Sunny and the others go out to help him make a new core. I'm less then halfway done, how the hell is that bastard so fast in making them? I stick around the sanctuary to power up spider queen. I dump out all of the very many soul shard i had collected. I wave my hand
"Crush them then."
I slump on my chair bored. I start reading with mostly disinterest. What should I make next? Oh I know, a gun. Imagine that, how cool would that be? I could use flames delayed ice flame things to fling the bullets.
As of recently flames been around the sanctuary, mostly hanging out with N. He seemed a bit freaked out by it at first but now N tends to use flame to carry his stuff.
Its pretty damn funny to witness. Singer has been singer, the odd thing about her is to power her up, using soul shards simply does not work. There's also her description
[A beautiful woman stared into the distance "deal? You want a deal?" She did not look back at the voice behind that demonic mask. "Yes. I want to make a deal" she reached touching the chain around her neck "I still have more to do"]
What exactly does that mean? I'm pretty sure singer is the woman but who was speaking to her and why? Why had the description gotten longer after she did the weird thing with the chain around her neck?
If she had absorbed some piece of the divine lineage of shadow god, that means that each chain represents a divine lineage. If that's so then which chain is which? The one around her chest is likely heart god, maybe the legs are storm and beast, then hands would be war and sun.
Why shadow is around her neck, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll find out when she has more divine lineage chains. She has seemingly gotten stronger after the first so I'll look into that. I don't think she needs weavers lineage, or she would have asked.
Apparently sunny's weird echos need memories but needs within the 100s to level up, and mine need 1000s, flame needed 3000, now 4000, spider needs 2000. Lucky bastard, then again he needs memories and those are so rare. So maybe not lucky per-say. Then again I've been giving him my jack memories. Lucky bastard!
I wander over to N. I pull out a chair and I sit down drawing him. Its not too easy as, well, his outfit is simply a pain to draw. He's in a long flowing silk gown, very fancy, very annoying to draw. That and getting his face down isn't too easy.
He is both pretty and handsome in a way that's hard to get down. Flame snorts, N looks down from sculpting then he turns his to me, I have my pencil up trying to figure out the proportions.
"Oh ■■■■! I didn't see you there"
He glances at my fold out chair confused
"A chair. You keep a chair in that satchel?"
I nod proud
"Of course I do, I mean a portable seat, doesn't that sound amazing"
He nods like its great wisdom
"Yes it in fact amazing...."
He zones out for a few seconds
"Are you drawing me?"
I glance down
"Yeah"
He puts his tools down and walks over looking over what I've done so far.
"You definitely know how flatter"
I look at it
"Your outfit is hard to get down"
He laughs
"is that so?"
He looks it over
"Oh you even got the dust in my hair"
He sighs dramatically
"Its quite hard to get out"
Oh, i start digging in my bag. I hand him a bottle of shampoo and conditioner
"I've found these get dirt and other such things out very well"
He stares at it
"You give away a lot of things"
I shrug
"I got it for Kai but...."
I let that one sit.
"Oh. What did he look like before?"
Trying to lighten the mood it seems. I flip through a few pages finding the one of Kai
"Oh, Oh my i can see why sunless described him like that. Goodness he was a pretty one, nearly as handsome as I am"
N seems dumbfounded by Kai's appearance.
I sit on a chair with N as he makes some tea, he was waiting for sunny to come around i think. His rooms a mess but... I cant judge him, i am not going to pelt stones in a glass house. He's still peacefully making tea, for himself of course, I don't really like tea so I was drinking some soda. N had tried some but did not like it.
I didn't know he liked tea. The others had gotten back not that long ago. I look over noticing sunny with a look of dread on his face. Did he get bigger when he made a new core. Must just be a shadow spawn thing.
"Sunless! What a nice surprise. Wait… did something about you change?"
He looks to me for support, I nod
"More horns, darker skin, bigger, sharper claws, darker eyes, wait how did you break your horn?"
I hadn't noticed it before but his horn was broken!
"...Back in the Temple of the Chalice. You… you are drinking tea?"
The what? Well, no doubt sunny got whoever broke his horn back two-fold, that's sunny for you.
"What a prudent observation. Come… let's not let this nice tea get cold."
The tea pot starts flying, of course it can fly. I want cool flying things. I've heard sunny can make memories now, I can probably get him to make me things. Just as me and sunny are about to follow along he looks back, glancing at the ruined floor
"That, uh… try not to step on anything that seems to be… actually, just don't move at all! We don't want for anything to happen, right?"
I glance at sunny as he glances at me. He turns into a shadow appearing next to N i active my cloak and I hop in the air over.
"Why? What's under there?"
N smiles, although its the hiding some thing smile
"Oh, nothing. Just a, uh… a memento from an old friend. Don't worry about it!"
Not quite a lie.... well no use in prying that's rude after all. Me and sunny follow N up a set of stairs. That's a cool tea pot. I want cool flying things. We sit down at a table overlooking the sanctuary.
"It has begun, hasn't it? The other Chain Lords, they are ready to make their move"
I glance at sunny, oh, is that why he made that expression? How does he know?
"Oh, indeed. I suspect that their herald will arrive in a few days. So… you might want to relax for a bit. Enjoy the tea. This will probably be the last moment of peace you will have for a while. Or maybe even the very last."
Oh that is.... morbid but true. Although sunny's going to survive, that's what he's good at, staying alive.
"I am going to miss this, I think."
N looks at sunny
"Tell me, Sunless… why are you here? It is no surprise that someone like me would want to free Hope. But what would compel a shadow like you to attempt it, as well? You must know the risk."
Sunny sighs, clearly troubled
"To tell you the truth… I don't really know. I used to know, or at least think that I knew. I had lofty desires. To grow stronger than others, to break free from the chains of fate. And maybe… maybe I harbor those desires still. But after coming to this cursed land and being ground into dust by it… now, everything is so unclear. And my ardent desires suddenly seem so… lacking."
He pauses trying to think what to say, or I think thats why
"Or maybe it's just me who is lacking. And lost."
Sunny's lacking in goals? I don't think he understands what normal people are like. To make 4 cores in about 2 years, that's insane almost completely impossible for anyone else. Is he comparing himself to Changing Star?
"What is it that you think you are lacking? And from what are you lost?"
Sunny stays silent for longer then normal
"How should I know? If I had an answer for that, I wouldn't be feeling this way, would I?"
I look away into the sky. Feelings are.... both somehow the most realistic things around and most unreliable things aren't they?
"Have you heard the legend of a hero named Odysseus?"
N stays silent clearly trying to figure out if he knows the name or not
"A good friend told me that legend. Odysseus spent ten years away from home, fighting a war in a distant land. And then, he spent ten more years trying to find his way back home. He lost all his friends and endured countless hardships, facing terrible monsters and dangerous beings of all sorts. But he never gave up, and eventually returned home. To Ithaca."
After a little sunny sighs
"I feel like Odysseus, too, sometimes. Lost in a distant land. Only, unlike him, I don't have a home to want to return to. I have nothing to strive for, apart from saving my skin, keeping my friends alive, and maybe living a little bit better than a wild beast. Can someone really be lost, if they don't belong anywhere?"
N doesn't speak for a while. When he does it comes off mostly as solemn but there's a hint of something I hear in Effie ever so often
"I see. I understand... so what you lack is a house? That is why you are trying to free Hope? To get a house? Wait… Sunless, are you trying to say that you want to repossess the Ivory Tower?!"
I snicker looking back to the two, sunny looks frankly outraged
"Pfft we own a house. Me and sunny are actually very rich i'll have you know"
Sunny glares N then almost hisses his next words, makes sense for the faces he's got right now
"What even… no, that is not what I am saying! Home is just a metaphor, you immortal fool!"
N stares at him with a very much deadpan expression, its hard to tell if hes messing with sunny or serious
"What's a metaphor?"
Sunny looks completely dumbfounded as he goes to answer the whole place shakes. My head snaps to the side trying to see what did that
"What… the hell… was that?"
"It's their herald, I guess. He seems to have arrived sooner than I expected… ah, what a bother. We didn't even get to drink the whole pot…"
He drinks the last of his tea and stands up i follow along, is it time to kill someone?
"A metaphor is a figure of speech… uh... sort of like an analogy?"
N looks over a mix of surprise and dumbfounded confusion
"I must say, your composure is commendable, Sunless. However… do you really think that this is very important right now? Come now, we need to meet our visitor before he reaches the Sanctuary."
N gestures at his flying ship, i want a flying ship.
"Uh... no. I don't. Why can't we meet the herald here, though? No, wait… if he did not even reach the Sanctuary yet, why is the island shaking?"
N shrugs and floats, that's very cool, to the ship. I jump forward activating my cloak. I know their speaking but what their saying i don't know.
I land on the ship just as everyone else gets up. Cassie isn't it.
"Seems they sent something big"
I jog over
"Any ideas"
Kai's fists curl up
"It's.... the sun prince im sure of it"
Isn't that the metal giant one, wait metal giant?
"Yes the one under shipwreck island."
Oh damn i start stretching it seems we will have to fight a titan sized saint today. Effie looks at me not very entertained
"Sometimes I think your too sane other your completely insane"
I shrug
"Nobody is crazy all the time"
Cassie turns her head towards us
"We won't be fighting him today"
I nod.... iron hand island. Oh, oh ho ho, how fun to make a landmark!
I lean over the railing watching islands flow past us, is it that different from riding on a PTV? My head snaps up as a massive metal giant jumps from a island. It almost reminds me of the walking statue of the builder but this one is not against the darkness, in spite of the cruel world but simply to follow a gods will who does not care.
We are going to kill that? Well so be it. Its just a saint, and by my metrics their older and smarter but not much stronger then waking world saints. With the right type advantage and a saint of our own we could kill one.