Sunny was lost in thought.
After his little outburst, he had received an earful from Master Jet for breaking government property and behaving like some kind of lunatic.
‘Never thought that I’d ever talk to Jet formally again.’ To call her Master, to choose his words carefully — after all these years, battles, and all kinds of experiences together — felt strange and maybe a bit wrong.
‘Actually, I never thought that I would ever talk to her again at all…’
Soul Reaper herself had also looked a bit shaken after watching his reaction to waking up.
It was somewhat expected for a Sleeper to freak out after surviving whatever horror their Nightmare had prepared for them, but even he could admit that his behavior had been out of place.
Could you really blame him, though?
The last seven years or so — he couldn’t say accurately; at some point he had lost track of time — he had mostly spent alone, with only his shadows, Shadows, and [Extraordinary Rock] for company.
Well, except for the last few years of traveling and constantly being on the run from the Dreamspawn’s omnipresent gaze, challenging the Nightmare Desert, the Tomb of Ariel, and the freaky Bird.
So him being a recluse had somewhat dimmed his social skills and even his awareness of other people overall.
And on top of that, the circumstances of his waking up were… definitely unusual.
You could even say that after seemingly dying pitifully and then waking up more than a decade earlier, his reaction could even be called mild.
Well, except for the manic laughter right after loudly swearing for all the police station to hear, that is.
Sunny could tell that it had disturbed Jet greatly, but except for a few remarks she had for him, she politely didn’t pry.
And he was very grateful for that.
Instead, she insistently offered him psychological counseling, which he vehemently refused.
‘Only another crazy bastard could possibly have the smallest of chances to put things in order in my head.
Or, more likely, make it worse.’ Jet didn’t insist too much, but by the looks she gave him, he could guess that she believed he was making a mistake.
Returning to the situation at hand.
After taking a long cold shower to clear his mind, as had happened the last time he and Jet met at the police station’s cafeteria.
He was currently chewing thoughtlessly on tasteless gruel, identical to the one he had eaten all those years ago after coming back from his First Nightmare.
All of it was the same, or almost the same as he remembered.
Even the speech Jet had given him the last time sounded almost identical.
‘Am I dreaming?
Is it some kind of cruel joke?’ he thought dejectedly.
Then he put the spoon on the table.
He had no appetite whatsoever, and putting even an ounce more of this substance in his mouth would probably result in him throwing up everything he had just eaten.
And just at that moment, Jet spoke again, bringing his attention to her.
“Hey kid… Was it really that terrible?” she asked simply.
He didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what she meant by ‘it’.
He thought for a moment before replying.
“If you’re talking about the Nightmare, then I can’t really say for sure. It was simultaneously something terrible, cruel, and never meant to be survived to begin with. Me being here is just a result of my never-ending spite, I guess. But thinking about it more carefully, it wasn’t actually that bad if you compare it to…” at that, he grew silent and furrowed his brows.
Could the life he had lived, the things he had seen and remembered, be simply a part of a Nightmare he had just returned from?
If that was the case, what could that even mean to him?
Had he survived some kind of unheard-of variety of a Nightmare inside a Nightmare?
Especially considering that it was somehow connected to the events happening right now.
The Nightmare Spell was connected to the tapestry of Fate after all, so it could be possible.
Though that thought left a bad taste in his mouth.
‘What if this life that I’m living right now is just one of the loops inside a recurring Nightmare?’ He shivered at that thought.
After all, he still vividly remembered his Third Nightmare…
Or maybe his last spiteful decision to tamper with the tapestry of Fate was somehow to blame.
Time and Fate were deeply intertwined, after all… But he wasn’t sure about that either.
If it were so easy to travel back and forth in time, then many Divine beings could use that loophole and escape their inevitable demise.
The Daemon of Fate himself was apparently unaware of that being possible.
Or maybe he was… You can never know for sure about anything where the Weaver was involved.
So he wasn’t seeing the full picture, but he could try to figure it out later.
Right now he had an important discussion to return to.
Sunny stayed silent for a moment or two, musing on the reality of what he was seeing in front of him, a frown growing on his face.
He went still for a second, took a deep breath, seemingly steeling himself for what he was about to say, and then opened his mouth.
“Master Jet…” he started reluctantly.
“Can you answer a question? Just promise not to freak out,” he asked with a sheepish grin.
“Shoot. But I hope it’s nothing perverted, otherwise there will be consequences.” Sunny nodded at that, the frown still present on his face.
“I want to ask about the condition of the Obel Scale. Lately… could it have been behaving strangely?” Jet’s eyebrows immediately shot upward, and then she narrowed her eyes.
“Honestly, I have no idea how you even know about it…” Jet said a suspicious edge in her tone.
“But recently it has indeed started to malfunction sometimes. Though you have nothing to worry about — after all, our best engineers are already wo…”
Sunny let out a long shaky breath at that and then covered his face with both palms of his hands tiredly and dragged them downwards forcefully with a growl.
Jet suddenly stopped speaking after seeing his reaction, watching him with a raised eyebrow.
Sunny’s thoughts were running wild.
This simple question had confirmed again that at least some events he had lived through before waking up here were moving in the same direction.
And that little piece of information had basically set off the whole thought process of what he should do next.
If — and that was a big ‘if’ — he really had begun reliving his life from the moment right after his First Nightmare… that left him with endless possibilities.
Wasn’t that what he had secretly dreamed of?
A chance to fix all of his countless mistakes, reverse his stupid decisions, save countless lives, atone for all of the things he had done wrong, and maybe… maybe have a life he had always wanted.
A quiet, luxurious life full of joy.
Surrounded by people dear to him…
The last thought sent a pang of pain through his heart.
Sunny clenched his jaw and shook his head.
It was not the time nor the place to think about useless things.
He wasn’t even sure yet that he had really been sent back in time.
However, dismissing such an opportunity would be beyond stupid.
He had more than a decade of battle experience, awareness of at least some of the incoming catastrophes, and knowledge that even the Great Clans would kill for.
That could change everything!
But right now he had to start from somewhere.
His prior knowledge had taught him at least one important thing — he couldn’t pull it off alone.
He had gone down that road before, and no matter how strong, competent, and crazy he was, he was but one man.
He desperately needed allies.
People he could trust unconditionally.
He needed someone competent, someone who could keep their mouth shut, someone trustworthy…
And to his luck — as if he ever had such a thing — one such person sat right in front of him.
Jet was one of the few people he could trust completely.
They were both from the outskirts.
They had fought side by side, having each other’s back.
They had kept each other’s secrets.
And overall, they had shared a great many experiences before everything went to hell.
So he collected himself quickly, thought through the approach for the conversation ahead, gave a small nod to himself, and stood up.
“Master Jet. I think we need to speak privately. I have a few… disturbing things to say, so if you have some kind of privacy Memory, that would be great,” Sunny said, making Jet frown even further.
“You can refuse, of course… I know I look strange, a bit deranged, and not exactly trustworthy. But, please don’t. Trust me just this one time. This is… something concerning the lives of countless people.”
He was practically pleading by the end of his speech, which seemed to put Jet in a stupor — the sudden change in him had caught her off guard.
She carefully observed him, absorbing every detail of his appearance and thinking over the way he had behaved.
He indeed looked deranged.
No, maybe not deranged…
He looked more like a broken doll with its strings cut off, trying to balance on its own and finally finding something to hold on to.
She sighed.
Jet could already feel that her day had just become unnecessarily complicated.
“Fine… But it better be worth it,” she said, standing up and motioning for him to follow.
They walked quickly through the narrow corridors of the police station, occasionally maneuvering between sleepy policemen.
The strong smell of synthetic coffee and cheap pastries permeated the air.
The police station wasn’t that big, and not nearly as busy in this ungodly hour, so it didn’t take long before they found a free room.
It was nothing special on the inside — probably some kind of small meeting room or something similar, with only a small round table at the center and four chairs around it.
On top of the table, almost at the corner, stood a lonely and grimy mug that, by the looks of it, hadn’t been cleaned since the Dark Ages.
Jet took a quick look around, then summoned a small Memory and placed it on top of the table.
It looked like a small intricately crafted music box, which started playing a soft, relaxing tune almost immediately after being summoned.
But its appearance didn’t fool him — from just a few seconds of observation, he could tell it was a powerful Memory of Transcendent Rank, no less.
And one deeper look at the spellweave told him that privacy wasn’t its only function.
Jet, unaware of his musings, pushed back a chair, took a seat, and then motioned for him to follow suit.
He obliged without hesitation.
All this time, a small frown never left her face.
At the same time, Sunny had finished collecting his thoughts.
He cleared his throat and, not wanting to waste any time, started.
“Before we begin, I have to say a few things. First, the story I’m about to tell sounds crazy even to my own ears; it’s hard to prove, and there are a lot of things I don’t understand myself. My current state is not the best example of mental stability, but I have to share it with you anyway. Because you’re one of the very few people I can trust completely, and you are in a position to make a real difference. So thank you for giving me a chance.”
Soul Reaper listened to him carefully, narrowing her eyes suspiciously as he was finishing his introductory speech and threw a short glance at the music box, before her frown deepened.
The ‘trust’-part didn’t make sense to her, but she never interrupted him, and in the end nodded for him to continue.
“Well, here’s the tricky part,” he mumbled.
“What do you know about the Sovereigns?” he asked, and then cursed immediately, as she clenched her jaw at the mention.
“Damn, that sounded bad… Okay, let’s approach this from a different angle. I’m sure that you’re aware that there exists a group of people who challenged a Fourth Nightmare more than a decade ago and became the hidden rulers of the world, known as the Sovereigns.”
Jet’s face went blank after those words left his lips.
She didn’t like one bit where this conversation was going.
Worse yet, the person who had no right to know one of the most guarded secrets in the world was none other than a fellow outskirts rat.
A kid, not yet even seventeen years of age, with a completely blank record and without any education whatsoever, who had just returned from his First Nightmare literally in front of her eyes.
What the policeman had told her about his previous behavior — not that there was much to tell, to be fair — and what she was witnessing with her own eyes, were two completely different things.
The way he talked, the way he walked, the way he looked, even the way he reacted to the smallest sounds and changes in the air — all of it screamed of years of experience.
Worse yet, the look in his eyes was unmistakable.
‘The kid is a killer,’ she knew.
It didn’t make any sense, though…
Or maybe it did.
This talk about the Sovereigns fed her growing paranoia.
Maybe Sleeper Sunless was some kind of secret agent of a Great Clan?
That was a funny thought on the surface, however it wasn’t unusual for them to take in homeless kids with some potential and raise them for…
different purposes.
So his First Nightmare could just be a convenient tool to try to recruit her as an agent too.
A high-ranking government officer who was loyal and discreet enough not to be found out would be a great boon, of course.
Not to mention that she was also a competent fighter with a terrifying Aspect, no less.
So it made sense, somewhat.
‘But could they even predict such a thing?
A Nightmare Gate opening in the vicinity of this police station, considering the way the Obel Scale had been behaving lately.
Me being nearby, and being the only Awakened available.
Then containing it with only minor injuries at worst.
And after all that, me still having the desire to babysit a challenger of the First Nightmare.
That’s too many ifs.’ So she catalogued her observations, with a slightly narrowed eyes, but let out a short sigh and simply nodded for him to continue.
“Good. I’m also sure that you’re aware that two of them are the true rulers of the Great Clans — Anvil of Valor and Ki Song.” Jet’s frown deepened at that, but she silently nodded again.
“However, I’m not interested in those two just yet. What I want to ask you is… how much do you know about the third one?” His voice dropped to almost a whisper at the end.
Even with the privacy Memory present in the room, he couldn’t help but worry about being overheard — either by a powerful seer, or… the Sovereign in question himself.
After the last word left his lips, Jet blinked owlishly.
“There is a third one?” she asked, dumbfounded.
At that, Sunny let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Phew! That’s a relief. Well, just to be sure: does the word ‘Dreamspawn’ ring any bells?” She blinked again.
“What the Spell does that even mean?!” she shouted in response.
Sunny smiled broadly, seemingly pleased.
“That’s perfect! Forget I ever asked. We’ll open that can of worms when the time comes.” She looked at him incredulously.
He had just dropped a bomb like that and then refused to elaborate…
She was starting to grow irritated with his antics.
“Okay, back to the main topic. Well, how should I put it… Master Jet, do you believe in time travel?” he asked, with a touch of uncertainty.
She frowned, but almost immediately answered.
“No…” she said slowly, unsure why did he brought such topic in the first place.
“It’s impossible — scientists all over the world have long been trying to conquer time, even before the Dark Ages. The answer is simple: there is no possible way to travel back and forth in time. I have read a few old reports, out of interest, that were written in that cryptic language I barely understood. But the conclusion is simple: no, it’s impossible — time’s flow is unidirectional.”
She answered almost automatically.
And then a strong urge to facepalm washed over her.
She had just shared classified information with a teenager she had met for the first time in her life.
Maybe he wasn’t bad for a spy after all — or she was just too sleep-deprived and low on essence these days…
“But the aforementioned Obel Scale’s principle of operation is based on detecting fluctuations in time caused by Nightmare Gates that will open sometime in the future. Thus it’s not exactly unidirectional,” he countered.
“So technically not impossible, but highly improbable… I guess.”
He wasn’t sure himself how exactly that worked in terms of real science — he wasn’t the brightest in that regard, given his lack of formal education early on and then a complete lack of time to pursue it later — but he had a high-level understanding of it, thanks to a kind old professor.
“Also, I’m not sure if you know about it, but beyond the Hollow Mountains exists a Death Zone — the Nightmare Desert. Somewhere in its center stands a most wondrous Pyramid — The Tomb of Ariel. The concept of time is tricky there and flow of it there is definitely not unidirectional…” he drawled thoughtfully.
Soul Reaper’s eyebrow twitched in irritation.
“Okay. Let’s stop,” Jet said in a dangerously low voice.
“I have no idea how you know all of this. Half of what you are saying consists of either well-guarded secrets or classified information, altogether. The other half is complete nonsense. So let’s cut to the chase. You clearly didn’t call me here for a philosophical discussion on the nature of time, so either you say what you actually wanted to say, or I’m out,” she said as she stared him down with her cold icy-blue eyes.
Sunny pinched the bridge of his nose, collecting his thoughts.
He could definitely understand Jet growing tired of his nonsense.
Well, at least it sounded like nonsense to her.
But it had been necessary for him to confirm she wasn’t in any way under the influence of the Dreamspawn at this point in time — otherwise, disclosing his knowledge of the future could open a whole new set of problems.
And he couldn’t just look at her and say: ‘Hey, Jet!
It’s your buddy Sunny.
You may not know me well yet, but we were best friends in the future.
Oh yes, I’m something of a time traveler, you see.
And in that future, you are dead, all of our other friends are dead too, the Waking World is being consumed by the Dream Realm.
The Seventh God, which became Corrupted, is on the verge of waking from a long slumber and destroying all of existence.
And humanity itself was enslaved by the third Sovereign and is being devoured.
That’s about it.’
You can’t be too subtle about things like this.
So he had needed some build-up before the main event.
Well, he thought it was a good idea at least… ‘
My lack of human interaction is starting to turn me into Nephis.’ The thought made him shiver internally.
“Okay… I owe you that much, at least,” he sighed and spoke with a slow nod.
“As I said, all of it is going to sound crazy — damn, it already does — so I was trying to smooth things over a little. But fine. Let’s get this over with.”
He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and then continued immediately with determination in his eyes.
“First, my Flaw — I cannot lie. I know it sounds convenient in this situation, but it’s true. The longer you socialize with me, the more convinced you’ll become.”
He took a pause, observing the shifting expressions on her face.
She looked surprised at first, then suspicious, and now was simply doubtful and waiting for him to continue.
“As for my knowledge… I know all of that because I lived through it. I’m aware of the Obel Scale’s existence because you told me about it, and its principle of operation was explained to me by Professor Obel himself. I know of the Sovereigns because they were behind the destruction of my closest friend’s family and because I fought… and even killed both of them myself. I know of the Tomb of Ariel because my Third Nightmare was set there — and it was your Nightmare too. And I also know of the Third Sovereign because he was the one who enslaved the entire world and… the reason you died.”
Jet’s eyes grew wider with each passing word, expression between disbelief and bewilderment.
He paused for a second letting his words sink in, and as the realisation finally struck her he continued with a nod.
“And, yes, all of that… happened in the future. Some things in just a few years, others — more than a decade later,” As he spoke, her expression grew more and more astonished.
“In the end… I died too. And the next moment I remember is waking up right at the point a few years before everything went to hell.”
He grew silent after that, simply waiting for her next move.
Her initial shock was almost immediately controlled and hidden beneath a professional mask of indifference.
But he knew Jet very well, so he could see how disturbed she truly was by what he had said.
He noticed how her eyes shifted from time to time to the music box, still playing its tune on the table.
Jet furrowed her brows slightly, seemingly expecting some reaction from it.
After a few seconds passed and no visible response followed, she pinched the bridge of her nose and took a let out an exhausted breath.
‘
So as I thought, it has other enchantments…’
“As you can probably guess, this thing is not just a privacy Memory.” Jet said suddenly, bringing his attention back to her.
“It’s called a [Heartfelt Confession]. If you had lied even once, the tune would have stopped playing. Simple, but extremely efficient — and simple things are usually the most reliable ones,” she said after almost a minute of silent deliberation.
“So either you’re telling the truth, you possess an Aspect powerful enough to neutralize the effect of a Transcendent Memory of the Second Tier, or you’re simply delusional.”
She paused for a second, meeting his gaze with a challenge, and then continued.
“And from what I’ve seen so far, the most believable answer would be the last one. So unless you have something to prove your words, I don’t think I should help you with anything. Except offering counseling again. Sorry, kid…”.
Sunny blinked at her response.
Well, he never expected it to be easy…
But from the looks of it he had managed to hook her at least.
“I know it sounds mad. And I know I look crazy. Well, I am crazy, after all. I don’t believe even half of it myself. But there are too many similarities to what I remember. And… I cannot let it unfold the same way again.”
His words flowed with confidence, but by the looks of it, Jet hadn’t been moved.
“Okay, I’ll try to prove it. I’ll list some things I know, that i shouldn’t and we’ll see if i’m completely delusional or not. Good enough?” He waited for a second before seeing her nod, and then continued.
“I already showed you my knowledge of the hidden forces of our world, so let me tell you about… hmm.. your own secrets for example,” after receiving a short nod and slightly amused tug of her lips, he continued.
“I know that your Aspect is of Supreme Rank, your Flaw is that you’re literally dead. You also become embarrassed when the subject of conversation is somehow connected to history.”
Jet looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a few seconds after that and then chuckled.
“The first two are not exactly public knowledge, but some high-ranking officers are aware. So not the biggest secret, I suppose — but you can’t exactly stumble upon it accidentally, either… Though knowing could also prove that you’re a spy. The latter part is… well, it’s embarrassing to admit, but it’s true. And I don’t remember telling it to anyone… Though it still doesn’t prove anything.” She said as she shook her head and gave him a challenging — a little softer this time though — look.
“Any other embarrassing things you can tell me about myself?” she said, standing and stretching a little, then crossing her arms and leaning against the corner of the table.
“You know, for someone not that high in the chain of command, don’t you think it’s too much effort?” he muttered, thinking for a few seconds before one crazy thought entered his mind.
He smiled devilishly.
“As for another embarrassing thing… Do you happen to have a star-shaped birthmark on the inner side of yo—”
At that moment, the grimy mug seemingly teleported, hitting him right on the nose and sending him off the chair and onto the floor.
He could have tried to dodge it, but… he kind of deserved it.
And despite the force of her throw, his nose remained undamaged — though it hurt a bit, which was a small price to pay.
“You said you traveled back in time after you died? Want to jump another decade back?” she said, visibly fuming, though he could tell by the way the corner of her mouth was twitching that she was also a bit amused.
He could also see a slight blush tinting the corners of her ears.
“Enough of the embarrassing stuff…” she muttered, looking away.
At the same moment, as Sunny slowly pushed himself up from the floor, he remembered something very important.
‘Looks like being hit on the head promotes the activation of neurons.’
The thing he remembered was simple.
Right before he had let out his dying breath, the Spell had whispered something into his ear.
The fact itself was impossible — the Nightmare Spell was connected to the tapestry of Fate, and right before his death, he had not only severed his Fate from himself again, but completely destroyed it altogether.
And then there were his runes… He summoned them just to be sure, and indeed some things were different from his first time around.
First, the attribute that had seemingly replaced [Fated].
[Defiant] Attribute Description: “The strings of fate no longer bind you. They watch from a distance — wary, hesitant, as though uncertain whether to approach at all. You have defied what cannot be defied, broken what cannot be broken, and returned from where none return. The unlikely still gathers in your wake, drawn by the echo of everything you have refused to accept. Whether that brings ruin or salvation has yet to be seen. One thing, however, is certain: the world will not remain the same.”
‘Not cryptic and terrifying at all.
Not one bit.
Nah.’ Cold shivers ran down Sunny’s spine.
Well, at least Fate — that bastard — was wary of him.
Good!
And it had better stay that way.
Who knew what Sunny’s delusional mind would produce next time…
But the thing that interested him the most was the Memory he didn’t remember possessing.
[Shapeless Thief].
He concentrated on its description, and then blinked.
Wiped his eyes.
Blinked again.
“Huh…” he mumbled involuntarily.
It was becoming a bad habit already.
Sunny stared at his runes with wide eyes, not believing his luck.
He wondered, for the umpteenth time that day, if his mind was playing tricks on him.
Memory: [Shapeless Thief].
Memory Rank: Sacred.
Memory Tier: VI.
Memory Type: Weapon.
He summoned the Memory immediately, making Jet tense and frown for a moment.
Black smoke slowly materialized over his open palm, levitating a few inches above it.
It changed shape every second, with slight fluctuations in its movement — one second an orb, the next a star, then an icosahedron.
It never stayed the same for more than a second; after barely a moment had passed, it smoothly yet almost instantly shifted into a new form.
It was beautiful and captivating.
And if Sunny’s guess was right, it held almost infinite potential.
Jet, by the looks of it, was a bit fascinated too — but he could nonetheless tell she was on guard.
The presence of a high-ranking Memory was hard to mistake for anything else, after all.
“What the Spell is that?”, she whispered softly, her voice slightly betraying her shaken state.
“You wanted proof, remember?” he said simply, a smile spreading across his face.
His eyes, however, never left the Memory for even a second.
After all, he was observing the spellweave of its most basic enchantment — a thing he shouldn’t have been able to do at this point in time.
But he paid that thought no mind; instead, he directed his Will — the tiniest semblance of it that a Sleeper could possess — and wished for the Memory to change its form.
The next moment he held a long, obsidian-black odachi, the shapes of long feathers engraved on its blade.
His smile spread even further, his eyes gaining a mad gleam.
Finally, he turned to face Jet and simply tossed the Memory to her.
She warily caught it mid-flight, her eyes widening the moment her palm wrapped around its handle.
“Apparently, I somehow managed to carry something back from beyond the grave. It’s a Sacred Memory of the Sixth Tier I got after slaying a certain deadbeat, filthy, loathsome Thieving Chick, before I kicked the bucket.”
Jet slowly lifted her gaze from the weapon to Sunny’s face.
She looked a bit exasperated at what he had said, but by the way the corners of her lips were slowly curling upward, he could tell she was a bit amused at his antics.
That was a win, if you asked him!
“So, do you believe me now?”
So Sunny’s trying to recruit Jet!
No better time than right now.
I was initially planning to write two shorter chapters, but got a bit carried away and spliting them seemed like a waste.
So bear with it 🙂 Would like to hear your thoughts and thank y’all for reading)