Summary:
A mishap in the Tomb of Aerial leads to Sunny waking up back at the start of his first nightmare. Burdened with knowledge of what is to come and many lifetimes of fighting and death, Sunny faces a new kind challenge. "Actually I already did something like this on Wind Flower, and this time there aren't Great beasts everywhere. Just corrupt tyrants, murderous legacys, and an invasion in Antarctica to worry about. How have I not died already? Wait, I have. Many times. Damnation."
Notes:
I do not own shadow slave. This is my first time writing so please leave nice criticism. At the time of writing this I have only read up to chapter 1516 and as is the nature of writing about a non finished novel some things I write might be proven to be wrong in the future. I will do my best to keep to the source material and characters but I am not perfect. This is a warning that some characters might be ooc and I might not represent everything with 100% accuracy. If you notice a discrepancy let me know and i might fix it, but also recognize this is a fanfic and to give myself creative freedom I might change things. Thank you. I hope you enjoy it. This starts in chapter 1491 'Dark Boundary'.
Chapter 1Chapter Text
Millions of black wings. That was all Sunny could see as he looked at the wall of Ariel's Tomb. Each pair of wings belongs to a Dark Butterfly.
"Cassy… Can you extinguish the radiance of the sacred tree?
When he gets no response Sunny looks back at her but wasn't prepared for what he would see. Instead of her normal blank face Cassy is facing him with a wide smile. She just faces him unmoving and then commands the Chain Breaker to move closer to the wall at max speed.
Sunny is stunned, why is Cassy trying to get us killed? Has she seen a vision that this is what we must do, or has she finally cracked? Suddenly a thought shoots through Sunny's mind and as he looks at Cassy's soul, he sees corruption.
"That's not Cassy, it's Torment!"
Following Sunny's shout, the rest of the cohort spring into action. Nephis, being the closest, reaches Cassy first but is intercepted by the Echo of sybil. Effie and Jet started summoning their memories as Sunny turned into a shadow and shot towards Torment as fast as he could, but it was not fast enough. Torment brought the Quiet Dancer down into the control runes of the Chain Breaker, severing them. This caused a chain reaction shutting down all of the runes in the Chain breaker causing it to fall out of the sky.
Sunny emerges from the shadows and pierces Torment through the chest with the Sin of Solace. Torment doesn't seem to register the sword in her chest, only turns to Sunny with a wide smile.
"This is what you get for thinking you can change things Sunless," she coughs. "I told you I foresaw us killing Nephis and conquering this nightmare as superior beings, but you couldn't handle that. You just had to reset and try to 'fix' everything. You tried to change fate, Mad Prince, and now you will watch as all of your friends die, and know it is all your fault."
With these final words she goes limp, and Sunny hears the familiar sound of the Spell's voice.
[You have slain transcendent beast, Torment.]
[...Your shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny looks up to see Nephis falling not too far away from him, with Effie and Jet near the bow of the ship. Sunny summons his Dark Wing and sees Nephis do the same. Gliding over to the others Sunny grabs Jet as Nephis grabs Effie.
"So, what do we do now?" Effie Asked. "Chain Breaker is broken, and we are all falling to who knows where."
"I could use Heavenly Burden, but I don't know if that will be enough to lift all four of us, even with two Dark Wings. Maybe if we." Sunny is cut off by a scream from Jet.
"I feel a lot of strong souls coming at us really fast from that direction." Sunny looks where she is pointing and sees thousands of Dark Butterflies flying down towards them.
Sunny turns to the rest of the cohort and tells them to get inside of Effie's locket as he summons the Shadow Lantern and uses the shadows to make a shadow shell of a bird, grabs the pendent with his talons, and starts flying away from the butterflies. Even with all six of his shadows enhancing him, Sunny is still only a master and as such cannot go fast enough to outpace a great monster. Sunny dodges and weaves between the stabbing legs of the Dark butterflies, trying his hardest not to die.
With no light around, the Butterflies have no shadows for him to watch to try and predict their movements, not that it would help with how many there are. The Butterflies are stabbing each other and many end up with their wings severed and fall into the abyss below, but for everyone that falls there are twenty more that try to fill the gap.
'I won't be able to keep this up forever.' Sunny thought. 'One hit is all it would take to throw me off and there is no guarantee I can fix the shadow shell before being hit again, that is if a single hit doesn't kill me. Not to mention I will eventually run out of essence.
A sudden sound makes Sunny look down back the way that he came. He sees the Chain Breaker as a small speck in the distance starts to glow. He remembers Cassy, or now he knows, Torment asking him for one of the Supreme soul shards that they had gathered. She said she was going to use it to give Chain Breaker an upgrade that would be crucial when the time was right.
As he remembers this the glow brightens before shooting out as a small beam. The beam pierces the darkness and goes through the cloud of butterflies, missing each one by a hair, as if aimed to do so. The beam goes through the center of the locket, shatters the chain, before finally going through Sunny's chest.
The shell around him shatters and the locket scatters into light. The members of the cohort are forced out into the air and before they even register what had happened, they are stabbed repeatedly by the legs. Effie dies instantly but Jet due to her special constitution is still alive for a few moments longer before she is shredded into hundreds of bits. Her soul energy is extinguished from trying to heal wounds on a body that isn't there anymore.
What really draws Sunny's eye is Nephis. She has been pierced through the chest in the same place where the beam hit him. Right through the heart. Another leg goes through her stomach as another takes one of her arms clean off. As blood pours from her wounds she stares at Sunny, her eyes light up with white flame. The blood in her wounds turns into streams of fire as the last daughter of the Immortal Flame clan lives up to her name. She releases as much flame as she can, drawing all of the butterflies to her before looking back at Sunny and saying a single word.
"Go."
Sunny feels his body betraying him as the command given to him is registered. With all the light Nephis is giving off it casts long shadows on the cloud of Dark Butterflies. Sunny feels the familiar feeling of his body turning into shadows as he goes as fast as he can away from the ball of fire that is his master, teacher, friend, and woman that he loves.
As Sunny reaches the end of the cloud the fire behind him slowly dwindles until it goes out. Sunny is catapulted down and away from the Great monsters and finds himself falling alone in the darkness.
The Chain Breaker is broken and is falling into the abyss. All of his friends are dead or somewhere else in this god's forsaken tomb, and he has a hole in his heart both metaphorically and literally. Sunny's thoughts go to the last time he was falling into a bottomless abyss, the ridiculousness that he can say that is not lost on him and remembers the golden strand that allowed him to survive that fall. With no better ideas and looking for anything to distract him from the pain that he feels, Sunny summons the weavers mask and activates the [Where is my eye] enchantment.
Horrifying pain is all he can feel, as the knowledge of fate forced itself into his brain. Even though he is one rank and four tiers higher than he was when he used the mask on the Chained Isles his body and mind are still nowhere near strong enough to handle seeing fate. As he looks into the strings of fate, he feels the pain in his chest worsen as he no longer sees the string of white fire that connected him to Nephis. He did not need to look at his attributes to know that he would not find Nephis's name as his master. He finally had the freedom he wanted, and it hurt more than anything he had ever experienced.
Looking back to the tapestry of fate he sees no obvious strand. None that glow brighter or are made of the beautiful gold he had seen before. As his essence was running out and his brain felt like it was melting, he finally saw a string that caught his eye.
It was not bright; in fact, it was the dimmest string he could see. It came from the direction of the great river before piercing his body and wrapping tightly around it. The tread seemed frayed as if it had been pulled and tangled many times. There were knots in it with open ends like the string had been torn and tied back together. The string looked like how Sunny felt, warn and enduring but barely so. The place where the string met his soul was weird as well, unlike the other strings of fate which wrapped around his body and soul this one pierced it. It seemed to be wrapped around something that was anchoring it to him. Sunny did not know how but he knew that the anchor was the Key of the Estuary.
This string represented his fate in the Great River which must have been worn down with all the repetitions he had done. Every knot where the string was retied must have been a time where Sunny changed what he had done when he started remembering the loop, and somehow the Mad Prince had found a way to anchor the string to Sunny's soul with the Key so that it stuck with him.
What struck Sunny as the most unbelievable part of the string was that it was made up of two different kinds of string. One was the normal color, but different pieces had different hues and stages of ware, and the second kind was what the knots and the part that wrapped around his soul were made of. Strings made of shadow. The entire line looked like a poorly put together puzzle and reminded Sunny of an old story he heard of. Frackingtime, Frankersteam, the one where a doctor made a creature out of a bunch of different people's pieces.
Regardless of the name the point remains the same. The Mad Prince had found a way to change what he did each loop by taking the string of fate, removing the parts that he didn't like, replacing them, and tying it all together. The Mad Prince had reweaved a line of Fate.
Sunny felt a sensation that he had not felt since the time he entered the black tower at the bottom of the abyss in the Chained Isles where he found the finger of the weaver. The same compulsion that drove him to eat the finger, drove him to grasp the strange string. He reached out and grabbed the string and all of the pain he was in faded away. He no longer saw any other string but this one, and his head no longer felt like it was going to explode. In his hands Sunny held the proof that men could defy beings as strong as the daemons, the equal to the gods.
The Mad Prince had found a way to circumvent the loop made by Ariel the demon of dread and reweaved a string of fate made by Weaver the demon of fate.
Sunny held the string and pulled. The knots of shadow string holding it together came undone and Sunny felt his connection to the Great River was severed. He was no longer bound by the river of time, but such a separation does not happen without conscience.
Had Sunny still been looking at the tapestry of fate he would have seen as all of the strings wrapped around him blackening and being turned into shadow. The strings started wrapping around themselves and tangling before snapping. From the direction of the Great River a ripple was spreading like a stone dropped into a calm lake. The ripples collided with the tapestry as it was trying to fix itself.
When both the ripples of time and the restored strings of fate met in the point where Sunny was, something unexpected starts happening. Sunny started seeing the world start to rewind in the same way that it does when one first enters a nightmare.
Sunny sees the fight with the cloud of butterflies, the loops of Windflower, running from the great monstrosity in the desert, all the fights in Antarctica, Talking to the daemon Hope, living a hundred lives fighting the nightmare steed, being a gladiator in the war god arena, the battle of the red spire, the catacombs, his stay in the dark city, traveling the coral labyrinth, being in the academy before finally the start of his journey.
Sunny dreamt of a mountain.
[Your shadow has been lost]
[Your shadow core has been lost]
[Your memories have been lost]
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]
Chapter 2Notes:
When it comes to memories, Sunny is going to get many of the same ones that he got and the reason for this will be [Fated] *Cough Plot convenience cough* but for some monsters I will be doing a RNG to see if he gets a memory. It is going to be.
1-85 nothing 85%
86-89 Tool 4%
90-92 weapon 3%
93-95 armor/clothing 3%
96-98 charm 3%
99-100 echo 2%
I think this is fair and will add some fun. Let me know opinions on it or ideas for memories.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Step after step saw Sunny's bleeding feet meet the cold hard ground. The feeling stuns Sunny for a moment before his battle-hardened instincts kick in to survey the area around him. A familiar line of people stretching out in front of him. The slave caravan that he found himself in back when he did his First Nightmare.
"This can't be real" Sunny mumbled under his breath.
"Oh, it's real alright boy, best get used to it" A voice behind Sunny grumbles. Turning around Sunny sees a face that he recognizes, Shifty. 'How has this happened?' Sunny can't help but wonder. Is this real? Only one way to make sure'.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: —
Rank: Aspirant.
Soul Core: Dormant.
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows].
Aspect: [Temple Slave].
Aspect Description: [Slave is a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention. A temple slave is just the same, except much rarer.]
It's the same. Sunny can't take his eyes off of the runes that he sees. I really am back in the First Nightmare. If this is the result of me pulling that string, then how? How did the Mad Prince make something like that? Did he know what it was going to do? If he did then why didn't he reset with it? Questions flooded Sunny's mind.
Ok let's think things through. The Mad Prince somehow made a way to go back in time. I kept none of my memories or attributes, but I have my memories of what happened. It all was wrapped around the Key of the Estuary which stopped the Sin of Solace from sharing the knowledge of defilement with me. That is why the prince didn't use it, because he would still end up defiled.
With his current questions answered Sunny focuses back on the problem at hand. I need to survive the Awakened Tyrant and make it to the temple at the top of the mountain. As much as I had a problem with my aspect making me a slave, it was still too good to pass up on. I could try and do things differently to get a different attribute but there is no guarantee that would work or that the aspect would be powerful enough to handle what is to come.
With a plan in place Sunny pays attention to the slaves who were talking around him.
"-ally want to risk angering a god?"
Oh, so they were talking about killing him again. Great.
Sunny's thoughts were cut off by seeing another familiar face, Hero. With no commotion to draw his eye he just looks at Sunny with a look of pity before reaching for his flask, as if to offer some to Sunny.
Sunny just keeps walking, knowing that if he takes the offer he will be whipped by the older soldier.
Hero, taking the nonverbal dismissal as an act of fear, just shakes his head a little and continues on his way.
A little while later a call to make camp is sounded and Sunny knows that he needs to start preparing for what is to come. Being led to the fire Sunny takes the sip of water given to him by one of the soldiers and looks over to see a bush of Bloodbane berries.
Sunny ignores the sound of Scholar telling Shifty what kind of berries they were as Sunny looked around and made a plan. Sunny positions himself with a broad-shouldered slave in between him and where Sunny knew the Mountain King would fall, and not long later it happened.
The camp was put in an uproar, but Sunny had no time to focus on that, he had a plan, and he would survive.
A claw struck the broad-shouldered man but Sunny was ready for it. He dodged out of the way, as much as the chain would let him and the body fell closer to Scholar. While not seeming important, the moment the body started to move the reason became apparent. The monster lunged at the man and scored a glancing blow, knocking him to the ground. Sunny ran towards the beast and grabbed the length of chains on either side of his restraints. Wrapping them both around the beast to restrain its movements, Sunny tells Shifty and Scholar to pull.
As the chain is brought taunt the beast strains against the chain, which starts to sound of stretching metal.
"The chain won't hold!" Scholar yelled, his voice strained from exertion and his injuries.
"I'm on it!"
As the first wrap of chains broke Sunny grabbed the now shorter length and wrapped it around the beast's neck and using all of his mediocre bodyweight and the leverage of being on the creature's back Sunny strangled it.
The second wrap of chain breaks as well but it is too late for the beast and as its body goes limp Sunny hears the voice of the spell announcing his kill.
[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King's Larva.]
Sunny drops down gasping for breath. His body, not yet used to vigorous exercise. With the chain broken on both his left and right, Sunny is free to move as he pleases which comes in handy when Hero shows up cutting down monsters as he goes.
"Free the rest!"
A key is thrown at Sunny which he catches and quickly undoes his, Shifty's, and Scholar's restraints. As Shifty goes to run off and Scholar reminds him of the fact that freezing to death is a thing, Sunny is staring at Hero. More specifically he is staring at Hero's shadow. Watching the way that it moved and swayed.
'I can see it, but I'm not yet ready to copy it.'
Sunny was not sure if he would be able to even get this far in the shadow dance without his divine aspect, but remembering the dream of the female slave being able to do it gave him some hope. And it seems like for once, his hope came true.
'Enough daydreaming it is time to push this bastard off the cliff again.' Sunny leads Shifty and Scholar to the wagon and instructs them to wait for his signal and push. Running up behind the beast, Sunny grabs one of the broken chains that was still attached to the cart, unlocked it from the corpse still attached to it, and throws it at the Mountain King.
With Hero distracting the beast, the chain wrapped around its neck just in time for Shifty and Scholar to push the cart off the cliff, taking the Mountain King with it.
With the fight over, the three slaves and the soldier make their way back to the bonfire in the middle of the camp. Sunny watches as they discuss going down the mountain and decides to chime in.
"I don't think the monster died."
The others looked at him with surprise.
"Why do you say that?"
Inwardly chuckling at getting the same response as last time Sunny pointed up from where the Mountain King fell.
"If it survived the fall down to camp without a scratch, I don't see how another fall will kill it."
With his peace said Sunny watches as they discuss what their next moves are going to be. They are going to go up the mountain. When the topic of previsions is brought up Sunny speaks again.
"I guess I'll collect water."
Hero turns to Sunny.
"Most of our water was stored on the wagon. But each of my fallen brothers was carrying a flagon. Gather as many as you can find.
As they separate to do their work Sunny prepares the next step of his plan. Finding a flagon on one of the dead soldiers, Sunny drinks it all, knowing he is going to need all the strength he can get. As he gathers the flagons and starts to poison them with Bloodbane berries he sees Hero's flask, which must have fallen off of him during his Fight with the Mountain King. Sunny makes sure to add a few extra drops of berry juice to his flask.
When Sunny finally comes to the place where the older soldier lay bleeding out. Sunny doesn't hesitate before picking up the shattered sword and swiftly cutting the man's neck.
[You have slain a dormant human, name unknown.]
[You have received a Memory: Silver Bell.]
Looking at the runes for a moment Sunny remembers all that that bell had been with him for. It was one of the few Memories that he wouldn't feed to Saint and held the first rune that he learned to weave. The fact that he was really back fully hit him now and it almost brought him to tears.
'There will be time for that later, now it is time to act.'
Looking around Sunny sees movement. It is another Mountain King's Larva. The beast was missing a leg and was pinned under the body of one of the soldiers. Sunny takes the sword and plunges it down into the beast hoping for a memory.
[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King's Larva.]
Sunny waits a moment but seeing that the Spell has finished speaking he walks away grumbling.
'Stupid stingy Spell.'
Gathering back at the bonfire the group rested until dawn before setting out up the mountain pass. It was not long before they came across a chasm where the path was meant to be. Scholar, always willing to be the first to talk pipes up.
"What do we do now"
"We could get rid of some dead weight."
Shifty glances over to Sunny.
"I didn't know you wanted to be left behind so bad." Sunny scoffed back at Shifty. "Or did you forget that I saved your life three times now."
"There is no need to fight, we will not be leaving anyone behind."
Hero's voice cut through the argument and was followed by Scholar.
"I know of an old mountain path, but it would be a bit of a climb."
With the decision made they started their ascent up the mountain. Knowing that his body could not handle the extra weight Sunny left the sword that he had scavenged and began to climb.
With not much else to do but climb and think, Sunny found himself drifting away.
'What should I do with this second chance that I got? There are many events that are going to happen, most I can barely affect much less stop. And the things that I could, should I. Bad things happen to those who mess with fate, yet when fate is already bad is it such a crime to change it.
After climbing for the entire day Sunny's thoughts were interrupted by a call for them to stop. All of them look tired, with Hero looking the best out of them, but he too looked more tired than he did last time.
'Good it looks like the extra poison is working. Maybe too well.'
Shifty collapsed on the ground, looking very worse for wear. He had already drunk all of the water in his flask and was shaking it for drops. Hero taking pity on the man offered his own flask.
"You should have conserved your water. Here have some of mine but be quick."
Shifty grabbed the flask and drank in large gulps but started looking worse not better.
"We will take a rest here. Everyone, make camp for the night, I will take the first watch."
With Hero's declaration everyone made their way into a small alcove in the side of the mountain and made a small fire. Crowding around it they all ate strips of roasted oxen meat that Hero had cut from the animals down below. As the slaves lay down for rest Hero sat at the opening of the alcove and looked out into the night.
[You have slain dormant human, name unknown]
The familiar sound of the Nightmare Spell sounded in Sunny's ears. Bolting him awake he sees that Scholar is the one on watch and Hero is sleeping where Scholar was.
"Nightmare?" Scholar looks at Sunny, fake compassion in his eyes.
"Yeah." Sunny responds. The fact that he just told a lie surprised him for a moment. Right, no aspect, no flaw.
"Well, you still have another shift before you need to keep watch so you might as well go back to sleep. Speaking of which, it's time for my watch to end."
Scholar walks over to Shifty and gives him a small shake. When no response is given, he shakes harder, but no matter how hard he goes Shifty will not awaken.
"He's dead. Oh my God he's dead!"
The shouting wakes Hero up who quickly shoots up sword brandished. Seeing Scholar hunched over Shifty he walks over.
"What has happened?"
"I don't know, I came over to tell him it is his time for a shift, but he wouldn't wake up. He has no pulse and he's deathly pale. He is dead."
A tension settles in the air as they all stand there over the dead body.
"How?"
Scholar looks closer at Shifty's pale face. He checks for injuries but finds none. No obvious sign, until he notices how strange Shifty's veins look through his skin.
"Looks like poison."
"How would he have gotten poisoned?"
Hero turns to Scholar with a mix of inquiry and suspicion in his voice.
"I saw him eat some of those berries."
Both turn back to Sunny.
"Are you sure? I told him they were poisonous."
Scholar looks suspicious but Hero just nods his head.
"When in desperate times even the wisest men can make foolish choices. Regardless of the fact it is still too dark to climb any further tonight, we should all get some rest."
The three of them sat around the fire in silence.
No one got any more sleep that night.
'It seemed like I added more berry juice than I thought. It didn't help that he also drank out of Hero's more poisonous flask as well. Oh well, there is no reason to feel guilty. He would have killed me given the chance and I was the one responsible for his death in the first place. The only difference is that the Spell announced it this time.'
As Sunny was thinking the silence of the night was broken by the sound of crunching bones. All three stiffen and make their way to the edge of the alcove and look down.
It was too dark for Scholar and Hero to see anything, but with his ability to see in the dark Sunny watches as the Mountain King eats the dead in the camp down below.
Hero grabs both Sunny's and Scholar's shoulder and pulled them back towards their fire.
"Make no noise." He whispered quietly. "We will leave at first light, if the beast is already eating the dead then it will be on our tracks soon."
With a nod from both Scholar and Sunny they go back to the fire and wait until the sun starts to rise.
As dawn broke the three of them went back to climbing. Hour after hour, higher and higher they climbed. As their altitude increased the air started to thin. The winds were whipping at their backs threatening to throw them off the mountain onto the rocks below.
As more hours went by Sunny recognized where they were. They had found the path.
Looking down below Sunny sees the alcove where they left Shifty's body.
'I wonder if the monster has eaten it yet. Either way without Shifty's body in view, there will be nothing to alert the others that we are being followed.
They walked the path for some distance before they heard a sound behind them.
"What was that?"
Hero turned back. Scholar right behind him.
"There is nothing that lives in these mountains. Nothing except for that beast. We are being hunted."
Scholar looks to Hero and then back to Sunny.
"We should leave a diversion to throw the beast off of our trail."
'There we go. That's the true Scholar I remember."
"What manner of diversion."
Hero turns back to Scholar.
Sunny listens to Scholar trying to convince Hero to leave Sunny behind as a way to divert the beast, but Sunny was ready for this moment.
"If it is following the smell of blood then you are the only one it is following."
Sunny snarks back to Scholar.
"You are the one that got scratched by that beast back there."
"The only reason I was scratched was because you ran away. Besides, your cloak is dripped with blood."
Scholar spits back.
"I didn't know that the body would turn into a monster and it's not my fault that you couldn't dodge. Furthermore, my cloak doesn't have any blood on it."
Sunny shows the bottom of his stolen cloak. The hem which had been soaked with blood was nowhere to be seen as a few inches on the bottom of the coat looked to have been ripped off.
"It tore while I was climbing."
Scholar looks on, stunned.
"You planned this. You knew we were being followed; you tore your cloak leaving me the only one smelling of blood. I'll kill you."
Scholar's facade of niceties broke. He rushed at Sunny with his arms out but fell face first as one of his legs was taken out from under him by Hero's sword.
"You are so far gone that you would accuse a child of masterminding this whole scenario. I knew you to be a disgusting individual, but this is a low I had not foreseen."
Hero looks at Scholar with disgust before looking back at Sunny.
"I will take him down the path some, wait for me to get back."
A few moments later a scream came from down the path and Hero returned.
"Don't feel guilty for what has happened. That man has committed many atrocities and would say anything to save his own life. Pay his raving no mind, I know that these circumstances are too much for a child like you to plan."
'I'm not a child and I am very capable of planning what has happened, thank you very much.'
Sunny just nods and continues walking in silence. Hero, taking his silence as acceptance says nothing more.
As the sun began to set and the moon shone in the sky, Hero and Sunny found a crevice in the slope of the mountain.
"Today we will camp without making a fire. The beast is too close."
Sunny nods and goes into the crevice and lays down back facing the opening and closes his eyes and rests.
"Are you asleep?"
With no response from Sunny, Hero stood up and drew his sword. He walked over to Sunny and got ready to end him mercifully. With his back turned and asleep he wouldn't even notice.
"I wish you luck in your next life."
He raised his sword and stabbed down at Sunny, but at the last moment Sunny rolled towards Hero, taking the knife that he had looted from one of the fallen soldiers and hidden under his cloak, and stabbed Hero in the neck right above his armor.
Blood bubbled in Hero's mouth as his attempts at speaking were drowned out by a cascade of blood making its way down his throat.
"You were making a shadow on the wall."
Sunny gestured to the wall behind them with a nod. The Moon's rays shining through the opening of the crevice to project a shadow of Hero and Sunny on the wall behind them.
Hero tries to get up but between losing blood and the poison in his system he was fighting a losing battle.
"You know, you should have listened to the other guy. I did plan out everything that happened."
Hero looks stunned at Sunny's admittance.
"Poisoning the waters to make you all weak, although I expected Shifty's strength to fail him during the climb so that almost ruined everything. Then there was making sure that Scholar was the only one to have blood on him, so that there was no question on who to leave behind. But with you I had two outcomes."
Hero's eyes grew wider, and his struggle grew more frantic as he looked at Sunny's smile as he gloated about his deeds.
"With you I wondered if you were going to try and kill me. I have no blood to draw the monster's scent, and I was in better shape than the others were in, although to be fair to them I wasn't drinking poison, But I still wondered."
Sunny leaned down standing over the dying man.
"The truth is that you're no paragon of good, you're no moral saint. You were going to kill me because it would increase your chance to survive. You're no different than me, the only difference is that my plan worked."
With his piece said Sunny grabbed the knife still in Hero's throat and ripped it out sideways.
[You have slain Awakened human: Auro of the Nine]
[You have received a Memory: Soldier's Burden]
Sunny has no time to think on the memory as he turns and runs as fast as he can towards the temple. The scent of blood will draw the beast soon.
While not dripping blood like he was the last time he made this journey, Sunny was still shivering from the cold and exhausted from the climb. The lack of breathable air also weighed down on him.
Reaching the top of the mountain Sunny saw the temple, the same as he remembered it. Tall columns of black stone and broken-down gates leading into the temple. This time around Sunny was coherent enough to notice all of the bones that litter the place, both human and monster. As he climbs the steps, he sees a shapeless being of shadow approach him.
Even without the ability to see the souls of beings anymore, Sunny can still tell that this creature is much stronger than the Mountain King.
'What the hell is a thing like that doing here. It wasn't here last time.'
Sunny's thoughts raced as the shadow came closer, stopped, and stepped back letting Sunny pass. Sunny continued onward to the altar. Cut from a single piece of black marble and the only thing around not covered in ice and snow the altar stood out. But Sunny was not yet ready to lay on it quite yet.
Sunny summoned his runes to look at the memory that he had acquired.
Memory: [Soldier's Burden]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [A soldier's life is not their own. A soldier is one who has an unending duty to be fulfilled. Their armor, a bond that keeps them in place, and their sword a burden that few can carry.]
It was a longsword. A little over a meter long counting the blade and handle. It was a two-edged blade with a fuller running down the middle. A simple cross guard that curved slightly up to form a flat u shape. The handle was polished wood with a few wraps of leather for grip with a flared pommel at the end. It was simple but efficient, perfect for a soldier.
Sunny held the memory for a moment, and it gave him a similar feeling to holding the makeshift string of fate that the Mad Prince had weaved. Where that was the proof that the Mad Prince could change fate, Soldier's Burden was the proof that he could.
Taking the blade Sunny started to swing it in a practiced movement. While he no longer has the muscle memory, Sunny was still proficient in many forms of combat. The showing started poor as the cold in his bones caused him to shiver and his tired arms didn't want to move but he pushed through. His stance shifted between the different styles that he learned, Nephis's adaptive and offensive style, Saints defensive and stalwart style, before finally going to the style that he saw Hero use against the Mountain King's Larva.
The formless guardians watched as the small figure with the scent of divinity started to swing a blade through the air. As the figure continued their movements started to change. Less rigid and more fluid, formless and adaptive. The movements of shadows. This creature had somehow found a way to incorporate the dance of the guardian's master into a form of combat. The guardians were entranced by the sight until it was interrupted by a creature making its way into the temple. As they went to kill the intruder for daring to enter this holy place, they felt a presence they had not felt in a long time. Their master was watching, and it was not their place to interfere.
[You have received an Aspect Legacy, Shadow Dance.]
Opening his eyes Sunny had no time to look at the runes, as before him stood the Mountain King. Its five milky eyes staring at him and its mouth open, ready for its next meal. Sunny takes his sword in his hand and runs it down his wrist.
His blood falls onto the altar below him as he lays down. The black marble absorbs the blood as Sunny hears the familiar voice of the Spell echo in the dark temple.
[You have offered yourself as a sacrifice to the gods.]
[The gods are dead, and can not hear you.]
[Your soul bears the mark of divinity.]
[You are a temple slave.]
[Shadow God stirs in his eternal slumber.]
[He sends a blessing from beyond the grave.]
[Child of Shadows, receive your blessing!]
The shadows of the great hall start to move and wrap around the Mountain King. Great tendrils of darkness ensnare the tyrant and pull it apart piece by piece. Blood splatters the floor as the massive abomination is reduced to a pile of meat.
[You have slain an awakened tyrant, Mountain King.]
[Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal…]
Notes:
Enemies killed RNG.
MKL-1: 43
MKL-2: 12
Shifty: 69 (nice)
Chapter 3Notes:
I have gotten a few comments asking how Sunny got the shadow dance before he had the Shadow Slave aspect, so I want to explain my choice. The first person we see do a complete shadow dance is with Sunny's vision of the unnamed slave's mother. She was only a temple slave and yet was able to do it so I see no reason why Sunny couldn't. If you remember Sunny unlocked the shadow dance in chapter 218 after the vision. This allowed him to copy shadow movements but that is all. It wasn't until chapter 358 where Sunny unlocked the shadow serpent. In my mind the base form of shadow dance is available for any temple slave of the shadow god while the 7 artifacts are a part of the shadow god's blessing Sunny gets after the nightmare. Hope this makes sense.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
[Prepare for appraisal…]
Sunny found himself back in that space between dream and reality. He looked around at the inner workings of the Nightmare Spell in all of its glory. Intricate patterns of string weaving a tapestry unlike anything else Sunny had seen.
'Will I ever get to the point of creating something like this.
Sunny shakes his head.
'I don't even know how the Mad Prince created something as complex as the Key of the Estuary, much less something on this scale. Besides why would I need to make something as oppressive and far reaching as the Spell in the first place. To kill a god?'
[You have received a Memory: Puppeteer's Shroud]
Looking at the familiar runes of the puppeteer's Shroud gave Sunny a feeling of nostalgia.
'It seems like so long ago where I thought that an awakened armor would make me invincible. Who could have guessed that I would only run into Awakened and Fallen monsters and wouldn't see another Dormant monstrosity until I was Awakened myself.'
'Now that I think about it, did I ever kill a Dormant creature while I was a sleeper? No, just Dormant people.
The dark thoughts came swiftly but Sunny brushed them off with the same speed.
I only killed those that tried to kill me or were digging their nose where it didn't belong.
The voice of the Spell seemed to echo from all around him. Instead of a small voice in his head the voice sounded as if the very world around him was speaking.
[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]
̸[̴F̶r̵o̶m̸ ̵d̵e̵e̷p̶ ̶i̴n̷ ̵t̵h̴e̸ ̸T̸o̶m̸b̴ ̶o̴f̷ ̴A̵r̷i̴el ̵̳̂t̷̬̃ḩ̸̿ë̶͉ ̶̦̒T̵̞̆ŕ̷̲e̵̗͂a̴̮̓c̴̝̐h̷͓̉é̵͉r̷͚̈ȏ̵͎ũ̷̬ṡ̸̩ ̵̮͒L̸̹̃o̴̩͗s̷̏ͅt̵̡̀ ̷͙̒F̷̱̐ŗ̵̋o̶͙̾m̴̬̊ ̸̜̓L̴̯̅ị̴̽g̸͓̑h̶̡͝t̸̳̂ ̴̪͘b̸͇̔ȑ̶͍o̶̦̓k̸̦̈́ę̵͝ ṱ̷̝͋͝í̵̝̫m̴̲͝e̶͈͂̾.̷͙̒T̴̝̃h̸̼͠e̷̹͗ ̵̪͝s̷̠͐h̴͔͋ā̸͜ď̶͔o̴̠̅w̴̛͜ ̶̹̉ẃ̴̤h̵̘͛o̸̺͝ ̷̭̀l̴͚̋ǫ̸̎s̷̠̈t̴̘͛ ̴͚̽i̵͓͊t̵̲̅'̴̋s̶̫͑ ̸̑ͅm̸̚ͅa̵͍͝s̶̱̚ẗ̷͕ẻ̴̘r̴͉͑ ̸̟̇t̶̼̀ọ̷͗ǫ̶͑ḱ̸̞ ̶̠͛h̶͎̒ô̴̟l̵̨͑d̶̘͝ ̴̝͖́͝ó̴͓̟̈́f̵̱̅̔̊ ̴̢͘t̷̨͌h̸͈͑ḙ̸͒ ̶̤͂ẗ̴͔́a̷̞̋p̵͙̚e̸͈͆s̸̪̀t̶͚̊r̸̤̈́ỵ̶͑ ̸͖̋o̸̻͑f̸̙͝ ̷̝͑f̷͚́a̵͕̎ť̶̤e̶̲̕ ̴͎̽a̵̪͂n̶̺͑d̷̥͝T̴͈͂̐͒o̵͓̠̺͆̆ṟ̵̗̈́̑e̵͉̒͋.̶̧̰͑̏]̵͖̅͐̂
The voice of the spell grew more and more distorted as it carried on. The world around Sunny started to shake as the glowing stars started to flicker. The beautiful strings pulsing like a heartbeat started to twist and tangle like writhing snakes.
'What the hell is happening.'
Sunny started looking around the maddening world around him.
'The Spell knows something is wrong but what is it going to do about it? And how will this impact my appraisal.'
"From deep in the Tomb of Ariel the Treacherous Lost from Light broke time. The shadow who lost its master took hold of the tapestry of fate and tore."
Everything went dark for a moment, even Sunny's enhanced vision could not see a thing. Then like a switch had been flipped everything was back to how it was when Sunny first entered the appraisal.
[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]
Did it just start over?
[A nameless slave ascended the Black Mountain. Both heroes and monsters fell by his hand. Unbroken, he entered the ruined temple of a long-forgotten god and began to dance. His dance called to the god of shadows. The god was dead, and yet he listened. Spilling his blood on the sacred altar, the slave gave himself to the dead god of shadows.]
[You have defeated two dormant beasts: Mountain King's Larva.]
[You have defeated three dormant humans, names unknown.]
[You have defeated an awakened tyrant: Mountain King.]
[You have received the Shadow God's blessing.]
[You have achieved the impossible!]
[Final appraisal: unprecedented. Your treachery is the stuff of legends.]
'The appraisal has changed. Apparently, me doing the shadow dance in the temple was important enough to be mentioned and the final appraisal has changed. Honestly, I think I am starting to realize what the Spell is talking about with me being treacherous, but it isn't that bad.'
'Unprecedented sounds right though. I doubt anyone has ripped the strings of fate and sent a ripple down the river of time to go back five years to their First Nightmare to beat it again.
[Dreamer Sunless, receive your boon!]
[You have been bestowed a True Name: Lost from Light.]
Sunny chuckled when he thought back to how excited he was to get a true name. He was going to tell everyone and then become rich. Funny how he originally wanted to tell everyone what has become his most guarded secret.
[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]
"Yes"
[Dormant Aspect Temple Slave is evolving…]
[New Aspect acquired.]
[Aspect Rank Divine.]
[Aspect name: Shadow Slave]
Sunny looked at the runes of his aspect. It has brought him much joy and much pain. With this aspect he has saved lives and took them. He has fell great beasts and bested saints. He was also enslaved, his freedom taken.
Glancing at his runes Sunny looked at his Innate Ability Shadow Bond. Where Nephis's name once stood was blank. Never had a blank space conveyed more meaning than that one. Sunny was free. If he played his cards right, he might not end up enslaved to Nephis again. If he was never enslaved to Nephis he could have been there for her after the spire, he would no longer be afraid to admit his feelings. They would no longer be master and slave, but equals.
He also would have not been as motivated to gain more shadow cores had he not been chasing Nephis. He would have been enslaved by Mordret the moment his flaw was copied by the Mirror Beast. He would have died in that tunnel in Antarctica without her seeing the message he left for her with a memory. He never would have been able to kill Saint Dire Fang or the corrupted form of Daeron of Twilight without their ability to augment each other.
'No secret can last forever. Eventually someone will ask me if I have a true name, or somebody with the ability to read my aspects will learn it. Fate will not let me be without a master forever, the best I can do is choose who. Cassy is too manipulative and would not share all her information with me. On top of that I still can't forget that she gave my name to Nephis or that it was her corrupted form that is responsible for my last death.
Kai is out as well. I don't think he will be bad but the memory of what the Dread Lord did is not easily forgotten. He also has a motor mouth and will probably accidentally give me commands at random times because he didn't watch his word choice.
Effie is a big no. She will be ordering me to make her food and do chores for her just because she thinks it's funny. I also see her as the most likely to make a command of me when she's mad that she will regret later. No, if Effie was my master she would accidentally kill me, or I would kill her just to get away from her.
Nephis is the only feasible option. She already showed consideration with her word choice, and it isn't in her nature to manipulate her friends. It makes the most sense from a combat perspective as well. The boost that we get when mixing our powers is immense and has saved our lives on more than one occasion.
[The First Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers…]
Sunny felt like something that he didn't even register was missing and was given back to him. Energy filled him and he felt as his soul awakened in his chest. It was like the feeling of gaining a new soul shard, minus the pain, and how it felt to go up in rank all at the same time. After this happened Sunny felt his vision double, and the familiar sight of his soul sea came into view with one lonely black sun in the middle.
[Awakening Aspect Ability...]
[Aspect ability acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Name: Shadow Control.]
'Moody. The unhappy shadow that was the first companion that he had. The only confidant that he has had that has been through everything with him.
'I didn't realize how lonely it has been without him.'
Sunny's thoughts drifted to his other shadows. I will see them again and eventually give them one more friend. I hope the seventh one isn't messed up. Something like, serious, or responsible. Anything to round out the circus of problems that I had.
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Dreamer
Shadow Core: Dormant
Shadow Fragments: [16/1000]
Right, I killed an additional Mountain's king larva, Shifty, and Hero. I got four more shadow fragments than last time. Although it sucks to see all the hard work I did gone, like it never happened.
Sunny felt a brief feeling of depression at seeing the low number and core strength before shaking his head to banish the thoughts.
'Having to do everything again is a small price to pay in order to save everyone. In fact, this could turn out to be a good thing. I am going into this with a complete knowledge of the Forgotten Shore and much more combat experience than I had before.
For the first time Sunny thought about the implications of the opportunity he has now.
'I could share the weaknesses that I know with the others. I have experience leading a company of awakened and participating in several battles in Antarctica. I can help organize the sleeper army and make sure they are better equipped to handle the attack on the Spire.'
'I can do more than just save my friends. I can get even more of us home. When the sleepers of the Forgotten Shore awakened, they were each worth at least two normal awakened. If I can just save fifty more than it would at least make a little difference, and there were hundreds who died in and before the attack on the Spire. How many of them died for no reason or could have been saved if they just prepared a little bit more.
With a new long-term plan in mind Sunny looked back to his runes.
Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Shadow Kin], [?̷͉̒?̸͎̌?̷͎́].
What?
What happened to Child of Shadows and what is with the question marks.
[Shadow Kin.] Attribute Description: "Shadow God has recognized you as one of his own."
[?̷͉̒?̸͎̌?̷͎́] Attribute Description: —
Well that seems both very promising and very vague. I don't know what it means but I am willing to guess that having the Shadow God recognizing me as one of his own is better than just Shadows recognizing me as one of their own. But what protected this change? Was it the fact that I did the Shadow dance in the temple?
Moving on from that one what is up with the second aspect. It is written in the same way as the Spell talked about my time in the tomb. On top of that the description is not question marks but is blank. That is the same way that the Spell represents nothing. So does the aspect have no description.
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Soldier's burden], [Puppeteer's Shroud].
Echoes: —
Aspect: [Shadow Slave].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Ability: [Shadow Control].
Aspect Ability Description: [Your shadow is more independent than most. It is an invaluable helper.]
Everything else looks normal at least.
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a Flaw.]
[Your Flaw is: Clear Conscience.
Flaw Description: [You cannot lie.]
'Out of everything I got from the Spell this is probably the one that impacted me the most. I had heard that it was a person's flaws that made them what they were, and I have to agree. If I didn't have this flaw, I would have never connected with others like I did. I would have kept myself away with a barrier of lies to keep me safe, like I was used to.'
'I would have never done everything in my power to make people think I was a fool, and I wouldn't have worried about becoming known. It probably would have been the opposite. In a way I would have been more open to everyone about my power, but I would have never connected with people on a personal level. This flaw was the worst and best thing to had ever happened to me.'
[Wake up, Lost from Light!]
Sunny opened his eyes to see the armored ceiling of the bunker he was in. The feeling of being back home hit him hard. How long has it been? His time in Antarctica felt more like the dream realm than it felt like the waking world. And there was all the time spent in the tomb. It's good to be back.
"You alright?"
Sunny looked down to the woman who spoke. Short black hair and icy blue eyes. Jet
"I've been better, but I've also been worse so not too bad."
Jet just snorts while shaking her head.
"Well regardless, welcome back sleeper Sunless."
Sleeper
How long has it been since someone called him that? The weakest of the weak and less than a month to prepare. It's a miracle that he didn't die in the labyrinth.
"Go take a shower and then I will give you the mandatory speech."
Sunny was led to the police station bathroom and left to himself. After a quick shower, which Sunny wanted to enjoy more but his time leading his company in Antartica made him accustomed to short showers, Sunny was ready.
'Oh, come on, that's just not fair.'
Looking at the mirror Sunny could not help but lament the fact that he was short and small again.
'Not that I was much taller, but I was definitely more handsome than this.'
After exiting the bathroom Sunny met up with Jet for her to give the usual talk that all Sleepers get.
"I would like to decline the therapy service and I would like to go to the academy to prepare please."
"Understood, let's go."
Jet led Sunny to a PTV and started driving to the academy.
"So why is a master taking care of a new Sleeper like me anyway."
"Truthfully there was an abnormal number of gates nearby and I am the only one not injured so I got stuck with babysitter duty."
Jet did not look away from the road as she talked to Sunny.
"Listen, I'm going to give you some advice from outskirts rat to another."
Sunny was briefly surprised Jet told him that without him asking her earlier but didn't say anything as he listened to Jet.
"You will be asked if you want to reveal anything about your aspect and flaw, you may even be offered rewards depending on what you share. Don't tell them anything. No reward they will give you will be worth people knowing your weaknesses. You understand"
"Yeah, don't tell people how to kill me. Got it."
"Good, another thing is what class you should take. You might be tempted to take a combat class. Don't. You should take Wilderness Survival."
"That makes sense, I will definitely take that class."
'But not only that one. Not this time.'
"Good. Well, we're here. Good luck, Sleeper Sunless."
Sunny got out of the vehicle and looked at the gates of the Academy. Once a place of learning and then a place of work for him. Sunny gathered himself and walked on the snowy ground, ready to enter the academy, and he would not make a fool of himself this time.
Suddenly all of Sunny's confidence and thoughts of success left him as his eyes locked on to the only other person out here. A tall slender girl around his age. She had a pair of headphones on and was wearing a police-issued tracksuit. But the most eye-catching part of her was her hair. Her brilliant silver hair.
Notes:
A little bit of a shorter chapter today and not much new content but I am writing this in the airport at 4 in the morning during a layover and I am tired. I wanted to have the appraisal be different as it is a different Sunny, but I couldn't change too much. I hope you liked what I did. Next chapter will be the entire Academy arc so it will probably be a bit longer to make up for this one.
Chapter 4Chapter Text
'Nephis'
Sunny couldn't look away, he couldn't breathe. Nephis looked just as he had remembered. Tall and exuding an aura of confidence, as if no obstacle the world put in her way would stop her. Her silver hair matched her flames so well that Sunny was still surprised that it wasn't natural. She was just standing there listening to music and the sight filled Sunny with such joy he couldn't look away.
'Should I go talk to her? Would she even want to talk to me? When was the last time she looked so unbothered? She always portrayed a front of cool indifference, but I could tell it was a mask to cover her true feelings. She was never truly the same after her stay in the dream realm and her Second Nightmare. She lost something there, the little bit of childlike innocence she still had. I would die to protect that part of her.'
"What?"
It seems Sunny was staring longer than he thought and he caught the girl's attention.
"I was debating about starting a conversation with you."
Sunny was glad that he learned how to work around his flaw. Imagine if he answered with the complete truth.
"Why?"
'O my God I forgot how socially awkward she was, and why does that just make her cuter?'
"I just wanted to get to know you. You are the first other Sleeper I met, and it is important to know and be on good terms with the people you enter the dream realm with."
"I see. Yes, proper allies could be useful. What is it you wish to talk about.
Nephis just looked at Sunny, but he could tell that she was appraising him to see if he would be an asset she could use or an adversary trying to use her.
"Well, introductions are A good place to start. My name is Sunless, but you can call me Sunny."
After an awkward pause he got his response.
"Nephis."
At this moment the gate to the academy opened and Nephis turned and walked in not sparing Sunny another glance.
'Good talk'
Sunny just shook his head and followed after her, keeping a bit of a distance and not saying another word.
While walking to the Sleeper part of the compound Sunny felt right at home. He had only spent about four weeks in the Academy while a Sleeper, but he had visited many times after his awakening.
They both were led to a large hall filled with other Sleepers.
'Let's hope that I don't get slapped this time.'
Sunny had faced three Nightmares and killed creatures these kids couldn't even dream about having a chance. He had led armies and died hundreds of times, but here he stands.
'Teenagers do not scare me.'
'Much.'
Sunny's first impression to his peers was much better around this time. He made a reputation as a quiet and sometimes blunt individual. He would not strike up conversations, but neither would he turn anyone away from approaching and talking to him. Sunny even had some similar conversations.
"Look at all these young people. How many do you think will return from the Dream Realm? How many will perish? What do you think our own chances of survival are?"
"Many will die, but I'm sure that one of us will survive.
Or:
"I even received an armor-type Memory in my Nightmare. It's an enchanted robe. Would you like to see?"
"I would like to see it. I find Memories interesting."
The robe was from a Dormant Monster and provided a slight protection from the cold.
"That is pretty good armor. People tend to underestimate how dangerous the cold is."
Or:
"Then those lowlifes began to rob the bodies. It was disgusting! They even took their shoes! What kind of degenerate would take a dead man's shoes?"
"Someone who needed the shoes more than the dead man."
"Are you saying that it is ok to just take other people's things?"
"No, I am saying that dead people don't need things and a living person taking what they need from one is only common sense."
Sunny found himself left alone after that. People did not go out of their way to avoid him but by this point everyone seemed to find their group, leaving Sunny alone.
Sunny then overheard one particular group talking about a young man's achievements. Caster. This time Sunny kept quiet. Having a reputation as an incompetent fool was the best idea he could have come up with last time, but it is not what he needs right now.
Walking away from the crowds Sunny saw a familiar girl sitting on a bench. Pale blond hair and big blue eyes, Cassy.
Sunny felt a lot of conflicting emotions about her. She sold his freedom to Nephis, she was constantly making plans and not telling everyone the full picture. Sunny also couldn't help but think of Torment when he looked at her. She was the reason that everyone was torn apart by those Dark Butterflies.
However, there was probably nobody else who has saved his life more than she has. And looking at her now Sunny remembered the time he thought of her like a little sister who he must protect.
Sunny would deal with her later after he had more time to think about how he wanted to approach her.
Sunny turned to the stage as a tall man in a dark blue uniform appeared on the stage.
"I am Awakened Rock. Sleepers, welcome to the Academy."
Sunny zoned out as Awakened Rock gave his speech.
'Everything can and will kill you blah blah blah. I probably know more about the Dream realm and its dangers than he does.'
Rock goes on to talk about the differences between the Dream realm and the waking world.
'Imagen how everyone would react if I walked up there and started talking about how the Dream realm was made of five other worlds that got sucked in and Earth is the next and last in the cycle.'
'People would think I was a bigger lunatic than they did last time.'
Eventually the speech was over, and the Sleepers were led to a very extravagant dinner. Sunny sat quietly by himself eating until it was time for his appointment with the Academy personnel. Sunny gave vague answers and dodged the questions to the best of his ability and was able to present himself as a non-threat.
Sunny returned to his room and got ready for bed; he had a couple of very busy days ahead of him.
When Sunny got up for breakfast, he noticed that the only seat available was next to Cassy.
'I can't avoid her forever, might as well talk to her now.'
Sunny walked over, purposely making a little extra noise so she knew he was coming.
"Hello?"
Cassy started looking towards him as he sat down.
"Hello, my name is Sunless, but you can call me Sunny."
"Hello Sunny, I'm Cassie, it's nice to meet you."
A commotion drew their attention.
"Can you see what that is all about."
"Yah, it looks like the list of everyone's chances are up."
Cassie just shakes her head.
"No need to tell me, I'm at the bottom aren't I."
"Yeh, but don't feel bad. I'm the one right above you."
Cassie didn't look very reassured that the one person to talk to her was just as likely to die as she has.
"Who's at the top?"
Sunny looks at the top of the list and sees the name that has haunted him since the first time that he heard it.
"Someone named Nephis with the true name Changing Star."
"A true name. Is it possible for a Sleeper to even have a true name."
"Evidently."
Sunny couldn't help but smile at the irony of Cassie asking him about true names.
***
After finishing his breakfast Sunny made his way to the Wilderness Survival classroom. He just barely managed to hide his smile when a familiar face welcomed him in.
"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. Sit down, sit down! What's your name?"
"It's Sunless."
"Ah! What an ominous name. But that is good, very good. After all, we have to deal with a lot of ominous things!"
'You have no idea.'
Sunny gave a small smile.
"So, what are we going to learn first, Teacher?"
"Well first I am going to need to know what other classes you plan on taking."
"I plan on just taking this one and the introductory combat class."
Teacher Julius looked down at the schedule of all the classes.
"Well at least it's not just the combat class like most others, and since you are the only one in the class, we can move at the best pace for you. So, to begin let's see what you know."
What followed was Julius asking Sunny all types of questions ranging from edible plants that can be found in the Dream Realm to how to translate the languages of the Dream Realm.
"Well, I can confidently say that I had never met a student this knowledgeable about the Dream realm. In all honesty I don't know if there is much, I can teach you. How did you learn all of this anyways."
Sunny was cursing in his head.
'Why did he have to ask me so many questions about what I knew? Now he's going to think I'm some kind of genus. How do I get out of this?'
"I met someone a few years ago that was very knowledgeable about the Dream Realm. I have not had the chance to speak to him in a while and I don't think I will ever be able to again."
Sunny looked down in some not completely fake sadness and Julius looked away awkwardly.
"Well, that is all for today's class, I will need to rework the syllabus but don't worry. I will find new knowledge to fill into your head."
***
Sunny found himself in a large dojo. It was the first day of combat class and Instructor Rock was having the class taking turns delivering their strongest punches to a wide plate attached to a special measuring machine.
As the lowest in ranking in the class Sunny was to go first. Walking up to the machine Sunny quickly struck with his strongest blow: eleven.
Most of the class lost interest as more people tried and many of which beat Sunny score. However, those with skill in martial arts watched Sunny.
Instructor Rock was thinking about which group to put Sunny in.
'His stance is solid, and it looked like he knew how to throw a proper punch, but his body lagged behind his mind. Lots of technical knowledge but he doesn't have the body strength to pull it off.'
Unbeknownst to him, Sunny mirrored his thoughts.
'Looks like the little extra shadow shards and a proper punching form increased my score, but my body is still very weak.'
After everyone had a go some of the more impressive scores were Caster at twenty-one and Nephis at sixteen.
Instructor Rock then spoke up.
"Not bad. Now, we will move to sparring and evaluate your general level of training. I need two volunteers to begin."
Nephis walked up and proceeded to destroy all of her opponents one after another. The entire time Sunny was watching her shadow, getting reacquainted with her style of fighting.
Finally Sunny and Caster were the last ones left and Caster stepped forward to challenge Nephis. She did well at first, dodging a few hits before she found herself on the ground, Caster was just too fast.
"Alright next."
Instructor Rocks voice confused some people who had forgot that Sunny hasn't gone yet.
"Sir, with all due respect it would be cruel to make him fight me."
Caster's fake sympathetic voice grated on Sunny's nerves. Rock just shook his head.
"No, he will fight you. Hurry up."
Sunny walked into the ring, everyone looked as if he was walking to his funeral.
Sunny stood in front of Caster waiting for him to make the first move. Caster slowly made his way towards Sunny, treating him with the same level of caution one treats a fly, that is to say none at all.
Caster starts throwing halfhearted swings thinking that would be all it takes to beat Sunny. Sunny pretends to be put on the back foot but the entire time his eyes are on Casters shadow, learning his style and memorizing his movements.
Having enough of Caster's inaction, Sunny grabbed his fist and pulled him in while swinging for Caster's chin. Caster leaned back to avoid the hit and narrowed his eyes at Sunny. He went back in with more ferocity but found Sunny was keeping up with him.
The other Sleepers were speechless. Sunny was supposed to be one of the weakest there, but he was keeping up with Caster.
"Use your Aspect."
One of the Sleepers yelled out to Caster.
"I'm sorry to do this to you but this has gone on long enough."
Caster disappeared from his location and was right in Sunny's face with his fist drawn back. Sunny had no time to dodge and took his right on his chin. Everyone expected Sunny to be knocked Unconscious.
Instead, he just turned with the hit and using the momentum sent a side kick right into Caster's liver.
Caster was stunned by the hit and was too busy reeling from the pain to stop Sunny's next attack.
Sunny stomped his lead leg down on Caster's foot and sent his back leg swinging up and sent a brutal kick right into Caster's privates.
The other Sleepers recoiled from the underhanded blow and some of the boys covered their privates and winced in sympathy.
Sunny gave Caster no time to recover and lifted his arm and sent an elbow down towards the back of Caster's head. Caster was sent face first into the ground but was not out yet. He grabbed Sunny's leg and pulled him off his feet onto his back.
Caster dragged Sunny towards him and tried to pin Sunny under him, but Sunny was too slippery. Sunny went with the pull to throw off Casters grip before wrapping around to his back and putting Caster into a headlock.
Caster grabbed Sunny's arms and broke his grip before throwing him off his back over his shoulder. Sunny landed with a roll and got back on his feet just in time to bend backwards to avoid a kick that threatened to take his head off.
What followed was Caster blitzing Sunny trying to take him out and Sunny predicting Caster's movements and barely dodging the hits. Eventually one of them had to get tired and it was Sunny who tired first.
Caster managed to clip Sunny's shoulder which threw off his rhythm and spelt the beginning of the end. Casters next hit was a right hook which took Sunny right on his ear. With no time to turn his head with the blow Sunny took the full brunt and was sent flying across the ring, tumbling across the ground before being stopped by the wall.
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Instructor Rock walked over to check on Sunny.
"That was all for today, see you next class."
At Instructor Rock's words the Sleepers turned to leave. Two pairs of eyes looked back at Sunny's slumped form. A green pair that looked with disdain and a gray pair that looked with interest.
***
The days passed quickly as the time to enter the Dream realm came near. Sunny's time with Teacher Julius went by surprisingly well. Sunny didn't have much time to learn last time and even with his amount of experience in the Dream Realm there was still much the old teacher had left to offer him.
Sunny also talked about his interest in becoming a researcher and writing about any discovery he makes in the Dream Realm. Teacher Julius was ecstatic that Sunny wanted to pursue research and exclaimed interest in reading any report Sunny writes.
Sunny was similarly making progress in combat class. Sunny spent much of his free time at night exercising and practicing with Soldiers Burden. He was already in better shape than he was when he entered the Dream Realm for the first time.
'Still too weak though.'
Sunny couldn't help but lament his failure of his current goal. Sunny was in his room practicing the Shadow Dance.
'I know what I need to do but my body is just not strong enough. It took having an almost completely filled Shadow Core and activating the Unbroken enchantment of the Midnight Shard for his body to be strong enough to activate it the first time.'
'The biggest problem isn't that I need to get that strong again, it's that I feel like I'm close to achieving the dance already. Is it because I have more experience with it or is it because of the Shadow Kin attribute. Whatever the reason, I feel like it is just out of reach.'
Sunny decided to take a break and went for a walk. It was dark in the Academy, and no one was around. It was kind of strange to see the hallways empty and quiet. Sunny's wandering eventually led him to the dojo. Seeing a light on and hearing a sound Sunny stopped and sent his shadow to investigate.
It was Nephis.
She was using a training sword and was attacking one of the training dummies. She was moving around it so gracefully it was like she was the one who had turned a dance into a form of combat. Her hair was dancing around her shoulders as it had grown longer. It still wasn't as long as Sunny was used to, but he thought her hair looked good either way. Eventually Nephis came to a stop and looked around slowly until she noticed Sunny's shadow.
"Who is there"
Sunny felt himself compelled to answer. Opening the door he gave a little wave.
"I'm Sunless."
"Why are you here?"
Nephis narrowed her eyes and kept her sword pointed at him.
"I was on a walk and saw a light on, I came over to investigate."
Sunny just shrugged and kept his hands in the air.
Nephis doesn't say anything for a moment and just stares at Sunny.
"I can go if you want."
"No Stay"
Nephis cut Sunny off as he turned to leave.
"Spar with me."
Nephis turned away from Sunny and walked to the center of the ring and gestured at the wall where the training weapons were stored.
Sunny walked over and grabbed a two-handed sword with a single edge before walking back to Nephis and readying himself.
Nephis shot towards Sunny without warning. She swung aimed straight for Sunny's neck. Sunny was able to block the hit as well as the follow up one before sending an attack of his own.
The sound of the practice swords hitting echoed around the empty dojo. Nephis was faster and more skilled, Sunny was more adaptable and seemed to know what she was going to do before she did it.
Nephis's style was fast and brutal, a personification of her idea of combat, murder.
Sunny's style was a mix of a lot of different styles all working together to make an unpredictable and adaptive attack pattern.
No words needed to be said for their swords did all the talking. Nephis was surprised by the skill Sunny was showing and also intrigued. Sunny was impressed by Nephis's sword style and was working on copying it.
The decider of the match came when Nephis went for a swing that she had done earlier in the match. Sunny deflected it but Nephis was counting on that. The sword was a fake and instead she went for an elbow strike to Sunny's nose. Sunny took a half step forward and ducked the hit, for once being happy with his short height. He then wrapped his leg behind hers and tried to trip her.
Nephis grabbed onto Sunny's arm and tried to bring her sword in for a stab which Sunny also grabbed. They were stuck in a stalemate. Both pushing and pulling at each other to try and get an upper hand.
As if both had the same thought they simultaneously called on their aspects. White flame wrapped around Nephis as shadows wrapped around Sunny.
Both took a step back breaking the clash for a moment before restarting it with their swords this time. Fire and shadow raged as black and gray eyes met. Neither willing to give ground or surrender. Only victory would sate them.
For Nephis this was the first time she was pushed to this level by one her age. She saw Sunny as a rival and obstacle to overcome.
For Sunny this was a good test to see if he was ready for the trials ahead of him. He saw Nephis as the mark to beat.
Sooner or later, something had to give, and in this circumstance, it was the practice swords. They shattered under the stress that they were never supposed to be under. The shards rained over both of them and shocked them. They both realized that they were too invested in the fight to properly think about what they were doing.
Shadow and fire subsided and both stood facing each other breathing heavily. The air turned awkward as neither knew what to say now.
"Good spar."
Sunny eventually decided to break the silence. He just nodded at Nephis and started to make his way out of the dojo but was stopped by Nephis calling out behind him.
"Why do you hide your strength?"
"Because I like to be underestimated."
"Why."
Nephis walked closer to Sunny as he turned around.
"It is better if people think I am weak so that they leave me alone. You never know if someone is your enemy, and it is never good to show your entire hand to your enemy."
Nephis didn't portray any emotion and just looked at Sunny.
"You have shown me. How do you know I am not your enemy?"
Sunny and Nephis are inches apart now, Sunny looks up at her with a smirk.
"I don't think you are someone I want as an enemy, in fact I'd rather have you as an ally."
Sunny turns to leave again and Nephis does not stop him this time. She looks to be deep in thought. Sunny stops as he opens the door and turns back to Nephis.
"And who's to say I showed you all my tricks, I may yet have something up my sleeve."
Sunny then left Nephis in the dojo but with his shadow still keeping an eye on her he was able to see a small smile flicker across her face.
Sunny made his way back to his room with giddy excitement. Not only was he able to have his first true interaction with Nephis, but he was also able to test his strength against the most skilled sword fighter amongst the sleepers and tied.
There was one other reason for his excitement.
'It is fitting that I am finally able to do it again after a fight with Nephis. I guess the increase in strength from augmenting myself with my shadow on top of the adrenalin from the fight was the final push that I needed.'
Sunny summoned his runes and gave them a read.
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [1/7].
First Relic: [Claim].
Second Relic: Unearned.
Third Relic: Unearned…
Sunn wasted no time.
"Claim."
First Relic: Claimed.
[You have received an Aspect Legacy Relic.]
[You have received a Shadow: Soul Serpent.]
Sunny looked down at his shirtless form, which he had taken off for this moment. The intricate image of the black serpent tattoo stretched across his skin.
Shadow: [Soul Serpent].
Shadow Rank: Dormant.
Shadow Class: Beast.
Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon].
Shadow Description: [When the end came, Shadow was the last of the gods to be destroyed. Many have resented him for creating death, but in the end, death embraced all.]
[Shadow Guide] Attribute Description: "Soul Serpent guides shadow essence as it flows through your body."
[Soul Weapon] Attribute Description: "Soul Serpent can assume the form of a weapon."
Sunny felt a strange feeling in him. It was his shadow essence. He wasn't supposed to be able to control it until he Awakened but he could feel the Shadow Serpent moving the essence for him. It was by no means the same efficiency that Sunny had when he was Awakened but it was still there.
Sunny looked at the clock on the side table next to his bed.
12:09
It was the day of the winter solstice. Sunny's last day on earth and his seventeenth birthday. Sunny walked over to his bed and laid down, looking to get his last bit of sleep before he left for the Dream realm.
***
Sunny made his way to the table where Cassie sat in the cafeteria, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. As he sat down, she turned to him.
"Happy Birthday."
"Thank you,"
Cassie looked a little weirded out from the quick reply and lack of wondering how she knew that.
The walk to the center where the Sleepers were kept was a quiet affair. The hospital looking building would suffer as a morgue for many here today. This feeling was not helped by the fact Instructor Rock decided to bring them to a room full of Hollow first.
With a final command to not die the Sleepers were led to their personal rooms to enter their sleeping pods. Sunny entered without any sort of preamble or ceremony. He had a task to do, and this was just step one.
[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Sunless!]