Shadow Slave

The two of them climbed from the fissure and stood gazing at the seven suns moving across the vast sky. They remained silent for a while. Eventually, Sunny spoke, his voice carrying a sense of wonder and perplexity.

"I know that it doesn't make sense... but it also makes so much sense, you know?"

Nephis frowned, her thoughts mirroring his. She had read both descriptions, and although Sunny's theory sounded outlandish, it was also compelling in a bizarre and irrational way.

He took a deep breath and continued to unravel his theory.

"I mean, listen... we were in the Nightmare Desert, and entered the Third Nightmare through a Seed that had been a part of Ariel's Tomb once. Logically, the Spell should have sent us into the past of the desert, or at least into the past of the black pyramid. However, it sent us into the Great River instead. That is an obvious contradiction."

Sunny brushed his hair back and rubbed his eyes, attempting to make sense of the puzzle.

"But it all makes sense if the Great River is actually situated inside the pyramid. Sure, no matter how large the pyramid is, it can't be large enough to contain an entire region of the Dream Realm, an entire world, even. That is if we think about it from the perspective of human logic. However, Ariel was not a human. He was a daemon - an actual deity. Beings like that are not bound by mundane logic. If he could create a pyramid that does not draw nearer no matter how long you walk toward it, who says that he couldn't create a pyramid that contains a whole world inside it?"

Nephis considered the implications of Sunny's words. Her eyes remained fixed on the vast Great River, and the azure serpent lurking beneath its surface, with madness and hunger in its gaze.

Struggling to ignore the unsettling presence of the serpent, she sighed and voiced her own insights.

"Did he create that world too, then? Well... now that I think about it, he might have. Both of us thought that this place looked like a Soul Sea, right? Maybe it is not a Soul Sea, but instead was made from one. Ariel built the black pyramid out of the flesh of an Unholy Titan. He created the Great River out of its blood. Then, he created a world out of its soul? If so... then those seven suns were made out of seven divine soul shards that the Titan had left behind."

Nephis paused for a moment and then added, her voice tinged with a sense of awe.

of the Forgotten Shore could create an artificial sun, there's really no reason why Ariel

acknowledged her insights

no stars in the night sky, and why it's entirely black. Because it is not a real sky... instead, the black pyramid is hollow, and what we're

two of them exchanged glances, growing more convinced that their startling theory was

Nephis looked at the seven suns again and expressed

and the same. However... isn't it a little bit too elaborate of a feat, to create a whole world, hide it within an indestructible pyramid, and remove it from the natural flow of time - all just to hide a secret? Why

listened to her with a somber expression

silent for a bit, then speculated about

the Great River flows from the future into the past. But... what is its estuary, actually? What can be the end of

deep in thought, and then

point... when time didn't exist yet. Isn't it? Where the past terminates. The estuary of the Great River has to be the point where the past disappears into the primordial void, which was everlasting and everchanging, and existed before the concepts like death and time were even created. By the gods. In fact, the estuary has to exist before the gods were born. And, therefore... outside their control. If

face, grappling with the paradoxical nature of these

of itself, don't you think? Also, the Great River does not only flow from the future into the past, it also does

headache coming on, and he grimaced

of time, and was thus far removed from the doom that they were escaping. That doom... it had to be the war

Sunny to smile with an air

do understand what

with

exactly are you talking

with a sense of

locals here on the Great River. We just haven't found them yet... but when we do, we'll be able to learn all kinds of information from them, including what the central conflict of this Nightmare is, and how to