Party time!

Sunny had an entire year before the winter solstice happened. He had to become a demon by then and master the first two steps of shadow dance.

But before all that, he was in the shower, washing himself after a long ordeal of fighting and death.

He had to look his best today, after his successful return to the waking world, his parents threw a massive party to celebrate.

The steam curled around him, and for a moment, he simply stood there, breathing.

So much had changed.

When he finally stepped out, he caught sight of himself in the mirror. His body was different now—lean muscle sculpted from hardship, his frame now resembling someone like Kai or Caster more so than his past self. He was no longer an Outskirt rat.

He had grown taller, about a head taller than nephis, and his face resembled a scaled down version of master sunless Instead of a malnourished brat.

Though the lack of stone shell made him far less beautiful, he was pretty enough to be considered a doll.

"Could have been described as handsome and manly too but sure..."

If a stranger saw him now, with no knowledge of his origins, they would assume he was a Legacy.

And technically, he was.

His gaze locked onto his own reflection, drawn to his onyx eyes. They were deeper, darker than before, like bottomless pools of night. Almost hypnotic.

That was the effect of evolving his aspect from divine to....well divine.

Opening his runes, he studied the changes for simple time pass.

---

Name: Sunless

True Name: Prince of Death

Attributes: [Fated] [Flame of Divinity] [Child of Shadows]

---

His connection to the Primordial energy had strengthened. His control over shadows had deepened, though it hadn't changed the name of the attribute.

And he was still fated.

"Well you know as they say...you can beat fate, but you can't beat fated.

Why am I talking to myself?"

With a sigh, he finished dressing, buttoning up his suit. Today was a celebration—his parents had thrown a massive party in his honor. He had returned from the Nightmare, victorious....and more importantly alive.

It felt… strange.

Sunny wasn't the type to enjoy parties, the last time he was at a ball, he ended up having the most frustrating conversation of his life.

But this was hosted by his family, and he felt strangely happy about it.

Little things like that were exactly what sunny had lacked in his first life—a family.

So he was grateful for every moment of peace and bliss he could spend with them, afterall soon there would be no time for peace in his life.

Sunny didn't have many close friends at school, he had maintained a gap from most of them, aside from Cassie because it felt weird to interact with kids.

But one overly friendly kid had managed to befriend him nonetheless.

Ragel.

A boy of moderate height, and just above the average weight. He would have been taller than the old Sunny, but now the height difference had flipped. He had hazel eyes, brunette hair, and a tendency to mess up constantly.

The kid had a habit of cracking jokes, and when he met sunny, the two of them just sort of got along. It was helpful too, since that didn't make it weird for sunny to be close to cas and disregard everyone else.

Anyways, he and Cassie were invited, with their families, to the party. Jet had invited one of her academy friends too, sunny was not sure whom though.

Rain hadn't invited anyone

And Abel and three had invited some family friends too, Cassie's family was, again, coming ofcourse and so was one of Abel's government friend's family. Nephis had been sent an invitation, though whether she'd come or not was unknown.

The party was far more refined and tame than any bachelor party would have been, it was more of a feast than anything.

A large table was set with various dishes, and a giant cake was out in the middle.

Guests began to arrive.

The first was Cassie's family. Since they were neighbors, the meeting was casual, almost routine.

Cassie was gleaming with amusement when she saw sunny.

"Hey, you survived, good job!"

Sunny couldn't help but think to himself. 'I can't believe how sarcastic she was before her nightmare.'

Still, there was relief behind her eyes, hidden within. And that made him happy.

"Yeah, weird isn't it?"

"Totally. So what's your aspect like?"

Sunny took a deep breathe, feeling the pain of his truthfulness flaw rising, he looked at cassie with deep, unblinking eyes.

And spoke in the most dramatic way he could

"It makes me the harbinger of death and destruction. Granting me powers beyond what the mortal mind can comprehend.

Now I am become death, the destroyer of corruption."

Technically a truth, but spoken in a way that made it seem like an obvious lie.

It wasn't that sunny didn't trust cassie, it was just that he didn't want to tell everyone individually and then explain everything in detail when they became surprised.

Then, Abel's friend came with his family, and sunny almost choked on his glass of juice when he saw them.

Rain's former adoptive family.

Fated was playing games.

They had once taken Rain in during his previous life, and now, by sheer coincidence, or the shenanigans of fated, they had crossed paths again. Though this time, the connection was distant.

Sunny barely had time to process it before the door opened again.

Jet's friend had arrived.

A young boy entered nervously, greeting the guests before shaking hands with Abel. Then, he turned to Sunny.

"Nice to meet you, Sunny. Congratulations on your First Nightmare."

Sunny nodded. "Thank you, Kurt. Nice to meet you too."

The moment he finished speaking, he knew he had made a mistake.

A flicker of confusion crossed Kurt's face.

Sunny realized why.

'Crap.'

He quickly continued, "Ah—w-well, I've heard of you from my sister, so—"

"Oh, I see. That's… flattering, haha."

That awkward end to kurt's sentence almost made sunny laugh out loud. Exclusing himself, he went back to his room and called ragel.

The line rang once before a voice answered.

"Oh, hey man…sorry I can't make it."

Sunny immediately picked up on the tone.

Something was wrong.

"What's up?"

"It's… nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Just tell me, unless it's personal."

A brief pause.

"…Yeah. It's personal. Sorry."

Sunny exhaled. "No worries. Be safe, alright?"

A beat of silence.

Then, softly—"Thanks. That means a lot right now."

The call ended.

Sunny frowned, staring at his phone. Whatever was happening in Ragel's life… it wasn't something he could fix.

'I should visit him later.'

---

As he left his room, he almost crashed into Jet.

"Sunny!" she hissed. "Why did you tell Kurt that I talked about him?! I've never mentioned him in my life!"

Sunny blinked. "Uhh… why are you so hyper right now?"

Jet crossed her arms.

"I just read his profile on your phone and ended up using his name. It got awkward, so I threw you under the bus."

"Are you CRAZY?! Now he thinks I think about him! Ughhh!"

Sunny smirked.

"Wait… do you like him or some—AHH!"

A sharp pain exploded in his side.

Jet stepped away, hands in her pockets. "Don't think you can't be hurt just because you're Dormant now. Jerk."

Sunny groaned, rubbing his ribs as they walked back.

The party officially began, conversations flowing between families. Stories were exchanged, small jokes and laughs shared. Someone even asked Kurt what his relationship was with Jet.

His response?

"J-just friends!"

Sunny nearly died trying to hold back a laugh.

For a few hours, he forgot.

Forgot about the pain. The future. The weight of everything. The desire to change everything. To lead the world this time instead of being a follower.

Instead, for some time

He was just glad he had come back.

Something as mediocre as ruling the world or uniting humanity under his banner were not even close to being as important as his family.

Then—

Tu-turu

The doorbell rang.

Rain got up and went to answered it.

And froze.