1 Chapter one : Onyx ring

A/n: I hate writing in third POV but shadow slave won't be shadow slave without the third POV. Prove me wrong ;)

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Third Pov:

A large and lonesome dark temple stood tall against the raging winds. illuminated by the moonlight, Its colossal black columns and walls gave an eerie atmosphere as it was cut from black marble, with exquisite reliefs decorating the stygian pediment and broad frieze. Jagged and proud, it imitated a fearsome and dreadful aura. On the last standing peak of the mountain range.

Cutting the night sky with the sharp edges of its half-broken watchtower. A radiant half-hidden red moon bathed its slopes in a ghostly crimson light. Under that light, walked a slender young man wearing a dark buttered mantle, his porcelain face riddled with gashes and wounds, drowning in the shadows. His lightless eyes were like two pools of unfathomable darkness, cold and piercing, yet broken and fragile. There was a crown of black metal resting on his head, shaped to resemble a twisting serpent. the young man's looks matched the gloominess of the scene: wounded and staggering, bloodied and half dead.

The young man looked like a walking corpse. As his mantle shrunk and dissolved into his skin. His tunic and cloak were torn and smeared with blood. His sunken eyes were cloudy and lifeless. His body was bruised, stabbed, and cut. There were specks of bloody foam on his lips. He was hunched over, cradling the left side of his chest while leaning on his steed. Each step caused him to moan, ragged breath barely escaping through gritted teeth.

Sunny was hurting all over.

He was Both mentally and physically exhausted.

And to top it all he was emotionally drained.

He just wanted to lie down on the flat rocky steps in front of the dark temple and fall asleep and never wake up again. But instead, he continued walking forward nevertheless.

Although There was no point in it he just didn't want his pursuer to have the satisfaction of catching him.

After all, he was spiteful by nature.

Especially toward the creature that snatched away everything he ever loved from him.

Gallup

Gallup

Gallup

Step

Step

Step

Looking ahead, the scene felt oddly familiar. Sunny gritted his teeth and took a step forward toward the terrifying temple.

Soon enough he reached the door of the temple which was slightly open. His survival instincts screamed out danger, but with nowhere else to go he had no choice but to venture into the maw of whatever abomination resided there.

Exactly five steps away from the slit of the magnificent temple door. Sunny took a deep breath, the temple turned out to be much larger than Sunny had thought, but nowhere near the scale of the Crimson Spire. That cursed thing seemed to be too gargantuan to even exist.

The door alone was around eight to twelve meters in height and four to six meters in width. Not to mention that the door itself looked at least a couple of inches thick. Its surface was riddled With an uncountable number of runes chaotically.

Whatever was residing there Sunny was going to face it or die trying. As time passed his shadow senses were narrowing at a terrifying speed indicating that the clutches of his pursuer were closing down on him while getting closer and closer.

Sunny looked to his side, toward his trustworthy steed with a pained expression. His steed was as stubborn and resilient as his master was, despite his horrible injuries he refused to fall. A hoarse laugh escaped his bloodied lips.

'How ironic'

Sunny thought

Despite not being the toughest nor the smartest here he was, alone as the last one standing. Albeit it wasn't going to last that long either.

'When was the last time I was alone like this?'

Sunny asked himself mockingly.

it was at least well over four to five years ago, all the way back to his isolated days in the Dark City. There was a time when he liked being alone, it was much more peaceful and less stressful. In a place where he only needed to think about his survival.

'I won't really mind going back to it'

Sunny thought as he scuffed

Looking back at it again he must have felt lonely, lost, and abandoned but was too stubborn and naïve to admit it.

Taking a slight glance at the horizon behind him, There was nothing but ruins, As far as the eye could see. Bathing the scene in a crimson light, the moon illuminated the world indifferently as it turned it into a scene from a feverish nightmare.

Far into the horizon, there was a mysterious black cloud expanding itself in every direction at an alarming rate.

Sunny's face darkened

'Asterion'

'The Oldest Goul'

As his thoughts drifted toward the unwanted and painful memories. With it came a surge of unrestrained emotions.

It was excruciating... it was unbearable.

breathing became as hard as it could ever be, as the torrent of emotions continued to surge: grief that threatened to drown everything in its path, a gnawing guilt that ate away at the foundations of his soul, regret like a hurricane, blowing away years of growth and progress... and rage. Rage like a forest fire, burning out of control.

these emotions like disasters wreaking havoc inside his heart, tearing away at Sunny's mind and soul.

Memories of his cherished companions begin to resurface.

Cassie, Effie, Kai and...Nephis.

'No!'

Sunny recoiled from the names and the memories, pulling away instinctively like a hand from a flame, unprepared for the pain associated with them.

His stomach lurched and his chest tightened as he held back a dry sob. He squeezed his eyes shut while grinding his teeth to try and contain himself.

Summoning Weaver's mask in a desperate search for guidance and.....distraction. Sunny took a deep breath. Now that he had nothing else to rely on nor anything to lose he could as well make one last gamble. This mask had already proven itself and saved him a couple of times. and Since he was a Transcendent Titan Sunny assumed that he should be able to gaze into the strings of fate for one to two seconds at most before his mind would start collapsing, and since his essence was almost depleted he was going to take the risk anyway.

The moment Sunny's essence touched the black wooden surface of the divine Memory, Weaver's Mask suddenly reached into his very soul and hungrily drank more... and then more, and more, and more.

In a fraction of a second, whatever was remaining from his reserve of shadow essence was sucked dry, with only a tiny bit of it remaining... almost as if these pitiful drops were not even worth being consumed by the mask.

An all too familiar horrifying pain pierced his eyes and his mind, akin to the suffering he had experienced the first time he activated the enchantment. Although it was supposed to be tolerable, his sorry state didn't leave any room for that, it was only becoming so much worse thanks to it.

Infinitely worse.

Holding on to the side of his steed he growled, all traces of intelligence disappearing from his voice, the world he saw changed.

Now All Sunny could see was an endless, beautiful eternity of twisting threads. Those threads transfixed everything in existence, connecting every living being and every object, every thought, and every concept, every dream and every nightmare and every rune, stretching infinitely into every direction, as well as into the past, the present, and the future.

These were the Strings of Fate.

They were just like the threads of light that the Spell was woven of, but while the magnificent and inconceivably complex pattern that Sunny had seen a couple of times in the empty void between dream and reality composed the function of the Spell, what he glimpsed right now connected... everything.

All of the universe as it had existed, was existing and was going to exist....

Back then when observing the weave of the Spell, Sunny could only sense and guess at its meaning. Thanks to his intuition and high affinity for divinity, the terrifying enchantment of Weaver's Mask not only allowed him to see the tapestry of Fate but also forced the understanding of it onto him.

The knowledge of everything, everywhere, all at once...Of course, such knowledge was too much for any human or a nightmare creature to endure even for a Transcendent Titan like him. Just the tiniest, infinitesimal amount of it was enough to instantly destroy any living being. except, for a god or a daemon.

Sunny didn't waste any time as he dissipated into the shadows. His vision shifted from that of a human to the colorless sight of a shadow, but he could still see the eternity of Strings of Fate.

There were many of them near him. The infinite threads were tightly wrapped around his body, as well as around his soul, encompassing and piercing it.

Throughout all of these Strings, seven golden strings were extending forward towards the Temple's door dashing through the door's slit and into its depths.

Immediately after that Sunny deactivated the enchantment, and collapsed to his knees breathing heavily.

Dismissing the Memory a tiny bit of essence flowed back into his Shadow core.

The tear marks on his cheeks had blended with his blood and had long-dried. Yet he was once again feeling his eyes blurring.

'Damnation!'

With a curse Sunny Stood up to his feet and staggered forward to push the door open, but to no avail. The door just refuses to be opened, and the only remaining choice he has left was to squeeze himself through the slit. Since he couldn't recklessly Shadow step toward the other side of the door, nor could he send his shadows to scout ahead.

'Whatever, What's the worst th—'

Sunny immediately stopped himself from saying anything else to continue that train of thoughts knowing very well what his disgustingly precious attribute [Fated] could do.

Without too much thought Sunny started squeezing himself through the slit as Nightmare dissolved into the Shadows.

Soon enough Sunny found himself in a grandiose hall. Cascade of Crimson moonlight was falling through the broken Tip of the watchtower directly above the center of the hall. Deep shadows were surrounding the uneven circle of the silver-Crimson light, not daring to touch them. The floor was covered in soot and dust under the moonlight in the center of the hall, a small altar was cut from a single piece of shining White marble. It was the only thing inside the temple untouched by the soot.

The altar was dry, Clean, and as small as a palm, Slightly above its surface hovered a single piece of a circular ring-like object. The object was an ebony black ring with a single trail of white flames Engraved and circulated its shape in an endless loop.

Gazing under its surface The black ring had no weave hiding beneath its surface, instead, it was full of blinding radiance, as if encompassing a boundless ocean of soul essence, with a single String of Fate placed into the pristine light as it folded on itself endlessly and formed a never-ending circle.

'The strings from before must have been leading to that ring but I only see a single String. What about the other Six Strings?'

Sunny averted his eyes away from the ring to examine the rest of the grand hall but there was nothing else aside from the altar.....and the Shadows....ancient Shadows.

'They are at least of the Divine rank'

Sunny contemplated between summoning the Divine Memory again or approaching the ring but soon settled for the latter. Although he couldn't dismiss the nagging feeling of the instinctive fear and dread he felt at the entrance. He was both pressed on time due to his fatal wounds and being under pursuit.

Moving forward Sunny walked ever so slowly toward the altar cursing the spell with every echo his footsteps made. Soon enough Sunny was in a hand-length of the Ring. Sunny shivered.

'Yeah, it doesn't look Ominous at all. I'm definitely not Scared.'

If Sin of Solace wasn't severely damaged and was in his Soul Sea recovering That wraith would have definitely made a joke of Sunny right now.

Just in case Sunny wrapped his shadows around himself and extended his hand toward the not-so-ominous-looking ring, The moment his fingers touched the ring it dissolved in an ethereal light.

Sunny was slightly taken aback by this but since he already went through it twice he quickly regained his composure.

Soon enough The Voice of the Spell rang with excitement.

[You have received a Memory!!]

With a bit of tension, Sunny dove into his Soul Sea and looked up at the spheres of light floating around the black suns of his Shadow Cores. There was a new one there, which seemed to be much brighter than the rest.

Sunny hesitated for a bit and summoned the runes that described it. What he saw made him take a step back.

Memory: [The Oldest Dream].

Memory Rank: Divine.

Memory Tier: VII.

Memory Type: Tool

Memory Description: [A ring as ancient as the time Made By an ancient Shadow. From the blood of the Hunter's Children, The Origin of Desire, the Descendants of the Light, the Dwellers of the Depth and the Pillars of Solace, and the Roots of all Hearts. To complete the Cycle of Birth and Death Once Again.]

Memory Enchantments : [ ??? ]

Usage: [ 6/7 ]

'And here I thought it wasn't Ominous'

Sunny let out An audible gulp thinking about what the description could've meant. Shaking his head Sunny looked at the Enchantment again.

'How strong Could a single enchantment be to require a divine Memory of the seventh rank with a limited usage just to be usable?'

Sunny shivered, just thinking about it gave him chills down his spine.

All of a sudden, an ear-piercing noise resounded through the hall. Sunny immediately withdrew from his Soul Sea and looked around him. The grandiose hall was crumbling as if it was finally catching up to the passage of time. A surge of Shadow essence was flowing in his Shadow Cores which meant that it was already dawn. but what caught his eye was the scenery above the altar. The crimson Moon that he got so used to ever since the Category 6 Gate Opened on The southern coast of Asia, was now being obscured by a veil of black clouds.

'Damnation!'

Sunny looked behind him toward the source of the loud noise of something heavy being dragged on a rocky surface.

The door was being pushed open!

Sunny looked perplexed as horror settled in his eyes.

Examining his condition Sunny was in no way able to fight. Let alone running he was already finding it hard to even stand.

Turning his head toward the shadows he was still unable to command an ancient divine shadow no matter what. It was only a matter of seconds before he would come face to face with the veiled creature.

Left with no other choice, Sunny summoned [The Oldest Dream] the memory took a couple of seconds to manifest itself which was the same amount of time needed for the door to be fully opened

A man in a rope walked through the now open door

He wore a worn-out rope that should be called rags. Deep black mist shrouded the hood and obscured his features.

If he had any.

An abnormally long black arms resting on either side of his torso. The same hands that Drove the Blind Saint to kill herself.

The hands That twisted the Neck of the gluttonous Saint.

The Hands that Strangled the over-attractive Saint.

The hands that forced the Star of Ruin to beg me to Kill her.

The hands that contained a portion of The 'Origin'.

Asterion.

Or his Corrupted Version.

Looking at Asterion Sunny's eyes were filled with hatred, resentment, and loathing.

'Ah...'

A soft, barely audible sigh escaped Sunny's lips. He was trembling all over, his mouth dry and his legs were losing their strength just by facing that veil creature.

That Creature was at least of the Cursed Rank.

Sunny without holding back activated the enchantment of the Ring pouring all his essence into the memory as well as wrapping six of his shadows around the memory in hopes to speed up whatever the enchantment will do.

It was only when he felt a slight prickle on his finger that he jolted out of his battle-clarity faze.

He had felt something. A few moments later, Sunny felt another prickle, this time spreading across his chest. Those pinpoints of sensation soon escalated into sharp, piercing pains, and each increasingly agonizing round of burning pain that stabbed at every millimeter of his body.

'Damna—!'

He was abruptly jolted out by the sensation of pin-pricks running up his entire body. It felt as if millions of insects were crawling all over him, beneath his skin.

A second wave came, stronger and more painful.

On the third wave, it felt like the millions of bugs underneath his skin erupted out of him.

He barely glanced at his hand through his turmoil but his hand was no more. It already turned into an ethereal light as if he was some sort of a memory. And soon his body followed.

Through the barely remaining consciousness he had, he looked toward Asterion. But to his surprise the moment That creature took a step forward into the temple, Six shadowy Tentacles surged from the temple tearing Asterion apart in an instant.

'Ah.....so they were guardians'

I should have waited just a little bit longer!

'Damnation!!'

Sunny cursed as he lost consciousness.

****************

"Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is..."

"Shut the hell up!"

The moment these words escaped his mouth a sense of déjà vu washed over him. The sound of waves being crushed against a dam filled his ears.

Jolting up Sunny realized that he was butt-naked. He summoned the [Shroud of Graceless Dusk] and looked around. Before him, A spacious and beautiful room stood, its stone walls were engraved with intricate patterns, creating an atmosphere of sanctity and elegance. The furniture was made out of pale polished wood, with several mismatched pieces...

Looking at one of the far walls that was riddled with hand-engraved lines. There were twenty-four sets of five on the wall.

It was a familiar space to him

A familiar room

It was the very first place he called home.

Sunny was once again in the Dark City.