Sunny fell down in a rain of broken stone, the floor beneath his feet suddenly crumbling like shattered glass.
The Crimson Spire shuddered and moaned, like a giant creature convulsing in the throes of death. The light of the artificial sun grew dim and weak, causing another tremor to run through the ancient tower, wide cracks appearing on its granite walls.
Sunny had banished the darkness that devoured the Forgotten Shore every night, and Nephis had killed the vessel of the sun that rose above it every day. Together, they had brought destruction to this cursed land. Today was the end of days for the Forgotten Shore, one that the two of them had ushered in.
And one of them was going to have to endure the fallout of this cataclysmic change.
Surrounded by a rain of falling shards of stone, Changing Star twisted and somehow managed to aim her sword in Sunny's direction. Even more miraculously, he managed to intercept it with his own. Both were thrown away from each other, the transparent wings weaving themselves behind their backs.
For a couple of seconds, Sunny felt his body plunging down into the darkness. Then, finally, the Dark Wing fully manifested and turned into a blur, supporting his weight.
Dodging a massive slab of granite that threatened to crush him, Sunny used it as a step and propelled himself through the air. The Midnight Shard flashed, aiming at Changing Star's wings, but was blocked by the blade of the silver longsword.
As the debris fell down, two human figures collided against each other and spun in the air. With nothing to serve as a support, the only chance they had to exert any force was to use the body of the enemy as one. Their bodies entangled, almost as if they were lovers.
But in reality, of course, the purpose of this intimate closeness was not love; it was violence.
Grabbing Nephis with one hand and using his legs to trap hers, Sunny twisted his torso and delivered a devastating blow with his forehead, feeling the brittle bones of her nose shatter under his strike.
…But at the same time, her armored fist crashed into his side, aimed cruelly at the half-closed wound left behind by Caster.
Sunny screamed.
In the next second, her other fist slammed into his face. Augmented by the weight of the silver sword, that blow caused Sunny to lose himself for a short moment.
When he came to his senses, the first thing he saw was a massive slab of granite falling on them from above. Feeling blood stream down his face and from the newly opened wound on his side, Sunny bent his knee, and then used Neph's body to push himself away.
The two of them flew in opposite directions, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the enormous piece of stone.
Gliding with the help of their enchanted cloaks, Sunny and Nephis circled around each other, moving down in a wide spiral. Both were too preoccupied with dodging the falling pieces of stone to launch another attack, even if they wished to.
Around them, the Crimson Spire was quaking and convulsing, more and more cracks appearing on its walls, whole layers of stone separating from them and plunging down. It felt as though the ancient structure would not be able to hold on for much longer.
Above them, the dying sun was growing weaker with each minute.
…And down below, the runes surrounding the perfect circle of the Gateway were shimmering in the darkness, their light slowly becoming unstable.
Concentrating on the distant balcony, Sunny hesitated for a moment, then threw a glance at Nephis.
Then, he dismissed the Dark Wing and plunged down, abandoning the safety of flight.
Instead, he chose to fall.
With air whistling in his ears, Sunny plummeted through the darkness, approaching the vast balcony with terrible speed.
…Deadly speed.
He had to calculate everything perfectly.
But suddenly both he and Nephis felt something invade their noses: the smell of iron and rust and the smell of decay.
They momentarily stopped their battle; he summoned the Dark Wing again and held Nephis's hand. She didn't resist, and both fell where the gateway was.
Sunny put his hand on his face; the smell was too strong.
"What... happened? Why are they all dead...?"
Nephis looked around searching for Cassie; her face had a hint of urgency.
Suddenly both of them heard the sound of a clap.
"Ah... the main characters of the show have finally graced us with their presence!"
Both of them looked at the gateway; there, a man sat. His hair was as black as night, handsome face; his upper body was naked, while his lower was covered by golden armor.
They both recognized the man and armor, but they didn't focus on him; their focus was on the one beside him.
"Cassie!" Nephis screamed and launched at Faraam, but Sunny stopped her.
"Sunny, let me go!"
"Nephis, he is holding her hostage! If you did something stupid, he might kill her!"
Nephis gritted her teeth. This was the first time Sunny saw Nephis this angry; he too was angry, and he barely held himself.
He looked at Cassie again; she had no eyes... and a blood trail began from her eyes to her chin.
"Why did you do that?"
"Hmm? Are you asking why I killed them? Well, it's nothing big, really. I only needed to satirize my core, and my aspect only allowed me to get soul essence from uncorrupted beings. You see, I made a great enemy for myself; I suppose you heard about the murder of one of Valor's descendants."
Sunny remembered instantly; in the academy he heard from Cassie herself about it.
"You madman, you killed one of the main family?!"
"I was forced to kill her for my survival; that is why I killed her."
Sunny remained silent. He couldn't fathom what reason there was to kill a nephew of a great clan leader. But after few minutes he asked again.
"What do you want?"
Sunny knew that Faraam wanted something from them, or he would've left long ago.
"Oh, I don't want anything from you, Sunless..." Faraam looked at Changing Star, who barely held herself, "Tell me... is your goal to avenge your father, who was killed by the three supremes?"
Nephis eyes widened. "You! How did you know about that?!"
"So it was true... Broken Sword was really killed by the three supremes, but that means there is one other supreme I don't know about," Faraam smiled, "Would you please tell me who the last one is?"
But there was no response.
"Ah well, I kind of guessed that." He raised his hand toward Nephis, "Then, Changing Star, why don't we work together to kill the supremes? I've already gained the trust of one of Song's daughters, and I can infiltrate their clan for you. I don't want to talk about myself much, but I'm a competent man, you see?"
"You dare say that after what you have done?!" Sunny screamed with anger.
'The audacity of this man!'
Faraam shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? I made sure Athena and Kai are alive, and Cassie... while she is injured and might have trauma, she is still alive, and that is the important thing." He glanced at Changing Star. "Don't tell me you care about these disposables..."
This angered Sunny more, the way he called them "disposables" like some kind of objects.
"Sigh... how hypocritical of you, Changing Star. The blood of six hundred sleepers is in your hand after all. You manipulated them, playing the role of a savior to gain their trust, and when you'd done your goal, you threw them away in battle.
"They choose to fight with their own will," Nephis responded.
"Oh yes! They choose the only choice they are given! You, Changing Star, are no different from the supremes!"
This made Nephis boil.
"In the end it seems there will be no deal... a shame." Faraam looked at Sunless, his face bearing no emotions. "I'm most disappointed in you, Sunless. You, a rat from the slums, should know to not give your trust to anyone, yet you still did. Now bear the consequences."
Faraam covered his body with his echo, and held Cassie by her arm and spoke.
He spoke the words that brought the nightmare to reality. He spoke the word that has always etched fear in Sunny's soul. He spoke the words that brought despair to Sunny...
"Lost From Light..."
Deep within Sunny's soul, something moved and rose from slumber, triumphant. Unbreakable, eternal, irresistible. Complete, perfect, and sweet.
Sunny... attacked Faraam; he didn't care about Cassie, he didn't care about anything. He... he just wanted to kill the man in front of him.
But Faraam didn't let him, as he threw Cassie at him, stopping him and throwing him back.
He then created a sword in his hand and blocked Nephis's sword and kicked her away.
She quickly rose up to attack again but was stopped by Faraam's words.
"Lost From Light, kill yourself if Changing Star attacks me."
Sunny didn't know what to do... he just sat there with Cassie in his arms.
"How...? How did you know?"
"Have you not noticed?" Faraam pointed at Nephis.
Ah, right, she didn't attack Faraam... It's like she knew about his aspect ability.
"They were going to betray you, Lost From Light." Every time Faraam said his true name, Sunny felt pain in his chest.
"Sunny, I swear, we wouldn't! I might have known about it, but I swear I was never planning to use it against you. Please trust me..."
"Will you trust her like those who died outside have trusted her too...? But Sunless, she might be telling the truth; she might have never tried to use it, but there must be a way that I got your true name."
Faraam pointed at him... no, at Cassie.
"Changing Star might have not betrayed you... but she did. She told your secret to Nephis... she told me your secret for her life! She is the one responsible for all of this!"
Sunny looked at Cassie... with hatred, anger, and spite. He raised his sword and screamed and stabbed down.
"Sunny, no!"
At the last moment, Nephis intervened, saving Cassie, holding her in her arms.
Faraam watched all of this happen.
"Shall we begin the finale of this play?" He grinned, "Lost From Light... Kill Changing Star."
This was the order Faraam said before he walked to the gateway. And as he was about to enter, he spoke his last words, "This wouldn't have happened if you had accepted my proposal, daughter of Broken Sword."
And finally, Faraam left the Forgotten Shore with a crushing victory, leaving behind an ocean of blood.