source and was sent into the past.

That was why the Mad Prince had been so interested in the Great Tyrant slain by the Serpent King in Aletheia's Tower. Because the Tyrant remained dead no matter how many revolutions passed… its death had been made permanent, carrying over from one cycle of the loop to the next.

Back then, the Defiled madman must have already been trying to create the Estuary Key.

To cure himself of the Defilent… and make another attempt to conquer the Nightmare. No, not just conquer it, but do it in a specific way.

To erase the mistake he had made... or maybe the cri he had committed.

'Murderer...'

Sunny gulped for air.

At that mont, he realized sothing else.

There were only three of the Six Plagues left: Soul Stealer, Tornt, and the Dread Lord.

The Mad Prince… was gone.

He did not exist in the Tomb of Ariel anymore.

Because he had crossed the boundary of the Source and sent himself into the past.

He had beco Sunny.