Eternal City (Event)

Sunny and Jet discovered an image of a spellweave hidden in the stars of the Night Garden's dream, a vast and intricate pattern only Sunny could recognize with his Mind Weave. Seeing it as a blueprint, Sunny painstakingly recreated the weave using shadow essence, sea monster soul shards, and a staff crafted from sacred wood. When he activated the completed staff, the Night Garden remained unharmed, but countless stars in the sky exploded.^[3]

Sunny activated Weaver's mysterious spellweave, which consumed his essence to alter the night sky with vanishing and blazing stars; though seemingly harmless, it was tied to the Stormsea where stars guide navigation, and Sunny suspected it was a map leading to Weaver's lineage.^[4]

Hidden in Jet's chamber, Sunny watched the Saints of the fallen House of Night as they confronted Jet about Nephis' deal with the Supreme Mordret, with Jet argued that the pact was a grim but pragmatic choice to avoid another war, and then he revealed himself as the Lord of Shadows—brusquely claiming he and Nephis were tied for killing Supremes.^[5]

Sunny revealed his survival to the wary Saints of Night, urged them to keep it secret and accept the uneasy reality of Mordret's power, then enlisted their help in deciphering Weaver's altered constellations—only for them to reveal that the star map was already known to their clan and pointed to the Eternal City, birthplace of the Night Garden and the hidden lineage of the Storm God.^[6]

Summarizing the revelations: the Eternal City was a wondrous city, now likely a hellish place, hidden in the Stormsea. It was said to hold mystical treasures and divine light, the key to restoring the bloodline of Storm God, and a wharf where the Night Garden could be restored to its true glory. The map to the Eternal City had now become visible to everyone in the Stormsea.^[7]

Sunny asked if they were going to sail there, but Jet refused, pointing out the immense risk of taking her ship and its millions of inhabitants into such unknown dangers. Aether agreed that the journey was too dangerous, even if the rewards were great. Naeve and Bloodwave remained silent but appeared to share the caution. Sunny, however, rejected their hesitance, reminding them of the world's dire state. He emphasized that caution was a luxury humanity could no longer afford, as necessity dictated risk-taking to increase humanity's collective strength before Cursed and Unholy beings descended upon them.^[7]

The group prepared for their voyage to the Eternal City by securing provisions and supplies, debated the risks of Jet's absence, realized the stars now revealed their path to all—including dangerous rivals—making the journey a race, and resolved to strengthen the Night Garden's defenses, with Sunny planning to forge powerful enchanted weapons himself.^[8]

The race to the Eternal City was nearing its end, with only a day or two left before the remaining contenders would reach the finish line. Countless others had perished along the way, leaving only the strongest competitors still sailing through the perilous Stormsea. Among those still contending were the Old Tom, the Dutchman, and the Night Garden, all now locked in a desperate struggle to eliminate one another before the race concluded.^[9]

Jet fought relentlessly through the wraith armada, buying time for the Night Garden until Aether unleashed his starlight to destroy the ghostly fleet, forcing the Dutchman and its spectral ships to retreat into the mist and leaving the sea calm once more.^[10]

After the wraith armada vanished and the sea grew calm, Sunny and Jet reflected on their hollow victory — realizing that the ghost fleet could not be truly destroyed and that the Dutchman, Old Tom, and other contenders still pursued the path to the Eternal City — before deciding to let the Night Garden recover and face what awaited them ahead in due time.^[11]

Several days after the battle, as the Night Garden healed and resumed its voyage toward the Eternal City.^[12] Two days after setting sail again, the Night Garden reached the mist-shrouded site of a massive battle where countless Nightmare Creatures had destroyed one another for the right to reach the Eternal City; after confirming their arrival, Sunny dismissed the star map enchantment so they would be the last to arrive, and when no trace of the city could be found amid the bloody sea and eerie calm, he reluctantly donned Weaver's Mask to uncover the hidden path ahead.^[13]

Sunny revealed to Jet that the Eternal City had fallen into the sea and now lay at the bottom of the Stormsea, leading him to propose submerging the Night Garden to reach it despite Jet's doubts and conditions for ensuring the crew's safety.^[14] The Night Garden successfully submerged into the blood-red sea under the protection of Sunny's shadow dome, proving his theory that the ship's aegis could hold back the water, and prompting Jet to accept that they were indeed diving into the abyss.^[15] The Night Garden descended deeper into the dark waters of the Stormsea, its invisible aegis keeping the ship dry and protected as Sunny and Jet monitored its slow, tense journey into the abyss—until they finally spotted the massive, lifeless tentacle of Old Tom drifting past in the depths.^[16]

Sunny and Jet guided the Night Garden through the dark depths toward the colossal corpse of Old Tom, discovering it to be an enormous oyster-like creature with a golden shell and a pocket dimension inside, whose shattered remains revealed it had been slain in a single, devastating strike by something unimaginably powerful.^[17]

Disturbed by the sheer power that had slain Old Tom, Sunny led the Night Garden deeper into the abyss, where he and his companions endured an eerie, silent descent through the crushing depths until they finally reached the Stormsea's perfectly flat, glass-like seabed, its unnatural stillness filling them with uneasy awe.^[18]

The Night Garden traversed the abyss above a vast glassy plain until Sunny, and his companions discovered the Eternal City—an immense, radiant metropolis of silver spires and flowing rivers preserved in pristine condition at the bottom of the Stormsea, still inhabited by countless moving shadows.^[19]

As the Night Garden approached the Eternal City, Jet sensed the presence of Nightmare Creatures, and Sunny discovered that the vast, radiant metropolis was infested with countless powerful beings already battling the wraiths of the Dutchman, prompting him to suggest landing on the opposite side to secure a wharf for repairs; there, they encountered a massive stele inscribed with a grim warning from Daeron, the Serpent King, cautioning travelers to turn back from the eternal hell beyond.^[20]

Sunny watched in awe as Jet expertly guided the colossal living ship, the Night Garden, into the wharf of the Eternal City, where the ancient, soul-infused structure came alive and began to repair the ship on its own while he prepared to pursue the greater goals awaiting beyond.^[21] Sunny and Jet crossed the bridge from the wharf to the Eternal City, discovering a vast runic array and a hidden secondary barrier beneath the first dome, which Sunny realized had been created by the Serpent King not to keep intruders out, but to keep something trapped within.^[22] They crossed the Serpent King's barrier into the Eternal City—discovering it allowed them to pass freely—only to be attacked by a beautiful young man whose body revealed itself as a monstrous abomination that reanimated even after Sunny beheaded it.^[23]

Sunny and Jet, fought together against an immortal abomination in the Eternal City, devastating several city blocks before finally subduing it—only to realize it was just one among countless others.^[24] Sunny was deeply troubled not by the strength or immortality of the nightmare creatures, but by the strange, incomprehensible nature of the monstrous youth, and after realizing there was no escape from the perilous world, he summoned the Dark Castle into the Eternal City to confront the immortal horde.^[25]

Sunny summoned his Shadow Legion and the Dark Castle into the Eternal City, revealing his overwhelming power as the Sovereign of Death, while he and Jet prepared to face the oncoming swarm of corrupted immortals.^[26] He faced the swarm of fallen immortals—monstrous beings trapped in human forms—and, realizing that the battle for the Eternal City required disciplined warfare rather than mystical power, he summoned the Puppeteer Moth, the Spirit of Doubt, and fused one of his incarnations with its shadow to gain near-perfect control of his Shadow Legion.^[27]

A devastating battle erupted in the plaza as Sunny's Shadow Legion clashed with the fallen immortals, their destructive powers repeatedly tearing and restoring the city while Sunny, through the Puppeteer's link, commanded his shades to adapt and test their limits, gathering crucial information about the enemy before finally joining the fray with Jet and his powerful shadows.^[28]

The Shadow Legion surged into battle under the walls of the Dark Castle as Sunny's forces flanked and overwhelmed the fallen immortals, while Sunny, strengthened by his shadows, armor, and the Serpent blade, descended like a dark comet into the immortal swarm, unleashing devastating destruction before challenging the immortal fiends with fearless resolve.^[29] Sunny overcame a devastating assault on the battlefield, defeated a corrupted immortal tiger with Fiend's aid, regained control of the Shadow Legion, and ultimately restrained the abominable immortals of the Eternal City before unleashing Nightmare to end the battle.^[30]

Sunny used Nightmare's insidious Dream Curse to lull the fallen immortals of the Eternal City into an endless sleep, successfully containing them within a labyrinth of nightmares.^[31] After subduing the corrupted immortals, Sunny and Jet observed the restored plaza, discussed storing the sleeping abominations inside Mimic for safety, discovered that the immortals lacked soul cores, and realized with unease that they were merely fragments of a far greater entity hidden within the Eternal City.^[32]

Sunny and Jet surveyed the black-spired Palace and decided to simultaneously seize the Lighthouse and the Palace—sending the Night Garden to circle the dome toward the Lighthouse while the Shadow Legion advanced across neighboring islands to stretch the front and avoid being cornered—and, despite the mounting danger and Sunny's dislike of water, they resolved to press the invasion rather than flee.^[33]

Sunny, Jet, and Naeve confirmed that the Night Garden was healing itself rather than being repaired, learned it could sail without interrupting the process, and set off from the blooming wharf toward the Lighthouse amid the chaos consuming the Eternal City.^[34] As the brutal battle of the three bridges raged against the fallen immortals of the Eternal City, Sunny's Shadow Legion struggled to contain the endlessly reviving foes until the Night Garden arrived and, with Sunny personally manning its cannons through his shadows, unleashed devastating bombardments that turned the tide and allowed Saint's army to advance.^[35]

Sunny and the Shadow Legion had overwhelmed the immortal swarm on the three bridges with the Night Garden's support, allowing their forces to push onto the islands and shift the battle into a new phase.^[36] They had pushed into three larger islands of the Eternal City, where he adapted to tougher enemies and shifting battle dynamics by fortifying key strongholds so his forces could withstand relentless immortal assaults and slowly turn the tide.^[37]

Sunny reported mixed progress in the Eternal City siege, then realized with Jet and Naeve's help that weapons might be found not in an armory but beneath the Hippodrome, where he soon sensed hidden equipment storages.^[38] He discovered a vast enchanted arsenal beneath the Hippodrome and equipped his shades, then uncovered pools of liquid metal that magically formed powerful armor for his bestial warriors.^[39] He continued equipping his army while sailing toward the ominous Lighthouse, discussing the Eternal City's hidden treasures and Nightwalker's escape before deciding they would have to swim to reach the tower.^[40]

Sunny and his companions swam through the Eternal City's perilous waters to reach the shadowless Lighthouse island, where Sunny struggled without his powers, fought endlessly regenerating tiny abominations with his lethal Will, and arrived weakened and wary of the dangers within Daeron's barrier.^[41] They struggled through the blinding, trap-filled Lighthouse island, discovering gruesomely restrained yet still-living immortals that revealed the horrifying consequences of eternal life before finally encountering one who was not bound.^[42]

Here they encountered a youthful-looking Nightwalker—Naeve's supposedly legendary and long-lost father—near the Lighthouse, learned shocking truths about the House of Night's past and the current state of the world, and followed him up the radiant stone steps into the blinding haze.^[43] Sunny, while controlling the Shadow Legion in battle, learned from Nightwalker that he had conquered a Nightmare Seed and become an immortal in the Eternal City, discovered that the true immortals were mindless vessels possessed by a parasite called the Flesh of Kanakht, and revealed his own identity as Supreme Sunless while updating Nightwalker on the drastic changes in the world.^[44]

They discussed the daunting conquest of the Eternal City as Nightwalker revealed the dangers of the Flesh of Kanakht and the Dutchman, explained how he had once arrived with Asterion, who later betrayed and killed him, while Sunny's forces continued battling immortal abominations to advance into the city's heart.^[45] Nightwalker revealed Asterion's mind-reading and emotion-manipulating Aspect, explained how Asterion betrayed and killed him in the Eternal City to steal the Storm God's lineage, and left Sunny secretly excited to learn about the Dreamspawn's powers.^[46]

Sunny learned that Nightwalker had spent countless years dying, going mad, reviving, and endlessly fighting Nightmare Creatures in the Eternal City until he became a Transcendent, ultimately, he was an immortal prisoner of the city.^[47] After Nightwalker explained that the Eternal City was a prison for the immortals, Sunny decided they should destroy the city to prevent its eternal torment and to secure its strategic value for humanity, and although Nightwalker was initially amused and dubious, he ultimately agreed to take up arms once Sunny finished his personal goals.^[48]

Sometime later, Sunny and Jet stood outside Nightwalker's hideout, reflected on his improbable survival and dubious stability, debated whether to trust him and whether to attempt assimilating Storm God's lineage (which Jet refused), and though Sunny admitted it was risky for the Shadow Legion, he resolved to enter the Lighthouse himself and still planned to try to destroy the Eternal City.^[49]

Sunny met Naeve at the gates of the Lighthouse, where they spoke about the restored Star Lantern, Naeve's father, and the burden of legacy, before Sunny entered the radiant tower, ascended to its peak, and resisted the star's transforming light as the power of the Weaver's Lineage consumed it instead.^[50]

Sunny climbed the pillar of the Lighthouse that held a trapped star, surveyed the Eternal City and its ongoing battles from its roof, then rejoined his companions to suggest using Aether's ability to weaponize starlight against the immortal abominations.^[51] Facing the hellish challenge of commanding supernatural armies, Sunny exploited the Shadow Legion's unmatched mobility to outmaneuver the fallen immortals—redeploying his forces through shadows to launch a devastating pincer attack that swiftly crushed the enemy and turned the tide of battle in his favor.^[52]

Sunny reorganized his Shadow Legion like a master chef rearranging ingredients, using strategy and mobility to annihilate the corrupted immortals, seize control of multiple islands, and then march north toward the Palace—only to be interrupted when their boat arrived.^[53] The Night Garden, guided by Nightwalker and armed with Sunny's cannons and Supreme essence, sailed through the canals of the Eternal City toward the Lighthouse, annihilating hordes of fallen immortals with blinding starlight and devastating fire as it reached the now-cleared Park Island.^[54]

As the Night Garden advanced under Nightwalker's command and Aether's starlight defense, Sunny coordinated its devastating cannon barrage while summoning the entirety of his Shadow Legion—armies, incarnations, titans, and even the Dark Castle itself—to board the living ship, merging his forces into one unstoppable host beneath a storm of silver radiance and shadow.^[55]

Nightwalker steered the Night Garden with reckless mastery, hurtled through the canals of the Eternal City toward the Palace, narrowly surviving a deadly turn when Sunny used the shadow of Goliath intervened to keep the living ship from destruction.^[56]

After reaching the lake surrounding the Palace, Sunny and his companions beheld its dark grandeur, assessed the threats converging on it, and decided to circle west to confront the Dutchman first—only for Aether to collapse from exhaustion, prompting Sunny and Jet to momentarily retreat and shift to Plan B to destroy the Eternal City on their own terms.^[57]

As the Night Garden circled the Palace, Sunny ordered Jet to prepare a plan while he called for reinforcements, then positioned the ship between the wraith army and the Palace; when the southern abominations crashed into the Dutchman's flank, the chaos briefly turned the tide—just as a cold wind rose and a radiant line split the sky above the lake.^[58]

A radiant line tore through reality above the Palace and opened into a vast Dream Gate, through which Nephis arrived aboard the Chain Breaker and the Ivory Island to aid Sunny and Nightwalker as reinforcements while the Night Garden prepared to retreat from the peril surrounding the Eternal City.^[59] The Crushing obliterated the Eternal City and its immortal abominations before the city's sorcery began endlessly rebuilding itself, while Sunny and his allies teleported the Dark Castle onto the Palace Island to prepare their stand, and Jet instructed Bloodwave to take command of the Night Garden and escort Aether into the Dream Gate to land safely in the River of Tears. ^[60]

Sunny and Nightwalker entered the eerily silent Palace through a massive gate torn open from within—evidence that the Flesh of Kanakht had once been imprisoned there and escaped—while elsewhere, Jet prepared to face the approaching Dutchman and its ghostly army alongside the fearless Shadow Legion.^[61]

Jet desperately held off the Cursed Wanderer as the Shadow Legion lost ground, growing mentally exhausted while Sunny searched for a solution, until the wraith broke through her defenses and, just as she was thrown back wounded, the monstrous Flesh of Kanakht began to rise from the blood-red lake.^[62] A grotesque, newly formed Titan—the Flesh of Kanakht—slowly rose from the red lake and advanced across the ruins as Jet, exhausted and bleeding, struggled to fend off the relentless Cursed Wanderer while the battle on all fronts deteriorated and Sunny worked desperately below the Palace to finish his task.^[63]

Sunny discovered that the void chamber trapped countless orphaned shadows—including his own—and, realizing he could not escape, he used the Shadow Lantern to open the Gate of Shadow and pull all the shadows toward it, beginning the destruction of the Demon of Repose's sorcery.^[64] Sunny accidentally unleashed a catastrophic pull from the Shadow Lantern that began consuming the chamber's shadows, draining the imprisoned star, and collapsing the entire void chamber—and even the Palace around it—forcing him to fight the implosion while trying to save Nightwalker's shadow.^[65]

Nephis assumed the form of the spirit of flame and wielding the Blessing, battled the ever-resurging Madness of Kanakht, enduring its mental onslaught and feeding it with her own passions to ultimately overwhelm it with a torrent of every intense emotion.^[66] Meanwhile, Jet, battered and nearly overwhelmed as rain fell over the Eternal City, fought the Cursed Wanderer and the advancing Flesh of Kanakht until Nephis' flames restored her, after which she prepared to risk everything by using the Mist Blade's time‑stopping power to try and kill her foe in a single desperate heartbeat.^[67]

Sunny struggled within the collapsing void chamber as it transformed into a metal coffin, clung to a chain to protect Nightwalker's shadow and search for Weaver's lineage, realized the weakening star was destroying the Eternal City, and ultimately discovered the lineage fragment hidden at the heart of the dying star.^[68] Sunny endured the unbearable heat of the dying star, allowed his body and armor to melt, and ultimately plunged his arm into the stellar flames to seize the spider silk scroll that was revealed to be the fragment of Weaver's lineage.^[69] Sunny put Nightwalker inside his serpentine form and escaped the Palace while they discussed Nightwalker's abilities.^[70]

Sunny had reached the collapsing metal Palace with Nightwalker and retrieved the silk scroll, while sensing the deep longing between Nightwalker and his separated shadow. Amid the chaos of the Eternal City falling apart, the Shadow Legion being overwhelmed, and Jet being swallowed by the Soul of Kanakht, Sunny realized they had to reunite Nightwalker with his shadow so he could become mortal and escape. Despite the danger and disbelief, Nightwalker agreed, and Sunny prepared to literally sew him back together with his shadow.^[71]

Sunny's outmatched Shadow Legion was collapsing under the renewed assault of the Cursed Wanderer, but by sending Slayer to temporarily halt the unstoppable wraith, he bought himself the precious time needed to try to reverse the doomed battle.^[72]

Slayer briefly held back the Cursed Wanderer as the Shadow Legion neared collapse, but Sunny summoned thousands of powerful immortal shades to turn the tide and overwhelm the wraiths, only for Slayer to be grievously wounded and the Cursed Wanderer to break away and rush toward the approaching Flesh of Kanakht.^[73]

Jet unexpectedly destroyed the Dutchman and his wraith army, turning the battle into a slaughter, while Nephis absorbed and annihilated the Madness of Kanakht. As the Eternal City finally collapsed and Sunny continued stitching Nightwalker and his shadow, only the looming Flesh of Kanakht remained to be faced.^[74]

Sunny and Jet regrouped as the devastated Eternal City collapsed, acknowledging Jet’s victory while preparing for the final confrontation with the ominous Flesh of Kanakht. With Jet withdrawing to support the others, Nephis joined Sunny; after confirming she had nearly destroyed the Madness of Kanakht, the two planned to face the Great Titan together, Sunny going low and Nephis high.^[75]

Nephis blazed with radiant power and struck the weakened Flesh of Kanakht while Sunny attacked its shadowed soul, briefly seeming to decapitate the Great Titan. However, the monstrosity instantly regenerated, counterattacked with terrifying force, and ultimately corrupted and absorbed Sunny's Shadow Colossus, leaving him shaken and without his Shell.^[76]

Sunny and Nephis battled the monstrous Flesh of Kanakht, whose ever-mutating body, boundless vitality, and infective growth made it nearly impossible to harm, forcing them to protect Ivory Island and their companions while desperately searching for a way to defeat it. Despite their relentless cooperation and power, their attacks proved ineffective until Nephis was nearly consumed and Sunny finally heard the Handy Bracelet announce that his Shadow had evolved.^[77]

Sunny realized the voice he heard announced Nightmare's evolution, and as the unstoppable Flesh of Kanakht tore through their defenses, he summoned his now–Supreme Terror steed to help put the Great Titan to sleep. With Nightmare's newfound power and the Titan weakened by the Curse, Sunny and Nephis pressed the attack even as the abomination rooted itself into Palace Island and began consuming it like a spreading ocean of flesh.^[78]

The unstoppable Flesh of Kanakht relentlessly advanced while endlessly regenerating and spreading across the Palace Island, leaving Sunny desperate for a way to stop it as the Eternal City crumbled around them. With time running out, Nephis unleashed devastating flames to hold the Titan back while Sunny used immense shadow-forged javelins to stagger it, fighting only to buy more time.^[79]

The Flesh of Kanakht surged across Palace Island and clashed with Nephis' wall of white flame while Sunny and their allies relentlessly attacked it, eventually halting its advance and forcing the massive sea of flesh to recede. Although they devastated its body and immobilized it through the Dream Curse’s growing influence, the Great Titan refused to die, remaining alive even as the Eternal City fell.^[80]

Sunny and Nephis stood over the Flesh of Kanakht, realizing they had defeated and put the Great Titan to sleep but could not kill it, while the collapsing barrier and flooding Stormsea began destroying the Eternal City. As the Palace Island shattered and the world around them fell apart, they abandoned the immobilized Titan and rushed to escape before everything was swallowed by the deluge.^[81]

Sunny, exhausted but determined, painstakingly restored Nightwalker’s severed shadow while the Eternal City collapsed around them, proving that creating bonds was far harder than destroying them. As he worked, he realized he had already chosen duty and responsibility over freedom, accepting his fate to face future Nightmares, and in the end he succeeded just in time, granting Nightwalker mortality and urging him to escape.^[82]

The Eternal City finally collapsed as Sunny and his companions narrowly escaped through the Dream Gate to safety, returning to sunlight and the River of Tears. Although Nightwalker nearly died when all his postponed wounds struck him at once, Nephis overpowered death itself and saved him, allowing them all to truly leave the cursed city behind.^[83]