Third Nightmare (Event)

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## Participants

Sunny
Nephis
Cassie
Effie
Kai
Mordret
Jet

This recount the events in the **Third Nightmare**.

## Entrance

The entrance is a giant block of black stone that lay between white dunes. However, one end was cracked and shattered. The entire block emanated a familiar ghostly darkness, making all of it a Seed of Nightmare.

## Nightmare Creatures

Main article: Tomb of Ariel/Creature Catalogue
## History

Mordret had invited Sunny to challenge the Third Nightmare with him. Forced by the situation with no Transcendent to bring them back to the waking world Sunny, Nephis, Cassie, Effie, Kai, Mordret and Jet challenge the Nightmare.

### Prelude

This Nightmare originated from the Tomb of Ariel. The very beginning of the Nightmare was highly unusual, as time was not seen flowing in reverse, that made the necessary actions to resolve the Seed conflict unknown. Additionally, there are thirteen million challengers.

The Nightmare was entered through a giant block of black stone that lay between the dunes, half-buried in sand. Inside the Nightmare was supposed to be in the desert but there was only cool freshwater in the surroundings.

### Events

Sunny's DreamA black somber pyramid wreathed in darkness rose like a towering mountain from a sea of flawlessly white sand. Its slopes are vast plains, and its sharp peak is like a spear that pierces the heavens.

The pyramid is built from millions of colossal stone blocks, each darker than the darkness itself and perfectly aligned. Each block was a Seed of Nightmare, with millions of them, some already in bloom and some waiting for their turn to blossom.

The Nightmares were shallow and weak at the base of the pyramid and higher they become harrowing and unfathomable.

The slope of the pyramid was broken and covered in cracks, with many blocks either shattered into dismal dust or missing. Four vast scars tainted its immaculate surface, as if an unholy beast had torn through the eternal stone with titanic claws. Above the scars was a narrow capstone.

Explanation

Tomb of Ariel in the vision at the start of the Nightmare gave clue that the giant block of black stone where they entered the Nightmare from was one of the building blocks of the great pyramid. The unimaginable blow that had left four scars on the surface of the daemon's tomb must have sent quite a few of them flying far away into the desert.

Sunny found a rune carved into the wood he was floating with, as if someone used their nails to scratch the rune into the wooden surface in a fit of madness. The rune was "*Wish*", which could mean desire, yearning, longing, aspiration, or hope, which was familiar to him, having spent time on the Chained Isles. However, its most fundamental meaning was just a wish.

Ancient woodSunny discovered thousands of runes on the bottom side of the dark, wet wood raft. Some of the symbols are the familiar letters of the human language, while others are entirely unfamiliar. The Spell translates the symbols into human language, repeating the words:

"Wish wish wish be careful of wish wish be careful of what you wish for wish for wish for wish for wish WISH WISH BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR BE CAREFUL BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH WISH WISH FOR…"

The words spilled over the ancient wood, crisscrossing each other and resembling a single rune on the other side. The lines were rough, frantic, and forceful. The deranged weave of runes radiates a sense of dire madness.

The markings seemed like they had been made a long, long time ago.
Sunny had spent the first month of the Nightmare on the Black Turtle's shell. Strangely, all he could remember about the dark island were happy memories, which was supposedly a harrowing place. He had spent training with Nephis, eating delicious meals, drinking cool water, and bathing in the warmth of a campfire. That's why, he was reluctant to let go of this paradise, as it was coming to an end. Sunny had entered the Nightmare crushed, having experienced bitter failures from Falcon Scott and the Battle of the Black Skull. He had wished to be strong and made his wish come true, only to find out that it was of no use in the end.

Despite this, he was content on the dark island, sailing through a river of unholy blood on the corpse of a dreadful monster, and being pulled into the past by the current. He was happy to share this experience with someone he was fond of and had fun in the depths of a nightmare.

When Sunny and Nephis met Cassie in Fallen Grace, she mentioned that Effie and Jet are alive and together, but they are trapped in a dangerous zone of the Great River. She has determined their exact location because of Jet's Echo, crow. Kai and Mordret were together in Twilight.

## Speculations

Situation of the Nightmare based on the memories received in AntarcticaIn the Nightmare Desert where they entered the **Third Nightmare** through a Seed that had been part of Tomb of Ariel. The Spell should have sent them into the past of the desert or the black pyramid, but instead, they were sent into the Great River.
The inside of the pyramid looked like a Soul Sea or was made from one instead. Ariel built the black pyramid out of the flesh of an Unholy Titan and created the Great River out of its blood. It can be said that he created a world out of the Titan's soul. Therefore, the seven suns were made out of seven divine soul shards that the Titan had left behind.

If they were inside the pyramid and the Great River is situated inside the pyramid, it could explain why there are no stars in the night sky and why it is entirely black.

Ariel created the tomb to bury the truths he couldn't endure, and the dreadful secret was hidden in its estuary. There are speculations about Ariel's motives, suggesting that he had no other choice but to create a whole world, hide it within an indestructible pyramid, and remove it from the natural flow of time.

Only the end of great river that flows through time, into the past, can have the point when time didn't exist yet. The estuary of the Great River has to be the point where the past disappears into the primordial void, which was everlasting and everchanging, and existed before the concepts like death and time were even created.

The estuary has to exist before the gods were born and therefore, outside their control. If Ariel wanted to hide something from even the gods, he woud have had to go to such lengths.

There are also sybils that had entered the Tomb of Ariel much earlier. They came to the Great River, which existed outside the natural flow of time, and was thus far removed from the doom that they were escaping. The doom had to be the war between the daemons and the gods. That was why they eventually couldn't hear the voices of the gods anymore because the gods died.

Therefore, there should be tons of locals on the Great River that are able to give all kinds of information including what the central conflict of the Nightmare and how to conquer it.Goal of the NightmareThe first person who learned the hideous truth that the Demon of Dread had hidden in the heart of the Black Pyramid was consumed by corruption, and the rest of the Seekers are infected, transforming the city into a source of spreading corruption.

Most of the people who escaped the end of the world by entering the Tomb of Ariel had either died or been Corrupted, and the rest would soon follow. That was the fate of the Great River civilization. There are two ways to resolve the conflict: help the destruction of civilization or eliminate the source of the spreading Defilement.

Daeron, a figure who came from outside the pyramid, was believed to have entered the true Great River and not a version recreated by the Spell. The Spell created Nightmares based on the past. The Great River, however, existed simultaneously in the past, in the present, and in the future. It is believed that if Daeron had truly entered the Black Pyramid, he would be present in any recreation of the Great River conjured by the Spell. If his subjects challenged a Seed connected to the Black Pyramid, their Sovereign would be waiting for them on the other side to help them conquer it.

However, this theory had a significant problem. The Seeds of Nightmares and the Nightmares themselves had not existed in the ancient past of the Dream Realm. No explorer had ever discovered signs that its human inhabitants had knowledge of the Nightmares, and Noctis had not known anything about them either. Daeron's plan to use the uniqueness of the Great River to help his people Transcend through a Nightmare failed, as many of his people died trying to destroy "that which was defiled." This phrase is crucial because it hinted at the goal of the Nightmare and meant that Sunny, Nephis, and other members of the cohort would have to succeed where the ancient Sovereign and his army had failed.
## Trivia

* Sunny found Nephis in Chapter 1243.
* The story of the Seeker is somehow similar to the Thieving Bird, a creature of dreadful power that manages to steal a daemon's eye and becomes mad by one glimpse at what was hidden in Weaver's pupil. This is the same as the First Seeker, who witnessed the truth buried in the Black Pyramid and became corrupted. It suggests that people should not only be wary of Nightmare Creatures, but they also need to be cautious about what they learn.
* In Chapter 1313-1314, Sunny had a nightmare where became the Weaver and saw the Mad Prince.
* In Chapter 1352, Sunny and Nephis reached Fallen Grace.
* Sunny and Nephis found Cassie in Chapter 1356.
* When Sunny, Nephis and Cassie had a reunion in Fallen Grace, only Nephis got a hug from Cassie.
* In Chapter 1368, Nephis, Sunny and Cassie set sail from Fallen Grace.

## See Also

* Tomb of Ariel
* Great River
* Estuary

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 1230 Hell is Empty
2. ↑ Chapter 1227 A Friendly Invitation
3. ↑ Chapter 1229 Seventh Night
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Chapter 1231 Once More, With Feeling
5. ↑ Chapter 1233 Coming to Terms With the End of the World
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 1235 Wondrous Sight
7. ↑ Chapter 1236 Great River
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 1275 Last Resort
9. ↑ Chapter 1360 Marooned
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 Chapter 1248 Entombed
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 1293 Defilement
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 1289 Crown of Twilight
13. ↑ Chapter 1294 Corruption
14. ↑ Chapter 1358 Beautiful Chains