Arthur and Sunny stood in complete silence after escaping the Crimson Spire.
The magnificent tower that at one point stretched upward and seemed to touch the skies now lay completely ruined behind them, and only now were they beginning to understand the full meaning of having been left behind.
There was nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Arthur expanded his sense of Aether and the only things he could identify were parts of the collapsed Spire, corpses, and Sunny.
He turned his head toward his companion purely out of habit, since the only thing his eyes could perceive was the complete darkness that remained.
Through his Aether sense, he noticed Sunny moving strangely and moments later Sunny let out an agonizing scream as he fell to his knees on the ground.
"AAARGH—!"
Arthur ran toward him and tried to help him in any way possible. "Sunny! Are you alright!?"
Sunny didn't respond and kept letting out small cries and curses as he writhed in agony. Seconds passed in that position and the more time went by, the more Arthur realized what was happening. In the end, he recognized the symptoms. He had already suffered them three times.
'He's forming a core,' Arthur thought.
This drew a smile onto his face. He took a few steps back and calmly sat down while watching Sunny.
Some time passed in that situation but eventually Sunny stopped complaining about the pain and sat in the same way Arthur was. Drops of sweat could be seen on his forehead falling freely, washing away the splashes of blood and mud from his face.
Sunny recovered and lifted his gaze. What he saw was Arthur's disgustingly handsome face with a grin from ear to ear.
"Yeah. Why are you smiling, bastard? Do you enjoy watching me suffer!?" he spat.
Now instead of just smiling Arthur started laughing loudly. "Ahhh Sunny, it feels good to be right."
He frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You just formed a core? You have a Divine Aspect?" Arthur asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it.
"Yes. I do." he replied dryly, but then his eyes widened slightly. "Wait, you said it felt good to be right. You already knew? How?"
Arthur stopped smiling and answered, "I didn't know, I only had my suspicions."
"What suspicions?" Sunny asked immediately.
Arthur raised his hand and started counting on his fingers. "Well, the first formed when I found out you had a True Name. The second was the fact that you obtained it in your first Nightmare. The third was your ability to keep up while fighting the others, even though you're from the Outskirts. And the last was the fact that you unlocked your Aspect Legacy as a Sleeper."
He took a breath and continued. "Still, when I offered you Shards and you refused them, I thought I might have been wrong."
Sunny stayed silent for a moment and lowered his gaze to the ground. "The last two I can understand." He raised his eyes. "But the first two don't make sense. Unless… you thought that because that's also your case."
Arthur nodded. "Yes, I have one too." He continued, "Since it's going to be just the two of us alone, it would be best if we shared our attributes and abilities, don't you think?"
Sunny felt like he had already been in this exact situation ten months ago. Sitting in front of someone and talking about his abilities, but now everything was completely different. He was no longer the same person he had been back then, and the company was different too.
It brought back memories of when everything was simpler. They only had to survive by killing Scavengers and climbing to a high place before night fell.
At the same time he remembered that, he crushed the feelings that accompanied those memories.
The two people who had accompanied him during that entire journey had ended up betraying him, and now that he was in this situation he couldn't help but think that Arthur might do the same.
Part of him wanted to allow himself the privilege of trusting, since so far—and strangely enough—Arthur had done nothing to earn his distrust. But at the same time, Sunny realized that Arthur knew a lot about him, while he knew almost nothing about Arthur.
And that was something he didn't like. He didn't like being at a disadvantage with anyone, especially if that someone was going to be the person he would spend an indefinite amount of time surviving with.
After a silence Sunny replied, "Yes, we should. You start."
Arthur smiled as if he had already known Sunny would say that. "Perfect. Like I said, I also have a Divine Aspect. I have four cores, I'm a Devil. I have the lineage of a God, specifically War God. My Aspect is related to something called Aether, which is connected to reality itself, and thanks to one of my attributes I can do something like freezing time around an object or living being. As for memories, I have a bit of everything."
Sunny stayed completely silent. Seconds passed like that and then he almost shouted, "WHAT! That's not fair!" In a lower tone he continued, "My Aspect is trash compared to yours!"
Arthur laughed and added, "Come on Sunny, your Aspect is awesome too. You can see in the dark if I'm not mistaken. Your shadow literally detaches from the ground and you can use it to explore areas meters away, it can also attach to your body. And not to mention your Aspect Legacy is completely broken. Imagine being able to copy someone's fighting style during the same fight!?"
He coughed lightly. "Well, when you put it that way, you have a point."
Now Arthur was about to do something he hadn't planned to do, but he realized that the best way to build a relationship with Sunny was by being honest, and what better way to do that than by admitting he already knew his Flaw and then sharing his own.
"Since we're being honest, there's something else I'm going to tell you," Arthur said.
Sunny raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"The truth is, Sunny, I already knew your Flaw since the second day you arrived at the castle."
Moments of silence passed in which neither of them moved. Eventually Sunny let out a sigh and asked, "How?" But then he quickly added, "No, I know how. Cassie, right?"
Arthur nodded and was about to speak, but Sunny beat him to it. "It wasn't enough for her to tell my biggest secret to Neph, she also told you my Flaw!?" he finished in an almost threatening tone.
"Wait," he said. "Don't jump to conclusions. She didn't tell me your Flaw directly. I deduced it with the information she gave me." He continued, "Although I suspect she knew it as well."
"I don't care! She betrayed me twice as if once wasn't enough!" he shouted.
"I know."
Sunny stood up abruptly. "No, you don't know shit! You don't know what it feels like when the two people you trusted the most betray you in cold blood! I treated Cassie like a little sister and she didn't give a damn!"
Arthur couldn't say anything because it was the truth. He didn't know what it was like for the two people he trusted most to betray him, and he didn't even dare imagine how he would react if Sylvie and Seishan betrayed him like that.
He simply remained silent while Sunny walked in hurried circles.
Moments later he said, "I need some time alone," and began walking toward the remains of the Crimson Spire.
Arthur thought about following him but in the end let him go. He stood up from where he had been sitting and started walking in the opposite direction, toward where the corpses of the Dreamer Army and the nightmare creatures that hadn't been evaporated by the Crimson Terror were.
He expanded his Aether sense and closed his eyes.
Hundreds of corpses of his fellow Sleepers lying on the ground.
'I wasn't enough,' was the first thing Arthur thought.
If he had been stronger, maybe more Sleepers would have survived. If he had activated [Former King], maybe he could have done something different, acted faster.
There was no point thinking about it now. What happened could not be changed. But even so, he couldn't help the bitter taste left in his mouth.
Moving carefully and with the help of his Aether sense, he began separating the bodies of his former Sleeper companions from those of the Nightmare Creatures and carried them aside, intending to create a grave for them.
He didn't know how much time had passed doing that. There was no way to tell. Without the sun to mark day and night, only darkness existed, and in it the cycle of the day didn't matter.
Eventually his Aether sense detected a figure moving toward him and he realized it was Sunny.
Before he could speak, Sunny asked, "What are you doing?"
While moving the body of a Sleeper he had known, Arthur replied, "I'm gathering the bodies to make a grave."
"Why?" Sunny asked as he approached.
Carefully placing the body down, Arthur lifted his gaze, even though he couldn't see him, he knew Sunny could see him.
"Don't you think they deserve it?"
Sunny stepped closer and began lifting another one.
"Yeah, they do. I'll help."
After that both of them stayed silent and started building the grave. Eventually Sunny summoned Saint and the three of them made quick progress.
A few minutes later Arthur stopped and said out loud,
"My Flaw is that I can't follow a will that isn't my own."
He noticed how Sunny's body froze completely and seconds later he turned toward him robotically.
"Why are you telling me your Flaw?"
Arthur simply shrugged and returned to the task.
"Well, I know yours. So it's only fair that you know mine."
Sunny didn't react and remained standing there for a bit longer. Eventually he summoned a memory and a bottle of water appeared in his hand. He drank calmly and then offered it to Arthur.
"Want some water?"
"No thanks. My Aspect also drastically reduces my need to hydrate or eat," he replied.
And completely defeated Sunny just let out a sigh. "Well, whatever."
'Good thing I didn't tell him I don't need to sleep either or that I heal on my own,' Arthur thought.
After that both of them stayed silent for quite a while. The three of them were progressing extremely fast, but at the same time Arthur was completely exhausted.
Considering that he had been fighting on the front line the whole time, then went to fight a Fallen Terror, and now had probably spent hours moving bodies, it was very understandable that he was tired.
Eventually he told Sunny he was going to take a break and moved a few meters away so he wouldn't disturb him. Looking for a piece of the Crimson Spire to sit on, he decided to open his runes.
Name: Arthur Leywin
True Name: Paragon of Purity
Rank: Dreamer
Class: Devil
Aether Core: [4/7]
Aether fragments: [856/4000]
'I ended up using a lot of fragments fighting the creatures, not to mention the ones I spent with Nephis and Sunny.'
Memories: [Infinite Lash], [Dawn's Ballad], [Umbral Husk], [Last Oath], [Silent Whisper], [Drowned Oath], [Veiled Edge], [Hidden Spring], [Tempest Shafts], [Bound Vault], [Ashwind Cloak], [...], [...], [...].
Echoes:
Attributes: [Djinn], [Former King], [Being of Aether and Flesh], [Life], [Realmheart], [Static Void]
Aspect Legacy: [Weave of Existence]
'My Aspect Legacy!!!!'
Arthur was grateful he had moved far away from Sunny, otherwise Sunny would have seen him jump in excitement raising his arms.
After sitting back down, he began reading everything.
Aspect Legacy: [Weave of Existence]
Description: [A silent weave, where every thread of life and reality is bound.]
'What.'
Legacy of Life: Unearned.
Legacy of Aether: Earned.
Legacy of Aether
Description: [Before the world had form, before time had meaning and space had distance, there was Aether. Once upon a time, a long-forgotten race dared to study its flow and carve their knowledge into reality itself. To walk this path is to glimpse the hidden laws that bind the world together… and risk unraveling them.]
Knowledge of Vivum: [2/?]
Realmheart: Completed: Allows the attribute's power to increase and reduces its cost
Destruction: Incomplete [1/4]: Fracture
Knowledge of Aevum: [1/?]
Static Void: Completed: Allows the attribute's power to increase and reduces its cost
Knowledge of Spatium: [Locked]
'This is a lot of information, what the hell. I don't even know where to start!'
'So… My Aspect Legacy has two branches. One called Legacy of Life and the other Legacy of Aether. The first obviously must have a relationship with my attribute [Life], which comes directly from War God. The second is related to Aether and it's the one I have unlocked.'
'The description doesn't say anything unknown to me. When it mentions a long-forgotten race it obviously refers to the Djinn. What worries me is the ending: "To walk this path is to glimpse the hidden laws that bind the world together… and risk unraveling them." Does that mean I could destroy the world in the future?'
Arthur shuddered at the thought.
When he tried to focus on the runes of Destruction, they didn't react and only the Incomplete [1/4]: Fracture appeared. He assumed he would have to gain more knowledge about it to unlock it. Maybe that had always been how his progress with Aether-related attributes worked. They started incomplete and he only received them when he obtained full knowledge of the attribute.
But that wouldn't make sense because following that logic he should have unlocked his Aspect Legacy in the first Nightmare when he obtained Realmheart, and clearly he didn't. He also didn't unlock it when he obtained Static Void.
So was it something related to the incomplete knowledge of Destruction? Or was it because he had two points in the Knowledge of Vivum branch? In the end, the only thing that changed from before unlocking it to after was exactly that.
It didn't seem like a big deal. It only increased the power of the attribute and reduced its cost, but Static Void had already been quite powerful before. So now with this increase in power and the fact that it would consume fewer fragments… Arthur smiled involuntarily.
Now he was dying to unlock the Legacy of Life branch. It was related to War God, his lineage to literally a God. It had to be incredibly powerful no matter what.
Another thing Arthur focused on was the Dawn's Ballad counter.
Memory Rank: Ascended.
[638/800]
'I'm so close already!'
Thinking about having a Transcendent rank sword while still being just a Sleeper made a stupid smile appear on his face.
'Wait a damn second.'
Before the Siege started the counter had been close to 300, and now it was at 638. That meant he had killed more than three hundred creatures…
'I feel scammed.'
'How the hell do I only have 856 fragments huh? I should be close to 3,000!'
The smile vanished and a serious expression remained. After that he let out a sigh and kept looking through the rest of his runes. After spending quite a while analyzing the new memories he had obtained, he realized that most of them were complete trash. He literally already had almost everything he needed beforehand.
At best he kept three memories, and they weren't even that special.
Next he tried to look for Sylvie's runes but at that moment he heard a curse and lifted his head abruptly, thinking something had happened to Sunny.
He stood up from where he was sitting and went looking for his companion.
But when he found him he couldn't help but smile. Unfortunately he couldn't see it, but through his Aether sense he realized what had happened.
While moving the corpse of a Nightmare Creature, Sunny hadn't noticed a pit and ended up falling into it.
He held back the urge to laugh so he wouldn't hurt his companion's pride and returned to the task.
Eventually Sunny climbed out of the pit—with Saint's help moving the corpse—wiped the mud that had fallen on him, and looked toward where Arthur was. Arthur was moving the body of a Scavenger and Sunny noticed a slight smile on his lips.
"Not. A. Word." he warned.
The only thing he achieved was making the smile grow a few millimeters more.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Sunny narrowed his eyes. "Good."
After that the three of them continued working on creating the grave.
The process was long and lasted almost an entire day. Eventually Sunny went to eat and then to sleep, while Arthur continued with the task.
At the same time they were creating the grave, they also began extracting the Shards from the Nightmare Creatures.
When Sunny woke up, the task was almost finished. While he slept he had left Saint summoned, and between her and Arthur they had made a lot of progress.
When it was time to place a sign on the grave, it was Sunny who came up with what to write.
The sign read:
[Here lie those
Who extinguished the sun
Dreamers of the Dark City.
Sleep well.
Your nightmare is over.]
After that, both of them began the journey back to the Dark City.