"I see… I see now. I understand. I should have known… that out of all of us, you are the bravest. This sacrifice, Solvane... even in the Realm of Shadows, I won't forget it."
With that, she turned to Sunny, who was really confused by what was happening, and smiled sadly.
"And you… I'm sorry, child. Please forgive me, if you can."
With that, his mother faced the beauty in the red tunic and raised her delicate hand, a knife carved out of a single piece of wood suddenly appearing in it, as though out of nowhere.
Her voice grew firm and determined:
"However, Solvane… you should not have never challenged me on this hallowed ground. I won't give up without a fight, and neither will my Grove."
The young woman facing her smiled, her radiant eyes shining with a furious light.
"...Prove it!"
***
"Mom… mom…"
Sunny crawled through the ash, suffocating on bitter smoke. Tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks, evaporating because of the terrible heat. His heart ached… oh, it ached so horribly!
All of him was in pain. And all around him, the Sacred Grove burned, enveloped by incinerating, raging fire. He could hear the screams of its inhabitants echoing in the dim darkness, humans and beasts alike, burning alive as their whole world was being slowly turned into ash.
'How can this be… how, how?!'
Pushing himself forward with the week hands of a useless old man, he crawled toward the delicate figure lying on the ground a few meters… so, so far… away.
He refused to die before he reached it.
The ground was scorching his palms, which were now covered in terrible blisters, but he persisted, unwilling to give up.
'Mom...'
And then, finally, he reached her.
The Lady of the Grove lay dead amidst the fire, shards of a strange iron dagger sizzling in the bloodsoaked mud around her. Swallowing tears, Sunny awkwardly hugged her body and let out a stifled howl.
Why… why did it feel so familiar? As though he had felt this pain once, a long time ago, already… in another world...
"Why are you dead? Weren't you supposed to be immortal? How can this be? No, no… this is just a bad dream, a nightmare. I need to wake up! Wake up, you old fool! Wake… wake up!"
But no matter what he did, he couldn't. Even if it was just a nightmare, he was trapped in it, unable to escape.
'Trapped… in a nightmare?'
As this strange thought rang in his mind, a trunk of an ancient tree suddenly fell nearby, a whirlwind of fiery sparks and burning debris raising into the air. Sunny stared at it, feeling his vision darken and his thoughts disappear one after another.
He was coughing, unable to stop… he couldn't breathe… he was suffocating…
'How did this happen?'
The old man stared at the burning forest, his eyes aflame with grief and mad disbelief.
How could the Sacred Grove be destroyed?
Wasn't it supposed to stand tall, beautiful and tranquil, long after he was dead?
Wasn't it supposed to outlive him?
A sense of utter, lightless sorrow and despair drowned his mind, just like smoke was drowning his lungs and pain was drowning his body.
'This is a nightmare… just a nightmare… it can't be real… no, no, no!'
That bitter thought was the last one that appeared in Sunny's mind before he fell into the searing darkness.
And in that darkness, alone and hurting, he died.
***
Pain, pain, pain…
Terrible, torturous pain.
His heart was in pain, but so was the rest of him.
Sunny couldn't open his eyes, because they were glued together with dried blood. But if he did, all he would see would be the dark walls of a dungeon cell, where he was strapped to a rusty torture device, red-hot metal spikes thrust into his body.
Lost and forgotten, far away from the light of the blessed sun…
A familiar voice invaded his ears, making him shudder.
"...Ah, you're awake. Good. You've been out of it for so long this time, my friend. Shall we continue?"
'More torture…'
Sunny sighed, knowing what awaited him all too well.
He could barely remember who he was before ending up in this cold dungeon, or why he was being tormented by the owner of the cursed voice. All he knew was pain, darkness, and despair.
However, this time, all of it didn't seem so terrible. What could have been worst than the harrowing nightmare he had just seen?
Solvane, Aidre, Noctis… the names sounded familiar. Had he known these people once, perhaps? Before this hell... if anything even existed outside of it, of course.
In any case, that didn't matter.
All that mattered was pain, torment, and hopelessness.
He gritted his teeth.
It was time to face a new day…