Shadow Slave

Sunny turned away from the chilling testament that Ariel had left behind in the silent waters of the still lake and continued forward.

There were a million thoughts in his mind. The magnitude of the revelation he had received dwarfed almost everything Sunny knew — the very reason for the cold reality he was born into now had an explanation. The future, too, had become much clearer. And it was a frightening future, as well.

The gods were dead... but not all of them.

The seventh god was still alive, slumbering in the cradle of the Void. All of existence was already infected by the horrors of his nightmare, and once the Forgotten One awakened, even that ailing world would come to an end.

And yet, Sunny had no desire to ponder these truths right now.

The matters of corrupted gods and dying worlds were far away. The dreadful future they promised was far away, too... although perhaps not as far as he would have hoped for. In any case, none of it held any meaning as long as he was bound.

As long as he wasn't free.

Free to live his life the way he wished to live it, as well as free to try and change the predestined outcome. Even if the end promised by the truth of Ariel truly came before Sunny died peacefully of old age, even if he failed to change anything, in the end... there was really only one thing sadder than living as a slave.

It was dying as one.

So, Sunny wished to gain freedom even more desperately now.

And, unlike the dreadful truth, his freedom was near.

The Guiding Light was still shining, pointing across the dark waters. Sunny followed that light through the darkness.

As he walked across the still lake, subtle ripples spread from where he stepped. His reflection walked alongside him, and a few steps back, the Sin of Solace followed, staring at Sunny with hateful eyes.

'Why is he being so quiet?'

There was something strange happening to the sword wraith. He seemed... different, somehow, ever since they had entered the Estuary. Sunny had long grown accustomed to the company of the loathsome apparition, but now, he was growing wary of its presence.

Not the least because he knew now what harrowing knowledge the Sin of Solace was harboring, prevented from sharing it only by the seal placed on him by the Estuary Key.

Just like the Void could break its seal and consume all of existence, the knowledge of it that the wraith possessed would consume Sunny should the Estuary Key disappear.

The thought was chilling.

a good thing I never tried to transfer the Key of

it he had left. There were no lights shining under the surface of the water anymore, but

restless. There were powerful currents moving underneath the surface, making the dark water stir and surge, forming waves. Soon, advancing had become

in the distance. Jagged rocks were rising from the water, resembling cliffs. The water was

silence was broken by the sound of rushing water and the

rocks, looking at the surging water with a complicated expression. There was a labyrinth formed by the passages between the jagged cliffs, shrouded

hear it roar in the distance, as if plunging from

fabric of reality grow thin

'What is this place...'

but he

noticed something at the base of one of the cliffs. There, a

meaning "sun", the other

Prince passed

And not only him.

felt sure that here, the lake hidden in

since the lake existed entirely outside of time, the connections it

to exit the Estuary. He would also enter the Great River at a point in time different from where he had left it — perhaps

far in the

day he had entered the

where he was not meant to exist — and had taken the future Plagues with him. Cassie had said

her exact words

it to invade the next cycle of the Great River, the

not paid attention to these words back then, overwhelmed by

existed outside of time... or rather, time itself did not exist yet in the Estuary. So, the relationship between this eerie place and the rest

River and travel to a different time — not the subjective time of the Great River represented by its current, but the objective time that dictated the rise and

and go as he pleased, visiting different eras of the Tomb of Ariel. He could even travel to a time before the

not been as powerful

the Twilight would not be

forces of the Defilement, and the beautiful cities of the sybils had

any case, he did

He barely had one.

followed the

return to