"The Nightmare Spell."
Hope's symphonious voice echoed across the hall.
"Yes, the Nightmare Spell. In the future… the world is consumed by Corruption. All the worlds, actually. Every single realm, mortal and divine, are devoid of life and filled with abominations. Except for mine, the War Realm. Actually I am not certain if it is the War Realm, but it's the most likely answer."
"All the worlds? Even the Shadow Realm?"
Sunny nodded.
"Every single one of them. Oh, and the gods are all dead too."
Hope's surprise could be felt through the world around them.
"The gods?"
"Correct, Lady Hope. I don't know how, but I know they're all gone, without a doubt in the world."
"You are certain?"
Sunny blinked slightly.
"Well, I've already told you I cannot lie, Lady Hope."
Hope's voice was a bit quieter than before.
"You could be a madman. Weaver does not attract sane people."
The comment about Weaver ticked Sunny off slightly, but he did not show it. Hope probably noticed it anyways, though.
"Can you feel whether or not the gods are alive? Try checking for yourself."
Sunny had long thought about what Hope might say if they ever had a conversation, and during those times, he had realised that Nightmares couldn't, or wouldn't recreate gods. Back in his First Nightmare, it had taken place in a time period where the gods were still alive, and yet the Spell had still declared them as dead.
'I wonder if a Nightmare inhabitant has ever noticed that before?'
Sunny turned his head as he heard Hope's wings rustle slightly.
"There is nothing. The gods are silent."
Sunny wanted to say he told her so, but he remained silent.
"They really are dead… What does that have to do with you killing me?"
Sunny swallowed nervously.
'Now for the hard part…'
"Because… this world isn't exactly real. It's simply a trial, created by the Nightmare Spell."
"..."
Hope said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
"In the future, there are things called Gates that open in our world. If you follow the Gates to their source, you'll find something called a Seed of the Nightmare. If a carrier of the Nightmare Spell enters that seed, they'll find themselves in a trial in the distant past, with a central conflict they must complete in order to cleanse the seed of Corruption, using the power of it to ascend themselves."
"...You are saying this world is a trial?"
Sunny nodded.
"I believe the gates are a result of the Forgotten God dreaming about the world, releasing Corruption into it. The Nightmare Spell is currently the only way to stop it."
A soft breath echoed across the walls. Sunny did not jump to any conclusions, but he could've sworn it sounded like a laugh.
"So… I am not real?"
Sunny waited for a moment before speaking.
"No. I mean, yes? I believe you are as real as anyone else. It's just that… when the Nightmare ends, you will cease to exist, along with everything and everyone else here."
"And so you want to kill me before that."
Sunny felt sweat trail down his back.
"That's right. And I don't mean to sound presumptuous, but… I don't want your existence to go to waste."
The strange sound resounded across the room again. Sunny was near certain it was the sound of Hope laughing now.
'So daemons laugh? Good to know, I think.'
It meant that there had to be at least some sort of emotions within them. Well, obviously Hope had some sort of emotion, given the fact her entire being was centered around desires, which went hand in hand with emotions.
"To waste? My existence? And how will you killing me solve that?"
Sunny thought carefully for a moment.
"One of the functions of the Spell is that when killing something, there's a chance of you being rewarded. Be it you received an enchanted tool, weapon, or armour… or receive an echo of the slain being, a soulless copy of sorts. From what I've been able to surmise in my life, the more unique or powerful the slain being is, there is a higher chance of receiving something truly special."
Hope remained silent. Sunny felt as if she was not impressed.
"I myself have already been able to collect a few divine relics, Weaver's Mask, as you saw. I am also in possession of the Shadow Lantern."
Sunny heard the rustling of her wings.
"That Lantern? You have it?"
He nodded.
"That's right."
Sparks of black essence immediately began forming, shaping itself into a small black lantern carved of stone hanging from a silk cord tied around his waist.
"...It is real."
Hope's voice sounded… surprised? It was hard to tell…
'I don't think this will be enough…'
"Even so, the relics have to come from somewhere, do they not, Sunless? I do not have any divine relics like that. Only this very tower we sit in."
Sunny shivered upon hearing his name spoken by daemon.
'She's right.'
There was never a guarantee the Spell would actually reward him for slaying Hope, but still, Sunny wanted to try. His future was… a little bleak, really. He needed to at least be able to defend himself against the Sovereigns, but he was already at the peak of his power. He'd never been a Transcendent, and it would likely take far longer for him to ascend once more. He lacked a powerful cohort, and had no idea how to transcend naturally. There was also the issue of whether or not Ki Song would even allow him to transcend.
"Well truthfully, Lady Hope, I was never expecting anything like that anyways. But there is something else you might want to know before making your decision."
"What is it?"
Sunny took a small step forward.
"I am a Divine Shadow. All those who are slain by me find their shadows ending up within my soul sea, rather than entering the Realm of Shadows. Although I am not completely certain, I believe that the Nightmares are not connected to the actual Shadow Realm, so not even your shadow will remain once this Nightmare is over."
Hope finally showed a more intense reaction to his words.
"A… Divine Shadow? Where did you come from?"
"From-"
"Did you not say the gods were dead? How could a Divine Shadow be born if Shadow is supposedly dead, even in the Nightmares?"
Sunny grinned slightly.
"I suppose that I am just impressive enough that Shadow woke up from death for a moment to bless me?"
The strange breath resounded across the halls one more time. Definitely a laugh.
"A Divine Shadow, cast by nobody… Tell me, do you have a master?"
Sunny's smile vanished, and his expression dimmed.
"...No."
Hope paused for a moment.
"A true name?"
"No."
Sunny felt a curious gaze on him.
'Ah… I really want to see the look on her face.'
"...What a strange one you are."
Sunny coughed.
"You are not the first one to say something like that, Lady Hope."
"Such an interesting Shadow… You are here to kill me, and yet there is neither malice nor greed in your heart. So strange… of all the people who have come to kill me over the years, you are the strangest."
Sunny felt his ears burning slightly.
'Not even the most interesting? The strangest? Really?'
"Others have come before, Lady Hope?"
"That is right. The last one was a scion of war, looking to slay me as an act of defiance against the divine. Still, they failed. Just like all the others."
Sunny cleared his throat.
"Might… I ask why, Lady Hope? And also, I want to add that if you do not wish for me to kill you, I am not against discarding my goal in this Nightmare."
Hope's head tilted upwards slightly, as if satisfied with his words.
"The others fail because of the knives. Sun God intended for them to be used against each other by my Shackles, not by an outsider like you. Be it through twists of fate or simply bad luck, no one has been able to kill even a single Chain Lord. Such is the work of divine miracles. Even I myself am immortal as long as even one of the chains remains intact."
Hope's head lowered slightly.
"And as for killing me, I will consider. First, come a bit closer, let us sit together. It has been a long, long time since I have had such interesting company."
Sunny hesitated for a moment before taking a few steps into the ring in the center of the hall, standing in front of Hope.
'She really is damn tall…'
Despite the fact she was currently kneeling, their heads were about the same level, and it wasn't like the body of the Shadow Lord was short either, Hope was just really tall.
'Well, she is a daemon.'
Sunny had never seen how tall Nether was, but from the size of his bed, he had to be of a similar size to Hope. Sunny also belatedly realised the thing crowning her head was actually a pair of horns, twisting from her forehead to the back of her skull, resembling a halo.
"Tell me, what is your world like? The War Realm?"
The ice between them seemed to have thawed now, and Hope seemed far more willing to speak with him.
'A conversation with a daemon, I feel like I'm dreaming…'
Sunny felt unbelievably lucky.
"Well the War Realm is… not quite war-torn, but our world is definitely suffering the consequences of past battles. We aren't at war right now, but there is conflict brewing in the background between the strongest humans, and I am afraid of what will happen in the future. That is why I took the risk to come here, Lady Hope, I must become as strong as possible so our world still has a fighting chance."
Hope nodded. Or at least Sunny thought she did, he only felt the shadow of her head bob a bit.
"These strongest humans you speak of, do you want to kill them?"
"...Yes. But not because of their war."
"Then why?"
Sunny sighed.
"Because they won't stop tormenting a friend of mine. She is only a child, and yet they send assassins after her, killing her family and destroying her clan."
"I see… Then, that is a good enough reason."
'Huh.'
Strangely, Hope was far easier to speak to than Sunny expected. Her numinous voice was quiet, echoing across the halls, and she also spoke rather slowly with little emotional inflection, but Sunny was still able to hold a genuine conversation with her. She was a little awkward, but Sunny had spoken to more awkward people before.
'Must be how she became a ruler.'
Humans would never follow someone that was eerie and unlike them. It was simply not in their nature. They would sooner worship a rock or mountain than a person who seemingly functioned completely different from them. Hope had likely spent the most time with humans out of all the daemons, it wasn't too strange that she would be able to speak like them.
'Or maybe… we speak like her?'
Hope had been the one to invent language, after all. Or rather, writing.
'Close enough, I think.'
He didn't know enough about ancient history to make an accurate guess, and it wasn't like he…
'Wait.'
Wasn't there someone who knew ancient history right in front of him? Someone who had been born right at the end of the world's creation? Someone who had lived throughout the Ages?
An awkward silence descended on the hall as Sunny fell into thought, with Hope seemingly not wanting to know anymore.
'Screw it, I'll ask.'
"Tell me about the other realms from your time. What is the Dream Realm like?"
Sunny blinked. Hope had asked him another question before he could even open his mouth.
"The Dream Realm?"
'I don't think I've mentioned the Dream Realm to her. How did she know? Did she guess because of Dream God?'
"The Dream Realm… is not a nice place. But might I ask how you knew about it, Lady Hope?"
Hope made a sound, perhaps similar to a short laugh, or someone quickly letting out a breath through their nose.
"Since you are such an honest one, I will tell you. I looked at your dreams when you passed out earlier and saw glimpses of your world."
"Oh… then why did you sit there while I… nevermind. It's fine."
So Hope had known the whole time Sunny wasn't lying about the future… or did she? Sunny had no idea what she had been able to glean from his dreams.
'Didn't I only pass out for a few seconds? How did I start dreaming that fast?'
Then again, the relationship between Awakened and dreams were… complicated, to say the very least.
'Power over dreams…'
Sunny had not forgotten the fact Hope also ruled over that domain. The rune of 'desire' in Demon of Desire could also be read as the Demon of Dreams. Many of the daemons seemed to cross over into each other's domains, like repose and dreams, destiny and fate… Perhaps it was simply because they came from the same being. The gods weren't so different too, strangely, with some of their domains falling into each other.
As the Demon of Desire, Hope held authority over dreams, emotions, and passion. Sunny was still quite clueless about the power of higher beings, but given the fact the literal world was created through desire, it was probably quite a powerful concept.
'Probably has something to do with the Will too.'
Sunny shifted slightly.
'Surely she can teach me the Will, right? She taught humans language and stuff, so surely this is something she can do?'
The problem was simply getting her to agree. Sunny quite literally had nothing to offer her.
'Huh. Except I am actually freeing her. She's been trapped for several centuries now, so surely she wants out? Doesn't… doesn't she kind of owe me?'
Despite his thoughts, Sunny said nothing, he'd have to be an idiot to barter with a daemon. Yet strangely, the thought remained appealing.
"What would you like to know about the Dream Realm, Lady Hope?"
"What is it? I do not suppose it is like a regular Divine Realm?"
Sunny squirmed slightly, sighing.
"You're right… The Dream Realm is… it's a patchwork of realms. Through the Corruption it spreads through the gates, it consumes parts of other realms and fuses it into itself. It is a strange sight, seeing disjointed stars, suns, moons, weather patterns… It's all a massive pain, really."
Hope's head moved slightly. Now that Sunny was a bit closer to her, he realised that for the first time, a living shadow wasn't staring at him. Normally, the shadows of people he passed by would stare at him, but not Hope's, hers was steadfast, and didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular.
'Curious…'
"What of my kingdom then?"
"Your kingdom is now known to us as the Chained Isles, and it is currently ruled over by a Transcendent, Sky Tide. The region is quite peaceful, compared to the many others, and its ruler is a good person."
"Mmm."
Hope lowered her head slightly.
"Sky Tide, what is she like?"
Sunny smiled slightly.
'Does she not care about her kingdom anymore? Well, it's understandable…'
Even back in his original Second Nightmare, Hope had not hesitated to leave her kingdom behind, maybe even intentionally causing the Ivory Tower to ascend, bringing the crushing that killed everyone in the city below instantly. Perhaps after being trapped for so long, she grew to hate them, or even humans in general.
'...She doesn't secretly hate me, does she? Lets just hope not.'
"Sky Tide is… it's hard to say, she doesn't speak too much. But from what I've seen, she's fiercely independent, and will always try to do what she believes is right. She's saved my life a few times by now."
Hope tilted her head slightly.
"Do you like her?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I do."
"Do you love her?"
Sunny's other eyebrow raised.
"...I wouldn't say that."
A resounding hum reverberated across the halls.
"Is there anyone you love?"
Sunny sighed.
"No. Not in the way you're asking, anyways."
"Do you regret it?"
Sunny turned away.
'Ah…'
"Regret what?"
Hope hummed slightly.
"The source of the guilt you feel."
Sunny let out a laugh of disbelief.
'Someone who can feel all your emotions is quite… irritating.'
He felt a mild annoyance at the question, but he responded nonetheless.
"Of course I do. But it's in the past now."
"Tell me."
Sunny sighed.
"I was selfish, and I paid the price for it. If you want to know what happened, I… you can just see for yourself. I dream about it every time I sleep."
Hope hummed slightly, as if in thought. Sunny remained silent.
And then…
Sunny shivered as a cool hand brushed across his face.
"There there."
"W-W-Wh… what are you doing?"
With her unshackled hand, Hope was caressing the side of his face. Her fingers were long, and the seven fingers brushing across him caused his heart to nearly stop. Sharp fingers scraped across his skin slightly, rubbing across his stone skin like dull knives, a faint grating noise present in his ears.
"Is this not something humans do to comfort each other?"
Feeling her thumb brush beneath his eye, Sunny swallowed heavily.
"Y-Yes, but normally it's reserved for close friends, I think."
'T-This is a first.'
He had never even been comforted in this manner before… and yet it was a daemon doing it?!
'No, I do remember experiencing this before… it was a long, long time ago…'
When Sunny had only been a child, and had been unable to sleep. His mother…
"Close friends? I see. This is my mistake."
Hope retracted her arm, placing it by her lap.
Strangely, Sunny felt himself yearning for more.
'...Nope.'
He was not even a little tempted to ask Hope. He wasn't a complete idiot, after all. The scariest part was… the daemon might even agree.
'She… She doesn't seem to understand social cues? How strange…'
For a daemon who had lived since the dawn of time, she seemed a little… awkward. Lost, perhaps.
'Maybe I'd lose all my social skills too if I was locked away for that long.'
Sunny had no idea how the mind of a divine being worked. Perhaps she didn't understand because she thought in a completely different way compared to him. Or perhaps since daemons were solitary by nature, they never bothered learning human norms.
'...Are the norms even like that, at this time?'
Despite his combined several months in this time period, he had barely found himself living among the regular humans, he had only ever spent his time around his friends of the Chain Lords, and they were terrible examples of what social norms may have been like at the time.
Despite his thoughts, Sunny said nothing.
"Whats it like?"
Hope tiled her head slightly at his question.
"Being a daemon, I mean."
"I do not know if I can answer that."
Sunny turned his head back to her.
"Why? If you don't mind me asking."
"Could you tell me what it is like to be a Shadow then? I have been like this since I was born. I have never been anything else."
"Ah. Well being a Shadow is… interesting, I suppose? I'd say I'm more of a human though, and humans… Most of us are weak, so we feel fear all the time, but then there are other feelings that make all that worth it I guess. Love, hope, companionship, all that stuff."
Sunny felt the gaze on him grow curious.
"Do you believe that?"
"...Not really. I live out of spite."
"Spite… what is that like?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"Spite? I… I'm sorry to ask, but shouldn't you know, Lady Hope? Surely you feel spite towards Sun God after what he did to you?"
A sound that Sunny could no longer identify echoed across the hall.
"No… I don't feel much of anything."
"...What?"
Sunny heard the laugh again.
"My own feelings have always been faint. Even when I feel something, I find myself not knowing what I'm feeling."
Sunny's eyes widened.
'Is that… no way, right?'
"Why is that, Lady Hope? Do daemons not feel?"
Sunny already knew the answer to his question, but he was trying to covert in his questioning.
Hope remained silent for a moment, studying him.
"Why do you ask a question you know the answer to?"
"...Sorry. I just didn't want to be rude."
"Rude? Why would such a thing be rude?"
Sunny shrugged.
"In the time where I come from, asking someone what their Flaw is extremely rude, and might even get you killed. Awakened almost never tell each other their Flaws and Aspects, it's simply a needless risk, even a taboo of sorts."
Hope's head tilted.
"Then why did you tell me yours?"
Sunny sighed lightly.
"I… wanted to hold an honest conversation with you, Lady Hope. In the past, I left too many things unsaid, so now, I try to be more honest."
Although his words rang true, Sunny still felt like he was lying through his teeth.
After all, no one knew who he really was. Not Jet, not Nephis, no one. No one knew that he had actually come from the future, and that he actually wielded a Divine Aspect. He had tried being more honest with his friends, but some things were better off left unsaid.
"I see. Then, I will tell you. You are right, that is my Flaw."
Sunny felt a long breath leave his lungs, one he had been holding unintentionally.
'The Flaw of a daemon…'
Although the information was practically useless to him, as the Hope in his world was long dead, it was still a shocking discovery.
"Why did you want to know?"
"I was merely curious, Lady Hope."
"Yes, I do remember Shadows like you love delving into mysteries."
Sunny perked up slightly at her words.
"Actually, I was hoping you could tell me more about the world, Lady Hope, if you wouldn't mind…"
"I do not mind. But first, answer my question, what is spite like?"
Sunny nodded eagerly.
"Spite is sort of like anger against the world, I guess. It is when you only do something because you want to go against them, like if you know somebody doesn't like getting wet, you will splash water at them out of spite. And as for me… the world wanted me dead, so I live in spite of it."
"I see… anger against the world. Then, what do you want to know about the world?"
Sunny leaned forward with a grin.
"Can you tell me about the Age of Gods?"
Hope nodded, unbothered.
"What would you like to know?"
"How did it start? How did it end? Can you tell me what…"