Shadow Slave

A long time ago, the Vile Thieving Bird stole one of Weaver’s eyes... and to replace it, Weaver wove a new enchantment into their fearsome mask.

[Where is my eye?]

When the enchantment was activated, the great tapestry of fate revealed itself to the person wearing the mask — either the original one or one of the two Memories of it Weaver had bestowed upon the High Priests of the Nightmare Spell.

The original mask was long gone, having perished with the Demon of Fate. But at least one of the Memory pair remained, and had been found by Sunny in the stone cell under the ruined cathedral of the Dark City... which meant that he could glimpse the vast infinity of fate, as well.

The problem was that mortals were not meant to behold it. The oracles of the nameless realm from which the Nine hailed from lost their sight as a result of catching a glimpse of the great tapestry... but really, they got off easy. The first time Sunny had activated [Where is my eye?], he almost perished on the spot — the only reason he survived was that the unfathomable enchantment of the Divine Memory exhausted his puny Awakened essence in a heartbeat and fell into slumber once again.

Still, that single heartbeat was seared into Sunny’s mind, having scarred him more than any other torment he had ever suffered. In his personal ranking of the most painful experiences of his life, using [Where is my eye?] was still proudly occupying the top position.

It was way worse than being beheaded, having his soul torn apart, and enduring the transformations caused by assimilating Weaver’s lineage... Sunny had barely survived beholding the vastness of fate as an Awakened, and nothing changed when he was Ascended either. In Antarctica, he had used [Where is my eye?] to kill the Terror of LO49 — Dusk, Sybil of the Fallen Grace. The eerie Corrupted Terror had not quite perished after witnessing the great tapestry of fate, but she was stunned long enough for Sunny to finish the job.

He was a Supreme Titan now, and possessed Mind Weave on top of that. So, Sunny had a reason to believe that he would be able to survive activating [Where is my eye?] this time. However, he was also sure that it was not going to be pleasant...

It was not going to be pleasant at all.

Not only that, but attempting to behold fate was also a path of no return for him. After all, his essence was nearly inexhaustible now — so, even if things went wrong, he would not be saved from whatever price he had to pay by running out of it.

That was why Sunny had been postponing this particular experiment for so long. He took a deep breath, gathering his courage. The memory of the harrowing agony of trying to fathom fate — having no choice but to try to encompass its boundless infinity with his mortal mind — made him shiver.

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

Jet’s laidback smile was gone, replaced by a cold focus.

Sunny lingered for a short while, then said evenly:

“Nothing too serious.”

With that, he gritted his teeth and activated [Where is my eye?].

Although countless years had passed since the time he witnessed the strings of fate for the first time, he still remembered the sight perfectly — in fact, he could not forget it even if he wanted to, as if every thread and knot of the great tapestry was branded onto his mind. Even now, he could imagine it vividly — the endless, radiant eternity of twisting threads. Those threads transfixed everything in existence, connecting every living being and every object, every thought and every concept, every dream and every nightmare, stretching infinitely into every direction, as well as into the past, the present, and the future.

The frightening enchantment of Weaver’s Mask not only allowed him to see the tapestry of Fate, though, but also forced the understanding of it onto him.

The knowledge of everything, everywhere, all at once...

No wonder he had almost died because of it. The pain back then had been indescribable... blood had streamed out of his nose, eyes, and mouth, and a silent scream had died on his lips. Even when he tried to escape into the shadows, the suffering did not subside — however, that probably prevented his eyes from turning into smoldering embers and his head from exploding.

This time...

It was almost manageable.

Not quite, but almost.

A terrible pain descended upon Sunny, making him feel like his mind was incandescent with searing heat, boiling, and on the verge of erupting like a fuming volcano. He could not help but shiver and let out a tortured groan, wanting to close his eyes, but unable to move... to look away from the wondrous, harrowing sight in front of him, above him, all around him.

‘W—what...’

His pupils widened, igniting with a golden glow.

Sunny was stunned.

Because the great tapestry of fate... did not look like the radiant and awesome image from his memories at all.

Instead, it was torn and ravaged, the infinity of its splendor having been mangled and mutilated, thrown into disarray. The Strings of Fate were all cut and tangled, swaying aimlessly on ghostly winds. ℝα₦ổBĚ𝙎

It was complete and utter, ineffable chaos. Some of the great tapestry — the past — remained as it had been, untouched by the slaughter. However, the present was utterly in shambles, and the future...

The future...

Did not exist anymore.

‘How... how can this be?’

The shock Sunny experienced was so profound that he even forgot about the awful pain consuming him.

How could fate, the most immutable thing in existence, have changed?

How could there be no future?

He drew in a shaky breath, searching for the cause of all this chaos — the single knot on the tapestry of fate that had caused all this devastation.

However...

‘I don’t really have to guess, do I?’

Because the cause was pretty obvious.

It was him.

It was Sunny, his desire to be free of the chains that bound him, and the act of defiance against fate that he and Cassie had perpetrated.