Unfortunately, it was too late for him to take the last step of the journey today. The sun was already setting, and he didn't want to risk drowning when he was this close to reaching home. One more day wouldn't kill him.
Lucien camped atop a familiar marble arch that night. He remembered the cohort stopping here for a day to rest after the catacombs. Sitting atop the marble alone, Lucien couldn't help but reminisce about that day.
The other members of the cohort had talked about what they wanted to do once they returned to the waking world. Hearing them talk about it, Lucien felt a bit…jealous. He wanted to see that world, to explore it. He wanted to do things normal people did, the things they talked about. Maybe if he did that, he'd finally be able to feel like he belonged with them.
As much as he wanted to deny it, he had grown close to them. Lucien smiled bitterly. No use getting emotional over it now, they're all going to leave soon. And he would be left alone again.
At least he'd still have his mother.
The sound of the Dark Sea crashing against the world shook him out of his thoughts. Lucien sighed, pushing such depressing thoughts back into the recesses of his mind.
That night, he had a dreamless sleep.
As soon as the sun rose from beyond the horizon and the sea receded, Lucien left the arch. The ground was still wet as he ran through the labyrinth. He expected the Lord of the Dead to wake up as he got closer to its lair, he wasn't exactly being quiet after all.
But nothing happened, there was an odd sort of silence surrounding the area. Slowing down, Lucien took the risk of peering through the hole in the ground and froze.
The Lord of the Dead was…dead? There was nothing but a pile of bones there now. Had…had Changing Star's cohort managed to kill the thing? As sleepers no less.
The cold grasp of dread crept up on Lucien. If they had killed the Lord of the Dead, then…They had all of the shard memories. They had everything they needed to lay siege to the spire.
They had no reason to wait for him any longer. Why would they, when freedom was so tantalizingly close?
Cursing under his breath, Lucien jumped down and dashed towards the catacombs. There was no time to waste.
'Something's wrong.' Lucien thought as he bolted through the ruins of the Dark City. His gaze fell on the Bright Castle in the distance. Except, it wasn't very bright at the moment. The white marble had lost its colour, turning dark and misshapen. Devastating cracks marred the walls, which threatened to give in at any moment. And if that wasn't enough, Lucien couldn't even see the smaller towers.
Clearly, there had been a battle.
'Have…have they already killed Gunlaug?' Lucien's grip tightened on his spear. He had hoped that his cohort would wait for him to come back before laying siege to the Bright Castle. It seemed they had other plans.
And by the looks of things, they had won.
Lucien…didn't know how to feel about that. For years, he had wanted to kill Gunlaug for daring to try to lay a hand on his mother. Often, he would daydream about killing him with his own bare hands, watching the life slowly leave his eyes. That was what motivated him to keep getting stronger, so that one day he could enact his vengeance upon the bastard.
But now that chance had been stolen from him. Gunlaug was already dead, killed by his cohort.
The rational part of his brain tried to tell him it didn't matter that he wasn't the one who killed him. All that mattered was that he was dead. But he couldn't help but feel resentful about it.
It didn't matter; he could sort that out after getting back to his cohort.
The ominous silence of the Dark City hit Lucien like a tidal wave as he passed through the main gate of the city. He spread his storm sense out as far as he could, hoping to find any signs of life.
But there weren't any.
This city, this bastion of human civilization that had endured for Lucien's whole life, was dead. Its streets, that was once bustling with people, were now empty. The makeshift hovels that they used to live in were now silent.
Lucien's worst fears had come true. Changing Star had succeeded in her siege against Gunlaug and become the Fourth Bright Lord, and now she had marched towards the Crimson Spire with an army of sleepers to face the Fallen Terror.
Cursing loudly, Lucien rushed to his home, summoning the Soul Sack as he reached its locked door. No one had broken in; he would know if any of his creations were destroyed. And by the looks of it, no one had been able to unlock it. Somewhat relieved, he unlocked the gate and walked inside, taking a moment to gaze at his room.
This place he had built with his own two hands and stayed for nearly three years. It was a shame he couldn't take it with him, even though it'd fit in his memory. But he could take everything inside, and he did.
It took a few minutes to store all of it, but it was done. The only things left in the room were the beds and the empty cupboard.
Lucien took the time to take one last look at the room and then left. It was time to head towards the spire and hopefully stop them from needlessly challenging the guardian.
In the distance, a wall of dark clouds was already approaching the shores.
Lucien had only crossed half of the distance to the spire when the storm reached him, drowning the world in darkness. A torrent of rain fell upon him, soaking him, and at the same time, the Dark Sea began rising from the depths.
Ignoring the rising water, Lucien kept running towards the gargantuan tower in the distance, a trail of purple lightning behind him. He had no time to wait out the storm, he'd just have to endure it.
A few moments later, a ripple passed through the dark water, and something about it changed. Before Lucien could question it, another ripple passed over it. Something was happening to the Dark Sea.
Four more ripples passed through the waves, and then there was silence for a moment. And then the world trembled.
The entirety of the Forgotten Shore shuddered. The furious onslaught of the wind died down. The torrential flood of rain stopped. The continuous, deafening roar of the thunderstrikes grew quiet.
The terrible storm seemed to have ended as suddenly as it had appeared, dissipating into nothingness like a fragile mirage.
And then, the dark veil of clouds was broken by a blindingly bright ray of sunlight. As soon as it happened, the restless black water stopped rising and then flowed in reverse.
The dark sea was retreating.
Lucien watched as the water retreated, running away from the brilliance of the sun. He frowned as the light fell on his face. It felt warmer than before, brighter too. He squinted up at it as a familiar feeling began blooming from inside his chest.
It was similar to when he had been attacked by the true darkness. When his soul was permanently altered by it. His eyes widened as he dove into his soul sea.
Inside his soul sea, a deadly battle was currently taking place. Rays of incandescent light clashed against the clouds of all-consuming darkness, unable to pierce through their veil. His soul was under attack from the sun.
If it wasn't for the true darkness he had absorbed, he would have already started taking soul damage. The darkness was winning for now, but Lucien did not know how long he could hold on.
Cursing, he summoned his armour and helmet and poured his essence into them. A dense fog of true darkness obscured his being, giving him some respite from the bright sun. With his armour protecting him and his soul fighting back against the oppressive sun, Lucien continued towards the spire.
It wasn't long before Lucien reached the gargantuan tower. Crimson coral streamed from its walls like the blood of the gods, spreading out from the base of the Spire to devour all of the Forgotten Shore. The tower itself stood on an island that was once surrounded by water. Several bridges grew out from it, connecting it to the rest of the Forgotten Shore.
Above him, a vast net blanketed the sky, bending under the weight of hundreds of nightmare creatures. All of them were shot dead by arrows. A part of the net had been cut out at some point, allowing some of the corpses to spill down.
"Rivers of blood…" Lucien whispered as he stared at the haunting view in front of him. Hundreds of nightmare creatures lay dead on the coral, and along with them hundreds of humans too."
"So many dead…"
In the distance, the gate to the spire was wide open, the only respite from the sun. But Lucien had no intention of heading there yet. His gaze remained stuck on the bodies of the sleepers. He had known some of them; he had grown up around them. These were his people.
And they were dead now.
Changing Star had kept her word to sacrifice everyone on the Forgotten Shore to reach her goal.
Lightning danced on the surface of Lucien's armour, bathing him in a purple glow. The electricity flowed through his body like water through a pipe, filling him up with pure violent energy.
The wind howled around him as he walked through the battlefield, taking a moment to pay his respects to every sacrificed sleeper, until his eyes fell upon someone he knew.
There, a few feet in front of him, a man's plump body lay still on the ground; no grievous wound marred his body, yet he was still drenched in blood.
"Stev," Lucien whispered, kneeling beside the man. He had not died by the hands of a nightmare creature, rather…
Lucien turned his head to glare at the artificial sun. Stev had died of soul damage.
Gritting his teeth, Lucien closed his friend's eyes and whispered:
"Your nightmare is over, Stev. May you find peace in death."
So, he continued his march through the field of bodies until he found someone else he knew. A man kneeling on the ground, surrounded by countless shattered corpses. His brown hair was caked with blood, and the entire right side of his chest was missing, including his arm.
Beside him, a grotesque feline beast lay on the ground, the missing piece of Brom's hand in its mouth.
Lucien knelt in front of his old hunting companion, staring at the face that was once full of life. Brom was grinning when he died, his face eternally frozen in that moment.
"Your nightmare is over, Brom. May your afterlife be as glorious as your life."
Choosing not to disturb Brom's body, Lucien left him there and kept going. Fortunately, if it could be called that, he did not find anyone else he personally knew among the corpses.
Out there, the Crimson Spire was crumbling, the coral cracked and shattered. At the same time, the artificial sun of the Forgotten Shore ignited one last time with a bright, intense explosion of light and then extinguished.
The Forgotten Shore was plunged into darkness, never to see the light of day again.