Shadow Slave

Sitting inside the Vile Thieving Bird's nest, Sunny frowned and clenched his fists.

Something unnatural was happening to them ever since they came to the Ashen Barrow. Now that he had remembered Cassie's warning, it was apparent that their minds were affected, making them forgetful and easily distracted.

Even now that he knew about it, thinking straight was strangely hard. It took all of his will just to keep the knowledge of the anomaly in his memory.

The events of these past few days were still hazy. Remembering something else, Sunny closed his eyes in frustration.

Had they really spent mere days on this island? The number of shadow fragments he received from eating Soul Tree fruits suggested otherwise. It was quite possible that as much as a whole month had passed since the first time they ate them.

And their minds were corroded a bit more with every day that passed. Pretty soon, there would be nothing left of them at all. Only empty shells, walking around wearing their faces.

Sunny's face paled.

With a growing feeling of dread, he realized that there were large gaps in his memory. He could not remember how they got to the Ashen Barrow, and where they were going. Other things, too, were unclear and blurry.

'Stay calm.'

Despite how compromised his memory was, there were still ways to understand what was going on, and then maybe undo it. After all, he was able to remember Cassie's warning. That meant that their memories were not gone, just obfuscated.

'First step: resist the impulse to forget everything again.'

Not succumbing to the constant pull on his mind was not an easy task, but he was able to manage, at least for now.

'Second step: try to understand the reason why you were able to remember these things.'

When Cassie begged him to remember the number five, she must have already known that he would receive a new Attribute. He had noticed the existence of the mysterious fifth Attribute as the result, which triggered the frightening revelation.

However, why was he able to not forget about the existence of the fifth Attribute altogether?

What made him so special? Cassie had even said that he was the only one who could do it. Why him and not Changing Star?

Sunny massaged his temples. Then, a sudden realization came to him.

'Doubtless!'

One of the enchantments of the Puppeteer's Shroud was providing him with a small amount of resistance against mind attacks. That's why he was slightly less susceptible to the frightening forgetfulness that infected them on the Ashen Barrow.

felt that things were wrong. He was also the only one who

about the Puppeteer's Shroud, and that's why she had chosen him

'Smart girl.'

mind attack. But who could attack them on this

was

'That damned tree!'

felt cold sweat running

Soul Tree was, in fact, a colossal, ancient and utterly horrifying Nightmare Creature. If he was right, then its power had to be

whole area of the crimson

Of all the horrors

dared to approach

for equally harrowing things that dwelled beneath the

destroy it. The Soul Tree was just too big, old and powerful. For a moment, Sunny entertained the idea of setting it on fire,

'So… what to do?'

for some time, Sunny decided not to be hasty

the exact situation with

he tried once again to read the description of the hidden fifth

was there, but could not remember what it was

'Figures.'

him to solve that mystery on his own, Sunny moved his attention to the Mark

a faint scent of divinity, as though someone briefly touched

Divinity] is ready to evolve.

wasting time, Sunny

description of the Attribute

Attribute: [Spark of Divinity].

"Every fire starts from a spark. Somewhere deep within

as though the question of whether or not he wanted to proceed was just a formality, and the Attribute already evolved back when he

has increased. Neat. Although I'm not

Memories, as well as some other stuff like

latter option. He had received the drop of ichor from a being called Weaver, and then became able to see the

this was true, did it mean that there were different kinds of divinity? And he inherited a small amount

There was Shadow God, War God… well, that's it. He had

Weaver's name

Weaver was not a deity

he, she or it was actually one of