Five hundred people stood silently in the magnificent great hall of the ancient castle. Beams of sunlight were falling through the tall windows, making the air appear bright and effervescent.
There was no sign left of the terrible bloodshed that had happened in this hall just a few weeks ago. The bodies were dragged away, the blood washed off the marble floors.
But the memory of it remained.
On the steps leading to a beautiful throne of white marble sat a young woman with silver hair. Her ivory face was distant, and her clear grey eyes were calm and heavy. Hundreds of people were looking at her, waiting quietly for their lady to speak.
Finally, Changing Star sighed. A moment later, her voice resounded in the throne room, reaching far and wide:
"Dreamers of the Forgotten Shore. A week ago, I sent several scouts into the Labyrinth to look for those young men and women who, like us, were sent to this cursed place. Among them was Nightingale, whom you all know. He spent seven days searching for them. But he didn't find anyone. Not even a single sign of their passing. This year… no one has come."
A wave of stunned whispers ran through the crowd. Sunny glanced at the faces of people gathered in the great hall, noticing different expressions on them. Confusion, fear, shock. However, it wasn't as bad as he had expected. No one seemed to become consumed by utter despair.
Instead, all of them turned to Nephis, hope burning in their eyes.
She was their hope. Until Changing Star was with them, they weren't going to give in to despair.
Indifferent to hundreds of eyes observing her every move, Neph continued:
"Many of you understand what that means. To those who don't, I will explain."
She lingered for a moment, throwing a glance at the walls of the ancient citadel. When she spoke, her voice seemed solemn:
"For many years, this castle served as a fortress for the humans sent to the Forgotten Shore. Some of you enjoyed the safety it offered, while others survived in the shadow of its walls. But none of us would have been here if not for the Bright Castle. It offered us protection against the dreadful beasts of the Dark City. It offered us shelter. However, this shelter was never free."
A dark expression appeared on her face.
"Some people lost their souls to preserve it. And many more lost their lives. Every year, hundreds of human lives were sacrificed to allow the Bright Castle to exist. And every year, hundreds more came to be thrown into its maw."
Sunny silently scoffed. She was making it sound as though the Castle was some creature that fed on human lives… not unlike the Soul Devourer, really. The meaning was subtle enough to not be obvious, but still affect the people gathered in the throne room. Observing them, he saw many Sleepers shiver and frown.
'...Insidious.'
Meanwhile, Nephis continued:
"But no more. There won't be anyone coming to the Dark City this year, just like no one will come after that. Without new people, the losses we suffer will slowly accumulate, until there is no one to man the walls, no one to fight off the Nightmare Creatures, no one to keep these halls safe. Until there is no more shelter. This end…"
She made a pause, and then said calmly and with frightening finality:
"...is inevitable."
Her words crashed into the crowd of Sleepers, causing a storm of emotions. Their eyes widened and their faces paled. The shock and fear they had felt grew tenfold.
As if to hammer the last nail into the coffin of their worldview, Changing Star said:
"Which means only one thing. We cannot remain in the Bright Castle anymore."
Screams rose from the crowd, full of disbelief and terror. There were many things people were trying to say, but they all boiled down to three:
"What do we do?!"
"How do we save ourselves?!"
…And:
"Save us, Changing Star!"
Sunny smiled.
Nephis remained silent for a while, letting the chorus of screams wash over her. And then, white flames ignited in her eyes, making everyone fall silent. Her voice resounded once more between the walls of the great hall, penetrating through the crowd like a sharp blade:
"But this not the end of us. A long time ago, I made you a promise. And I intend to keep it."
She suddenly rose, towering over the crowd like a shining, ruinous angel.
"Come with me! Follow me. Only I know how to save you."
The radiance of her flames reflected in the eyes of hundreds of people, making it seem as though their faces shone with an inner light. Her words had submerged them into utter darkness, and then gave them a beacon to find a way out of it.
That beacon burned with the most seductive of lights.
The light of hope.
And that hope was synonymous with her.
Changing Star slowly descended from the steps, her words echoing from the marble walls of the throne room:
"Follow me, and I will lead you out of this hell. Follow me, and I will show you the path back to your homes. But make no mistake…"
She stopped and remained silent for a few long moments. When she spoke again, her voice sounded calmer, colder…
Heavier.
"The road ahead will be long and arduous. Not everyone will make it. The weak will die. The strong will die, too. And those who remain won't be the same. But there is one thing I can promise you…"
Nephis entered the crowd and looked at the people surrounding her with absolute resolve burning in her beautiful eyes.
"Follow me… and you will never be slaves."
Sunny shivered, feeling as though she was speaking to him alone. Everyone in the great hall felt the same way, perhaps.
Staring directly into their souls, Changing Star spoke:
"...Slaves to your fear, slaves to your fate, slaves to the Nightmare Spell. Come with me, and whether you live or die, you will do so humans. Not cowering beasts."
She closed her eyes and exhaled, then looked down. Finally, she said, the passion disappearing from her voice:
"But… I will not force anyone to follow me. Ever. Whether you come with me or stay, it is your choice. There is no shame in staying. Those who do not wish to go may leave this hall right now."
Sunny looked at the Sleepers, trying to guess what their reaction would be. People were staring at each other, doubt and fear written on their faces.
Not everyone was enthralled by Changing Star. Not everyone was brave and strong. Not everyone was ready to die fighting.
…But in the end, not a single one of them left.
Nephis sighed and slowly turned her head west, as though trying to pierce the stone of the castle walls with her gaze. After a while, she said:
"Good. I am glad. Then it's decided."
She turned to face them, furious white flames illuminating her pale face:
"Then the day after tomorrow… we will leave the Bright Castle. The day after tomorrow, we march on the Crimson Spire!"
On the last day they would spend in the Dark City, Nephis led a small group of her most powerful warriors on one last hunt.
The members of her cohort were all following behind her. Sunny, who stubbornly refused to accept his status as one of them, walked apart from the group, idly looking around and observing the ruins.
Gemma and Seishan were also with them, as well as ten or so of the most experienced hunters — some of them formerly from the Host, some formerly from the outer settlement. There was no difference between the two anymore.
All of them were simply Changing Star's people now.
As they were walking, Gemma approached Sunny and glanced at him with curiosity.
After Tessai had fallen to Neph's blade, the tall man seemed to have found some measure of peace. Somewhere deep in his eyes, however, there always was a hint of sorrow.
Sunny stared at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
The hunter smiled slightly and asked in a friendly tone:
"You're Sunless, right?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Yeah, that's me."
Gemma silently measured him and then asked with interest:
"I've heard that you lived for months alone in the city. Is that true?"
'Ah, makes sense.'
The tall man was perhaps the most experienced hunter on the Forgotten Shore. He had survived countless battles on the streets of the cursed city. It was natural for him to be curious about this matter…
Sunny gave him a nod.
"Sure. A little over three months, I guess."
Gemma rubbed his chin, then asked bluntly:
"How did you survive?"
Sunny grinned.
How had he managed that, indeed?
"...Lots of hiding, lots of killing. A modicum of madness, and a little bit of luck."
Gemma stared at him for a bit, then chuckled.
"Sound about right, I guess."
After a while, he glanced forward at Changing Star and asked in a curious tone:
"Do you know what we are going to hunt today?"
Sunny looked at him with surprise:
"She didn't tell you?"
The tall man hesitated, then shook his head.
"She did. I'm just not sure that I believe it."
Sunny smiled and looked away.
"Ah, let me guess. Your first thought was that she had lost her mind. What can I say… get used to that feeling."
After a few moments of silence, Gemma sighed.
"But how can we kill it?"
'Poor guy…'
Sunny glanced at him, lingered for a bit, and then said:
"If my guess is correct, you know more about it than I do."
And just like that, their conversation ended.
By the middle of the day, they reached the eastern edges of the city and climbed the imposing monolith of the great wall. Standing on top of it, they saw the colossal crater and the headless statue that stood not too far away, its one remaining hand thrust toward the skies.
Their prey was hiding in a vast underground chamber beneath that statue.
Today, they were going to hunt the Lord of the Dead.
***
At the base of the statue, the second arm of the Priestess lay in the mud. Thousands of years ago, it had broken off and fell, crashing through the dome of the underground chamber. Now, there was a chasm in the ground that led into the lair of the Lord of the Dead.
Many months ago, Sunny and the rest had used that breach to escape from the catacombs. Now, they were going to use it to descend into that darkness, instead.
The ghastly master of the catacombs waited for them below. Sunny wasn't really surprised that Nephis had chosen to return to this place. After all, the mountainous abomination was most likely guarding the last of the seven Shard Memories.
However, he was really curious about how exactly she was planning to kill it.
Once everyone gathered around the hole in the mud, Changing Star glanced at him and said:
"Sunny, can your shadow take a look at the burial chamber?"
With a shrug, he sent the shadow into the breach. It slid on the mud and entered the dark hole, then hid in the palm of the giant stone hand and cautiously looked down.
The mountain of human bones was still there, in the middle of the vast circular chamber.
However, it looked very different from how it had been before.
Countless green vines were growing from the mass of bones, some of them comparatively thin, others as thick as a human body. They weren't growing just between the ancient remains: the vines were bursting through the bones, too. Almost as if feeding on them.
The Lord of the Dead seemed… weaker. More brittle. As though it was sick, sapped of its strength and infected by a terrible parasite.
Sunny commanded his shadow to look closer, and finally noticed the thing that he had expected to see.
A small wooden box lay on the floor of the underground chamber, open and empty. The exact same box Nephis had mysteriously entrusted to Caster as soon as they were back in the Dark City.
From the words the outer settlement hunter, that box had appeared on his pillow with a small note. That note had been written by Changing Star's spy — Seishan. And the contents of the box had been created for her by Kido, who was now dead.
Kido had been the leader of the Artisans. Her Aspect Ability allowed her to control and alter plants.
This bone-eating vine, as it turned out, was her last creation and final masterpiece.
Turning to Nephis, Sunny hesitated for a moment and then spoke, his words causing a subtle reaction in Gemma:
"The tyrant is heavily infected by Kido's vine. It seems to be considerably weakened."
Changing Star nodded and remained silent for a few moments. Then, she said:
"Once we enter the chamber, the Lord of the Dead will attack us. Now that its power is reduced, and with the help of the Dawn Shard, we should be able to survive the onslaught. We should also be able to wound, and eventually kill it."
Looking at the faces of everyone gathered in the shadow of the headless statue, she nodded and headed toward the breach.
"Let's go."
***
Soon, Sunny was trying to survive the fury of the Lord of the Dead once again. But this time, it was not as hard as it had been before.
He had become stronger, and the horrible creature had become weaker. His Memories were augmented by the Crown of Dawn, and Saint was now a demon.
There were also more humans resisting the tyrant today.
…That was not to say that the battle wasn't harrowing and perilous. In fact, it was utterly lethal.
The humans fighting the monumental Nightmare Creature were surrounding it, dodging the long limbs of the tyrant and trying to attack it when an opportunity presented itself. Kai was zipping in the air, providing support and bringing the wounded away from the fight.
They were only alive because the attacks of the Lord of the Dead were now slower and less devastating than before. With some preparation, both Effie and Saint could withstand one or two with the help of their shields. Caster was able to deliver several cuts to it with its ghostly blade, while Seishan had broken one limb completely with her graceful war hammer.
Each strike of the Sunlight Shard seemed to bring immense pain to the Lord of the Dead.
But nothing hurt it more, of course, than the incandescent blade of Changing Star.
Together, they dealt more and more damage to the terrible creature, despite the fact that many of them were now either severely wounded or dead. The tyrant was being consumed from within by the green vines, and broken from the outside by their weapons.
And then, after a long and arduous battle, a huge lair of bones fell from the body of the Lord of the Dead, revealing its inner core.
That core, which was made of human skulls and coagulated blood, was absolutely terrifying, malignant, and abhorrent. In its death, a shape of a fat white maggot could be seen, curled into a ball.
At that moment, Effie suddenly stepped forward, twisted her body… and threw the Dusk Shard as a discus with a deafening cry.
The shield that was said to contain the weight of the heavens streaked through the air with terrible speed and hit the inner core of the tyrant, crushing through it like a wrecking ball. It cut the maggot in half and exited the body of the Lord of the Dead from the other side in a torrent of broken bones. Then it fell to the ground, shattering the stone floor of the chamber and sending a net of cracks running through it from the point of impact.
The mountain of bones froze, the shuddered.
And then, it crumbled.
Everyone stared at Effie, shocked, hope burning in their eyes.
On her face, there was a dark, mournful expression. Belatedly, Sunny remembered that the members of the original cohort that the boisterous huntress had belonged to all perished here, killed either by the undead army or the Lord of the Dead itself.
A few moments later, Effie sighed and turned her face away, hiding it from everyone. Then, she raised a hand and made it into a fist.
That was her letting them know that she had received a Memory from the kill.
A Shard Memory.
The last one there was.
After everything was done and Nephis used her flames to heal those who survived, they returned to the city through the catacombs.
Perhaps she wished to eviscerate the army of undead monsters that were now left without the tyrant to bring them back to life. But in the end, they were met with nothing but silence.
The horde of ferocious skeletons that had once almost cost Sunny and the rest of the cohort their lives was no more. The dark tunnels stretching beneath the ruins were littered with piles of bones, which were slowly turning into dust. It seemed as though the moment the Lord of the Dead had been destroyed, its servants had perished, too.
After a while, the group of humans emerged from the collapsed tower of the lighthouse and continued on its way back to the Bright Castle.
They were going to spend their last night there before leaving the Dark City behind.
***
In a small room in the depths of the ancient citadel, seven people gathered around a table.
They were Sunny, Nephis, Cassie, Caster, Effie, Kai, and Seishan.
Beyond the walls of the castle, the absolute darkness of the night had devoured the world. Nightmare Creatures were prowling the cursed ruins, and somewhere far away, black waves were crashing against the indomitable granite surface of the city wall.
Inside, the cold light of a Memory lantern illuminated their faces.
Strangely, everyone was silent, as though not sure what to say. Finally, Sunny broke the silence by yawning loudly.
"Shall we get on with this? Tomorrow is going to be a long day, and some of us need their beauty sleep."
He threw a sideways glance at Kai, thought for a bit, and then added:
"Actually, every day after today is going to be a long one. So let's just do it."
Nephis stared at him for a few moments, then echoed his words:
"...Do it."
With that, they summoned their Memories.
An austere tachi and a ghostly stiletto appeared in Sunny's hands.
A graceful war hammer with a narrow beak appeared in Seishan's.
Effie summoned her beautiful bronze spear and a heavy round shield.
Finally, a simple band of metal decorated with a single gem weaved itself from light and rested gently on Changing Star's head.
They were the Shard Memories.
Dawn, Zenith, Dusk, Midnight, Sunlight, Moonlight…
…And Starlight.
The last Memory was a short, flowing white cloak that draped itself around Effie's shoulders. This was the Shard she had received after slaying the Lord of the Dead.
For a few moments, no one moved. Then, Effie said:
"So, uh… what now?"
Nephis titled her head a little, then frowned. Finally, after some time passed, she said:
"Come closer."
When they did, something unexpected happened. Sunny felt the hilts of his weapons suddenly growing hotter, and soon, both Midnight and Moonlight Shard began emanating a ghostly, ethereal light. The same was happening to the other shards.
Seven beams of light shot toward the center of the room and collided. Then, they fused with each other, and soon, seven objects weaved themselves from that light and hovered in the air.
They were keys forged out of lustrous metal, with seven shining stars engraved on their surface.
It was the manifestation of the terrible oath that the seven heroes had given all those thousands of years ago. The keys that were used to seal the curse of the all-consuming darkness underground.
Suddenly, the seven keys turned into streams of light and shot toward each of the seven people gathered in the room.
One beam hit Sunny in the chest and disappeared, absorbed into his core.
The voice of the Spell resounded in his ears:
[...You have received an Oath Key.]
Sunny shivered. He didn't want anything to do with that morbid oath.
…But in the end, he had no other choice.
Glancing at the rest of the people gathered in the room, Changing Star lingered for a moment, and then said:
"We're ready."
***
In the dim light of dawn, the gates of the castle opened for the last time. A long procession of humans walked through them, leaving the ancient citadel that had sheltered them for so long.
They walked under the swinging skulls, not paying them any attention. In the aftermath of all the strife, no one had bothered to remove the ghastly things from their chains.
It was not like anyone could have forgotten the hundreds of lives lost in the struggle, and thousands of deaths before that, even if the skulls were removed.
Five hundred people descended the hill and entered the Dark City. A few Nightmare Creatures tried to attack them, and were eviscerated before managing to do any harm.
These five hundred humans were not a defenseless crowd. They were a battle-hardened army, one comprised of exceptionally powerful Sleepers… the most powerful Sleepers to ever be born from the human race, perhaps.
They moved the ruins, cutting down anything that dared to block their path. Soon, the Sleepers approached the western boundary of the Dark City and scaled the ancient wall.
There, they stopped and turned, staring at the silhouette of the Bright Castle in solemn silence.
…By then, pillars of black smoke were billowing from each of its windows. Soon, the whole castle was enveloped by furious flames, which slowly devoured the white stone of its walls. The magnificent marble cracked and melted, destroyed by the terrible heat. The smaller towers swayed and moved, and then fell into the terrible crucible.
The fire was slowly destroying the Bright Castle, turning it into a molten ruin.
In a sense, this was fitting. After all, everything else in the Dark City had been ruined a long, long time ago.
Surprisingly, this act of destruction was not Changing Star's idea. She wasn't the one who ordered to burn the Bright Castle behind them, like a final gesture to hammer it into everyone's souls that there was no way back anymore. Sunny would have expected something like that from Nephis.
But no, it was the decision of the people themselves.
They wanted to destroy the ancient citadel, because they hated it. They hated these ancient, bloodsoaked stones only a little bit less than they needed them to survive.
And now that they were leaving, they wanted to erase the Bright Castle from existence. Perhaps if it was gone, the memories of all the darkness that they had witnessed there, and were the perpetrators of, would disappear with it.
After a while, the misshapen, twisted silhouette of the dying fortress was completely hidden by the fire and smoke. Slowly, the silent Sleepers turned away from that sight and looked far away into the distance.
They were looking west.
That was where they were going.
To lay siege to the Crimson Spire.
One after another, the Sleepers descended from the wall and left the Dark City behind.