Shadow Slave

In the past, receiving a new Memory had always been an important and memorable event for Sunny. After all, with his advantage in deciphering the secrets of their enchantments, Memories were one of his most powerful tools. Sunny relied on his soul arsenal a lot.

However, as time had gone by, the importance of the Memories lessened to a large extent. Of course, he was still reliant on them - but these days, most of the rewards he received from the Spell were either too weak for his level of power or inferior to something he already possessed.

With rare exceptions, their worth lay mainly in expanding his repertoire of weaving and serving as fuel for the evolution of his Shadows.

So, getting a new Memory was not as memorable an event as it had been before.

...Still, it was not to the extent that Sunny could forget receiving one.

'What the hell?'

He seemed to be saying this phrase a lot recently.

Sunny was befuddled, but he couldn't deny what he saw - there was indeed a new string of runes at the end of the list of his Memories, one that he neither recognized nor had ever seen before.

He scowled, then threw a suspicious glance at the Sin of Solace.

After hesitating for a while, Sunny chose not to say anything and turned his attention back to the runes.

Not only had the new Memory appeared out of nowhere, but its name also made him feel a deep sense of unease.

The runes read:

Memory: Key of the Estuary.

Sunny stared at it for a minute or two, disturbed. He had just been thinking about the Tomb of Ariel, the Great River, and its estuary... and now, this?

What did the name of the Memory mean?

Where did it come from?

And, more importantly... when did it appear?

He had not killed anything, or anyone, after entering the Nightmare. His Shadows were within his Soul Sea - they couldn't have slain a Nightmare Creature, either.

Except for Soul Serpent. But if Rain had been attacked by an abomination and Serpent killed it while defending her, the Spell should have still announced the kill and the acquisition of a Memory to Sunny. Yet he had not heard its voice since entering the Nightmare.

it happened while he

his attention from the mysterious Memory and glanced at the list of his Shadows. Soul Serpent's runes were still bleak and lifeless,

happen to Rain without sacrificing itself first. So, Rain was most definitely alright...

his heart turn cold and heavy. He looked at the beautiful expanse of sparkling water with a somber expression, his

he slightly shook his head and looked

'Doesn't make any sense.'

the chances of a random abomination in the distant NQSC gifting Sunny with a

a heavy sigh

on the Estuary Key made more shimmering

Sunny started reading them,

of the Estuary.Memory Rank:

'Supreme?!'

skipped

the same time, Sunny's

possession of such a powerful Memory. However, instead, all Sunny felt was a cold sense of dread. It was because he firmly believed that nothing in this world - two worlds, rather - was ever free. So, getting a

Serpent even kill a Great

face a great abomination... his chances of surviving such a fight were not zero, but very close to it. The

his questions and continued to

Memory Tier: VI.

'Sixth Tier...'

implications and turned to the description... which was

only

[The

grimly at the short string of runes,

'The answer?'

He was confused.

To what question?

the key to the Estuary? What did

was it not oblivion, but Oblivion - the Demon of Oblivion? But what did that easily forgotten daemon have

to his disappointment, there were no more hints hidden

[???].[???]

And that was it.

enchantment, but it had no name and no description. It was just like the [Where is

though... [Where is my eye?] was an active enchantment, while the enchantment of the Estuary

took a deep