Sunny brushed his fingers across the black bracelet on his left wrist and slowly exhaled. The bracelet was a Memory he had created a while back… it was a crude knockoff of the Spell, replacing some of its simplest functions. Announcing his kills was one of them. He shifted slightly. 'That… went better than expected.' He had just killed a Great Demon. Well, technically, it was his other self that had done it. His avatars were not beholden to the maximum range of Shadow Control, so there was a vast distance between them. Currently, Sunny was simultaneously in three separate locations. His original body was here in Bastion, enjoying a peaceful life in the company of the gloomy shadow — he had kept that guy so that people had no reason to ask why he was walking around without a shadow at all. His second self was incarnated by the happy shadow, keeping an eye on Rain. His last avatar was far away, in one of the most dangerous regions of the Dream Realm, incarnated by the haughty shadow.
Shadow Control?
Incarnated?
Different bodies?
None of what the gathered audience witnessed made sense, nothing gave a clear-cut answer to the questions they had about whom this Master Sunless was, if he even was a Master. What is his Aspect, what is his flaw, how did he apparently slay a Nightmare Creature even most Saints would struggle with as a Master? The more and more they watched, the more they got confused. One particular part stood out to the Summer Knight, somehow this Master created a memory while not being part of Valor, and it served as a replacement for the Spell. It seemed he and Not So Funny Anymore shared the same concerns and confusion, after all not many Awakened could craft memories and the ones that could mainly belong to Valor. While this Master Sunless not being part of Valor wasn't the end of the world, the potential for him to join Song and craft memories for them wasn't ideal. Even if he was one man from what they just witnessed, he could be one man with many bodies capable of doing the same things as he. "Lady Morgan, perhaps when we return we should investigate more about this Master Sunless, see if we can bring him over to Valor and if not at least learn how he creates his memories." Sir Gilead voiced his concerns to the Princess of Valor who simply nodded her views similar to the Valor Saint.
Nephis on the other hand was more focused on a different part, that bracelet served as a replacement for the Spell, why would the Spell need to be replaced? Or yet what would have had to happen in order for the Spell to longer exist for this Master Sunless. Now, now Nephis was intrigued somehow this man had to replace the Spell meaning he lost his connection to it meaning maybe just maybe he was the key to destroying it for eternity. "Cassie… I think this Master Sunless might be it, the key to ending the Spell and its tyranny for good." Her declaration was steadfast and assured. "You sound so sure, then again that's not unusual for you Neph. If you truly think so, we'll have to meet with this Master Sunless when we return." Cassie knew of Nephis's hatred for the Spell the only thing that rivalled it was her hatred for the Sovereigns and their visit would only help. Her after all even though she lost her ability to see the future, Cassie's intuition was good as ever, and it was telling her that his man was very important.
Haughty, naughty, creepy, and crazy were together. Saint, Fiend, Serpent, and Nightmare were with them, as well. Unlike the first two, the third Sunny knew no peace. He wielded the most power of the three and spent his days in eternal darkness, often clashing with dreadful abominations. Of course, the three of them were actually one person. So Sunny had been enjoying a peaceful morning in Bastion, accompanying Rain, and battling the Great Demon at the same time, all along. But he had grown good at compartmentalizing over the years, allowing him to at least pretend to live three separate lives. So that thing is finally dead, huh. It had taken him almost a month of meticulous preparations to finally attack the abomination in its lair. Sunny had expected to sustain heavy injuries, but the battle ended well. With the demon's death, there was no one left to challenge him in the immediate vicinity of the temple…
"So his Aspect must have something to do with the ability to create copies of himself using his shadows, and from those descriptions they must have their own personalities, interesting indeed." The supposed to be dead man mused to no one in particular. This was one of the many theories the assembled audience had about what the man they were viewing Aspect and flaws were. Whispering Blade's comment made sense, but still left questions. "That begs the question, though, what is it his Aspect? It has something to do with shadows, and it allows him to create bodies using them, but it still doesn't give us a clear view of what it is." Revel still had many questions, and it seemed the more idea they gained, the hazier the truth got. "Great guesses you all, except for issue, what about the chance that his Aspect his is simply shadows." Noctis with his statement shattered their small idea, at least their idea made things simply to understand, but if the Lord of the East was right then what this Master Sunless could do was much larger than they assumed.
"Do explain, Lord of the East, what exactly are you insinuating." Windflower questioned the flamboyant sorcerer, prying into his theory. "It's simply truly, while we could sit here and speculate all day long what if the answer is as simple as his Aspect allows him to command shadows, bending them to his will." His reply simultaneously made sense while not the possibility was there but the implications were anything but small, "Would that not mean he bears the lineage of Shadow? If so, how has he escaped notice all this time, surely anyone of us even those who follow false monarchs would have him on their radar if not in their ranks." Seishan Song's comment did not go unknown by the Valor Saint's, but their attention was focused more on her question. "And if he truly does bear Shadow's lineage, that would put this Master Sunless in His line of sight." The Prince of Nothing's remark also held weight if their theory was correct and this Master Sunless did indeed hold Shadow's lineage, not only was he a valuable ally, he was also a potential threat.
Sunny lingered for a moment, then summoned the runes. A field of familiar symbols appeared in front of him… the runes themselves might have been the same, but they looked a bit differently. He had designed this whole thing himself, after all, tying the enchantment to his memory, perception, and the black bracelet. So, Sunny had taken liberties to change the look and feel of the field of runes to his taste. The runes read: Name: Sunless. True Name: — Rank: Transcendent. Class: Terror. Shadow Cores: [6/7]. Shadow Fragments: [1591/6000]. His True Name had been lost in the Tomb of Ariel, and he could not earn another while banished from fate. As for his shadow fragments… seeing the measly number, which had been very slow to increase in the past four years, made Sunny a bit disheartened. But there was nothing he could do about it.
A slow gradually increasing in both volume and in hysteria came from the Prince of Nothing, there was a third one after all this time. As most of the onlookers stared at him with a mix of confusion and wariness, only 2 narrowed their eyes while another's brow furrowed. A Princess and Blade stared at the Prince, both knowing the reason behind his sudden bout of amusement, while the Star looked at the screen before them. What shown before them ruined all notion of whom they believed this Master-no this Saint Sunless was. "Who knew there was a third, it seems we are not the only ones Changing Star, there is another blessed with this curse of ours."
The Prince's words were an oxymoron how can one be blessed with a curse, though that wasn't the main concern, instead it was his never seen before expression of intense emotion. Even the Song Saint had never seen the Prince of Nothing like this he seemed almost exhilarated, and what did he mean by a third, and why was he involving Changing Star?
Nephis calmly turned her gaze to Mordret who had a glint of cunning in his eyes, he was smart, using what they saw to cause confusion while also outing her secret only Cassie knew. Before she could respond to his comment, a certain Huntress inquired about the discussion, having broken free from her stupor moments ago. "What's that madman raving about, Princess, a third one? Third of what?" Letting out a small sigh, Nephis responded to her friend accordingly. "A third Divine Aspect holder, the other 2 being the Prince of Nothing and I."… That simple response made the room halt, all patrons except Cassie, Morgan, and the risen from the dead Madoc stumble with the implications. "What exactly does bearing a Divine Aspect as you put it entail?" The King of Twilight inquired about this information, the term being unknown to those conjured and not by the spell, even more so for those before it's time such as he, Windflower and Anake.
"Many things, the key part being unlike other Awakened Divine Aspect holders can rise in ranks similar to a Nightmare Creature, meaning our levels vastly outgrow regular Awakened. For example as you all know a Dormant Titan would be akin to an ant compared to an Unholy Titan same for Changing Star and I along with this Master, wait Saint Sunless. The difference being cores as we kill more and more Nightmare Creature of a same or higher rank to reach a threshold, once reached it will form a new core granting us more essence and strength perhaps more. To dumb it down, essentially us Divine Aspect holders can go far beyond the limits of regular Awakened to the point of the possibility of becoming a Transcendent of the Divine tier."
Mordret's explnation was a doubled edged sword while it exposed many facts about him it did the same for Channging Star, and that was key he had no chance against her that much he knew but there was a chance the Qween would once this was reported back to her. "So that would mean not only is this Saint Sunless acutally a Transcendent not an Asenced but he is also a Divine aspect holder him being a Transcendent Terror?" Bringing the group back to the man on screen Kai was now questioning the strenght of this Sunless and why he considerd himself a Master when he was infact a Saint.
"And apparently he has a True Name or had a True Name and lost it in the Tomb of Ariel after he was banished from Fate but that doesn't make any sense." Jet's addition didn't help with their endless list of questions about the man they were watching. "Yeah that would be impossible since that would mean he was in our Third Nightmare and survived-" Effie's point was cut off by Cassie. "Not quite." If the patrons weren't confused before they were now, still Cassie continued. "Recently I noticed a note adressed to myself that I have no memory of writing telling me to visit this man on the Winter Solstice which is apparently his birthday." Before she could continue Morgan cut in, "What does any of that have to do with the fact that this man was somehow in your Third Nightmare apart of your cohort?!" Similar to her brother the Princesss of Valor displayed a unknown bout of emotion.
Cassie paused before once more speaking. "I was getting there but think for a second isn't it odd we were brought here by a strange being, forced to watch this man who says he is a Master but is a Saint potentially holds Shadow's lineage, is Divine Aspect holder, Had a True name and lost it in our Nightmare." Cassie's voice became more and more assured as she went on. "As you all know us oracles lost our ablity to percive the future most likley due to this man's supposed banishment from fate, but what does that entail exactly." Cassie slowly began to put the pieces before them together. "I belive that to be banished from fate means to be banished from the tethers of the world to be removed from its future but in order to be removed from the future you must be removed from the present and past." There was a hint of sorrow in her voice as Cassie felt the fog in her mind slowly barely lifting,
"But, someone can't be removed from the past and present when people remeber them meaning.. I think, I think that we all know this Sunless one way or another even more so for us." She turned to her fellow cohort members her tone carrying determination. "I feel it in my soul that this man is someone to us frined or foe I don't know yet but... but I'm sure of one thing we have to figure it out." The room was silent all patrons gathered unable to come up with a response to her delcaration as the information overload settled into their brains.