Shadow Slave

'Hope… herself…'

Sunny stared at the seven chains, finding new meaning in their cruel visage and the misshapen, torn remnants of the seven rune-inscribed shackles.

So the Sun God's ire had not been quelled by just destroying her kingdom. He had gone a step further, binding the Demon of Hope at the heart of her decimated domain… for how long?

And how had she escaped, in the end?

He tilted his head.

"So the Demon of Hope was chained here?"

Mordret answered with a hint of surprise in his voice:

"...You know of the daemons?"

A crooked smile appeared on Sunny's face.

"I do... a bit. Why wouldn't I? Although truth be told, there's not a lot of information about them, even among the Dream Realm researchers. So… the ruler that you had told me about was one of the daemons? A lesser deity?"

Mordret kept silent for a bit, then said dejectedly:

"Yes. I am not sure that those two words really go together, though. I also don't know what Hope had done to earn the wrath of the Lord of Light. However, I do know that these seven chains are what holding is the Chained Isles from falling into the Sky Below."

Sunny raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

The lost prince sighed.

think that there are numerous heavenly chains connecting all the island, but in fact, there are only seven, and you are looking at their roots... or rather, there were only seven. Each of them had to be broken for

thought for a bit, trying to correct the way he used to think about the Chained Isles. The new information

head, he turned back

that thing? I guess it contains a Second Nightmare, since you

Mordret answered succinctly:

"Correct."

enough to go into the Second Nightmare alone? Whole cohorts of experienced Awakened routinely perish in their attempts to become Masters. What would my

jet had said, no one survived in the Dream Realm alone. She probably knew from

He scowled.

this Seed create a Gate in the real world if it's not

answered, his voice was almost

or a decade. It has not

Sunny hesitated.

can

answer for a while, but

can fight their way through and enter the Nightmare directly. The Gate also disrupts the anchors of those near it, so Masters and Saints that enter the Dream Realm will appear in the vicinity of the blooming Seed. After that,

He paused, then added:

found in time, because the Dream Realm is vast and only partially explored. That's why the Nightmare Creatures are entering our world

turned away from the mass of shimmering darkness, then asked in an

"Yeah? Why?"

out a

them as members of cohesive, experienced cohorts. Even then, many don't survive… most, even. But this Nightmare is actually far worse. Entering it is a guaranteed death sentence, regardless of how many challengers

kept his ears open, suddenly

"Unless what?"

silent for

who have shed blood on the altar and received the Memory of the knife have a

blinked a