Shadow Slave

1487 The Source

Sunny stared at the distant Great River, frozen in place. His face was motionless.

However, there was a storm raging in his mind. Fragmented truths that he had learned, witnessed, and experienced in the Tomb of Ariel were moving, colliding with each other, and clicking in place with a dreadful noise. The inconceivable truth of their Nightmare was slowly revealing itself.

From start to finish... it was all...

He was suddenly overcome with fear.

Shifting his gaze slightly, Sunny studied the beautiful ribbon that twisted on itself, forming an infinite loop.

Deep crimson, vibrant azure, soft lilac... the seven suns shining in the darkness...

It was like a dream.

'How can this be? How can the Great River flow in a circle?'

But then again… of course, it could.

In hindsight, it made so much sense.

There had always been a paradox in how the Great River was described. Because it was always described as "endless"... Sunny had not paid it much attention before, assuming that the word was simply there to provide flavor. But he should have known better. The Spell was always deliberate with its choice of words.

The description of the Stifled Scream read:

[...a great river was contained within it, flowing endlessly from the future into the past.]

But how could a river of time be endless? The past wasn't infinite. If the Great River really flowed into the past, anyone sailing it would reach the point beyond the origin of time eventually — so, by definition, it could not flow endlessly.

was also its source… within the Tomb of Ariel, the past was connected to the future, creating a

powerful in the far reaches of the past, near the Estuary, and in the far reaches of the future, where Sunny had

then shook

wait… that doesn't make

the Great River was an infinite loop, and the past turned into the future, having no end… then what about the Estuary? The existence of the Estuary was also undeniable. Not only was it mentioned in the descriptions of the Stifled Scream and the Shroud of Graceless

had come to find the secrets that the Demon of Dread had hidden in the estuary

hideous truth he had wished to be

had finally found

— before the gods were born, and therefore outside their control. At least

could there be no

The Estuary

the beautiful ribbon. From this distance, he could not really see the current of the Great

to immense cyclones. That was the area of the river that corresponded to the end days of the Doom War, while the cyclones were

but Sunny saw a tiny speck on the crimson layer

impenetrable, covering a considerable length of the river. The flow of time near it seemed restless even from a distance, which meant that it was absolutely devastating

realizing that not only was there

is… that is

he had already brushed

explode in his

***

'Of course…'

distant Great River,

Nightmare, drifting on a piece

situation had seemed strange and bizarre. So, he had never properly questioned where that place was. However, now that he thought

the piece of flotsam, and

was thrown underwater when the suddenly furious current overturned the

importantly, the mist was nowhere to be seen — upstream or downstream. All around him, there was only the sparkling, dreamlike expanse of the Great River, as if the mist had never existed at all. There were also the demented runes carved into the underside

was almost as if he had been sent there through time and space instead of simply being carried downstream