I stare out at the water after helping repair the ship. Dread, thats the closest name I can put to my feelings. The reason is very very simple, that handwriting. It isn't the same as the one the corrupted version of me has.
They both come from the same roots, my current self. While the plague version is neat, it's also clearly done fast as if the maker simply wanted to get it done fast then leave.
The one down there is less neat, but done slower with more effort and time. I'm not sure what it means is the thing. Its easy enough to put it together that this is a future version of the chain breaker from after we complete this nightmare. It was my handwriting, so there's of me to consider.
Me as of now, the corrupted me and the future me. The plague version seems to have no interest in coming to find me, waiting at the end of this nightmare I think, the future version seems to have wanted to either warn me, or to give me time to cope.
I think he means sunny. As prince, well simply unless he does something insane after, isn't a person so close i need to be warned about. As for kai, I am not sure why he would want to leave the cohort. Lastly sunny, if it was to get rid of shadow bond I can fully see him leaving. I wouldn't even be mad unless it puts us in danger, so its likely thats when he will leave, before a big battle.
We get moving after only a day. Mostly due to my summons fixing everything up with my help of course. I keep staring out at the water.
"So what does getting a new core even do for you?"
I turn my head towards sunny then I put on a smile and I shrug
"Well, it makes my ice stronger, and I can make far more. Also the amount of essence and all that goes up of course."
He nods hes about to speak when I speak first
"Yours gives you a new shadow. It is weird they all have personalities though I will admit it"
He stares at me slowly blinking then he glances at his 5 shadows
"I uh.... guess you noticed"
I nod
"I noticed after you became a devil i think."
He sighs
"Sometimes I forget you can actually do pay attention."
I shrug
"I don't like to pry"
I stare at the collective of bodies on the deck. I wave my hand they they start bringing take apart by the summons. I notice kelly and luke bantering. Thats when sunny appears covered in blood. I nod to the now very big fiend
"You should probably get that one a few water based attributes. Your other echos are of any help in that regard."
He nods then scowls
"Not everyone can have a echo for every situation."
I think for a while
"I dont have one for underground yet."
He only seems more annoyed
"What, will you hunt down every creature that dwells underground together one?"
I nod
"Yeah. Yeah that seems like a good idea"
I walk away to think of what to kill and where it would be normally found. It would be fine if its of a lower rank and class, I can raise those. I would prefer if it was of a higher class and rank though.
"...Damnation"
I hear sunny bark into the open air
"What?! What the hell was that?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack, you damned Spell?! Think before you speak, damn it!"
I look up from my bowl of synth mashed potatoes at sunny who's waving a hand into the air. He puts it down looking at the dawn shard
"So, your name actually changed to the Crown of Dawn. Ah... how fitting."
He is quite weird.
I grab sunny by the shoulders. He jumps a little
"Now that your done with that, I'd love for that commission to be done"
He looks back
"The storage memory I've looked at are both incredibly complex. It will take a while. It would help if I can have that bag for a while. It may be of a lower rank but it can hold almost infinite items and that takes a while to study"
The greatest memory in existence, the mimic, is his. And also
"Its a satchel. And fine"
I toss him my bag
"I will warn you, if you destroy that satchel ill kick your ass its a promise. Also if you can add the ability to change shape to whatever you make"
He nods
"I'll try to"
I sit in my room. I put my hands together i have to ask, I really do. I summon singer
"So. Why exactly have you made no attempt to get war and sun gods lineages? You've been around both nephis and morgan for some time"
She tilts her head words appear in the air
"Oh it seems you are unaware. I can only do so at certain moments."
I nod then I point down at the floor board
"What does it mean?"
She tilts her head
"I am not from the future how would I know."
I scowl. It seems it won't get anywhere at the moment I desummon her and I get up.
I add the little gems to the helm of screams. I have to look cool as all hell. I'll be appearing at a human city! And quite frankly my awkward looking days have to be over. I will not look weird! Probably. Also I jut have to get sunny a new gray sweater, those contemptible bugs destroyed the one i had gotten for him! And of course new gloves as well. I go to the front edge of the ship where neph and sunny are. Sunny had summoned fiend and saint just in case of course. I look at them.
"Ready?"
Neph nods and sunny sighs
"Mostly"
"Of course"
Then we jump onto the dock. We find a group of weird old people
"We have come from the far reaches of the future in search of Fallen Grace, the last bastion of the River People. We mean no harm... unless you do us harm. I am... "
Ine of them steps forward
"M-my Lord... you... are you the Children of Weaver?"
I look at old man with a raised eyebrow.
"Indeed. We are Changing Star, Heat Seeker and Sunless, Children of Weaver."
The group of people all light up
"Of course!"
"It's them!"
"Just like the Lady foretold!"
"Praise the Lady!"
What the fuck is happening? The one who spoke bows
"It is our honor to meet you. We welcome you to Fallen Grace, esteemed guests."
He then straightens up looking at us in awe
"Lady Dusk has been awaiting you for a long, long time..."
So we are a known factor.
I walk at the front. Just in case you know. Their all old, from what sunny and neph told me that means their far upstream. For a few reasons why, they could have wanted to escape something, likely not a plague as those would have killed everyone, so a normal nightmare creature. From something the guy says to sunny. It seems I'm right. We are lead to a marble building. When we enter and with a bit of walking we come to dusk. No not dusk.
"Cassie?"
I admit I blue screen for some time. Dusk, or that corrupted version, had nearly killed us. I don't know what to think with cassie now being Dusk. Did Dusk look exactly like cassie and thats why nobody noticed? I come back to reality after the other people are sent away
"These are my guards. Don't mind them... they are deaf, and won't hear us."
Yes those guards. Their weapons, i dont think their to kill nightmare creatures but... more so cassie herself. What exactly is happening that they would need guards to kill her. Is it related to why there's corrupted versions of us?
"Do not touch me"
Cassie laughs
"Wow, only in the worst of situations can I get a hug?"
I nod
"Yes."
She shakes her head with a fond smile. Sunny sighs
"We're glad to be here, as well. But... do you mind explaining what is going on? Starting with why you are chained, please."
Her smile fades a bit clearly not the most happy but still
"Sure. But not here... this hall is too oppressive. Follow me."
We follow her through very clean but.... not very comforting white halls.
"...I entered the Nightmare around a year ago. It was very disorienting, as you must have experienced yourself. Especially once I realized that I had taken the place of Dusk, the sybil of Fallen Grace. Dusk... I don't know how powerful she was, exactly, but she must have been at least a Transcendent. While I am not."
How had they not noticed...? Then again, the humans of our time and the Chain Lords are outliers. The chain lords lived for thousands of years and us... well we live in constant neverending danger. And cassie is one of the best of the best masters. So its not shocking it wasn't noticed.
"The last sybil."
She looks at sunny with a almost heartbroken smile
"Yes. The last. Although... I wasn't so at the start."
Neph frowns deeply at the implications.
"Wasn't so? What do you mean?"
Cassie thinks for a while
"The sybils were oracles once. The revelations they received came from the gods. But then, the gods grew silent... and, one after another, the sybils turned to another source of knowledge. The Estuary. What revelations do you think they received from there?"
The three look over
"Sunny can weave remember? The mad prince might have made a memory to enter dreams. Plus with the fact he knew where we would be then boom we have our culprit"
I scowl
"So... you guessed who the seven Plagues are, too."
Cassie nods slowly
"I did... who they are, but not how they are. The Great River is a strange place. Many things that should not be possible anywhere else are possible here."
The two had said that this was a river going from past to future infinity. How can a straight line be infinite?
"The Seven Plagues - I had to learn a lot about them, since they are the main threat to Fallen Grace. It was hard not to draw conclusions in the process. Strangely enough, though, none of them participated in the attacks on the city during the year I've spent here."
Neph looks at her, a slightly disturbed look in her eyes
"Were you serious about what you said? That Torment might be responsible for us coming here?"
Cassie shakes her head
"Not really. She strikes me as someone far too wild and damaged to come up with such an intricate scheme. She's dangerous, though... after the Dread Lord, she has to be the most dangerous of the Plagues. Simply because of her foresight."
It wouldn't make sense... I snap
"It was the mad prince!"
The three look at me with different expressions each but all a silent question.
"Well you see, sunny can weave. Thus so can the mad prince. All he would need to do is make a memory that lets him into dreams from there, it would be easy for him to set everything up."