The waters were calm, there was little wind so it took some time for the Soul-Devouring tree to disappear on the horizon.
Eventually, his mind cleared completely, and everything affecting his mind vanished, at the same time, Nephis woke up from the mind-hex.
"Sunny…?"
"Did you wake up?"
"Yeah… You should free Cassie now. For her to wake up tied up…"
Dismissing [Weak Link], he put Cassie in a more comfortable position.
He sighed and sat on the boat, making sure to pay attention to his shadow sense so that no nightmare creature approached without him knowing.
Nephis just kept her gaze on the horizon.
He decided to take a look at his runes, or rather, Revel's runes, to see if something changed.
And it did change, the memory that was once there was gone, replaced by her normal memories and two that were obviously messages for him.
Memory: [Don't Scare Us Again]
Description: [Revel: I swear, you gave me a heart attack, I forgot the last time I felt like that. This was a horrible way to reveal our connection, you know how much I had to deal with?
Howl: What are you, stupid?
Moon: Silent wanted to tell you to be more careful. And by the Gods, mental attacks are the worst.
Bin: Don't listen to Moon, you just need a good memory and they are easy to deal with.
Hel: You're really lucky brother! Death was so close to meeting you!
Lunae: I taught you better than that. And don't listen to Eunbin, mental attacks are dangerous.
Frost: Took you long enough.
Jin: Just so you know, Frost was really worried.
Blade: Yes, I did all of the descriptions. Yes, it took a lot of essence. Yes, all of them interrupted me.
One more thing, you got enthralled by a tree? Really?]
Sunny stared at the runes, a small smile appeared on his face.
'Yeah, yeah… Eventually all of you are going to laugh at me for this.'
All his talk about coming back…
And he dies by a freaking tree.
'I'm going to kill that thing one day.'
The other memory was much more serious than the last one.
Memory: [Don't Consume the Ichor.]
Description: [Ki Song: The Ichor is profane, it cannot coexist with the blessings of the Gods. It will only bring you pain.]
'Ichor? Mother, what do you…'
As he was looking at the memory, he remembered another thing, the Great Devil on the top of the tree, it gave him a memory.
He looked at his memories and froze immediately upon seeing it.
Memory: [Drop of Ichor.]
Memory Description: [The loathsome Thieving Bird was hated both by the gods and -unknown-. However, it only cared about shiny things. Enamored by Weaver's beautiful eyes, it stole one of them on a dark, starless night. Impatient, the vile creature looked at its bounty while still in flight. However, when it saw the reflection of -unknown- forever frozen in the depths of Weaver's pupil, it went mad and screamed, dropping the eye on the mortal realm below. All that was left in its greedy beak was one drop of pure, golden ichor.]
Sunny couldn't believe his eyes, a drop of ichor, the second one he held.
'What… How…'
Processing the fact that this was the second blood of a God he grasped in less than a year was… A lot.
But as he calmed down… A realization dawned on him, it wasn't a God's ichor, it couldn't be.
There were 6 Gods, 6 lineages.
His family, Song, had Beast God's.
Valor had War God's.
The House of Night had Storm God's.
Immortal Flame had Sun God's.
That… Thing, had Heart God's.
And he had Shadow God's.
There were theories that there was a seventh God thanks to the fact that the Spell insisted on always having 7 things for everything, but they were only that, theories.
There was only one other type of divinity, that only few knew the existence of…
"Daemons…"
Even his mother knew very little of them, but there was one thing they knew, Daemons didn't have any lineages. Yet this was Weaver's blood.
'Weaver… I only heard that name once, and it was when mother said that they were the Daemon of Fate.'
Coincidently, Sunny was both blessed, and cursed by Fate thanks to his attribute, [Fated].
Is that why Weaver's ichor found its way to him? Because he was fated?
'Wait… I didn't find this…'
He looked at the unconscious girl sleeping on the boat. More questions popped into his head.
'Cassie… Why were you up there?'
—
After some minutes, Cassie finally woke up.
Sunless was still deep in thought, so Nephis was the first to question how the girl was doing.
"Are you all right?"
Cassie looked at Changing Star after hearing her. Her glassy eyes were lost.
"Yes… I think so… I… Just need to think."
Understandable, it was a lot to process, it looked like she remembered something of being enthralled.
"Can you tell me everything that happened? In reality."
Nephis nodded and began to explain, Sunless kept silent, still thinking.
"I… Climbed the tree?"
"Yes, we don't know why though. Sunny brought you back while I made the boat."
Cassie looked confused by her own actions, but slowly looked to understand.
"Sunny, where was I? What was I doing?"
Sunless snapped out of his thoughts, and turned to Cassie.
"You were close to the top of the tree, close to a big egg, you were about to touch it, but I stopped you."
Cassie wasn't satisfied with the answer.
"What happened to the egg?"
"I killed it."
"Did you receive a Memory?"
"Yes, Cassie, I did. Where are you getting at?"
"Give it to me, please."
If Sunless wasn't concerned before, he was worried now.
"Cassie… Do you have any idea what this is?"
"Yes, I do, now give it to me!"
Nephis felt out of the loop for the first time since they met.
"What are you two talking about?"
Sunless' flaw forced him to answer, but he was so focused on the heated debate that he answered with the whole truth.
"About the lineage of the Daemon of Fate."
Nephis eyes widened, her face twisted in bewilderment for the first time since Sunless met her, but he couldn't admire it while debating with Cassie.
"You don't even know what the Daemons are and you want to take their lineage?"
"It's not about what I want, it's about what needs to happen!"
Sunless understood something. The reason why Cassie went up the Soul-Devouring Tree.
"You… You weren't enthralled when you climbed that tree…
You saw a vision of yourself climbing it to reach the egg…"
Cassie hesitated.
"Yes… I was sane when I climbed, I was already enthralled, but only lost my mental faculties when you dropped me."
"Why? Why go so far? Why search for this cursed lineage?"
Cassie lowered her head shamefully.
"Because… It is needed, if the lineage of Weaver doesn't have a holder, then a lot will change."
Sunless and Nephis looked at each other, then at Cassie.
"Cassie… How much did you really see?"
The blind seer shifted to the side, gripping her hands hard.
"When I met you, Sunny, I was confused. The night after I conquered my First Nightmare I had a vision about you."
Cassie then looked in his direction.
"But it showed someone in a completely different situation, you were on the outskirts, living on spare food, homeless.
Then I met you at the academy, and there you were, a legacy, beating everyone that challenged you and making friends with Caster.
I had another vision, one where it showed what your life really was, in Ravenheart.
I continued to have visions, one where you struggled, another where you thrived. Until we met here…
Until I saw you had the lineage of Shadow God with my aspect.
And the visions became clearer.
When I saw the future, you were the one that held Weaver's lineage, you were the one that was cursed by that thing…
I saw everything you suffered, what you lost, your destiny, all because you were the heir of Fate. I was horrified. But I also understood something, that you didn't need to be the one to carry the Daemon's lineage, there was a way to relieve you from that burden.
I... was awake when you had your argument with Nephis…
That was the moment I understood what Fate was telling me, that you were not the person that it foresaw, someone's choice changed what was written and now your destiny was different as a result.
I knew that you were never going to get Weaver's lineage…
You weren't the one meant to carry the burden anymore."
Cassie gave Sunless a sad smile.
"So I decided that I am going to carry that burden in your stead."
...
Sunless and Nephis stared at Cassie with unreadable expressions. Absorbing what she had just said.
'Fate… Changed?'
Sunless wasn't supposed to be the heir of Shadow God, or Beast God.
He wasn't even supposed to be the Prince of Song.
He was supposed to be a outskirts rat…
"Someone's choice… Mom…"
It was her, she was supposed to leave him behind, to leave the child of her friend to rot in the outskirts.
He was never supposed to meet his sisters, or even his teachers, his Fate was to suffer in the outskirts and then carry the burden of the Daemon of Fate, the most treacherous being in the Dream Realm.
The truth hit him like a truck, that was the reason he had the [Fated] attribute even though his source element was shadows.
"Mother… Changed Fate?"
Cassie reluctantly nodded.
"What she did was so different from what Fate demanded to happen, that it took a long time for it to auto-correct, leaving fragments of the original blueprint behind, letting me see what was originally planned."
Sunless was overwhelmed, he took his hands to his head, breathing heavily.
Nephis moved closer to Sunny, touching his shoulder in solidarity.
She then asked Cassie her own question.
"Is that why… You are always so nervous? Even though you can see yourself in the future?"
Cassie nodded.
"No one's life is certain in the grand tapestry of Fate. My aspect allows me to see it deeper than others, allowing me to see the paths.
I'm certain the absence of the heir of Fate brings too many uncertainties."
Sunless was still stuck in his mind, Ki Song had done the impossible… She was supposed to do nothing for him, to abandon him in some old orphanage to be forgotten…
But she didn't, she went against Fate…
For him.
And she didn't even know.
He grasped his chest tightly, feeling his blood flow, [The Blood's Shadow] flow.
Sunny looked up to see Cassie in the eyes.
"Are you sure you want this Cassie?"
The blind seer straightened up and answered confidantly.
"Yes, I am. I won't be a dead weight anymore."
Sunny looked at Nephis, looking for guidance.
The silver haired girl looked back, it was obvious that she was overwhelmed as well, even if it was much less than him.
Nephis' eyes didn't betray what she was feeling, nervousness, fear, uncertainty.
But in the end, she nodded.
Sunny sat up and walked to Cassie, kneeling as he touched her shoulder and transferred the [Drop of Ichor].
The castle finally appeared on the horizon.