Shadow Slave

Limping across the dark expanse of still water, illuminated gently by the pure radiance of the Guiding Light, Sunny stared at his battered reflection. A dark grin twisted his lips into a crooked line.

"Look at us... nearing the finish line, and not anywhere near dropping dead."

The situation was quite unfamiliar. Usually, Sunny would have been at the very doorstep of death, or even past its threshold with one foot by now. But he was strangely in one piece. Sure, he had been mauled and mangled by plenty of dreadful Nightmare Creatures on the way to the Estuary —however, his state was nowhere near as rough as the norm in such moments.

Had he been lucky, or had his tenacity finally reached such an unreasonable level that it was simply too hard for anything to truly bring him down without outright killing him?

"Well, in any case... I'm not complaining. Let's finish this, then..."

His reflection did not answer, leaving Sunny in tranquil silence. He was momentarily unnerved by the lack of a mocking retort, but then remembered that the Sin of Solace was gone. His mind was free of the voice that had haunted it for so long with maddening whispers.

It felt... very strange.

'Sort of... peaceful?'

Now that the curse that had plagued him was gone, Sunny realized that he had been under constant pressure without even noticing it. His mental resistance had prevented the insidious whispers from truly driving him mad — but the act of resisting the loss of sanity itself had been putting a burden on his mind.

That burden was no more, filling him with a sense of levity.

However, he was also exhausted, drained, and deeply shaken by the secrets he had learned. It was a strange mixture of emotions.

'One step at a time.'

Sunny continued walking toward the vague shape rising from the water in the distance. As he did, he wondered about himself and the Mad

Prince... about all the versions of himself and the Mad Prince that had reached the Estuary in the previous cycles.

How was it that Sunny — the current him — was the only one who had made it that far?

'I guess it's simple, really.'

It was already indescribably hard to find the entrance to the Estuary within the Source. Beyond that, though...

To get to the heart of the Estuary, one had to possess three things. The first one was a soul that was free of Corruption — made possible by the Estuary Key. That requirement itself demanded that he succumbed to the Defilement, invaded another cycle of the Great River, and spent centuries accumulating power and knowledge.

However, it was also the easiest of the three.

The second requirement was the ability to pass the stone maze that served as the border of the inner lake without falling back into the cycles of the Great River. Sunny did it without much trouble, but that was only because of the Guiding Light and the True Name that Torment had delivered to Cassie. How many cycles had it taken for the duo of conspiring Plagues to learn that True Name?

not know. What he did know, however, was that the story of this Nightmare was the story of the gradual accumulation of

on that accumulation. It was to have no desire to turn back

and had no reason to... because the Mad Prince and Torment had already arranged for the Nightmare to end perfectly, with every

cycle in their favor? Too many to count, perhaps. And it

In short...

inheritor and beneficiary of all the countless past versions

then, that he could only reach the heart of the Estuary by forgetting

a little bit

more clearly. As it revealed itself, a strange expression appeared on his

there in front of him... a mountain of black rock rose from the still water of the hidden lake, rising into the darkness. Its rough slopes were almost vertical, and it had two peaks, one of them broken, one of them as sharp

mountain looked lonely and forlorn in the empty expanse of

also exerted a palpable pressure, making Sunny groan

hell is

if he would

like

darkly and headed for that entrance. Passing its threshold, he plunged into the darkness

feet, flowing to somewhere deep inside, and the walls surrounding him were rough, untouched by any

'Not creepy at all.'

entered was a consecrated place — a place more holy than any temple

he had only been able to enter it because of the flame of divinity burning

sacral nature of the dark mountain

Sunny gripped the Guiding Light and ventured deeper into

few moments — or maybe an eternity — before the walls of the tunnel widened,

as soon as Sunny

He suddenly turned blind.

Guiding Light was swallowed by darkness, and he lost the ability to see through it. What rattled Sunny the most, though, was that

he was still surrounded by deep shadows, which were like family to him. It was just that these shadows did not respond

sense was still

he sensed something vast moving in the darkness — in

the coils of a

Light and lowered it slightly, ready to

that a harrowing voice resounded from the darkness, enveloping him

"Turn back."

to kneel

swayed, leaning on the Guiding Light for support. A tortured groan escaped from his lips, but in the end, Sunny somehow managed

'Damn it...'