Shadow Slave

The fifth level of the Ebony Tower had almost killed Sunny.

It was completely empty, its black walls drowning in darkness and unadorned. There was no dust, no ruined pieces of furniture, tools, or strange metal devices. Not even lanterns.

There were, however, countless runes carved into the walls themselves. And almost all of those runes were of the kind that radiated a sickening, dire sensation that made one feel as though their mind was breaking apart.

The same mysterious runes that the Spell used to describe the Unknown, and that Sunny had seen written on the floor by the prisoner of the small cell that was hidden under the ruined cathedral in the Dark City.

Back then, looking at them dealt a heavy blow to Sunny, but he persisted and was eventually able to read a single phrase that the prisoner had written, unlike everything else, in a familiar script…

Hail Weaver, Demon of Fate. Firstborn of the -unknown-...

On the second to last level of the Ebony Tower, however, there were much more of the terrible runes. And most of the seemed far more intense, far more... powerful.

When Sunny had first set foot into the dark hall, he yelped and jumped back, then rolled down the spiraling stairs all the way back to the shrine of the Storm God.

…Good thing his bones were now much more hardy.

Eventually, however, he had returned to the hall of runes.

Sunny knew that looking at the vile writings could destroy his sanity, maybe even outright kill him, so he had done so with his eyes closed and while leaving the shadows behind, so that they, too, could not see the ancient walls.

Even then, he felt a terrible pressure constantly assaulting his mind.

not going to leave without learning

he ever be able to study writing left behind by

saw and glance at the obsidian walls, one little section

nothing short of horrid, but at

Weaver's Mask was he able to look at the portions of the hall without feeling

didn't know their language, after all. The Spell, too, either refused or failed

while slowly moving around the dark hall, he discovered something

It was... a map.

a strange semblance

cut into the stone, their lines smooth and deep. Sunny did not know what tool the Prince of the Underworld had wielded to leave these markings behind, but imagined him simply using his nail to cut into the indestructible stone that even divine

center of the map, jagged mountains were depicted, shrouded by mist. Directly south of them, an island with a familiar silhouette of a graceful pagoda

floated on ghostly waves. Sout-east of the mountains, divided from them by a long stretch of nothingness,

to the north, further away than any other image, above all of them,

…Weaver's Mask.

between them. The ideas of north, south, east, and west were only something Sunny had

the same time, it fit with the geography

in a runic language that Sunny had trouble understanding. It

he

of course, the Hollow Mountains. Even if the image itself was only familiar, their closeness to

knew its silhouette and appearance from childhood, just like any other human in the real world. Its likeness was the stage for countless dramas, movies, and webtoons, after all. Similarly, he recognized

the ghostly waves represented the Stormsea, where the citadel of the third great clan, House of