Back in the dark city, Sunny started his hunt. He let his guard and sepant do most of the work, as he was sitting cross-legged on top of the cathedral. Cold wind wiped his short hair, but he did not move, not even a sign of fear or flinch. Luna was lying idly in his lap, sleeping. His 3 Shadows were watching 3 sides Gloomy was to his left, Happy to his right and Creepy behind him. All of them were facing away from him, watching each of the sides they were assigned to. His absorption of essence rate slowed down drastically.
S: I must be getting closer to master.
He closed and opened his hand a couple of times.
S: Right. It's about time for me to get Saint back.
He looked into the distance and spotted the stone saints marching towards the centre of the ruined city.
S: It will probably take them until sunrise to get here. I should get ready to finish my preparations.
His preparations consisted of collecting soul fragments, and when he figured out Luna was eating them as nourishment, he was at first surprised but then made her stop so he could save up for his onyx armour that was still gathering dust inside the castle.
As the sunrise came, Sunny called his shadows back and headed to where Saint would be. When he arrived, he watched them fight each other before Saint could die, he appeared and finished her off. Just like last time, he received her echo, but now he had souls to spare, and he turned her into his shadows right away. Becoming his second Shadow.
S: This is great. Now, when I put them as guards of my cathedral, it will look awesome.
Yes, Sunny took ownership of the cathedral because, first, no one else was crazy enough to go, let alone to stay alive in the dark city long enough to claim anything but his life intact and second, because it sounded cool as hell.
As he entered the cathedral, he picked couple of charcoals from one of his fires he used to lure more monsters to feed his guardian, as well as get himself some more essence. What surprised Sunny about his fallen devil was that, unlike in Saint's case, where he would need to feed her memories, he required just enemies, but more specifically enemies that had darkness inside them. Any time he killed a monster that had darkness, he gained points. Obviously, it was difficult for him to upgrade himself here since he was a fallen devil, and most creatures were either his rank or far below his rank and class, and thus gave him slim to nothing. Still, Sunny was getting essence from his kills just as from Serpent and Saint. Similarly to his past, he fed Saint his useless memories, and since he was hunting way more than in the past, he was able to get her to 500/1000. Another thing that was different from the past was that once he turned her into his shadow, she became an ascended monster despite being an awakened monster. He didn't know why it happened. Maybe it had something to do with his innate attribute as the Heir of the Shadow God, but he wasn't certain. It would need more testing because his fallen Devil did not rise in rank or its class after becoming his shadow.
S: Maybe the process of me making them shadows is the reason.
Luna meowed at him once he said that.
S: Seriously?
She nodded again.
S: Wow. That is amazing…hmm.
He shrugged and motioned both of his shadows to guard the entrance. Sunny, meanwhile, started to draw a map of the Forgotten Shore on the table using charcoal as a chalk. When he finished, he walked to long wooden strips which would serve as his curtains between pillars, purely decorative on the surface since from the side, you would just see the thin side of the wood and not see the whole picture. He at first organised them and started to draw again. This time, however, this map was slightly altered. It was a map of the entire Forgotten shore, even parts that they had not discovered in this time. How to get to them and what monsters live there.
S: Nice. Now, how do I put it up there?
Luna tilted her head and pointed outside the cathedral.
S: Sure, lead the way.
Luna led him to the giant spider's nest, at least what remained of it. Since all nearby nightmare creatures were killed by either Sunny or Saint.
S: This is genius, Luna. I am so happy I have you here.
She jumped on his shoulder and with a happy meow.
Sunny gathered some of the strings and headed back to his cathedral. After 3 days of hard work, he was happy with how everything looked, and he sighed with excitement.
S: This doesn't look too bad. If I say so myself. I like it.
Luna meowed and after that dissolved into his shadows.
S: Man, I am beat. I gotta take a nap.
He fell on his bed while dismissing his armour and fell asleep instantly. He woke up only after getting a warning from his 2 guards about human presence somewhere close to the cathedral. Sunny opened his eyes lazily and blinked a couple of times, still deep in the night. Luna walked around his pillow and sat in front of him, sinking into shadows again.
S: Thanks.
Sunny muttered as he drifted off to sleep again.
Luna, meanwhile, jumped between the shadows and watched from a distance. Men were heading deep into the city and ignored the cathedral as a plague. They reached something like a well and dropped something inside it. After a great bit of struggle, they covered it up with a metal bar and left.
Luna was standing on top of one of the houses when they left. She tilted her head and jumped onto the broken roof of the house and dove into the shadows, only to return to Sunny in the blink of an eye.
The moment Sunny woke up, Luna tried to scratch something on the ground.
S: People? 5 or is it 6 ? Well… oh Kai. Good job, Luna. I will get him out in a couple of days. I have something I need to do before that.
S: That being the endless spring.
He summoned a light rapier into his hands.
A quiet dancer floated in front of him.
Sunny looked at it with a sombre expression.
S: Well, I'd say it is a good exchange. What do you think?
Luna just tapped the quiet dancer, and it flew away from her.
Sunny shrugged and dismissed the echo and said. Right let's strat training with the bow again or Aulin would be pissed.
For the next 2 days, he was crafting a makeshift bow and makeshift arrows and training his aim and tweaking the look of his arrows and bow.
S: it does suck that I don't have a bow memory but this will have to do for the foreseeable future.
He hung it on the wall right in front of his bed and put arrows on the makeshift shelf.
S: Right. Time to head out.
As Sunny left for the slums he took saint with him and left guardian guard his catedral after all he would be quite pissed if anything damaged his hard work.
As he moved closer to the slums, he said.
S: I guess they left earlier because Nephis and Cassia were already building some sort of a building for the centre of their operations in the slums with the help of some of their already growing cohort. He understood why soon after getting closer to the slums. As it would seem, Nephis wasn't able to de-escalate the situation with nasty guards, and after being killed in a duel, she revealed who she was and marched outside the castle, being followed by Cassia and Caster. They tried to persuade Effie to join them, but she only agreed after she saw the heads of the 2 dead guards. Apparently.
Sunny sight in dejection, and approached the cabin they built. He was stopped by 2 rough men holding hilts of their swords.
?: Who are you and what do you want?
Sunny looked past him and called out to Cassia. She faced him, and her face lit up, waving him to get inside.
Sunny pushed passed the 2 wannabe guards, and when she touched his hands, he felt something entering his soul. In exchange, he touched her head and gave her the echo of the quiet dancer.
Ca: Why?
S: Because I felt like it.
She smiled, but only Sunny knew her smile was fake.
Sunny shook his head and walked to the room that looked the biggest. while thinking
S: Guess it was fate. What an irony.
Inside were Nephis and Caster talking about something.
C: Sunny? What a great surprise to see you here.
Sunny ignored him and asked.
S: Can you leave us alone?
C: You just got here, don't you think it would be….
N: Caster.
Caster faced Nephis and bowed slightly, and walked out of the room. Nephis looked at Sunny and asked.
N: What is it, Sunny?
S: Ha?
Sunny slammed his hand on the table, making it shake, while giving her his makeshift chalk and wooden plate with his other hand.
S: What do you mean?! You clearly asked me to get here, and so I did. So, how much?
N: Do you think you are worth my shards?
She pulled out a knife and stabbed it into the table while sliding him the wooden plate and chalk.
S: You have time till sunset.
N: Sure, whatever you say.
Behind the door, Caster listened with an evil smile slightly showing on his face.
C: This might be easier than I hoped. One down and the other is blind. Now I just need to learn her attributes and flaw.
Sunny stormed out of the cabin with no one trying to stop him.
E: Doufus?
S: Sorry, Effie. I guess I am not as needed as I hoped so.
With that, he headed back into the forest.
When he was in the forest, he pulled out the wooden plate and read.
From Sunny to Nephis.
The base is set, and I have Saint as well. Meeting?
From Nephis to Sunny.
I love you. Tomorrow evening. I will come with the important ppl. Cas told me your true name.
As Sunny was walking, Saint stepped out of his shadow, and as Sunny handed her the wooden plate, she broke it apart, shattering it into pieces.
As that was happening, Effie stormed into neph's room and asked in a not-so-friendly tone.
E: Princes, are you serious about not taking Doufus into the cohort?
N: Why? What's wrong with that?
E: He is strong; he could be of great help to us. Is there something I don't see?
N: Yes. There certainly is.
E: It better be something good and not something like. I don't want to because he is short or because Caster is better or anything of such sort.
Nephis bit her tongue with the answer and said.
N: I promise everything will make sense soon.
She said it in a low tone, almost a whisper.
Effie narrowed her eyes and scoffed.
E: Just get Caster to your room if you are so full of him, then princess!
She slammed the door behind her and left for her hut.
During the night, Sunny casually swapped his shadows, meaning Saint was guarding his cathedral, and Guardian was in his shadow.
He was also able to find a separate house with four rooms and 4 beds all around the city, and with the help of his shadow, he put them all into a building right next to the cathedral. Now every room had a comfortable bed and some stuff like a shelf, not to mention doors. They were sliding, so it was easier to make them function.
When the night finally covered the city, he decided to help his best friend. Well, future best friend. He got to the well and stopped right in front of it. dropping one pebble down, making some noise.
?: Who is there?