'It just doesn’t end today!'
Sunny stared at the Shadow Lantern with a strange expression. Today, he had discovered the key to mastering the next step of Shadow Dance, elevated his sorcery, and now, found out that the door to the Shadow Realm had been in his pocket the entire time!
Well... technically, these revelations had unfolded over several days, as Aiko so helpfully reminded him. Still, how was his heart supposed to handle so many stunning discoveries? 'Who cares about my heart? I have six spare ones, anyway!'
Standing up, Sunny carefully picked up the Shadow Lantern and studied it, a deep frown forming on his face. He was fairly sure his theory was correct. In that brief moment of fusion with the Divine Memory, he and the Shadow Lantern had become one and the same. In that instant, he’d glimpsed a bit of what the Shadow Lantern truly was, as well as what lay hidden beneath its surface.
Although he couldn’t fully comprehend it, he was certain of one thing — the gate of the Shadow Lantern led directly to the Shadow Realm. This would explain why it could hold an infinite number of shadows, as well as why the Fragment of the Shadow Realm could be stored but not retrieved. That Fragment had been torn from the Shadow Realm when a dreadful being escaped it, and by returning the Fragment, Sunny was, in a way, mending a rift in the Shadow Realm itself.
And there was no chance he could pull an entire Divine Domain out of the Lantern, after all.
Just thinking about all of this made Sunny feel incredulous. The Shadow Realm... His gaze grew distant, his mind wandering to the implications.
Out of the six Divine Realms in existence, only the Seventh — the Shadow Realm — remained. When the Dream Realm was born, it slowly consumed the mortal realms, absorbing them into itself, along with five of the six Divine Realms... or so Wind Flower had told him. Sunny strongly suspected that the Stormsea had once been the Divine Realm of the Storm God. Godgrave had likely belonged to the Sun God. The Burned Forest may have been the Divine Realm of the Heart God. As for the Beast God, fragments of its realm lingered in the Song Domain. Finally, Earth seemed to have once been the Divine Realm of the War God, humanity’s patron deity.
While five Divine Realms had been accounted for, the Shadow Realm had always remained a mystery. Where was it? Had it been swallowed by the Dream Realm? If so, where in this nightmarish world were the remains of the Shadow God’s Realm?
A long sigh escaped Sunny’s lips.
"Damnation..."
He had so much to do already! Crafting Memories was his immediate plan, but there was also the looming war, his need to learn about the Sovereigns before facing them in battle, and Nephis was finally coming back to camp. That meant he could finally see her again.
Now, exploring a dead god’s lightless realm had been added to his list of things to accomplish.
Sunny covered his face with a palm and groaned.
“What the hell?”
With seven bodies, how was he busier than ever? Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling.
For now, the only question was... what was he going to do first?
Sneak into the Shadow Realm or make a breakthrough in weaving?