Shadow Slave (Guiltythree) | Aposle of Oath

Isaac and Sunny were both on the move.

After his hunt with Nephis and Cassia he left back the cathedral.

There he met up with Sunny and Effie.

Due to the changes that he applied to the story, he did not know whether the group of goons would still appear in front of the cathedral.

But it seemed fate was on his side.

The group actually did come to the cathedral or rather they began to stroll by during the day.

Normal circumstances they wouldn't have ventured this far.

But due to Isaac's constant hunts, the outer city had become safer.

Most of the monsters that used to run a long dead.

Even now during the night, though very scarce can still see people roaming the outer city.

But it seemed like Sunny's [Fated] would not let Isaac disturb the story completely.

Isaac was rather grateful for that, as he didn't know any other way to find the goons that would have the map leading straight towards Kai.

But now they had it, and both of them were walking towards the well that he was imprisoned in.

The journey only took a few hours before they reached the location on the map.

Quietly stepping through the stone rubble, Sunny cautiously approached the spot marked on the map. For some strange reason, very few Nightmare Creatures seemed to choose this remote part of the city as their hunting grounds. It was as though they were compelled to avoid this place.

Come to think about it, that fact alone would be enough to scare Sunny away. In normal circumstances. But with the Stone Saint hiding in his shadow, he felt a bit braver.

He would be able to run away if anything happens, at least.

Approaching a large building that had been magnificent once, Sunny and Isaac climbed over the collapsed wall and found himself in a dark and secluded courtyard.

In the center of the courtyard, there was a well.

Its round mouth loomed like an open wound in the stone, filled with nothing but empty blackness.

The well was covered with a strange, ornate iron grate.

It must have weighed several tones at least, as though someone desperately wanted to prevent anything from ever lifting it from its place and leaving the well open.

Sunny gulped before approaching and looking through the grill of the grate.

He then turned to Isaac.

"So what now?".

The silent well was so deep that he couldn't see its bottom.

...Maybe there wasn't one.

"Ah, don't worry about that just toss this in".

Picking up a small stone, Isaac tossed it towards Sunny.

Sunny looking at the small stone in his hand felt a complex emotion in his heart.

What happens if he tosses the stone in.

Will a terrible creature come out and rip him apart.

Or would some random abomination drop from the sky.

Sunny trusted Isaac to a certain extent.

He had never led Sunny down seemingly always keeping Sunny's best interest in mind or at least he thought so.

Isaac had always been hard to read.

His expression or lack of one made him impossible to see through.

Sunny even tried feeling Isaac's emotions through his shadow but no luck.

Sighing Sunny relented himself to his fate.

Sunny walked towards the black hole looking g over it.

He then tossed the small stone in.

The black mouth of the well swallowed the stone, making it disappear.

Many seconds passed, but there was no sound of the rock hitting anything.

Sunny was almost ready to try again, but then...

The well spoke.

A melodic, strangely enchanting voice resounded from its dark depths, filling Sunny's ears with sweetness.

"Ah, a guest..."

He staggered back, his eyes opening wide in fear.

'Nope. Not doing that!'

Sunny wanted to turn around and run away, but two things stopped him from following his instinct.

The first was Isaac's inaction towards hearing the voice.

The second's was that he sensed that leaving without finding out more was going to be a wrong decision.

Well there might have been a third reason...

The voice sounded so... so human-like...

It was like the voice of someone you would want to be your friend.

He shook his head, breaking free from the reverie.

He needed to stay vigilant.

He couldn't allow such a beautiful in a lowering voice to pull him away...

Sunny then turned and looked at Isaac.

Isaac scoffed.

Then pointed towards the well.

Greeting his teeth, Sunny forced himself to stay still.

A moment later, the well whispered:

"How wonderful. I haven't been fed in a long, long time..."

The enchanting voice came from the well in a wave of whispering echoes.

It was soft and charming, flowing like a smooth silken melody.

It seemed to belong to a young man...

if mere humans could even possess such a voice.

A holy being would suit it more.

...Or a profane one.

Sunny wasn't in the mood to appreciate the smooth and rich texture of the voice, though.

He was covered in cold sweat.

The echoes whispered:

"...time, ...time, ...time."

In all his time on the Forgotten Shore, Sunny had only met one other creature capable of mimicking human speech.

The memory of that encounter still made him tremble.

The thing that had come from the depths of the dark sea in a mantle of fog and stolen Cassie's voice was by far the most terrifying being he had ever met.

He didn't even want to remember the utter horror he had felt when the swarm of whispering voices had surrounded him.

On that night, Sunny had only been able to keep his sanity intact because of the blind girl's timely warning.

Sigh.

Isaac sighed seeing Sunny's expression.

He could not get mad about it.

Sunny was always very cautious.

'Guess I will have to go it my self'.

Walking up to the sealed hatch Isaac spoke.

"Hello, may I ask who you are".

His voice vibrated through the well.

A few seconds later the voice responded, seemingly expressing happiness.

"Ahh, how delightful I have spoke to someone in so long...Oh but we're are my manners".

The voice then cleared its throat.

"My name of Kai I am from the inner city".

After a moment Isaac spoke ounce more.

"Well, you see I want to save you but what would I get out of this".

Sunny peaked at Isaac.

He had always thought Isaac was an aloof Sleeper that had a soft heart but it seems he also had a cruel side as well.

Though Sunny didn't dislike this.

Well as long as it's not pointed towards himself...

The voice was silent for a moment before responding.

"Well I can give soul shards".

Kai said his voice sounded a bit suppressed.

Sunny sneered.

He himself didn't need soul shards as after killing a Nightmare Creature he automatically gains shadow fragment.

Isaac on the other hand should be close to fully saturating his soul core.

He was basically always hunting, whether with him, Effie and even Nephis and Cassia, Isaac was constantly hunting.

So soul shards were worthless.

Sunny peaked at Isaac, curious about his reply.

Isaac stood silently.

Then after a couple moments he spoke.

"Why not tell us a shop that sells memories".

Sunny was shocked.

A place that sells memories.

After the shock Sunny began to deeply think about the subject.

Now that he thought about it, it wouldn't be weird for a place that had been self sustaining for almost a decade to be selling memories.

Actually, it would be quite weird if some sort of transactions weren't created.

'What could he possibly want with memories?'

The reason Sunny thought of this was because of Isaac's neglect of using memories.

He had never seen him once summon or even dismiss a memory.

He could always use the carcass of the nightmare creatures, create clothes while using the claws, teeth and beaks of Nightmare Creatures to use as weapons.

So hearing him wanting to go around and buy memories from a memory shop was quite surprising.

Isaac, noticing Sunny's expression didn't turn back to look.

Sunny being suspicious was not something new to him, and with the trust that he had built until now he knew he wouldn't think of betraying him anytime soon.

"Yes, I know of one".

The voice finally responded back.

Isaac, hearing that answer noted before reaching down towards the metal seal.

Using all of his strength, he forcibly pulled the seal off its hinges before throwing it to the side.

He didn't spoke towards Kai.

"The passage is open you can come out now".

Sonny looked at Isaac confused.

How was the guy that was all the way down going to magically come up without a rope or something?

The only way you could come up if he was able to fl-

Before he could finish his thought, a figure appeared outside the well floating mid air before landing.

The figure looked around seemingly confused.

"Behind you".

The figure turned around in his hand, a memory that emitted light.

His appearance was finally revealed.

Sunny looked at him with an expression of hatred.

'Pretty bastard'.

The young man wearing light lamellar armor, with luscious dark auburn hair and mesmerizing green eyes.

His well-fitted armor was made out of burnished brown leather, with deep blue embroidered garments beneath.

Kai was tall, slender, and incredibly handsome.

His face was small, perfectly shaped, and beautiful, with high cheekbones and flawless ivory skin.

His green eyes were nothing short of electric, and his lips were soft and full.

'Truly a despicable bastard'.

Sunny even thought of throwing him back in the dark well.

Now that he thought about it, wasn't Isaac one of those tall, handsome bastards too.

Feeling deep contempt about his average looks, and short height snarled before looking away.

Yet husky finally saw their appearances he couldn't help but flinch.

Well, to be more precise when his gaze landed on Isaac did he seem to have a reaction.

The man in front of him had weird clothes on that seem to weirdly express a feeling of free beastly like temperance.

His black hair was slightly disheveled yet it didn't seem to take the away from his striking grey eyes or his masculine face and physique.

That wasn't all though.

Kai felt a weird aura emanate from him.

For some inexplicable reason, he felt worry of the man.

But that all seem to be suppressed when his eyes landed on the second person.

He was a short individual with black hair and eyes of the same color.

His skin was pale like his companion yet what differentiated it was the porcelain like texture

that it seemed to have.

Combined with his weirdly short stature the only thing Kai could think of was "cute".

"Time to keep your end of the deal".

Isaac spoke to Kai neutrally.

Kai looked at them for a few moments before nodding.

"Meet us at the front gate".

Isaac turned around, beckoning him and Sunny to leave.

When he was about to retort about how this guy would go without them he blatantly remembered that this disputably handsome bastard could fly.

'They end is here'.

With the rescue of Kai, Isaac knew that the end was coming closer in the battle between the inner and outer city would commence.

but before all that could truly conspire, he had to finish his preparations.