Epigone

The vision begins in a world consumed by fire. Trees collapse in agony, and the sky is choked with ash. Amidst this apocalyptic inferno, a Sacred Beast—a majestic white stag with golden antlers—gallops through the flames. Its presence brings fleeting salvation, causing grass and flowers to bloom beneath its bloodied hooves. It is both a protector and a killer, having crushed many in its path. But this peace is shattered by a monstrous black leopard, eyes burning with hatred, which attacks the stag in a brutal clash.^[2]

The Sacred Beast and the black leopard fight savagely, their struggle toppling trees and scattering ash. Despite being wounded, the stag resists fiercely. Yet the predator transforms—first into a black stag, then a savage boar—wounding the white stag fatally. The Sacred Beast dies, butchered amid the pyre, signaling the collapse of nature's last resistance. The victor is not triumphant but horrifyingly persistent.^[2]

At the site of the stag's death, a wounded woman—Orphne—staggers in exhaustion, her body and mind broken. As flames creep closer, a mysterious masked figure—Weaver, the Demon of Fate—appears, suffocating the fire with his presence. Weaver scorns her weakness, taunts her identity, and refuses to let her die. They demand that she remember her fate and their connection. Their porcelain hand extinguishes the fire itself, insisting she find them again in the Shadow Realm. Her name, spoken aloud, rekindles her strength—and her hate.^[2]

Weaver turns away from Orphne and addresses an unseen observer. With haunting words, they asks if they are watching. The vision then shifts to the perspective of Sunny, who realizes in shock that Weaver is speaking to him. In that instant, the burning world shatters, and a torrent of overwhelming, prophetic imagery invades his mind.^[2]

In the heart of the Shadow Realm, Weaver drags their broken body toward a vast horror—the Void Gate, now open. As they prepare to perform "one final trick", a bone dagger pierces their back, torn through their flesh and severed their shadow. The attacker is Orphne, now veiled, cold, and dying. She smiles as she kills them. Both collapse—demon and huntress—dying together. Their blood and ichor mix, vanishing into the black dust. Weaver's last words are not of triumph, but of grim recognition: "...You are just in time".^[2]

In the final moment, Sunny sees a star-filled void. Among countless celestial lights, seven radiant stars flare, sending out silver threads. These threads begin connecting smaller stars, forming a tapestry of fate. The web spreads until even eleven great constellations are caught and consumed. Resistance is futile. The spell woven across the void cannot be undone. This tapestry of light, anchored by the seven stars, reshapes the very cosmos, casting a spell upon the Void.^[2]

As the tapestry completes, Sunny receives a fragment of Weaver's legacy—a final truth that rewrites his being. The transformation is agonizing, altering him at a fundamental level.^[2]

While [The Weave] granted numerous boons that strengthened and tempered its inheritor, Sunny realized that its defining purpose was not simply increasing power, but cultivating the ability to weave.^[1]

Every fragment of Weaver's lineage enhanced the practice of Weaver's sorcery: Blood Weave granted the ability to perceive spellweaves, Bone Weave allowed interaction with them, Flesh Weave increased finesse when handling essence string, and even the Nightmare Spell provided an endless supply of Memories and Echoes to study.^[1]

From this, Sunny concluded that Weaver had wanted their epigone to master weaving. However, he realized that learning to weave enchantments was not important in itself; rather, it was preparation for a greater purpose. Having mastered the foundations of sorcery by observing how the Nightmare Spell wove Memories and Echoes, the next step for Weaver's epigone was to learn directly from Weaver by observing what the Demon of Fate had personally woven.^[1]

Sunny recognized that the Nightmare Spell itself was Weaver's greatest creation accessible to him—a vast Spellweave formed from innumerable stars connected by rays of silver light. Unlike ordinary Memories, which were woven from essence string, the Nightmare Spell was woven from Strings of Fate. Realizing he already possessed the rudimentary and perilous ability to touch the Strings of Fate, Sunny deduced that The Weave must have granted Weaver's epigone a greater capacity to manipulate the Strings of Fate.^[1]