Chapter 33: A Dying Sun

I cleared my head as I tried to find a specific area.

Honestly, even just from walking around, it didn’t exactly give off the strange and odd vibes of a supernatural place as it just felt like an abandoned toy shop.

I slowly walked around, looking for the thing I was here for...

The shop had several sections, each filled with different kinds of toys. I passed by a few shelves of toy cars and building blocks before eventually reaching another area of the shop.

And there it was, the stuffed animal section.

’Hm, it should be around her somewhere...’

Rows of stuffed animals were displayed on shelves, with some neatly arranged while others had been carelessly thrown into baskets and boxes. There were bears, dogs, cats, and all sorts of other animals, each with their own little designs and expressions.

However, I ignored all of them and went straight toward a little closet area at the farthest right corner of the room.

I crouched down and flashed my flashlight across the ground, carefully checking the floor until I finally found what I was looking for.

A loose floorboard.

I stared at it for a moment before letting out a small sigh of relief.

Through this loose floorboard, I had confirmed that "that thing" should still be there...

I reached down and carefully removed the floorboard, revealing a dark, abyss-like hole beneath it.

I could not see the bottom, and the longer I stared into it, the more it felt as though there was no end to the hole at all.

It was as if the darkness below would continue forever, swallowing anything that dared to fall into it.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself before jumping down...

Into what was known as [The Rabbit Hole] of the Sunny Days Toy Shop.

"..."

I didn’t know how long I had been falling for ever since I jumped

My sense of time gradually grew faint as I descended deeper and deeper into the darkness.

The wind rushed past my ears, and I could barely make out anything around me.

There was nothing to hold on to or to stop my fall, and also nothing I could do except wait until I finally reached the bottom.

Although I knew this was one of the safest supernatural spaces in [Arcana], I still felt a bit of fear.

I wasn’t quite used to paranormal activity just yet...

And honestly, knowing that something was relatively safe didn’t mean I could completely let my guard down. I had already learned that the hard way after what happened in the convenience store.

For all I knew, there could still be something here that I wasn’t prepared to deal with.

SPLASH!

I finally landed in what seemed to be a cold, dark lake.

The moment I hit the water, a freezing sensation spread throughout my body, and I instinctively began swimming toward the nearest surface I could find.

Fortunately, I was not too far from the edge, and after struggling through the water for a bit, I finally managed to reach a patch of soil.

I dragged myself out of the lake, coughing up water as I tried to catch my breath.

"Ugh...!"

I lay on the ground for a few moments before finally forcing myself to stand up.

After wiping the water from my face, I took a look around me.

Aside from the huge body of water I had just emerged from, everything else was a grassy field.

The place was quite dark, with the only source of light coming from the small, circular object hanging in the sky above me.

Its faint glow illuminated the surroundings, casting a pale light across the grass and the surface of the lake.

It was almost like moonlight...

In actuality, however, that thing in the sky wasn’t a moon.

It was the dying sun of the [Sunny Days Toy Shop].

And this place, known as [The Rabbit Hole], was essentially its grave, where it had been attempting to survive through the remainder of its lifespan.

The sun that had once brought warmth and pleasant dreams to countless people was now reduced to a faint, dying light, barely capable of illuminating the place it had created.

...What a miserable sight.

Still, there was a reason why this place remained hidden.

The only reason A.E.G.I.S. hadn’t found it was because the dying sun had used up its remaining power to block off all means of detection.

Not even SED (Supernatural Energy Detectors) could find it.

In other words, the sun had essentially exhausted what little strength it had left to conceal this place from the outside world, making it impossible for A.E.G.I.S. to locate it through its usual methods.

Although, its rather crude hiding spot only proved that A.E.G.I.S. hadn’t conducted a thorough investigation in the first place.

After all, they had already deemed the [Sunny Days Toy Shop] non-profitable.

And if there was one thing I had learned about A.E.G.I.S., it was that they were far less interested in spending resources on something that could no longer generate profit.

Why waste time and manpower investigating a supposedly dead Supernatural Space when there were plenty of other profitable projects to pursue?

Of course, that decision had also allowed this place to remain hidden. And for me, that was quite convenient!

Looking up at the dying sun, which now looked more like a cold dwarf star, my facial expression remained calm.

I clasped my hands together and began to pray.

"Autarch of Light, Delight of the Sun, Consoler of Eternal Flames. I pray to you, I pray for you to talk to me."

I sincerely said those words out loud as I directed all my thoughts toward the dying sun of the Toy Shop.

I could only hope that it was still at a stage where communication was possible...

"I come here in hopes of a transaction that you may be interested in."

There was no reply from the dying sun, as though it didn’t even want to waste its energy trying to talk to someone like me.

It only wanted to quietly die out it seems...

Ha.

Of course, if I had come here without knowing anything about it, I probably wouldn’t have disturbed it either.

After all, what kind of person would willingly bother a dying being that only wanted to spend its remaining time in peace?

But I knew that wasn’t actually the case.

After the [Sunny Days Toy Shop]’s power had been consumed by a greater being, it had remained here in hiding, hoping to die peacefully.

At least, that was what it wanted everyone to believe...

But I knew one thing. According to the wiki, although it seemed like it wanted to be left alone...

[Deep within its heart, there was a burning rage. A rage that yelled of the unfairness inflicted upon it by the great beings who stood above it, as though its suffering was nothing more than an insignificant matter unworthy of their attention.]

[And then, there was the humiliation of having been used by A.E.G.I.S., the bitter realization that it had been nothing more than a convenient tool in the hands of others, something that could be used and discarded whenever it was no longer needed.]

[How could it not feel such indignation? How could it not resent those who had taken advantage of it, those who had treated it so carelessly despite everything it had endured?]

[This... ever-burning rage. How regretful it was to have so many grievances that demanded to be answered, so many things it wished to do, and yet to have lost the very power that would allow it to act upon them.]

[To be left with nothing but its resentment, unable to do anything but endure the very injustice it so desperately wished to fight against. How truly regretful it was.]

That’s right.

It was a being that bore a grudge against the great being that had consumed its power, as well as A.E.G.I.S., which had abandoned it almost immediately after it was no longer profitable.

After everything it had provided, after all the years it had spent serving its purpose, it had been discarded the moment it was no longer useful.

And now, it was left to die alone in a place where no one could find it.

What a sad story for a paranormal being...

Of course, I wasn’t naive enough to believe that this dying sun would suddenly trust me just because I had shown up and offered to help.

For all it knew, I could simply be another person who wanted to take advantage of its weakened state.

I slowly lowered my clasped hands and looked directly at the dying sun above me.

"In exchange for your supernatural strength, I will promise to fulfill your revenge against A.E.G.I.S."