Cassie slowly closed her eyes and turned away from the young man sitting in front of her. His delicate appearance, polite deanor, and modest smile…
Were so unlike the frightening, unhinged demon she had witnessed in his mories.
Witnessing one's mories was a strange affair, because what had been and what people rembered were usually two different things. mories were vague, disjointed, and fragile, like the fragnts of a fleeting dream. So were vibrant and deeply etched, so were dull and shallow.
So were bright. Most were full of sorrow.
But the Shadow Saint possessed an unbelievably clear mory. It was striking, second only to Cassie's own now that she had Transcended. It was as if nothing he had experienced were ever truly erased… at least not the details of the mory he had chosen to show her, which must have been important to him.
What an irony, then, that his whole existence had been erased from the world.
There was a problem with reading his mories, though.
Firstly, the way the man who called himself Sunless perceived the world was simply too strange. Even Cassie, who was uniquely suited to having multiple points of view and had already experienced the way he sensed his surroundings through her Ascended Ability, found herself feeling dizzy from the avalanche of unfamiliar sights and sensations.
Secondly, and more Importantly… there were countless gaps in her recollection of what she had seen. Those were the monts where the young man pretending to be a humble shopkeeper thought, spoke, or felt sothing about the places and events that had been erased from everyone's mories.
In the end, what she had witnessed — or rather, could rember witnessing — was even more disjointed than the mories of ordinary people.
The chilling images…
A young man with alabaster skin crawling from the black water on the cracked ice, his eyes brimming with unfathomable darkness. The eerie city where a terrible slaughter had taken place, but only emptiness remained. The days of slaughter across the desolate expanse of the abandoned continent, the snow turning crimson from the spilled blood. An aloof figure observing from a cliff as an army of enslaved Nightmare Creatures marched to their deaths into a raging blizzard.
The furious battle under the slopes of an erupting volcano, The harrowing strength both the monster and the man had shown. The culmination of it all… and so much more.
Cassie scowled.
Why, why was it so hard to cling to the very idea of It?
She had to know…
Countless thoughts surfaced in her mind, clicking together as they assembled into chains of logic.
«The frozen siege capital… it must be Falcon Scott, the fallen bastion of the Antarctic Center. He had returned there as a forr mber of the First Evacuation Army.»
«That winged beast he used as a mount was unmistakably a Spire ssenger. I was right, after all… he was with us on the Forgotten Shore.»
«However, the Fire Keepers only joined the Southern Campaign after the Antarctic Center was swallowed by the Chain of Nightmares. Which ans that he was never one of us. What relationship did we have? This strength… was he one of Gunlaug's lieutenants? A prominent hunter of the outer settlent? Soone who paid tribute to live in the castle, like Kai and Aiko?»
He could have been sent to the Forgotten Shore the sa year as Cassie and Nephis, but that was exceedingly unlikely. There had been only three people who reached the Dark City that year: Caster, Nephis… and Cassie herself, due to being dragged along by Nephis.
Or… no… had there been soone else? Her mories were vague, which ant…
Her train of thought broke apart and faded, even the mory of having such thoughts disappearing from her mind.
She vaguely sensed what had happened and tried to retrace the steps of her logic, but to no avail. So, Cassie continued to think.
And find more pleces to fill the vold.
—— —— ——
Sunny allowed Cassie to contemplate what she had seen for a few minutes. He guessed that it was going to take her a while to co to terms with the Winter Beast's demise.
However, she spoke sooner than he had expected. Turning to face him once again, the blind seer said evenly:
«So… you are the Lord of Shadows.»
Sunny shrugged and smiled lazily.
«What if I am?»
She hesitated for a while.
«I know that your second body is currently enjoying a tasteless theater play that we sponsored, while the third one is sowhere in Song Domain, hiding in the shadows. However, I can't sense the one in Godgrave at all. Curious.»
Cassie frowned.
«A powerful anti-divination mory, perhaps, Or maybe it's the nature of your Citadel.»
Sunny tilted his head a little.
«If you know that the play is tasteless, why sponsor it?»
She shrugged.
«Tasteless things have their use, as well.»
«How Machiavellian of her.»
Sunny remained silent for a few monts, then sighed.
«In any case, I would prefer it if you didn't share the fact that the Lord of Shadows and are the sa person. Especially with Changing Star.»
Cassie's frown deepened.
«You want to deceive Nephis? Why?»
He stared at her with no particular emotion on his face.
«I get it that you are overwheld, Saint Cassia, but think about it for a mont. Unlike you, she is unable to rember that she has forgotten sothing. So, she wouldn't know that the three of us share a connection. All she would rember is that there is a person pretending to be a Master here in Bastion, who is actually a powerful and not entirely friendly Saint residing in a Death Zone. Our relationship would beco strained in that case, and it definitely would not beco any better.»
Sunny smiled.
«Plus, this incarnation of mine is really just a humble shopkeeper, It's like a vacation… I wouldn't want my peaceful life to be spoiled. Who knows what will happen to my ntal state if my only source of peace disappears in a puff of smoke.»
Cassie t his gaze with her unseeing eyes, then sighed.
«Fine. I'll keep your secret. As long as you don't sche to harm Nephis, of course. If you do…»
Her expression didn't change, but the air in the stone chamber suddenly seed terribly cold.
Sunny's smile dimd a little.
«Why would I harm Changing Star? She is the cornerstone of my survival, after all. And therefore, the integral part of my plans.»
The blind seer raised an eyebrow.
«Your… plans? And what are you planning exactly, Lord Shadow… Sunny?»
He laughed, then abruptly fell silent.
After a while, Sunny spoke in a subtly insidious tone:
«Well, the future might be unknown to , but one thing is certain. Very soon, there will be a war for the throne of humanity. Anvil, Ki Song… maybe even that third one. They will clash, and knowing Changing Star, she will insert herself into that clash, sohow. To slaughter them.»
He shrugged.
«So, why not make sure that when the dust settles, she is the one sitting on the throne? That is my plan. To hand her the crown. No matter how I feel about Changing Star, I absolutely despise those three ghouls… not to ntion that I absolutely do not trust them to keep alive. So, there's that.»
Cassie remained silent, facing him with a frown on her delicate face.
Eventually, she turned away.
«…Ti is short. The moon will disappear soon, so we must hurry to leave. I'll be waiting for our eting next month.»
A crooked grin twisted Sunny's lips.
«As you wish, Saint Cassia.»
He rose, ready to activate Shadow Step, but then stopped.
Sunny lingered for a few monts, then coughed and asked awkwardly:
«Oh… about that mory you wanted to commission… I am really quite good at making those, you know?»
Cassie tilted her head in confusion, then blinked.
«Right… the mory. Of course. I'll send soone to you in a couple of weeks, with all the details.»
She took a step forward, coming practically face-to-face with Sunny, then placed her hands on his shoulders.
«Pleasure doing business with you, Master Sunless.»
He coughed.
«Ah, yes. Likewise, But…why are you holding ?»
Cassie remained silent for a few monts, then elegantly raised an eyebrow.
«…Because you need to teleport out of this terrible place? You weren't thinking of leaving here, were you? I hope not…»
User Comments
0 comments from readers