Shadow Slave

'A tool...'

Sunny wouldn't have minded receiving a weapon or an armor, but a tool could be incredibly valuable, too. After all, he already had the Sin of Solace - the jade sword was only of the Transcendent Rank, but it still possessed the ability to cut the flesh of Great Nightmare Creatures, albeit with some effort. It was just that Sunny had to create an opportunity to use that ability first.

He also had the Mantle and the Shroud of Dusk, and while neither of them was durable enough to resist an attack by a creature like the Azure Serpent, that problem could be solved by not getting hit.

Both the lack of a suitable weapon and the absence of suitable armor could be solved. A powerful tool, meanwhile, would give Sunny more ways to find the solution. So, he was not disappointed.

Feeling both the gentle swaying of the ketch and the silent stillness of his Soul Sea, Sunny continued to study the runes. He hoped that the description of the Crown of Twilight would answer some of his questions.

It read:

Memory Description:[There was a king who ruled over a dying land. The king was valiant and wise. Refusing to embrace despair, he thought of an audacious plan, gathered his companions, and braved the endless desert to enter the Tomb of Ariel, where the Great River flowed endlessly from the future into the past. Thus, the valiant king became a guide who guarded his people in their nightmares.

They built a city at the edge of dawn and gathered an army to vanquish that which was defiled. However, in the end, the army was destroyed, the city was lost, and the valiant king himself succumbed to madness.

Consumed by wrath and resentment, he turned into a mindless beast and roamed the Great River for countless years. Nothing could withstand his hunger and fury... until, one day, the mad king met a treacherous shadow.

"But what do you even know?" said the shadow. "Do you think you're so special? I know fury, too. I know hunger, too. I know madness, too! Oh... and I've killed plenty of creatures more powerful than me, too. Who are you to dare stare me down, beast?"

"I am Lost from Light, who was born from the shadows. I am the rightful heir of death and the bastard son of fate. Wherever I go, ruin follows. If you had any sense, you would have run away as soon as you saw me."

And, true to his word, treacherous Lost from Light battled the mad king, eventually becoming his doom.

was how the king who had outlived

a couple

'What...'

Spell... had really liked his recent outburst. It even included it, word for word, in the

'Oh, no...'

looked down and covered his face with a

'Ah... so embarrassing!'

Nephis read this

ketch and drown, Sunny took a deep breath and concentrated on the description. There was still

the pyramid. He even fought his way through the Nightmare Desert, as opposed to

Nightmare of a particular Rank could not enter any Seed of the same Rank again.

Nothing about the Tomb of Ariel, and this particular Nightmare, was normal. Still, Sunny believed that he was right. Daeron must have reached the Black Pyramid and entered the true Great River, as opposed to a version of it recreated by

sense. He had become a guide who guarded his people in their nightmares? What

remained motionless for

past, in the present, and in the future. So, if Daeron had truly entered the real Tomb of Ariel... then he would be

challenged a Seed connected to the Black Pyramid, their Sovereign would

am right... then it

glaring problem

that the Seeds of Nightmares, and the Nightmares themselves, had not existed in the ancient past of the Dream Realm. No explorer had ever discovered signs

the Great River to help

that time was at the start of the war between the daemons and the gods, so Daeron could not