Confrontation

The cohort of Sleepers walked on the bridge over the nameless river, leaving the dark maze behind. Soon, they could feel the mist surrounding them grow thinner.

And at some point, it was gone.

They crossed the river without any trouble and returned to solid ground again.

Making several more steps, Sunny stopped and finally allowed himself to tremble. Then, he opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice:

"Are we through?"

Although Cassie had not said anything about the need to remain quiet, each of them subconsciously avoided speaking ever since entering the mist. Because of that, the sound of his own voice startled Sunny a little.

A few moments later, Cassie answered in a hesitant tone:

"I… I think so?"

Without wasting any more time, Sunny untied the cloth that covered his eyes and removed the wax from them. Then, he carefully opened them and looked around.

They were standing on a stone shore inside a vast cave, through which the underground river was flowing unobstructed. Some distance away from them, the wall of the cave came down, with a mouth of a wide tunnel visible in it.

By his side, other members of the cohort were removing the strips of cloth. Sunny could hear the sighs of relief coming from them.

However, his attention was instantly drawn to Nephis, who had already opened her calm grey eyes and was looking at something behind him.

Turning around, Sunny followed her gaze… and froze.

Just a few meters away from them, on the shore of the dark river, he saw a human skeleton. It was sitting on the cold stones, its back straight, facing the water.

Unlike the ferocious undead from the catacombs of the Dark City, this one was tranquil and untouched by the corruption of the Forgotten Shore.

…This was the place where the First Lord of the Bright Castle had died.

---

The skeleton of the First Bright Lord was strangely well-preserved. It was sitting with its legs crossed, back straight, its hands resting on the hips, as if meditating. The skull of the First Lord gazed at the river with the dark chams of its empty eyes, strangely calm and at peace.

But the thing, they were looking for wasn't present on the skeleton.

"It isn't, here!" Nephis spoke.

"What! It was supposed to be here! I saw it in my vision." Cassie said agitatedly.

"Oh! The thing you guys were looking for isn't, here. So, what are we supposed to do now?" Sunny asked.

Nephis became silent, then her face hardened and she said,

"We move on and accomplish our other goal."

---

Eventually, they arrived at a vast cavern situated somewhere in the depths of the draconian mountains.

The cavern was large enough to fit the entire Bright Castle — and the hill it stood upon — inside of it. Witnessing its size, Sunny got an inkling that there was a reason why these mountains were called Hollow.

As his sight pierced the darkness ruling over the vast cavern, Sunny couldn't help but feel a deep sense of awe.

The floor of it was covered by black sand, while its walls glistened like obsidian. In the center of the cavern stood a giant pillar of dark stone. It was surrounded by massive scaffolds, which nevertheless looked tiny and insignificant on its surface.

The silhouette of an unfinished statue was easily discernable, cut from the giant pillar by the unknown sculptor. Its upper torso was almost finished, while the lower half was still encased inside the stone.

It was as though a dark giant was struggling to free himself from the pillar of stone that imprisoned him.

With a feeling of surprise, Sunny realized that he recognized the details of the unfinished giant's armor and shield. They were eerily similar to the armaments that the Black Knight guarding the ruined cathedral wore.

…And to the ones the Stone Saint wielded, too.

Looking up, he made sure that the head of the giant statue was missing.

'...Of course it is.'

All of that only took a fraction of a second.

Then, Sunny hastily looked down, trying to notice the guardian of this obsidian cave before the creature noticed them.

…But....

As soon as the members of the cohort entered the cavern, something moved in the darkness at the base of the statue, and then stepped forward.

Sunny shivered.

'Damnation!'

Layind on the black sand, a monstrous creature that resembled a cross between a lion and a raven stretched its numerous limbs. Its body was pale as a corpse, while its head and chest were covered with dark feathers. It was massive in size, with muscles rolling like steel cables under the skin.

The creature had two powerful hind legs and five more protruding messily from its wide chest, each ending with a set of deadly claws. It possessed was a long, jagged black beak and broken.

It was a Spire Messenger!

But the most terrifying part was that it was brutally maimed, torn and dismembered and a shoillitutte of a man was standing in front of the nightmare creature's corpse.

The shoillitutte was wearing ancient silver scale armor, a blue cape draping over his shoulders. A menacing skull helmet was looking directly at them. A radiant gem was resting on top of the skull helmet. A menacing mace was in his hand.

Sunny felt something unseen moving in the shadow. A shiver ran down his spine.

"What is that?"

Saint also tensed up looking at the shoillitutte.

At this moment, Nephis spoke up,

"Stranger identify yourself!"

"I am Sleeper. Introduce yourselves."

A cold, chilling voice came out of the skull helmet, making the cohort chilled to their bones.

Nephis stepped forward and declared,

"I am Changing Star of the Immortal Flame clan and these are my cohort members."

"Oh!... It is Changing Star. I am Fang Yuan, a Sleeper of your batch. Is that Sunless I see?"

The voice became neutral.

"Yes, Fang Yuan! It is me Sunless." Sunny stepped forward.

"Ah! Sunless my friend, what are you and your friends doing in the Underworld? I don't suppose you have come rescue me?"

Fang Yuan asked.

"We have come to slay the beast and take the memory on your head. But what are you doing in the Underworld?"

Nephis replied.

"Me!... I just got lost in a labyrinth in the Underworld for a few months. Then I jumped into a river and washed up here."

Fang Yuan replied in a care free voice.

"Will you give us the memory on top of your head in exchange for another qand are a nightmare creature?" Nephis spoke.

A cold silence fell upon them. Then Fang Yuan spoke up, his voice neutral.

"I am human and you will have to offer a sufficient price."

"We will offer you two memories of the Ascended rank." Nephis offered.

"Which tier?"

"First."

"I won't exchange it."

"Name your price."

"A transcended memory or five ascended ones."

"Impossible!"

"So be it. I won't exchange it." Fang Yuan replied.

His voice turned cold and chilling, devoid of any humour,

"And if you want to take my memory, you will pay with your life."

The words echoed in the cavern, then became oppressive silence. Both sides were ready to draw their weapons.

"Join us then or we shall clash!" Nephis broke silence.

"Say your proposition, Changing Star." Fang Yuan said.

Changing Star explain about their cause, Forgotten Shore, dark city, bright castle, Gunlag, Crimson Spire and the gateway.

"Will you join us?" Nephis asked.

After a few moments of pondering, Fang Yuan gave his answer,

"As long as you speak the truth and your goal is to escape ths Forgotten Shore, I shall join you."

"I am the only hope of anyone getting out of this hellhole." Nephis declared.

"Very well."

The situation neutralised and they joined hands. Soon they started their journey back to the dark city...