The Rotting Black Sun

It was not there—the sun blazing fiercely in the void was merely another shadow.

After his initial surprise, Duncan quickly realized this. He could not sense any tangible presence from the Creeping Sun Wheel before him, nor could he feel the searing heat it should have radiated. The fireball only felt hollow and distant to him, a sensation... very much like when he had glimpsed it through the "Golden Mask."

This True Sun God must have found Alice Manor by some means and sent its projection here... But what had drawn this ancient god's attention? Some change caused by his arrival? Or the commotion Alice had made while deciphering the "route"?

Duncan quickly steadied himself and asked curiously, "How did you find this place?"

There was caution in his voice, but no hostility. Though he had dealt with the mad followers of the Black Sun, as well as the Sun Offspring and Sun Remnants, on many occasions, and none of those encounters had been particularly pleasant—though every time, they had ultimately managed to get along quite well—he had no particular grievance against the Creeping Sun Wheel itself. In fact, after learning that this ancient god was also powerless to resist its circumstances and had never intended to harm the mortal world, he felt a measure of sympathy for it instead.

After all... this world had plenty of ancient gods, but only this one had been put over a slow fire by its own believers and offspring. If its true body had been even a little more capable of acting, the True Sun God would probably have carved the word "miserable" onto every one of its tentacles...

"I 'heard' a sound from Subspace. Navigator Three... this entity that had lain dormant for many years suddenly became active, and I knew the