"Lysander."
It echoed against stone and water, against the dark river and the shallow backwater where he had rested for more than a decade.
The First Bright Lord trembled.
His fist hovered inches away from Cassie's head, shaking violently. The golden glow in his eyes flickered like a small candle against an endless darkness, almost extinguished, but yet, still fighting.
Sunny staggered to his feet, his heart pounding against his rib cage. [Blood Weave] was currently stopping the internal bleeding he suffered from the blow of the First Bright Lord, but damn, it was hurting him a lot.
'Don't move. Don't breathe.'
Even trusting Cassie's sight, Sunny couldn't silence the dread clawing at his mind. What if the hesitation of the young man was temporary? Would violence resume?
Then Lysander blinked again. A human blinks. Slow. Uncertain. His gaze shifted between a focus state and an absent state, as if still half-slumbering.
The killing intent that had saturated the cave just a few seconds ago was slowly lessening, allowing Sunny to breathe again freely from the unseen fear that had grasped his throat when the First Bright Lord opened his eyes.
"Cassie…?" Nephis whispered, not lowering her sword, but having dismissed her white flame.
Cassie's lips were pale. "His soul is… stabilizing. He is slowly coming back to himself."
Lysander's eyes moved slowly across their faces. Nephis. Effie. Caster. Kai. Sunny. Cassie. When his gaze landed on the blind girl, it lingered more than the others.
Sunny felt it—not hostility this time, but confusion. Disorientation. As though Lysander was struggling to accept that whatever crucible he experienced in the dark river was over.
His lips parted.
"…Underworld. Choice."
Hoarse. Dry. Raw. His voice was that of a man who had been screaming for years, endlessly.
For a heartbeat, he remained upright.
Then his strength failed.
His knees buckled.
——————————————————
Just as he was falling to the ground, the Legacy was already moving. He caught him in his arms, lowering him gently to the soil of the stone shore.
Blood poured freely from a dozen fresh wounds. The gaping injury at his right side looked worse now, torn anew by the battle.
Sunny swallowed.
He had forgotten about that wound in the chaos.
Nephis turned toward Cassie with hesitation in her eyes, and meeting the peaceful face of the blind girl, she sighed.
She pressed her palm against his chest, just above the fresh cut Caster had left on his torso. Her jaw tightened.
"He's close to death," she said quietly.
Sunny exhaled slowly.
"Good. That mean you can still save him.''
White flame seeped into torn flesh. Cuts sealed. Deep gashes knitted together. The arrow in his shoulder was removed; the wound closed in a hiss of steam. Caster pulled his blade free from Lysander's thigh, stepping back as Nephis was healing the First Bright Lord.
Everyone surrounding the scene could see that the pain assaulting Nephis as she used her Aspect was unbearable, and yet, she endured until his body was coming back to a healed state.
Effie watched with narrowed eyes, arms crossed despite the bruises darkening her skin.
"What the hell was that?" she muttered.
Cassie stood still, head tilted slightly.
"One of his attributes. [Underworld Champion]. A trial in the dark river. He must have passed it, but didn't wake up from his slumber," she said softly. "When Nephis touched the water… it must have pulled him out, but not completely. By saying his name, I woke him up."
Sunny frowned.
Trial. Champion.
And the words the First Bright Lord said before passing out.
Underworld. Choice.
'What does it mean?'
Lysander's breathing steadied.
Minutes passed in tense silence.
Finally, his fingers twitched. His golden eyes opened again, but this time, human light was behind them. He stared at the cavern ceiling.
"…This isn't the battlefield."
"No," Nephis replied evenly. "It isn't."
His head turned toward her slowly. Recognition dawned on him, not of her specifically, but of something deeper.
"You're not one of them."
"No."
A long silence stretched between them.
Then Lysander tried to sit up.
He barely managed to prop himself on one arm before Nephis pressed him gently back down.
"You fought us half-dead," she said. "Rest."
His brow furrowed faintly.
"I fought… you?"
Sunny couldn't help it.
"You almost killed us."
Lysander studied their faces, one by one, as if committing them to memory. His gaze lingered on Cassie more than the rest.
"You called my name."
"Yes," she said.
Another pause.
"How long?"
The question was quiet. Careful.
Nephis didn't soften it.
"More than ten years."
The words struck harder than any blade.
Lysander closed his eyes.
Sunny watched his throat move.
Ten years.
Ten years of endless battle inside some unimaginable trial.
Ten years while the Forgotten Shore survived on the foundation he had built.
While the First Bright Lord was processing in silence what he just learned, Sunny stared at Nephis, then said.
"That headband on his head… what is it called? No, actually, let me guess. Dawn Shard? Dusk Shard?"
Neph looked at him and didn't answer. Her ivory face was calm and inexorable.
Sunny grinned.
"...Full of secrets, are we?"
A hint of some deep, sharp emotion appeared in her cold grey eyes. A few moments later, she said:
"Weren't you the one who made it clear that you don't want to be a true member of this cohort? You chose to be a hired blade yourself… did you not? Why should I share my secrets with you?"
Sunny remained silent for a bit, then sighed.
"Well… fair enough. I did, and you have no good reason to share anything with me."
Suddenly, Nephis smiled.
"You can change your mind, you know. If you do, I'll naturally tell you everything."
He stared at her for a while, then shook his head with a small grin on his face.
"No, no need. If I have a question, I will ask him, since it's still his memory and not yours.''
Changing Star lingered for a bit, then simply shrugged.
''Whoever possesses it, it's not important. What matters is that with this memory, defeating Gunlaug is possible, and I believe that the First Bright Lord will not like what one of his successors did to the haven for humanity he fought so hard to establish on the Forgotten Shore, so I don't see why he would refuse to help us.''
Sunny diverted his gaze from Nephis, looking at Lysander with a pensive look.
''If you say so.''
Kai, who had been listening to their conversation with a fair bit of curiosity, suddenly cleared his throat.
"Uh… I am very sorry to interrupt you guys. But I just wanted to ask—since we have found the First Lord and found this Memory you were discussing… does that mean that the expedition is over? Have we actually accomplished our goal? Really?"
That, indeed, would seem to be the case.
However, Sunny knew better.
With a friendly smile, he shook his head.
"No. No, buddy, the goal of this expedition has not been achieved yet."
The charming archer looked at him with surprise:
"But… didn't we get the thing that will help us defeat Gunalugh? And got a ridiculously strong ally?"
Nephis was staring at Sunny too, a subtle smile on her lips.
"Yeah, Sunny. What else do we have to do? Do tell."
He grinned.
"Well, it's very simple, really. Yes, you told us that the reason for this adventure of ours was to find the means of overthrowing the Bright Lord, and it certainly was a reason. But that's not the whole reason, is it?"
Cassie turned her head slightly to listen to him and sighed.
Caster's face, meanwhile, had turned grim. Effie didn't seem to care one way or another.
Nephis, on the other hand, just smiled wider.
"What is the whole reason then?"
Sunny gestured at the mouth of the tunnel in front of them.
"To finish what the First Lord had started before lying in the dark river, of course."
Leaving whatever thoughts he had left in his head for later, Lysander turned to Sunny, listening with an unreadable face.
Kai was looking between Sunny and Changing Star, unsure of what was going on.
"Uh... what do you mean? Exactly?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Think about it, Kai. We saw the same map. What were the symbols drawn at the very edge of it, near the place where the First Lord's expedition had disappeared?"
The charming archer frowned.
"That… uh. There were… three of them? A crown, a question mark, and a red cross?"
Sunny smiled.
"Exactly. There were six crosses drawn on the map, each marking one of the headless statues. Two to the east of the Dark City, one to the north, one to the west, and two to the south. We had visited one of the two statues situated to the south already. That's where the Spider Matriarch had weaved her nest."
He turned to Nephis and then to Lysander. He said, his smile gone:
"So the truth of it all is that you never really intended to find a way through the Hollow Mountains, did you? You are not a fool who would do something so misguided. No, you came to this godforsaken place for the same reason that we are here. To find the last statue."
Changing Star was silent for a bit.
Lysander only nodded.
When the silence was on the verge of growing uncomfortable, she suddenly said:
"That is correct."
Kai stared at her in astonishment.
"But… why? No, wait… what's so important about that statue?"
Nephis sighed.
"This is something that people can only volunteer to do. Anyone who doesn't wish to proceed can stay behind and avoid risking their lives in the battle. In fact, some of us probably should. First Lord, you can wait here since you are still not fully healed."
She turned to face the tunnel, remained silent for a bit, and then said:
"Yes, somewhere up ahead lies another ancient statue. There will be a powerful creature guarding it. I don't know what that guardian is, exactly, but we have to kill it. Anyone who is willing to fight can join me. Others can stay back and wait for my return."
She glanced at the members of the cohort and added:
"However, if you do join me, you'll have to follow one simple rule: no matter what happens, it's imperative that you don't deliver the final blow to the creature... unless you have reached and touched the statue first."
"Ah. So that is how it works."
Sunny realized that shard memories were not simple spoils from killing strong Nightmare Creatures. It was rewards tied to specific statues and their bound Nightmare Creature. Only by defeating the champion connected to a statue could a Shard be called forth. That explained the ones they had seen—yet it raised a more troubling question: how many Shards had Nephis already claimed, and how many moves was she playing ahead of him?
He lingered for a bit, then shook his head and said:
"...Well, what are we waiting for? You didn't really expect any of us to stay behind while others fight, right? Let's go and hunt this monster."
Just as Sunny was stepping toward the entrance in the cave wall, the First Bright Lord suddenly spoke, stopping him in his step.
''The unfinished statue. There were two Nightmare Creatures guarding it. Spire Messenger.''
The revelation of Lysander hit the group much stronger than whatever physical blow he had dealt to them earlier.
'Shit,' Sunny thought. 'Two Fallen Monsters.'
"Shit!" Effie blurted out. ''Nephis, I believe in our strength as a cohort, but fighting two Spire Messengers, that's just pure madness!''
Nephis was silent for a few seconds, and then, with determination burning in her eyes, she turned toward the First Bright Lord:
''If you help us, we have a shot. But I can't and don't want to force you to fight. Or anybody else. So, even if I must do it alone, I will.''
Sunny hesitated, but in the end, he decided to follow her.
Silence filled the cave again, until Lysander broke it a second time.
''Who said there were still two Spire Messengers near the statue?''
Confusion spread on the faces of the cohort.
Then, a thought formed in the mind of Sunny, and he saw the same idea dawning on the rest.
'No. Impossible. He doesn't mean…'
The First Bright Lord pushed on the ground below him, his height again surpassing everyone, except Effie.
White sparks flowed around him as a Memory formed on him.
An armor. As white as snow, highlighting his golden hair and eyes.
An Ascended Memory. Sunny could see it.
He looked into their eyes.
''The wound I had at my side, it came from my fight against the Spire Messengers.''
A second Memory appeared at his side.
Another Ascended Memory.
A greatsword that was made of bone, dark as a starless night. Lysander took it in his hand.
''I fled, but not before killing one of them.''
---------------
A long chapter!
I didn't know how to integrate the informations related to the statues and shards that Sunny explained in the webnovel, so I tried to mix and change the original delivery of the informations, but I think I did good, or no.