Sunny's Three-year journey

After realizing the mirror labyrinth was too vast to solve before sunrise, Sunny proposed a deal: Cassie would secretly guide him into the castle once every full moon, and in exchange he would show her one of his memories each time. He argued that this way, both of them would slowly gain the knowledge they wanted. Cassie hesitated and noted she might not stay in Bastion forever, but ultimately agreed to return the next month for another memory. To seal the deal, Cassie claimed her payment immediately. Hidden safely inside the labyrinth, she sat across from Sunny and used her ability to witness a memory of his choosing, beginning with one filled with bitter cold and desolation.^[1]

After the Third Nightmare, Sunny returned to the Northern Quadrant among the refugees and took care of unfinished business. He met Rain and then set his sights on Antarctica. He faced horrors in the ocean, killing some and escaping from others. Despite his torn and broken body, he survived. Cold darkness reigned over his soul, and his mental state was far from ideal. Pain and anguish turned into dark anger, refusing to be contained or controlled. In this world, there was no place for him anymore, and he had nothing left to do except pay his debts. The first score he needed to settle was with the Winter Beast.^[2]

After the battle ended, the Winter Beast had disappeared, leaving Sunny's heart cold and hollow. He was banished from the Nightmare Spell, fate, and existence. Sunny longed to leave the pain behind and entered a familiar hall with warm sunlight and heavy chains. The Ivory Island, surrounded by clouds, was where his soul was anchored to the Dream Realm. Despite wanting to avoid this place, Sunny remained in the center of the chain circle, dissolved into the shadows. The Ivory Tower was mostly empty, with most Fire Keepers lost in their Nightmares. Nephis and the cohort were too busy to visit frequently, but Sunny remained hesitant to be seen by anyone.^[3]

Sunny, left alone in the shadows, wonders if Cassie could restore the memories of him with her Transcendent Ability, but it's impossible. He leaves the Ivory Tower, and his shadow sense allows him to step through the shadows to leave the island. He contemplates living like a hermit in the Dream Realm, traveling the unexplored world, or jumping into the Sky Below. Instead, he circles the pagoda and heads towards the portal to the Ebony Tower, where he had seen the ancient daemon's runes but not able to understand them. Now that he learned the secrets of the Estuary, Sunny wonders what he will learn.^[3]

After studying Nether's writing, there wasn't much left for him to learn from the runes. He spent the next few days in the Ebony Tower, observing the sea of flames and staring at the walls. He became fixated on the idea of crossing the Hollow Mountains, a mountain chain where elemental darkness dwells. He had proof that it was possible to survive in the mist, as Saint Cormac had spent months exploring the Hollow Mountains before being killed by Saint Tyris. Sunny's curiosity and wanderlust led him to the Forgotten Shore, a desolate land of perpetual darkness. He wanted to retrace his journey with Nephis and Cassie, make sure the Soul Devourer was dead, and return to the Dark City to find the statue of the Slayer. Humans knew about the Forgotten Shore and the Nightmare Desert, but no one had learned what lay to the west and north of that cursed place. Sunny could become the first human to set foot in those mysterious regions of the Dream Realm, knowing that doing it for himself was enough.^[4]

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• Sunny took around a year and a half to escape the mist of Hollow Mountains.^[5]