"—Here's a POV of what's happening inside the original trio's third nightmare in Ariel's tomb. If you're interested, just comment if you want more parts like this.—"
"""""""
Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie were aboard the Chain Breaker, sailing on the great river of time. They had just discovered the truth about the gods: how, in their desperation, the gods had originally sealed the creatures of the Void along with their seventh brother, wrapping everything into nothingness.
They also discovered more revelations, but the greatest of all was discovering Uriel's whereabouts.
Cassie was at the helm of the Chain Breaker. The circle of runes was shining, fed by the essence of the sacred tree growing on its deck. In the distance, a great floating mass of perpetual darkness could be seen.
That place was their destination.
"Will we really find him in this place?" Sunny asked, looking at Cassie.
Cassie did not respond immediately, using the perception she shared with Sunny and Nephis to see the island.
"Yes," she replied as the Chain Breaker continued advancing.
Everyone had mixed feelings about Uriel and his actions during the second phase of the Antarctica crisis. Especially Sunny, regarding the fact that Uriel knew everything that would happen.
He had told Sunny himself how Antarctica would end. How the war between Song and Valor would lead to nothing but the death of hundreds of Awakened. How the Nightmare Gates would descend. How the Saints would die.
Everything had happened just as he had said long before.
Sunny considered himself a good liar, using the truth to his advantage. But Uriel was a master of manipulation and subtle deception.
With simple words or small actions, he could alter great things.
That was why he had been angry, feeling manipulated by his best friend. But now it was time for answers, and he would get them.
Unbeknownst to those thoughts, Nephis was thinking the same. Cassie wore a face of silent resignation.
The Chain Breaker finally approached the enormous mass of darkness, anchoring itself to the shore. They disembarked, landing on solid ground.
Everything was enveloped in elemental darkness. The only light allowing them to see came from the seven divine suns.
Sunny summoned the Sword of Solace, as well as Saint of Stone and Imp. Nephis summoned a sword. Cassie held the Silent Dancer. Beside her, her echo, which belonged to one of the corrupted Sibyls, materialized.
The trio advanced in silence, making no sound.
They moved through the silent darkness.
They stopped when they heard a long, metallic groan.
Sunny looked around but couldn't see anything.
"Let's move on," Nephis said, her voice imperturbable.
Advancing further, they heard another similar sound, and then another. As they drew closer, the sounds became clearer and deeper.
Finally, Sunny sensed something ahead. Cautiously, he sent one of his shadows to explore.
Through his shadow, Sunny shared its senses.
The shadow traveled a great distance until it stopped at the center, where there was a titanic tree surrounded by enormous metal chains that wrapped around the tree and extended into the dark depths of the dark earth.
Following the origin of the enormous chains, the shadow observed a figure at the base of the huge tree, on its knees. Its appearance was emaciated, with multiple ancient wounds on its body. Its black hair fell around it. Its arms, legs, neck, and waist were firmly bound by thick, indestructible chains that joined the larger chains.
The chained figure, as if sensing the gaze, lifted its face, revealing a single red eye.
A maniacal smile, full of silent madness and jubilation, spread across its face.
"Ha... bastard... looks like your little plan failed again, didn't it?" asked the figure in a clearly amused tone.
"Come on, say something, you love to talk, don't you? Oh, has that stupid specter finally driven you mad?" the voice asked, this time its tone becoming darker.
"Doesn't matter... doesn't matter... I'll get out of here someday... and when I do, oh, when I do, I will enjoy killing you again, and again, and again, until the end of time."
An enormous, dark killing intent radiated from the figure so intensely that it was felt for several kilometers, making Sunny shudder at that aura.
He immediately ordered his shadow to return.
Paying attention to his surroundings, he felt the gazes of Cassie and Nephis.
Knowing what they would ask, he spoke.
"I have bad news and very bad news," Sunny said. "Which one do you want first?"
"The bad one," said Cassie.
"There's an extremely powerful Nightmare Creature chained to a huge tree," Sunny said.
"And the other?" Nephis asked.
"It's Uriel."
At that declaration, silence seized the three of them.
The silence that followed Sunny's words was so thick it could be cut with a knife.
Cassie, still with her hand on Sunny's shoulder, instinctively tightened her fingers.
"Are you sure?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.
"Sure," Sunny replied, his voice leaving no room for doubt. "I saw him. Or rather... I felt what he is now. He's not the same."
Nephis remained silent for several seconds. Her gray eyes shone with that cold intensity that characterized her, assessing, calculating. Finally, she spoke.
"We will go see him," she said. "With our own eyes. If he still retains some degree of the Uriel we knew... he can give us information. About this nightmare. About Ariel's Tomb."
Cassie nodded. Sunny did too, though his jaw remained tight.
They walked towards the center of that black stone chamber. The air grew heavier with each step, imbued with a smell of humidity and something else... something rotten, like old flesh but also like decomposed memories.
The chains sounded before they could see him.
A slow, rhythmic jingling. Like a sick heartbeat.
And then they saw him.
The chained figure was kneeling in the center of a circle of broken runes. Chains thick as snakes bound him by the wrists, ankles, and neck. His hair, once dark and well-kept, hung in dirty locks over a gaunt face. But what drew the most attention was the eye.
Only one eye visible. The other was covered by a black bandage that seemed to pulse slowly. The eye that could be seen was red. Red as blood. Red as hatred. Red as madness contained for too long.
The figure lifted its face.
And smiled.
A wild, deformed smile that didn't reach the eye. That didn't even try to reach it.
"Nephis," it said, its voice a rasping whisper that dragged across the floor. "Cassie. And Sunny."
It paused. Its smile widened.
"It's been soooo long since I last saw you... since I last killed you."
Nephis didn't move. Cassie took half a step back. Sunny put his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"I miss hearing your screams of pain," Uriel continued, tilting his head with an almost tender gesture. "From those cycles. Long nights of death and resurrection. But I guess you finally managed to seal me, didn't you? What a shame. I wanted to keep killing you with my own hands. Over and over again. Until nothing of you remained. No memories. No shadows. No shit."
Cassie swallowed. But her voice, when she spoke, was firm.
"What happened, Uriel? How did you end up like this?"
Uriel looked at her. His red eye shone with a twisted glint of amusement.
"Torment," he said, savoring the word like poison. "How funny that you ask. After all... it was you who corrupted me."
Cassie felt the ground sink beneath her feet.
"What...?"
"You," Uriel repeated, clicking his tongue. "You, along with the Mad Prince and the other plagues. You three. The great heroes. The saviors of the rotten world. You were the ones who brought me here. Who drove these chains. Who looked into my eyes while I turned into this."
Nephis stepped forward.
"How is that possible?" she asked, her voice a naked blade.
Uriel looked at her. And then, for the first time, his smile vanished. It was replaced by a grimace of absolute contempt.
"Idiots," he spat. "Ignorant. Stupid underdeveloped monkeys."
He pulled at his chains, and the metal groaned under the tension.
"Don't you see it, or don't you want to see it? You're trapped in a cycle. The nature of the river of time is circular. It repeats. Over and over again. What you're living... you've lived before. And you'll live it again. And you, with your surprised faces, are the proof that you never learn."
"A cycle?" Sunny interrupted. "Like in your Second Nightmare?"
Uriel let out a dry laugh.
"Exactly, specter. I have experience with cycles. After a few, I stopped losing my memory. I started to remember. To understand. But of course," his eye fixed on Cassie with hatred, "that bitch Torment altered my mind. Erased many things. Left me like this. Broken. But not enough to forget who was responsible."
Cassie paled.
"I didn't..."
"Shut up!" Uriel roared, the chains vibrating with the fury of his voice. "I don't want to hear your excuses. Not now. Not ever."
Nephis raised a hand. Not towards Uriel, but towards her own people. A signal to stop.
"Uriel," she said, with that terrible calm only she could possess. "Tell us how you ended up corrupted. And if you know how to get out of this nightmare."
Uriel looked at her for a long time. His red eye blinked twice. Three times.
Then he nodded.
"First," he said, "go fuck yourself, Nephis."
Nephis didn't flinch.
"Second," Uriel continued, turning towards Sunny and Cassie, "fuck you both too. I'm corrupt. Do you think I give a damn about your destiny? Your mission? Your damn nobility? Your damn fate?"
He pulled at the chains again. The metal screeched.
"But..." his voice dropped in intensity, becoming almost human, "for old camaraderie's sake... because once we were something I can no longer be... I'll tell you how to end this nightmare."
Nephis narrowed her eyes.
"In exchange for what?"
Uriel smiled. This time, it wasn't a wild smile. It was a tired smile. Broken. Almost sad.
"In exchange for getting the keys to these chains," he said, raising his wrists. "And killing me."
---
The echo of Uriel's words still hung in the air when Cassie broke the silence.
"Do you really want to die?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Uriel raised his gaze towards her. His single red eye blinked, and for an instant, the madness that inhabited him seemed to recede, like a tide pulling away from the shore.
"I want to," he replied, with a calmness that hurt more than any scream. "Look around you, Torment. Does this look like life to you? I'm barely a corrupted beast. I can't use my Aspect. I can't channel my soul essence. I don't even have Shade with me."
He paused, and his jaw trembled.
"My existence is pathetic."
Sunny stepped forward, his hand on the hilt of his sword. It wasn't a threat. It was a silent question.
"So why not kill you now?" he said bluntly. "If you want it so badly."
Uriel let out a dry, almost absent laugh.
"Now?" he repeated, his chains jingling as he straightened up. "Go ahead, shadow. Try it. If you can."
The challenge floated between them like a razor blade. Sunny didn't back down, but he didn't advance either. Something in Uriel's tone told him it wasn't an empty threat, but a sincere warning. Killing him wouldn't be so simple. Nothing in that nightmare was.
Uriel suddenly grew serious. The madness on his face dissipated like fog in the sun, revealing a tired, old, defeated expression.
"You can't," he said, more to himself than to them. "Not like that. The chains aren't just physical. They're part of the corruption. If you try to cut them without the keys... all of this will collapse. And you with it."
The trio fell silent. The atmosphere became dense, almost unbreathable. It wasn't fear that oppressed them. It was something worse: memories.
Sunny remembered the first time he saw Uriel in the Dream Realm. His confident smile, his carefree way of throwing himself into danger, the fierce loyalty hidden behind his jokes. He remembered him laughing, cursing, fighting alongside him in battles they thought would never end.
Nephis remembered his silence. That way Uriel had of observing when he thought no one was looking. The way he was always there, at the right moment, without anyone having called him.
Cassie remembered too much. She remembered visions she had never shared. Futures that didn't happen. Pasts that perhaps did. She remembered a hand reaching out in the darkness, a voice saying "you're not alone," and a vow that was never quite spoken.
"It's not fair," Cassie murmured, her fingers trembling as she spoke.
Uriel looked at her. And then, for the first time since they found him, his face changed.
The madness didn't entirely disappear, but something else took its place. A calm expression. Relaxed. Almost amused. The same one he used to have in the past, when danger was imminent and he responded with a misplaced joke.
"The world isn't fair, Torment," he said, his voice no longer trembling. "The Spell isn't fair. Destiny isn't fair to anyone. Everyone deals with their own shit."
He paused, and a shadow of his old smile appeared on his lips.
"That's how things are. We just have to keep moving forward. Do the lesser evil."
"But there might be a way to reverse it," Sunny insisted, and there was something in his voice that wasn't hope, but stubbornness.
Uriel shook his head.
"Impossible," he said. "Forbidden knowledge isn't forgotten, Sunny. Not even now, while I'm talking to you, I struggle not to reveal secrets that would corrupt you too. It's like having a fire inside your skull and pretending it doesn't burn. Not even if another loop starts will I be safe from the corruption."
Cassie felt a lump in her throat.
"How much time do you have left?" she asked, though she feared the answer.
Uriel lowered his gaze.
"I don't know," he admitted. "At times, like now, I can be more or less sane. But I feel the tide rising. Little by little, I'm becoming something I'm not anymore. A mindless beast. Without memories. Without a name."
He raised his face and looked at the three of them. One by one.
"Before that happens," he said, with a terrible calm, "you have to kill me."
Silence was their only response.
Sunny clenched his fists. Then, with visible effort, he relaxed them.
"Fine," he said, his voice steely. "But first, tell us where the keys are."
Uriel nodded. Grateful.
"You'll have to kill the Plagues," he explained. "Devouring Beast. Lord of Terror. Silent Massacre. Torment. And Soul Thief. Each one possesses a key. If you kill them, you can take them."
"Where are they?" Nephis asked.
"The only thing I know for sure is that Silent Massacre and Devouring Beast are on the First Seeker's island. The Lord of Terror and Soul Thief... in Twilight."
Nephis narrowed her eyes.
"And Torment?"
Uriel let out a bitter laugh.
"Torment... most likely, it's in Verge. Of course. Because nothing in this nightmare can be simple."
Cassie felt a chill. Verge. The name echoed in her mind like a broken bell.
"You'll have to kill all five Plagues," Uriel continued. "Take the keys. Come back here. Free me. And then..."
"Kill you," Sunny finished.
"Kill me," Uriel confirmed.
Nephis nodded. She said nothing more. There was no need.
Uriel watched them for a moment. Then his red eye blinked, and fatigue once again took over his face.
"That's all I had to say," he murmured. "So... if you have any last words... say them now. Before I lose my mind again."
Cassie stepped forward. Her hands trembled, but her voice did not.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry, Uriel."
He looked at her. And then, for a fleeting instant, his eye regained an ancient gleam. Human.
"I hope you truly regret what you're thinking of doing, Torment," were his final lucid words as he closed his single eye and began to sleep.
His head fell forward. The chains didn't sound. The wind didn't move. Only the silence remained, dense and heavy, enveloping them like a shroud.
He slept.
Cassie remained silent, clenching her fist tightly.
'He knows...' she thought to herself.
Her face turned towards where Sunny was.
'He knows how all of this will end.'