"So… why is he following us?" Asher asked flatly, glancing back at the skeleton trudging behind him through the white dunes.
"My, oh my… Azarax my friend… Are you perhaps lonely to still want to be in my company?" Eurys chuckled.
"Bite your tongue, you withered fool!" Azarax snapped, his voice like grinding steel. "The only passage to the Shadow Realm lies in the Underworld!"
Asher watched the two bicker with a faint, sad smile. For a moment, their silhouettes overlapped with memories — him and Sunny walking side by side, bickering in the same rhythm. Asher laughed under his breath… and then clutched his head as a spike of pain drove through his skull.
It was happening again.
A year of isolation — Dahlia being his only company — had left his mind frayed at the edges. Even now, the echoes of his own laughter felt borrowed.
He sighed and looked ahead. The endless desert shimmered, and a pale orb of light flickered into being before him.
[Are you really not going to ask me how you are not a sacred entity?]
He had, in fact, not entered his soul sea to question yet. Asher frowned, "Like you would tell me if I asked. You keep saying that you need me for this 'goal' as well, and don't even tell me what this goal is."
[…]
Asher sighed, "So. Will you tell me?"
[Not yet.]
Asher grimaced, "Why? It seems I am even immune to forbidden knowledge, I am pretty sure I can handle whatever you say."
['Immune' isn't the word, Asher. You are resistant to the defilement knowledge brings.][And what I must tell you isn't forbidden. It's simply… not time.]
Asher scoffed. "How convenient."
From behind, Eurys' smooth voice cut in.
"My, oh my… little Daemon. What is that light floating around you? It seems to be able to think."
Dahlia's voice shimmered with amusement.
[It's rude to stare, Eurys.]
Asher sighed and gestured lazily to the orb.
"Skelebones, meet the big, bad Forgotten God you both fear."
Azarax's laughter echoed through the dunes.
"Hah! You jest well, Daemon!"
"Azarax…" Eurys murmured. "I think he's serious."
The laughter stopped abrupting.
"Are you serious?"
Asher stared blankly.
[A fragment of the Dream God, to be precise,] Dahlia corrected calmly.
Both skeletons went silent, their hollow sockets fixed on the glowing sphere.
Asher turned to the orb again. "Actually, why are you considered the villain? You're the one who got trapped in the void."
[No clue. Perspective, I suppose. My corruption alters the essence of beings — and mortals tend to call change 'evil.']
Asher pointed at her. "When you literally name it corruption, it's kind of hard to defend."
[I didn't name it!]
Asher shrugged, "I guess the world isn't fair. Even for gods."
Azarax's booming laugh broke the tension. "Ha! What an intriguing perspective, little Daemon!"
Asher's temper snapped. He turned and punched the skull square in the jaw."Why the hell are you shouting every sentence?! You want Nightmare creatures to come and make me their lunch?!"
Azarax clutched his head, indignant.
"Mind your hand, Daemon! If this king's head falls off, what am I supposed to do?!"
Asher snatched the bony finger Azarax pointed at him with — and snapped it clean off, rolling it between his fingers with a manic grin.
"Oh, I don't know. If a Nightmare creature does come, I doubt it could chew through whatever rank of bone this is anyway."
He squinted at the finger. "Actually… how did I even break it?"
Azarax seethed, controlling his pitch, "Damned Daemons! Always so malicious and equally doltish!"
Eurys chuckled, "My, oh my little daemon. It appears you lack basic biology. You simply popped his sockets since azarax here doesn't have any ligaments left."
"Oh.. Yeah.."
"I urge you," Azarax barked, "return my finger at once, or I swear—!"
"Please," Asher groaned. "Shut up."
The three trudged on through the pale dunes — a daemon, two ancient skeletons, and a god reduced to a spark of light.
It was going to be a long journey.
_______________
"What an unpleasant journey," Azarax muttered, his voice echoing off the damp stone walls.
On the stern of the gondola stood two skeletons draped in tattered rags, both working the oars with mechanical rhythm.
"Faster, skelebones," Asher said lazily.
Eurys let out a hollow snort. "My, oh my… though I am but a slave, being ordered around still offends me, little daemon."
"This is an insult!" Azarax growled, shaking his bony fist. "How low has a king fallen—to row a damned boat!"
Asher stretched, unbothered. "Please. You two already said you want to die. Might as well put in some work before then."
Silence fell. The gondola glided down the narrow, black river, lit only by the faint glow of a floating red stone. The air was heavy with dampness and the distant whisper of unseen things.
The light came from one of Asher's memories.
Memory Name: [Vagabond's Hearth]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: II
Type: Utility
Memory Description: A smooth, palm-sized river stone that is always warm to the touch. Faint, dark veins run through its grey surface.
Enchantment: [Enduring Warmth]
[Enduring Warmth]: The rock is always extremely hot.
Then. Asher could sense it. The magnetic, insidious call of the Nightmare. He turned to Eurys, "What about this one?" Eurys chuckled, "Perfect for you little daemon."
Asher exhaled. "…Finally."
He looked at his companions and flicked the severed fingers he still carried toward Azarax.
"I guess this is where we part."
Azarax hurriedly jammed the bones back into his hand, snarling. "You miserable wretch! Insolent, audacious fiend! May the trial or whatever devour you whole!"
Eurys stopped rowing. His empty sockets met Asher's eyes.
"I wish you luck. I don't know what you seek… but I hope you find it."
Asher smiled faintly. "Thanks. Both of you."
He stepped out of the gondola — his feet never touching the water — and turned to glance back one last time. "Oh, and by the way…" he said, smirking. "A gondola only needs one person to steer. I'm glad I wasted both your energy."
Azarax's jaw clattered in outrage. "You insufferable—!"
But the rest was lost.The mist rose, swallowing the gondola, the skeletons, the river, and their voices whole.
Asher lingered a moment at the edge of the black water. Then, without looking back, he walked toward the pulsating rift ahead — a wound in reality that throbbed with light.
With each step, the world dimmed. The warmth of the memory stone faded. The river fell silent.
And then, Asher was gone.