Shadow Slave

In the past, receiving a new Memory had always been an important and memorable event for Sunny. After all, with his advantage in deciphering the secrets of their enchantments, Memories were one of his most powerful tools. Sunny relied on his soul arsenal a lot.

However, as time had gone by, the importance of the Memories lessened to a large extent. Of course, he was still reliant on them - but these days, most of the rewards he received from the Spell were either too weak for his level of power or inferior to something he already possessed.

With rare exceptions, their worth lay mainly in expanding his repertoire of weaving and serving as fuel for the evolution of his Shadows.

So, getting a new Memory was not as memorable an event as it had been before.

...Still, it was not to the extent that Sunny could forget receiving one.

'What the hell?'

He seemed to be saying this phrase a lot recently.

Sunny was befuddled, but he couldn't deny what he saw - there was indeed a new string of runes at the end of the list of his Memories, one that he neither recognized nor had ever seen before.

He scowled, then threw a suspicious glance at the Sin of Solace.

After hesitating for a while, Sunny chose not to say anything and turned his attention back to the runes.

Not only had the new Memory appeared out of nowhere, but its name also made him feel a deep sense of unease.

The runes read:

Memory: Key of the Estuary.

Sunny stared at it for a minute or two, disturbed. He had just been thinking about the Tomb of Ariel, the Great River, and its estuary... and now, this?

What did the name of the Memory mean?

Where did it come from?

And, more importantly... when did it appear?

He had not killed anything, or anyone, after entering the Nightmare. His Shadows were within his Soul Sea - they couldn't have slain a Nightmare Creature, either.

Except for Soul Serpent. But if Rain had been attacked by an abomination and Serpent killed it while defending her, the Spell should have still announced the kill and the acquisition of a Memory to Sunny. Yet he had not heard its voice since entering the Nightmare.

Had it happened while he was asleep?

With a grim expression, Sunny pulled his attention from the mysterious Memory and glanced at the list of his Shadows. Soul Serpent's runes were still bleak and lifeless, but they were there - which meant that Serpent had not been destroyed, at least.

It wouldn't have let anything happen to Rain without sacrificing itself first. So, Rain was most definitely alright... she had to be.

Suddenly, Sunny felt his heart turn cold and heavy. He looked at the beautiful expanse of sparkling water with a somber expression, his eyes full of concern and darkness.

Then, he slightly shook his head and looked down.

'Doesn't make any sense.'

What were the chances of a random abomination in the distant NQSC gifting Sunny with a Memory that was connected to the Great River? Why would it?

Pursing his lips, he let out a heavy sigh and turned his attention back to the runes.

Concentrating on the Estuary Key made more shimmering symbols appear in the air.

As soon as Sunny started reading them, his expression changed.

Memory: Key of the Estuary.Memory Rank: Supreme...

'Supreme?!'

His heart skipped a beat.

At the same time, Sunny's unease deepened.

He should have been excited to find himself in possession of such a powerful Memory. However, instead, all Sunny felt was a cold sense of dread. It was because he firmly believed that nothing in this world - two worlds, rather - was ever free. So, getting a Supreme Memory out of nowhere only made him feel apprehension.

'...Could Serpent even kill a Great Nightmare Creature?'

Soul Serpent was an Ascended Tyrant, just like Sunny. Sunny himself was not powerful enough to dare face a great abomination... his chances of surviving such a fight were not zero, but very close to it. The vessels of the Skinwalker were proof.

Frowning, Sunny swallowed his questions and continued to read.

Memory Tier: VI.

'Sixth Tier...'

He didn't even bother to consider the implications and turned to the description... which was strangely short.

There were only several shimmering runes:

Memory Description: [The answer is oblivion.]

Sunny stared grimly at the short string of runes, perplexed.

'The answer?'

He was confused.

To what question?

Was oblivion the key to the Estuary? What did it mean?

Or was it not oblivion, but Oblivion - the Demon of Oblivion? But what did that easily forgotten daemon have to do with anything?

Sunny rubbed his face, then glanced at the enchantments of the mysterious Memory. However, to his disappointment, there were no more hints hidden in the runes. All he saw was:

Memory Enchantments: [???].[???] Enchantment Description: [???].

And that was it.

There seemed to be only one enchantment, but it had no name and no description. It was just like the [Where is my eye?] enchantment of Weaver's Mask, which had not been named until Sunny used it.

There was one difference, though... [Where is my eye?] was an active enchantment, while the enchantment of the Estuary Key seemed to be a passive one.

Sunny took a deep breath.

'So... what is the probability that Soul Serpent had killed a Great Terror while I slept, and that the Memory received by me as a result has to do with the Great River?'

That was the only logical explanation, and yet, the logic of that explanation was highly questionable.

He remained motionless for a while, then sighed and summoned the Key of the Estuary.

Of course, it would have been more prudent to first study the mysterious Memory in the Soul Sea... yet, somehow, Sunny felt reluctant to touch it within his soul.

Soon, countless sparks of darkness swarmed around his palm, and then slowly formed into a jagged piece of black stone.

The jagged stone was utterly black and cool to the touch, reminding Sunny of the building blocks of the Tomb of Ariel. There were no features to it, no runes or images carved into its surface. It was just a rough, palm-sized chunk of stone that seemed like something one would randomly pick up from the ground.

Since the mysterious enchantment of the Estuary Key was a passive one, it was supposed to come into effect as soon as the Memory was summoned. However, if it was doing something, Sunny couldn't tell.

He did not feel any changes, neither in himself nor in the world.

'Ah... I feel like I'm going mad.'

He had been bombarded by more and more bizarre questions since the start of the Nightmare, and none of them had any answers.

There was also an answer that didn't seem to have a question.

Even the Sin of Solace had become a bit weird.

Uttering a quiet curse, Sunny concentrated and peered beneath the surface of the jagged black stone.

Even if the enchantment had no name and no description, he could still study its weave himself. After all, by now, he had some knowledge of weaving, as well as the ability to intuitively feel the purpose of various weaves.

Within the Estuary Key, there was a vast tapestry of ethereal strings. It was not the most complicated spellweave Sunny had ever seen - that would be the weave of Weaver's Mask - but it was still incredibly complex, and unimaginably intricate. An enchantment like that was hopelessly outside the scope of what he himself could create, at least.

Sunny was stunned.

However, he was not stunned by the intricacy or complexity.

Instead, what paralyzed him were the strings themselves.

Because, unlike the strings of soul essence that comprised the weaves of all Memories created by the Spell, these ones were not ethereally luminous and silvery white.

Instead, they were lightless and dark.

...Like something Sunny himself would create.