There was no sky, only swirling mist.
His thoughts were slow and heavy.
'Well... at least it's not so terribly hot anymore. That desert was a real nightmare. The Nightmare Desert... ah, what a fitting name...'
He was now inside the Third Nightmare.
And an exceedingly bizarre one, at that.
The source of the Nightmare was the Tomb of Ariel. Funnily enough, the cohort had failed to reach the real pyramid in the Dream Realm, but still ended up brushing against the illusory copy of it.
The very beginning of the Nightmare was highly unusual, as well. Sunny had not seen the time flowing in reverse, as it was supposed to happen, so he had no idea where exactly he found himself, and had no hint of what he needed to do to resolve the conflict of the Seed.
And lastly...
'Thirteen million challengers? What the hell was that?'
Had the Spell malfunctioned? There were not even a million Awakened in the whole world, let alone anywhere near the Nightmare Desert.
That was the strangest part.
But Sunny...
He was too tired to think about all that right now.
'I'm going to have to explore the area first. Then, I'll start searching for the others. We'll figure something out together.'
With that, he slowly inhaled and closed his eyes.
***
A few moments later, Sunny was lulled to sleep by the gentle swaying of the water.
"No, no! Not again! Please!"
Sunny woke up with a yell and cursed, feeling his wooden shelter lurch and almost capsize because of his sudden movement. The remnants of a dire nightmare were already disappearing from his memory, leaving behind only the bitter taste of madness and despair.
He shivered slightly, then grimaced and rubbed his face.
'What the hell... now I'm having nightmares within a Nightmare. What a great damn start to the day!'
Suddenly consumed by anger, he stood up, clenching his fists, and shouted:
"Curse it! Curse it all!"
His hoarse voice drowned in the mist.
The mist did not look as thick as it had before, but it still veiled the entire world. There was nothing within the reach of his shadow sense except for the endless expanse of flowing water.
"Curse it all..."
Sunny shut his eyes for a moment, then winced and sat back down.
He was in a terrible mood.
'What was even the point of it all?'
He was being pulled by the current... just like he had always been before. For most of his life, Sunny had just gone with the flow, struggling to survive and only reacting to things that threatened him.
Going to Antarctica was perhaps the first real decision he had made for himself. Sure, it might have been a reaction as well... but later, Sunny developed an understanding of what he wanted to achieve.
He had wanted to protect the civilians of the Southern Quadrant and the soldiers of the Evacuation Army. He had wanted to prevent the great clans from messing everything up. The things he had done in East Antarctica were not a reaction - instead, they were the result of an active desire to change the world in the way he saw fit.
That was the first time Sunny had tentatively attempted to bend the world to his will, instead of letting the world press him into the ground.
And for what?
What was the result?
The siege capitals of East Antarctica were, most likely, already destroyed. The Evacuation Army had been wiped out, and the civilians had been slaughtered. There was a desperate hope in his heart that some miracle had happened, saving them all, but Sunny knew that it was a futile dream.
When had there ever been a miracle like that?
No. He failed.
'Ah...'
The world was not so easily bent.
'Damn it!'
Sunny stared into the mist with resentment.
And then, he heard a voice:
"Done feeling sorry for yourself yet?"
'What the?!'
With a start, Sunny flinched away from the source of the voice. Falling on the wet surface of the wooden raft, he crawled back and looked up.
There was a slender figure standing above him, with a mocking smile on his face.
It was a young man with black hair, alabaster skin, and a lithe build. He was wearing a simple tunic of beautiful black silk and a pair of dainty silk shoes, looking like a porcelain doll.
His eyes were like two pools of cold darkness.
The young man... was Sunny.
Or rather, it was the Sin of Solace.
However, the spirit of the cursed sword did not look vague and blurry anymore. It looked utterly complete and real...
In fact, it looked slightly more real than Sunny himself.