Chapter 1329 Last Hurdle

Chapter 1329 Last Hurdle

As Nephis steered the ketch toward the wall of darkness, Sunny had some time to prepare himself mentally for the arduous struggle that lay ahead of them. He also had time to observe Ananke closer. What he saw... did not bode well. Despite being an adult — and someone hundreds of years old, at that — the priestess had regained the body of a young child. Looking at her youthful appearance, it was hard to remember how ancient, decrepit, and frail she had been once, when they met her in the far future.

But the change was not exactly a benevolent one. Despite being full of vitality, Ananke had obviously grown much weaker. Her immature body was not as strong and physically capable as it had been before... but, worse than that, the differences went deeper than that. As Sunny observed the child priestess, he slowly realized that her mind had been affected by her turning into a child, as well. It was as though her head could not contain the mature consciousness of an experienced adult anymore. Nor could her heart handle the powerful emotions of one with the same composure. Ananke had not really turned dull or less intelligent, but... there was a certain infantile straightforwardness to how she spoke and behaved now. Her eyes, which had always been wise, seemed slightly naive, as well. Her mind slowly regressing. Sunny felt cold claws grip his heart. 'Curse it...'

He gritted his teeth and looked down, but then forced himself to straighten. 'Fine. It's fine. She has taken care of us enough... we'll take care of her, now.'

Of course, they still needed the child priestess to protect the ketch from the ravages of broken time. Sunny hoped that she would be able to maintain the bubble of stability around the ketch — both for their sake, and her own.

Once they were out of the storm, they would find a way to help her return to Weave, even if it meant turning around and sailing back upstream. His heavy thoughts were interrupted by a sudden breeze that threw tiny droplets of water into his face. Sunny looked up, sensing the shadows around them shift. 'We're here...'

"Yes, my Lord!"

Sunny grinned, then picked up the iron bowl and prepared to scoop up as much water as he could. 'Granted... I only survived fighting the Sybil of the Fallen Grace by luck. And now I need to survive this storm, somehow, to meet her again. What a ridiculous turn of events, really..."

It was indeed a bit ridiculous. However, Sunny did not feel like laughing.

The storm swallowed them like a giant beast. The ketch flew on the raging current, dwarfed by towering waves. The swirling mist enveloped the world, making it seem as though nothing except for the terrible disaster remained within the Tomb of Ariel. The insidious tranquility of the eye of the storm seemed as though it had never existed. They had left its shelter, as well as the reflections of the gods and the daemons, behind.

Sunny would have felt regret at the missed opportunity to learn divine secrets, but he had no time to think about such things. Bending down, he scooped up the first portion of water and tossed it back into the mist. His body did not ache... for now. His reserves of essence were not empty, for now. His mind was not numbed by the sickening feeling of time breaking apart, for now. All these torments would come soon. And then, hopefully, he would leave them behind as well. To make space for some new horrors, without a doubt. But one day, at the end of it all...

A bright future awaited him. Maybe. For now, however, what lay ahead was the past. Sunny had to travel far into the past, meet Dusk of the Fallen Grace, find the members of the cohort, and conquer this damned Nightmare. Shielding his face from the devastating blow of the wind, he gritted his teeth. 'Ah, really now...'

They were braving a storm of broken time in the company of a two-hundred-year-old child, who was a priestess of the Nightmare Spell. Sunny chuckled. '...No one is going to believe this crap!'