The gray realm vanished.
In its place, Sunny found himself inside a storm — not of wind, but of broken thoughts.
The sky above him was cracked, leaking memories like dying stars.
Beneath his feet, ash trembled with forgotten screams.
He wasn't dreaming.
He was inside someone else's dream.
A glowing line burned into the air:
> "Mission Start: Walk through her final memory. Witness her death. Endure it."
Sunny didn't speak.
He had no one to speak to.
---
Scene I: The Child Who Dreamed Too Much
The world shaped itself.
He saw a little girl — fragile, barefoot, staring at a dead bird outside a rusted orphanage window.
She asked the matron:
> "If God loves everything… why did He let it die?"
The woman slapped her.
Again.
And again.
> "Never question the divine."
They called her cursed. Possessed.
But she kept dreaming. She kept asking.
One day, a man arrived — calm, holy, smiling too softly. A priest.
> "Come with me," he said. "I'll show you a dream worth obeying."
---
Scene II: Obedience Is a Knife
The dream changed. Years passed in seconds.
The girl was older. Trained. Hollow-eyed. Her dreams weren't her own anymore — they were tools, cages, weapons used by the church to punish sinners.
She stopped asking questions.
Until… one day… she fell in love.
With another girl.
A quiet, honest joy bloomed inside her — like rebellion.
The priest found out.
> "Love is not your right," he said.
"It is disorder. You are not here to feel. You are here to serve."
They broke her mind open.
Sealed her inside her own crumbling dream.
Left her to rot — forgotten even by God.
---
Scene III: The Collapse
Now Sunny understood.
This dying world wasn't random.
It was her final dream — collapsing.
The last fragment of her soul, sinking into silence.
Then he saw it — a beast rising from the black sand.
It had the priest's face, but eyes made of shattered mirrors.
Each mirror reflected her guilt, her fear, her helplessness.
It didn't speak.
It only judged.
Sunny stood in its path. He had no sword. No armor. No reason to win.
But he didn't step back.
Because he'd seen his own silence before.
He clenched his fists.
And walked toward it.
---
Scene IV: The Reward
Pain surged. The dream cracked. The beast roared and dissolved into smoke.
From the falling sky, a soft whisper floated:
> "You stayed…"
> "Even when I had no name left."
The world faded into black…
And the Sphere — the one given by the Starborn — began to glow in Sunny's chest.
> "Mission Complete."
"First realm evolved: [Empathy] – Level 1."
But then something new happened.
The light didn't fade.
The girl's soul — fragile, broken, unnamed — flowed into Sunny like silver dust.
She curled into a corner inside his mind. Silent. Weightless.
And yet… never alone again.
---
Closing Lines:
As Sunny opened his eyes again, his breath was shallow.
From far away, the voice of the Starborn echoed:
> "You carried her pain. Good."
> "But how many will you carry… before you forget who you are?"
Sunny didn't answer.
He simply looked at the glowing Sphere inside him…
And whispered:
> "As many as it takes."