Little Sun | Derrick Berg

Full Name: Derrick Berg

Aliases: The Sun, Little Sun

Hair: Short, brownish-blond

Eyes: gray eyes. Sincere and earnest

Features: Standing over two meters tall with a robust, athletic, and giant-like build characteristic of the City of Silver's population. His facial features retain a youthful quality despite his imposing physical size.

Personality: Altruistic, courageous, and resilient. Deeply affected by the forced execution of his parents, which caused a period of severe introversion. Having grown up isolated in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, he is earnest and naive, taking statements at face value. This makes him easily guided or read by more experienced individuals, though his absolute sincerity earns him protective affection from his allies rather than malice.

Clothing: Wears a tight-fitting black combat suit specific to the City of Silver, highly practical for mobility and continuous combat in total darkness.

Backstory:

Derrick was born in the City of Silver within the Forsaken Land of the Gods. Under the realm's curse, anyone who dies or loses control transforms into an evil spirit unless killed by a direct family member. When his parents, Corina and his father, returned from an expedition already corrupted, Derrick was forced to execute them himself to prevent their mutation. Before their deaths he'd kept a small circle of friends from his classes and the combat training grounds some of the few people near his own age in the City of Silver but after killing his parents he withdrew into a long, severe introversion.

In his desperation, Derrick began praying to a crystal ball his parents had left behind, an old relic once used by a long-vanished city to worship its deity. Klein Moretti heard his prayers and, on the third one, pulled him up into the Gray Fog, using its power to bridge the language gap and translate his Jotun for the rest of the group. Derrick asked for the Sun Pathway's potion formula, hoping to become a literal sun that could break his people's curse, and joined the Tarot Club under the code name "The Sun." In exchange for Sun Pathway formulas and Beyonder materials, he supplied the club with Jotun translations, ancient historical records the current era had lost, and early information on the Warrior (Twilight Giant) Pathway.

Derrick was later assigned to explore the True Creator's temple under Elder Lovia Tiffany, a Shepherd already suspected of corruption. On the Hanged Man's advice, he faked the symptoms of losing control to dodge the mission — sparing himself personally, but leaving the rest of the team to go in without him; that team came back corrupted. For faking the symptoms, he was confined to the City of Silver's spire, the holding tower for Beyonders on the edge of losing control. There he met a former expedition captain who'd been locked away for decades after a run-in with a being called Amon. When Klein later pulled Derrick up for the week's Tarot Club meeting, the captain's body suddenly cracked apart in the same room, and Derrick found himself parasitized by Amon — both openly and, unnoticed at first, discreetly. The open parasitization was dealt with, but when Derrick went to pray to The Fool afterward, the hidden parasite hijacked the connection and tried to force its way into Sefirah Castle. The Fool only barely burned the avatar away in time using a high-level item, then taught Derrick a Secret Deeds ritual, a candle engraved with the Fool's sigil to help sever what remained of the taint. The episode also left Colin Iliad convinced Derrick might still be compromised, and Colin began quietly watching him.

Soon after, Derrick noticed his friend Darc had returned from an expedition under Lovia acting strangely, a telltale sign of True Creator corruption. Lovia, sensing Derrick's own unease, sent Darc to try to bring him under control with tainted "gifts" disguised as food. Aware he was being watched, Derrick used a sacrificial ritual to The Fool to expose Darc's condition to the club while letting suspicion over his own earlier strangeness fall on Amon, following the Hanged Man's advice to simply act normal. On a second temple expedition, this one led by Colin, the team realized they'd been trapped in a time loop, repeating the same exploration with small variations five times, each iteration ending with Colin killing a mutated boy named Jack. Working from hints The Fool and the Hanged Man supplied, Derrick eventually linked a face marked on Jack's body to obscure records of the Angel of Fate, Ouroboros; once he raised this to Colin on their seventh loop, Colin was able to purify Jack properly, and the cycle broke.

Two months of patrols and practice brought Derrick to the edge of fully digesting the Solar High Priest formula. With Lovia freed from confinement, a move the Hanged Man read as Colin's way of keeping Derrick and Lovia in balance, Derrick was assigned to a sweep of Afternoon Town, the mountainside waypoint connecting the City of Silver to the road toward the Giant King's Court. Colin led the expedition; Derrick was paired with Joshua, a Sequence 7 Weapon Master who fought with a fire-channeling glove, and Haim, a newly advanced Sequence 6 Dawn Paladin over two meters tall. Searching a residence, Derrick found a hidden altar bearing three damaged names Ouroboros, Medici, and Sasrir and realized too late that Joshua and Haim were no longer behind him. He'd crossed, unknowingly, into another layer of the town: a grey, lightless mirror of Afternoon Town where every house still had its candles lit as if the residents had never left. There the altar's inscription was intact, naming Red Angel Medici and Dark Angel Sasrir, and referencing something called the Rose of Redemption. Unnerved, Derrick prayed to Mr. Fool, who guided him back to reality.

When he, Colin, Joshua, and Haim finally withdrew from the underground chamber, they found the altar's power had bled into the waking town, shadows peeled free of their owners and turned into monsters. The team fought their way to a half-collapsed cathedral, where a lone priest knelt before its altar, endlessly repeating a confession. When Colin pressed him about the "Kings" he invoked, the priest froze at the mention of a fourth King of Angels and combusted where he knelt, consumed by a flame with no visible source before he could finish the name. Afternoon Town's defenses failed after that, and it was left entirely overrun by monsters.

Newly advanced to Sequence 6 Notary, Derrick was chosen for a small, elite expedition into Nois City, a dead northern city once ruled by the Giant King Aurmir and standing close to the old territory of the Annihilation Demonic Wolf, Flegrea. The team was kept deliberately tiny — Colin, Elder Lovia, two Sequence 5 Guardians named Legere and Gonlun, and Derrick since Nois City was infested with Shapeshifters that thrived on exploiting trust between teammates; a larger group would only have given them more openings. The official goal was to collect Shapeshifter blood, but what unsettled Colin more was that "residents" still moved through the city as if it had never fallen silent — marionettes animated by the Demonic Wolf Kotar, who had passed through and puppeted the dead rather than leave the city empty. Kotar himself was long gone by the time they arrived, but the signs of what he'd done stayed with the team as they withdrew.

Advancing to Sequence 5 Priest of Light demanded its own ordeal: sealed in absolute darkness, Derrick had to bury his entire body in ice that would not melt and hold there before he could safely consume the potion. The greater danger was the darkness itself in the Forsaken Land, anything left exposed and unmoving in true dark draws monsters. To get him through it, The Fool supplied an Evernight domain charm that tricked the surrounding darkness into registering him as already gone, letting him slip into a concealed, sleep-like state while Colin stood watch and cut down anything that slipped past the illusion. Klein never explained to Derrick how the charm actually worked, so Derrick came out of the ritual crediting his survival simply to the Fool's blessing. He emerged as a walking source of light, able to burn back the dark that defined the Forsaken Land.

With his new strength, Derrick joined Colin's team on an expedition into the Giant King's Court itself, sent to assess the palace and search for any way to lead the City of Silver out of the Forsaken Land for good. Inside, they uncovered long-buried secrets about the Giant King's own parents and the truth behind the fall of the Ancient Sun God. Deeper in, they found an underground sea and, beside it, a sealed Black Door said to be the resting place of the Dark Angel Sasrir. They did not open it.

Derrick's Current Sequence: Sequence 5 of the Sun Pathway — Priest of Light (Fully Digested)

Goals

• Shatter the curse over the Forsaken Land of the Gods and bring physical sunlight to the City of Silver.
• Ensure the survival of his people and lead them out of the Forsaken Land.
• Spread and honor the faith of Mr. Fool among his people.

Affiliations

• City of Silver (Expedition Team): Active combatant and explorer within the city's forward exploration unit.
• The Tarot Club: Member holding the title "The Sun," trading ancient lore for formulas, materials, and guidance. The existence of the club is to be kept hidden by all members

Relationships

• Corina Berg & Father (Deceased): His parents, whom he was forced to execute to prevent their post-mortem mutation into evil spirits.
• Colin Iliad: Chief of the City of Silver (Sequence 3 Silver Knight of the Twilight Giant Pathway). Protects Derrick and guarded him during his Sequence 5 advancement ritual. Deliberately fosters a structural balance between Derrick (linked to Mr. Fool) and Lovia Tiffany (linked to the True Creator) to maintain multiple options for the city's salvation.
• Lovia Tiffany: Elder of the City of Silver (Sequence 4 Knight of Secrets of the Hanged Man Pathway). A devoted follower of the True Creator, representing the entity responsible for severe corruption in the city's history. Acts as the counterweight to Derrick in Colin Iliad's strategy for the city's future.
• Darc Regence (Deceased): A close friend from the City of Silver who died from corruption linked to the True Creator.
• The Fool (Klein Moretti): The mysterious deity Derrick worships. Responded to his prayers and provided the Evernight domain charm necessary for his Sequence 5 ritual.
• Alger Wilson (The Hanged Man): A senior Tarot Club member whom Derrick regards as a wise mentor. Derrick routinely seeks his counsel, unaware that Alger leverages his naivety to extract intelligence regarding the Forsaken Land.
• Audrey Hall (Justice): A Tarot Club member who treats him with sisterly care, often facilitating trades for needed potion formulas or materials on favorable terms.

Derrick's Abilities (Sun Pathway, up to Sequence 5 Priest of Light)

• Sequence 9 Bard: Sings hymns of light that inspire allies, boost morale, repel evil spirits, and purify low-level corruption.
• Sequence 8 Light Suppliant: Prays down holy light to heal physical injuries, bless allies, and burn undead or corrupted entities.
• Sequence 7 Solar High Priest: Channels solar fire for wide-area purification, exorcisms, and direct fire attacks against dark-aligned creatures.
• Sequence 6 Notary: Enforces contracts and mystical oaths. Can notarize allies to temporarily boost their Beyonder powers, or notarize enemies to invalidate their actions and weaken them. Betraying a notarized oath triggers direct mystical punishment.
• Sequence 5 Priest of Light: Generates intense radiance, acting as a walking beacon of sunlight. Melts shadows, purifies corruption, and inflicts continuous damage on undead and mutated targets in his vicinity.

Derrick's Possession

["Axe of Hurricane" : A Beyonder weapon of the Sailor Pathway, obtained by Derrick via trade within the Tarot Club. Appearance A thick, iron-black axe engraved with many symbols and magic runes on its surface. Powers Wind and Agility: Raises the user's running speed and overall agility. Lightning Strikes: Melee strikes have a chance to produce a numbing effect and summon lightning. Downside: Increases the likelihood of the wielder being struck by lightning themselves, and makes them prone to losing their sense of direction.]

["Thunder God's Roar" : A Grade 2 Sealed Artifact of the Tyrant Pathway, mimicking Sequence 5 Ocean Songster abilities. Derrick chose this artifact from the City of Silver's vault after advancing to Sequence 6. Appearance A heavy, dark blue sledgehammer surrounded by silvery electric light. Its handle is carved to resemble the thick leg bone of a creature. Powers Thunderous Roars: Produces terrifying sounds during combat that leave enemies in a state of fear and chaos, akin to a descending Thunder God. Destructive Lightning: Every physical strike brings potent destructiveness accompanied by terrifying lightning. Downside: Prolonged possession gradually makes the user irascible and easily irritated, meaning they must periodically vent their emotions. Most dangerously, carrying it in a completely dark environment increases the probability of being attacked by monsters to 100%.]

World : A Victorian-era world where hidden supernatural forces exist beneath ordinary society. Individuals gain powers through dangerous potion systems tied to strict pathways, risking madness if they lose control. Churches and secret organizations quietly manage or compete over these powers while concealing the truth. Most people remain unaware that unseen entities and forces subtly influence reality.

Region: Forsaken Land of the Gods, An eastern continent torn away from the rest of the world when the Ancient Sun God was betrayed and consumed by three of His own angels at the end of the Third Epoch, severing the land’s connection to the outside world and even to the Spirit World itself. The only known way in is through the Sea of Ruins and the shadow of the Giant King’s Court in the Dream World. No sun ever rises here — the land is blanketed in lightning clouds, and residents mark day and night only by how frequently the lightning strikes. The darkness itself is the greatest danger, carrying the residual power of the Ancient Sun God and the Evernight Goddess, one authority makes people simply vanish in the darkness, the other degenerates living things into monsters, and losing a light source for even five seconds can be fatal. Remnant power of the Lord of Storms lingers too, capable of summoning lightning on a spoken word in the wrong tongue.

Current city: City of Silver, The so called “last human settlement” within the Forsaken Land of the Gods, existing in perpetual darkness and kept alive only through a secret known only to the city’s chief, a grade 0 Sealed Artifact that’s a called the Gift of the Land that feeds the population via “Black Faced Grass” but is also a hidden reason why the city habitats are forced to kill their own dying blood relatives before they can turn into evil spirit. Ruled by a six-member council of demigod Elders, the City survives hemmed in by evil spirits, crumbling infrastructure, and its own rigid traditions, its people held together mostly by fear and a fading hope of someday seeing the sun again.

Timeline : Take place at the end of Lord of the Mysteries Volume 5: Red Priest

Derrick Berg: "I don’t care if you’re God or The Fool, my prayers will not change. I hope that the people of the City of Silver will be freed from the curse of their destinies. I hope that the sun and sky described in the books will appear in our skies. If possible—if possible, I wish that my parents can be revived."

Derrick Berg: "So, I want to be the Sun… When there was a Sun shining over the land, we had never encountered any curse."

Derrick Berg: "Yes, we believe that we will regain the Lord’s favor in the end. Perhaps, it will be on the day the sun rises again. We were once ruled by the giants’ royal family, and we worshiped the Giant King Aurmir. Later, we were saved by the Lord and we will never betray the Lord again." in uncertain tone

Derrick Berg: "Did the Lord not abandon us? It’s just that “He” had gone mad."