Alucard watched with growing horror as Nephis calmly sealed each member of the cohort's eyes with melted wax before tying a blindfold around their faces.
One by one they accepted their fate.
Effie grumbled but allowed it.
Kai sighed dramatically but complied.
Caster endured it with the stoic expression he always wore.
Sunny didn't even argue.
Cassie, of course, didn't need it.
She was already blind.
Which meant the only one left was Alucard.
And Alucard was not cooperating.
"This is completely unsanitary!" he protested loudly, backing away as Nephis approached with the wax. "I'm going to get an eye infection! Also how do you even know the wax will come off afterward?!"
Nephis said nothing.
She simply continued approaching.
Alucard pointed accusingly at her.
"Hey! Stop! I mean it! Keep your hands away from me, you wicked wench!"
Unfortunately for him, the rest of the cohort had already decided his complaints were meaningless.
Effie grabbed one arm.
Caster grabbed the other.
Sunny stood nearby with a very satisfied expression.
Alucard struggled desperately.
"Traitors! All of you are traitors!"
A moment later—
The wax was applied.
Alucard hissed as the warm substance sealed his eyelids shut despite his desperate attempts to bleed against it and keep his eyes open.
Then the blindfold was tied over his face for good measure.
And suddenly…
He understood exactly why being blind sucked.
As if that wasn't humiliating enough, they also tied him to the rest of the group with a rope.
Which normally wouldn't have been that bad.
Except he had been placed at the very edge of the boat, his legs practically dangling over the side.
Of course he got the worst seat.
Naturally.
Clearly this entire situation was some sort of unholy humiliation ritual.
---
Meanwhile, Sunny noticed something deeply unsettling.
Everything in the river was dead.
Every creature that had once lived there—fish, insects, strange aquatic monsters—lay motionless beneath the dark water.
Their deaths looked recent.
Too recent.
Sunny carefully guided the small boat across the silent river.
Eventually they reached the opposite shore.
He stepped off first, pulling the golden rope behind him and guiding the rest of the cohort onto solid ground.
The cave beyond was filled with the same strange mist.
The same purple mist Alucard had described in his dream.
Oddly enough, the mist seemed calming.
That alone made Sunny uneasy.
Nothing in the Forgotten Shore should feel comforting.
He continued forward cautiously.
Then he saw it.
A shadow.
It stood alone in the mist.
Human-shaped.
Still.
As Sunny pulled gently on the rope to signal the others to stop, the shadow shifted slightly before turning away and becoming motionless again.
A cold dread settled in Sunny's heart.
Encountering another human here would already be disturbing.
The expedition that had come here a few years ago could not possibly still be alive.
Not unless they were no longer human.
But that wasn't what frightened him.
His Aspect told him something was terribly wrong.
The shadow felt… unnatural.
Not hostile.
Not dangerous.
Instead, it felt lost.
Empty.
And filled with a sorrow so deep that it was almost unbearable.
Sunny wasn't particularly empathetic toward most people.
But strangely…
He couldn't help but feel the shadow's pain.
Perhaps because, in a way, they were kin.
The shadow wandered aimlessly, taking a few uncertain steps before stopping again.
It moved like something that had forgotten where it belonged.
And then Sunny understood.
The reason the shadow felt so wrong.
There was no one casting it.
Its owner was gone.
Not dead.
Not decayed.
Simply… erased.
There were no bones.
No corpse.
The human that once owned this shadow had been removed from existence entirely.
Leaving only the shadow behind.
To wander the mist alone for eternity.
Sunny felt a chill run down his spine.
After a long moment, he slowly walked toward it.
Eventually the shadow noticed him.
It turned hesitantly.
A wave of emotions radiated from it.
Hope.
Surprise.
Then crushing despair.
Sunny wasn't the person it had been waiting for.
The shadow's shoulders slumped.
Seeing its loneliness, Sunny tilted his head slightly.
Then, acting on impulse, he extended his hand.
Here…
Take my hand.
You don't have to be alone anymore.
The shadow trembled.
Slowly, uncertainly, it approached.
Finally it reached out and placed its hand into the hand of Sunny's own shadow.
And then—
It vanished.
A moment later, the Spell whispered softly in his mind.
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny stood silently in the mist for a while.
Then he tugged on the golden rope and led the cohort deeper into the cavern.
---
Eventually, Cassie confirmed they had escaped the maze-like tunnels.
Sunny stopped walking.
"Alright," he said. "We're safe."
Everyone began removing the blindfolds and wax from their eyes.
Which turned out to be a terrible idea.
Because apparently none of them had remembered how fragile eyelids were.
Between the ripping wax and clumsy handling, the entire cohort ended up with scarred eyelids and missing eyelashes.
Everyone looked ridiculous.
Alucard would have smirked at them.
Unfortunately, he could barely see.
Just as he had predicted earlier—
He had developed a terrible eye infection.
Pink eye.
Which was exactly what happened when someone shoved hot wax onto their eyelids in a filthy underground cave.
To make matters worse, several members of the cohort had temporarily blinded themselves while removing the wax.
Alucard sighed and healed his own eyes using blood and the [Sin Lineage of Gluttony].
His vision cleared almost instantly.
He immediately smirked at Nephis.
She, meanwhile, had to personally heal the rest of the group one by one.
All because she insisted on doing things in the most dramatic way possible.
When everyone finally recovered, they all looked like idiots.
None of them had eyelashes anymore.
Except Cassie.
Sunny had it even worse.
The wax had reached his eyebrows.
So now he had no eyebrows and no eyelashes.
He looked permanently surprised.
Naturally, everyone was irritated.
That irritation quickly faded when they noticed something in the distance.
A skeleton.
It was remarkably well preserved.
And on top of its skull rested a strange crown.
Alucard recognized it immediately.
The First Bright Lord.
For a brief moment, he considered ripping the skull off and throwing it back into the mist behind them.
Unfortunately, he restrained himself.
Instead, he sighed quietly.
Nephis approached the skeleton first.
She reached out and touched the crown.
Instantly the crown dissolved into a shower of white sparks.
The sparks flowed into her body.
Moments later she summoned the crown again—now resting atop her own head.
She bowed slightly toward the skeleton.
"Thank you."
Alucard stared at her.
As if the corpse had done her a favor.
As if it wasn't just as lifeless as the crown itself.
But he chose not to comment.
Instead, he summoned one of his storage Memories.
A beautiful coffin appeared beside him with a heavy thud.
It landed next to the skeleton.
Alucard looked at the others.
"Would someone like to help me bury these corpses?"
He summoned several constructs of blood, shaping them into seven identical shovels.
One for each of them.
"Or should I do it myself?"
Without waiting for an answer, he began digging.
Eventually he finished a large grave.
He carefully placed both skeletons inside.
By some strange twist of fate, the bones ended up positioned as if they were embracing each other.
For a moment, Alucard almost called it romantic.
Then he remembered they were just two skeletons.
And decided that was a disturbing thought.
They buried the grave together.
Afterward, the cohort gathered to examine Nephis's new Memory.
Eventually she explained its ability.
The Dawn Shard enhanced other Memories.
An incredibly powerful memories.
For most people, it would be invaluable.
For Alucard…
Not so much.
He relied more on his Aspect than on Memories for combat.
Still, it was undeniably useful.
Especially if Nephis intended to challenge Gunlaug.
And when that bastard finally died…
Alucard would make sure everyone remembered what they had tried to do to him earlier.
Especially that damned priest.