Shadow Slave

Sunny had an inkling that the Mad Prince had not been willing to quietly disappear for a while now. However, it had always been just that — a suspicion, substantiated by nothing except for his knowledge of himself.

Sunny wouldn't have wanted to cease to exist, so why would his Defiled version be any different?

The Mad Prince had wished to be free, and in the process of fulfilling that wish, he caused Neph's death. His soul was consumed by the Defilement, but not entirely so — a small slither of his humanity remained due to the Sin of Solace, who preserved it to torment his host better.

And so, the vile madman came to regret pursuing his wish. He schemed and conspired to bring Nephis back to life and create such a cycle of the Great River where the Nightmare could be conquered by the cohort. He turned his friends into the Plagues, and then betrayed them, arranging for each to be slaughtered.

But was that all that the Mad Prince had wanted?

Apparently, no.

Sunny was a greedy person, and his past self had to have been, too. Therefore... there were at least two more things the Mad Prince had schemed to achieve.

The first one was more or less obvious. He had not only wished to bring Nephis back to life, but to be with her, as well.

Staring at the Sin of Solace, Sunny shook his head in disgust.

'That crazy bastard. Did he really think that Neph would accept a horrid Corrupted maniac like him?'

Well... it was in the name. Despite all his devious cunning, at the end of the day, the Mad Prince was exactly that — entirely and utterly mad. Sunny had no doubt that the lunatic imagined countless ways to bend the future to his will in that perverse head of his.

The Sin of Solace, meanwhile, smiled darkly.

"Oh... I see that you are starting to understand. I am sorry to say this, though — it's already too late for you."

simply stared at him without saying

was

the Mad Prince had planned to return, and why was it only

thing he must have wanted

to reach the heart of

not have come to that conclusion before, but after witnessing the inner sanctum of the hidden lake and experiencing the chilling gaze of its

of the Estuary... perhaps the most terrible, and the most precious, of them all. And Ariel had arranged for that secret to

of the lake had

appeared to be a

Creatures that found their way into the Estuary been slain, while Sunny was allowed

were

to come near the heart of the Estuary, as if Ariel had not wanted for whatever was hidden there

therefore... the Mad Prince had not been able to

Sin of Solace looked at

it was so

the Mad Prince, a Corrupted Titan, infiltrate the heart

The answer... was oblivion.

of the Void that planted the seeds of Corruption into his soul at the start of each cycle, pass the judgment of the lake guardian, and

Prince had created the Key of the Estuary — a Memory meant to get him to the innermost sanctum of the Estuary intact. A Memory that placed a seal on the Sin of Solace, thus preventing the sword wraith

for that seal to be broken once it served its purpose and got Sunny past the

bringing the Mad Prince back in

of Solace

you is already bad enough, you worm. Being stuck

He sighed.