The two days they had set as deadline to go to the Relictombs passed in the blink of an eye. They used them to rest and plan strategies for when they entered. Arthur, for his part, took advantage of his experience to explain to Sunny what he could expect once inside.
The conversation was… peculiar.
"The first time I entered, I appeared in an infinite corridor."
Sunny blinked. "What? Infinite?"
Arthur continued as if it were nothing.
"Then my consciousness separated from my body."
Sunny frowned. "What? How is that possible?"
Arthur didn't react.
"And in the end, I had to choose between a couple of options that appeared as concepts… and I left."
There was silence.
Sunny stared at him.
"…I think I don't want to go to that place."
And honestly, who could blame him? Arthur certainly couldn't. He was also quite scared.
The last time, he had almost been destroyed by an Aether storm. And that wasn't even counting the fact that if he didn't make the right decisions, he would simply die. None of his experiences had been particularly pleasant.
At the same time, however, the rewards had been worth it. Static Void had saved him countless times throughout this period, but most importantly, there was Sylvie.
Arthur had avoided thinking about her and his loved ones under the excuse that he didn't have time to do so. Though the real reason was to keep himself from feeling sad.
It had already been four months with Sunny in this place, which meant he had gone the same amount of time without seeing Sylvie and Seishan. He had grown accustomed to having both of them around. He also missed Cassie, although he wasn't entirely sure how his relationship with her stood after everything that had happened.
He was sure Cassie had lied to him about the vision.
The worst of it was his family. It had been a year and two months since he had seen them, and he missed them. He missed teasing Ellie, he missed the smiles and the meals his mother cooked for him, and he missed his father's jokes and humor very much.
Opening his runes to distract himself while they were eating, he looked for Sylvie's and when he reached her attributes, he choked on what he was eating.
Companion: [Sylvie]
Attributes: [Dreamspawn], [Draconic Form], [Mana Affinity], [Vivum], [The Blood]
[The Blood]
Description: [You have inherited part of the lineage of Beast God]
'So they gave her Beast God lineage…'
Arthur was about to keep analyzing the runes to see if anything else had changed, but Sunny suddenly asked him a question.
"Do you think they miss us?" he asked.
Arthur paused and tilted his head slightly as he looked up.
"Why do you think they wouldn't?"
He knew that exploiting Sunny's Flaw by answering with another question wasn't something Sunny liked… but he truly didn't understand where that doubt was coming from.
Sunny lowered his gaze for a second before responding.
"Because I'm insignificant. Because I'm an outskirt rat. Why would a princess of a great clan and her famous cohort miss someone like me?"
Arthur blinked silently. Then he answered calmly: "Since when did Nephis, Cassie, Effie, and Kai become "a princess of a great clan and her cohort?" They are your friends, Sunny."
Sunny hesitated.
"I don't know… I guess not seeing them for so long made me think they would just forget about me." He paused. "Right now they must be preparing for their second nightmare… planning their future. Meanwhile, I'm here, trapped. Why would they worry about me?"
Arthur took a drink of water before responding, "That's exactly why. Because they're your friends. I'm sure they even go to the academy from time to time to visit you."
"I don't know… I don't think so." Sunny shook his head slightly.
Arthur frowned faintly. "I still don't understand where that doubt comes from. Is it insecurity?"
Sunny shrugged. "Maybe."
"I see." Arthur nodded, remaining silent.
Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to stay quiet? I thought you were going to give me a lecture like always."
Arthur shook his head softly. "No. I'm not going to say anything… because, honestly, I don't experience that."
Sunny snorted,
"Of course, the great Paragon of Purity would never feel inferior to others."
Arthur looked at him without being bothered. "That's not it, Sunny. I never felt inferior to anyone. Even before my first nightmare." He paused. "Do you want to know why?"
Sunny nodded.
Arthur rested his elbows on the table, calm. "Simple… I don't care what others think. As long as I'm giving my one hundred percent, I have no reason to feel inferior." Sunny opened his mouth, but Arthur continued before he could speak. "Aren't you giving your one hundred percent?"
"Yes…"
"Aren't you trying to improve?"
Sunny nodded again.
"Then it doesn't matter what others are doing. As long as you strive to be better than your yesterday self, that's enough." He leaned back slightly. "What does it matter what Nephis and her cohort are doing in the waking world? What does it matter what Seishan or Sylvie are doing? They could become Saints before we return… and I still wouldn't feel inferior."
Sunny clenched his jaw. "That's easy for you to say. You always had everything. You never had to compare yourself to anyone. I didn't… I never had anything. Comparing myself to others was a way to survive."
"You're right." Arthur looked at him in silence… and then nodded.
Sunny frowned. "What?"
"You're right… and that's exactly why I can't help you." Sunny didn't respond and Arthur continued. "I was never in your situation. The only one who can solve that insecurity is you." There was a brief silence, then Arthur continued in a firmer tone:
"Are you afraid they'll forget you? Build bonds that are impossible to break."
"Don't have a home to return to? Create something that belongs to you."
"Feel inferior? Train… and become stronger."
Finally he added: "You don't need to have great conviction or big goals to have the right to survive. You just need to be strong enough so that it doesn't matter."
After that conversation, both went to their rooms to take a nap, and after that, they gathered everything usable they might need from the Castle.
Arthur stored everything important and the food in his memory [Bound Vault], which he had bought from Steve in the Castle market. In fact, if his calculations were correct, they should have enough food stored for six months, and thanks to the properties of the memory, the meat wouldn't spoil.
Unfortunately, when they carried out the Siege of the Crimson Spire, they had taken all the vegetable reserves produced by Kido. So when they returned, there was nothing left.
They also stored sleeping bags in the memory, and on Sunny's advice, multiple ones. They also stored spices to season the food and a few other items to make the journey easier.
With everything ready and in perfect condition, they headed toward the portal. The scene was very dramatic.
Both walked through the center of the streets of the Dark City without any concern. The magnificent ruined city was completely empty except for two people.
Of course, they weren't going to walk the whole way — they weren't idiots — after only a few meters, Sunny summoned Serpent, which took the form of a Flesh Reaver, one of the creatures that Sunny killed during the journey to the Hollow Mountains—one that can fly.
Both climbed onto the shadow's back, and the journey that would have taken half a day was completed in mere moments.
Arriving at the house, they followed the same path as last time, passing through the door and descending the stairs. Moments later they stood before the enormous door that sealed the portal room.
The room was exactly as it had been the first time they saw it. Its size was majestic, with polished stone walls and a line of torches extending throughout the chamber. The shadows cast by the torches seemed to dance in the presence of the visitors. As if celebrating them.
Taking a deep breath, both stood before the enormous portal that emitted no kind of energy. Even so, the pull it exerted on them was completely impossible to ignore.
"Are you ready?" Arthur asked while looking at the portal with a calm expression, though behind that mask a slight nervousness ran through his body.
Sunny let out a sigh, and Arthur could tell he was nervous as well by the way his body trembled slightly, which made Arthur laugh. Obviously Sunny noticed.
Raising an eyebrow, he responded, "No, but we don't have another option." Then he added, "What are you laughing at, bastard?"
"I found it amusing to see you nervous. The great Sunless, survivor of the Outskirts and of a year and a few months in the Forgotten Shore, is nervous before a simple portal?" Arthur replied playfully.
Sunny's jaw dropped, and after a moment his face took on an angry expression. "What are you saying? I'm not nerv— ahg! Curses!" he complained while holding his forehead with one hand; obviously his Flaw wouldn't let him lie. "I'm but you know what? Let's just get this over with already," he said while Arthur laughed even louder and they both grabbed each other's hands.
Arthur had proposed this mostly because of a premonition, or perhaps it was one of the many decisions that the map in the soul that Gray left him had forced him to make.
Arthur's face fell as he took the first step, and like that, they took the next and the next, until both crossed the magnificent portal.
As soon as they crossed it, their entire field of vision simply vanished, leaving deep darkness in its place.
This time he didn't have to wait long to feel something again.
From one moment to the next, he began to feel his own heartbeat. Then his lungs began to inhale air, and the next second he began to feel his limbs. Slowly his body formed until it was perfectly complete.
When his body was ready, the next thing he experienced was a current of air striking his face. Then his feet touched the ground.
Once his vision was complete — fortunately his eyes did not melt upon seeing the sun — the sight that greeted him left him speechless.
All around him stretched a natural and varied territory, as if someone had taken different landscapes and joined them together without caring about coherence. The terrain was irregular, formed by gentle hills, steeper elevations, and lower areas where the soil appeared darker and more humid.
In the distance, no matter where he looked, mountains always cut across the horizon. Some were barely dark shadows far away, while others rose with a more imposing presence, with peaks that seemed to pierce the clouds.
Across the uneven relief ran rivers that twisted without following any recognizable pattern — or at least not one Arthur could identify. Some were narrow, barely visible, while others carved their way forward with greater force, reflecting the light of the sky on their surface. Vegetation accompanied that natural chaos: areas with tall wild grass, scattered shrubs, but no trees in sight.
It did not seem like a dead place, but neither did it feel completely alive.
In the distance, toward the south, Arthur spotted a village. Small, but clearly inhabited — or so he wanted to believe. The constructions were simple, made of wood and rudimentary materials, grouped without much order. From that distance he couldn't see people, but the state of the houses indicated that someone lived there… or at least had lived there.
But not everything he saw was equally beautiful.
'That's not a good sign,' he thought.
To the East, following the slope of one of the hills, there was another village a couple kilometers away, and this one… was completely destroyed.
Houses without roofs, others without walls, structures collapsed upon themselves as if crushed by an unstoppable force. The remains of the constructions were scattered across nearby areas, broken wood, fragments dragged far from their origin, as if the place had been violently swept away.
There were no signs of life, only total destruction.
It didn't take much to figure out what — or who — had been responsible for such devastation.
Arthur swallowed.
In the distance, to the north, there was a storm of such magnitude that he had no way of describing it properly. The only thing he could say with certainty was that it was gigantic. It extended into the sky in an impossibly infinite way, as if connecting the earth with something beyond the clouds, and its width covered entire kilometers, devouring the entire landscape in its reach.
And the worst part… it was not a single one.
There were dozens of smaller storms, still enormous, spinning around the main one as if orbiting it.
Curiously, they were not storms at all.
They were tornadoes.
Tornadoes that spun without rain, without dense clouds forming them, without any natural logic to explain their existence. Some were a dull gray, while others were completely black, so dark that they seemed to absorb the sunlight around them.
Seeing them, Arthur instinctively took a step back and felt an emotion run through his entire body. It was not just fear, it was something deeper. Complete terror.
At that moment three things happened simultaneously.
The first was that his plan of holding hands worked, since Sunny was next to him. Although they were no longer holding hands.
The second was that his friend ended up appearing inside a small pond and was completely soaked and cursing the heavens.
And the third — the one that caused Arthur the most terror — was that in the distance, toward the north, one of the smaller tornadoes detached from the group and began advancing in their direction at great speed.
Arthur's eyes widened and his breath failed to enter his lungs as he saw the tornado heading toward them.
Beside him, Sunny kept throwing curses for having fallen into the pond. "Why do I always end up spawning in water!"
"Sunny, shut up and start running!" Arthur shouted as he bent down to grab his hand again and began to run. With four augmentations running through his body, Sunny's weight was not difficult to move.
The poor guy was launched out of the pond and somehow managed to stand. Still not understanding what was happening, Arthur let go and they looked at each other. At that moment, Sunny understood that it was not the time to argue when he saw the expression on his friend's face.
Sunny turned his head to see what they were running from and all the color left his pale face. The tornado was moving even faster than they were.
Although it was one of the smallest tornadoes, it still spanned nearly hundreds of meters in width and length. So large that Sunny would swear that tornado could destroy the entire Dark City in a matter of minutes.
Sunny looked forward again and summoned Serpent once more. The shadow again took the form of a Flesh Reaver and both climbed onto it immediately.
Serpent began to fly at an impressive speed and they managed to maintain the same distance from the tornado chasing them.
"What the hell do we do!?" Sunny shouted.
"How the hell would I know, it's a damn tornado! Wherever we go, it'll destroy us!" Arthur shouted back.
Both remained silent thinking until Serpent flew near the entrance of a cave and Sunny had the idea of sending the shadow directly there.
"There's a cave a few meters to the west. I will take us there," Sunny warned.
Arthur didn't respond and Serpent changed direction toward the cave.
Moments later the shadow reached the entrance and Sunny dismissed it immediately. Landing on their feet a few meters away, they covered the rest at great speed.
It took mere seconds to reach the cave entrance, but during that time the tornado closed the distance brutally, making their hair begin to move wildly.
Upon entering the cave, they kept running and didn't stop to rest.
It was large enough for several people to run side by side. The walls were formed of rough stone, marks of humidity and something else.
Its length was the most striking part, extending forward in an uncomfortable way — completely straight.
Obviously they noticed, but they couldn't do anything because a fraction of the tornado detached from the main mass and followed them through the cave for several more meters.
Feeling the gusts of wind at their backs, they kept running… and running, until they found that the cave began to descend more steeply and at that moment the tornado disappeared.
Both released a breath they didn't know they were holding and let themselves fall to the ground while expanding their senses to search for more dangers.
Fortunately they found none, and moments later, after resting, Sunny summoned a memory and began to create a fire in front of them. Something Arthur appreciated, because the darkness of the cave was almost the same as the Dark City. They had had to go quite deep to lose the tornado.
When Sunny lit the fire, Arthur managed to see his surroundings and the sight left him speechless.
Not because there were enemies or traces of them. Nor did he see objects or riches.
The cave they found themselves in had all its walls completely filled with drawn Runes.
Seeing them, he remembered the experience of the infinite corridor where the walls were also filled with drawn runes and all of them created an effect that affected space, making it impossible to approach them.
Sunny, focused on the fire, didn't notice at first, but when Arthur stood up from where he was and turned to look at the walls, Sunny looked up and his eyebrows lowered in confusion.
"What are those runes?" he asked.
Arthur did not respond and continued looking at the walls. They were formed of gray stone and possessed cracks that formed the shapes of the Runes. These were not drawn like in his previous experience, but instead formed as part of the wall itself.
However, they lacked a key detail. They had none of the purple detail that the previous ones had, and this could mean two things.
One was that perhaps they were incomplete and did not function, while the other was that they were simply inactive.
Arthur did not understand what those runes meant; in fact, he still had not managed to decipher what the runes in his Soul Sea said when he obtained an attribute related to Aether.
To perform a deeper inspection, he decided to activate [Realmheart].
Suddenly the runes embedded in his arms and beneath his eyes began to emit a purple light and a completely different vision began to appear before him.
The sight was breathtaking, all the particles of Aether in the environment floating in the air without any intended direction.
Focusing on the wall, he noticed that indeed, and fortunately, the runes were incomplete.
Comparing them with the ones he had already seen, these were wrong, as if someone had tried to draw them from memory and failed.
Arthur released a breath and deactivated [Realmheart]. Fortunately it was an attribute that did not place much strain on reality and therefore did not cost the same number of fragments as Static Void.
With the addition of his Aspect Legacy — which helps him lose fewer fragments while its power grows — the number of fragments he spent had drastically decreased in these months. He could not help but think that if he had unlocked it before the Siege, he could have been a Tyrant by now.
But he did not have much more time to question things, because when he turned around, Sunny was looking at him with both eyebrows threatening to fly off his forehead.
"What the hell was that!?" he asked.
Arthur shrugged. "That is called Realmheart, it is one of my attributes." Then he sat back down as if nothing had happened.
Pointing at his eyes with one hand, Sunny added, "A purple light appeared under your eyes out of nowhere… I have to say, it looked pretty cool."
Arthur began to laugh. "Thanks, but I thought you would be more curious about the runes on the walls."
"I am, but the spell can't translate them and Julius never taught me this language," Sunny replied.
Arthur sat in front of the fire and extended his hands toward it to warm them. "I'm not surprised." He paused, then began pointing at the wall. "These runes are the language of an ancient race that is completely extinct."
"You encountered this language before?"
He nodded. "Yes."
After that, both remained silent and Sunny realized that Arthur did not want to share more about what he knew, but his explorer side was dying of curiosity.
One never knows when they might encounter the language of a completely extinct race and be able to learn something about them, no matter how small.
He also began to imagine all the possible reports he could make once he returned to the Waking World.
The report about the Forgotten Shore he planned to write for Professor Julius would already make him rich, but what if he also made one about this place called the Relictombs? Or about a completely unknown race?
His eyes began to shine with greed and saliva began to threaten to escape his mouth as he imagined everything he could buy. Maybe he could even buy a house! No… multiple houses!
"What has you so entertained that you're drooling?" Arthur asked while looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
'Oh, I was so distracted thinking about the possible credits that I started making weird faces,' Sunny thought.
Turning his head to hide the embarrassment he began to feel, he said, "Oh, I was… thinking about Professor Julius… yes!" He paused and looked back at Arthur after regaining composure. "How much he would like to learn about this extinct race…"
Arthur's expression changed and became more serious. "Sunny, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone about this when we return to the Waking World."
It sounded more like an order than a request between friends, and Sunny clearly noticed.
"Why?"
"Because if you do, you would put me in danger," he replied seriously.
Sunny still didn't understand. Why would a report about an extinct race or the Relictombs put him in danger?
'Wait, could Arthur belong to that race?'
"Are you a descendant of that race?" Sunny asked.
Arthur let out a sigh. "Yes. I am, and for that reason I need you not to tell anyone." After a pause he continued, "Before continuing, let's make a deal."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Tell me what you obtained from the second step of your Aspect Legacy and I will tell you about this race," he proposed.
Sunny lowered his eyebrows. "I already told you the second step made Serpent rank up."
Arthur chuckled. "Come on Sunny, do you really think I'm going to believe your Aspect Legacy only gave you that?"
Sunny did not respond at first but eventually said, "No."
Silence returned and Sunny lowered his gaze to the fire. After a few seconds of silence, he shrugged and let out a sigh. Raising his gaze, he focused on Arthur's golden eyes.
"Ok," he accepted, then replied: "The second step of my Aspect Legacy not only made Serpent rank up, but…" He paused and, as if he would rather not say it, continued, "It gave me a drop of the blood of Shadow God."
Arthur's eyes widened at the information and the gears in his head began to turn. After a moment of silence, he let out a suppressed laugh.
"So you have the lineage of Shadow God…"
Sunny shook his head. "Actually, I don't."
"What?" Arthur said with a frown, completely confused.
He shrugged. "The lineage was consumed by one of my attributes, but that's another story and not part of our deal."
Arthur blinked. "That's even stranger, but you're right." He paused. "I suppose it's my turn now."
He took a few seconds before responding, organizing his thoughts and internally discussing how much he should share.
Eventually he replied: "Well… first I'll tell you about the race and then the reason why I don't want anyone else to find out about all this."
"The name of that race was 'Djinn' and they were actually a peaceful race that focused on the study of an element." Then he asked, "Do you remember when I told you about my Aspect that was connected to reality through Aether?"
Sunny nodded and he continued, "Well, these Djinns focused on practicing Aether arts through the use of runes. These granted them a certain 'control' over the element, and the runes on these walls —" he paused to point at them "— are crude imitations of them."
Sunny nodded again and raised an eyebrow. "But why would that put you in danger?"
He sighed. "Sunny, don't you see the elephant in the room?"
Sunny simply shrugged. "I don't know what an elephant is, so no."
Arthur didn't know how to react. "But… you know what… forget it." He shook his head and explained, "The danger is that this peaceful race was eradicated. Not only did they cease to exist, they were made to cease existing." Sunny's eyes widened, but before he could say anything Arthur continued, "I don't know who did it, but obviously it was because of their knowledge of Aether."
"You're saying that if someone finds out there's still a living Djinn, they might come to hunt you?"
He nodded. "Exactly." He continued, "Like I said, I don't know who it was, or in what era it happened, but it's better if no one finds out everything I can do or could do."
"And about the Relictombs? Why couldn't I write about them?"
"Because for now, they are the only place where I have seen the language the Djinns used, which means they were probably created by them," he replied.
Sunny remained silent while watching the sparks of the fire burst into the air. Seconds later he looked at Arthur and nodded. "Alright. I won't write about the Djinns, nor about the Relictombs."
Arthur smiled. "Thank you." Then he tilted his head and his smile widened confidently. "And when are you going to tell me about what you obtained after consuming the lineage of Shadow God?"
Sunny paled and began looking at the walls with great interest, then said with embarrassment in his tone, "Never?"
"We've been together a long time, Sunny, it was obvious I would realize you didn't tell me everything," he said while smiling.
His friend let out a sigh in complete defeat. "You got me, but… it's not a big deal," he admitted. After a pause he continued, "Only my divinity increased and the attribute that devoured the lineage increased its potency."
[Ember of Divinity]
Attribute Description: [Deep within your soul, an ember of divinity shines, almost ready to erupt into a radiant flame.]
"I see…" Arthur said, still distrustful, but there was nothing he could do. Well, he could use Sunny's Flaw to force him to answer, but it wasn't something he would like to do, so he simply didn't. He also had things to hide.
After that, both remained silent thinking, until Sunny's stomach began to rumble and they both understood it was time to eat something.
Summoning the memory where they had stored the meat and spices, they began to cook and minutes later they were already eating roasted meat.
While they ate, it was time to devise a plan with the information they had, and that was what they stayed doing until one of Sunny's shadows detected that night was falling.
Summoning Saint and Serpent, both went to rest with the plan already formed.
Tomorrow they would explore the nearest village and then search for the portal or the reason why Sunny's instinct was screaming for him to move West, while Arthur's demanded he head East.