Shadow Slave: The Blessing of Fate

Hey, before starting this chapter, I wanna tell y'all a few things.

First of all, I changed the description of Sunny's Innate Ability a bit to improve the wording, before it was phrased as if the shadows could NOT be cast by light anymore, now it's just that he doesn't NEED light to cast them lmao. Also - I have been passively fixing typos in the past chapters and changed some of the word choices. The story remains unchanged though.

Secondly, I would like to ask you guys, who have been reading this little fun project I have been writing, to consider leaving a review on WebNovel. Of course, I am not forcing you lol

Third, I think I might have to reduce the word count a bit from now on lol, it's getting kinda difficult

And the last thing - Thank you for your support. I've read a few fanfics before starting this one, and from the very beginning, I have been getting a bunch of nice comments and praises, which I totally didn't expect. It takes time to write, so I can sympathize with some other fanfic authors - the comments really help with motivation. So I'd say that, if you really like a fanfic, you should totally leave comments for the authors, it really encourages us. :ss_cassie: 

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"Sure, bring it on."

Sunny caught the blade, which was thrown at him. He smirked a bit at her words, but inwardly, he was surprised. He didn't expect her to voice her thoughts so directly to someone she barely knew, it was unlike her. Did his cheerful attitude towards her and others make her feel at ease around him? It most likely wasn't his performance in their previous spar. If anything, that spar should have made her extra guarded towards Sunny.

'Just what is she...'

Without a second to spare, Nephis dashed forward and her longsword collided with his sword. It felt like a PTV just crashed into his blade, Sunny was being pushed back a tiny bit. What followed was strike, after strike, after strike. Sparks flashed in the air as the two weapons touched, loud ringing resounded in the almost empty dojo. It was a melody brought by the two blades.

Deciding, that he was being pushed back for long enough, Sunny finally started to attack back. Nephis wasn't using her true sword style, which was okay with him. It's good, that she is being careful, even if it's him.

He was beginning his ruthless assault. Sunny launched a sequence of swift slashes as he shifted fluidly from one style to another. The mundane silver blade was flowing clearly through the air, its edge was sharp.

His movements were gentle and unpredictable, they were very mysterious. They were as treacherous as the unchained shadow practicing this formless battle art. But the strikes following them were anything, but gentle.

Nephis feverishly defended against the flurry of slashes, a smile found its way onto her beautiful face. Her smile widening bit by bit with every slash she had blocked. Looks like Nephis's inner love for swordsmanship was crawling out of her guarded, reserved mind.

Sunny's swordsmanship showcase was absolutely stunning, his skill with the blade took Nephis's breath away, he was overwhelming her completely. She had never fought anyone with such skill. Just where did this person come from? Who taught him, or is he self-taught? Is he some sort of hidden Legacy? All kinds of questions flashed her brain, but she no longer had time to think.

It was time to go all out. No hiding her blade, not anymore.

Nephis's weapon took on a different attitude. Her technique turned clean, graceful and ruthless. Normally, no matter what type of attack was thrown at her, she was able to either predict or instantly react to it, then deflect and turn it against the attacker with a minimum amount of effort.

But not against this guy.

She was nonetheless still a battle machine, they were both having trouble keeping up with the other. Just like Sunny was able to grasp the essence of a battle style, Nephis was able to do something similar. They had used this fact before, in the battle for the Black Skull Citadel. They were able to kill a Saint using their combined ability to sense the essence of Dire Fang's unique fighting style, using their different views on it.

Both sides were now seemingly equal in power and cunningness. Instead of powerful strikes, feints and diversions took priority. They needed just one opportunity to overtake the other. And that opportunity just presented itself to Sunny.

As Nephis turned her body to the right, managing to dodge one of Sunny's slashes, Sunny replied with a wide step forward, turning his body and shifting all of his bodyweight, he slashed with all of his power. His slash connected with the core of her blade and a loud sound resonated throughout the room.

The longsword had shattered.

It was a mundane one, just like the weapon, which Sunny was currently wielding. It just couldn't handle it anymore. But a shattered blade meant defeat.

Nephis's eyes widened. Her expression froze completely.

She had been defeated by a pale, malnourished young man from the outskirts of NQSC.

She looked up at his face, which was showing a gentle smile, devoid of any mocking feeling or smugness.

"That was extremely close, had the sword lasted, I believe you would have obliterated me. I was beginning to feel exhausted. You're truly amazing, Nephis." His words had a calm and honest tone to them, it sounded like he wasn't lying at all.

"I..." Nephis tried to respond to his words, but she couldn't voice her thoughts out loud.

'It was so beautiful...'

Sunny noticed that she was struggling and spoke in her stead.

"Man, this was awesome. You're the best sparring partner, one could ever ask for! The way you calculate every move with cold precision is amazing and terrifying!" His grin turned cheerful.

"Hey, how about we have a spar sometime again in the future? Maybe we could make it a repeating occasion, even! We still have around 3 and a half weeks till we enter the Dream Realm, I think it would benefit us both greatly!"

Nephis just stared at him.

"Oh! I wasn't trying to be forceful or anything, believe me! I just thought that..." Sunny spoke, but she interrupted him midsentence.

"Sure, I'd like that. Your swordsmanship is outstanding, Sunless. Let's learn a lot from each other."

It was now Sunny's turn for his expression to freeze.

'This girl...'

Surprise after surprise, just what was going on inside her head? In the past, she was awfully quiet and terrible at voicing what she was thinking, and now she seemed totally chill about it. To count the amount of times when Sunny had to read her blank face, just to realize what she had wanted from him, was practically impossible. It was just too much. What was that about?! Was she just trying to get closer to him, to investigate if he is dangerous or not? Or was she really that excited about it?

He wasn't able to read her face at this particular moment. Any other time, he would be able to. But now he just couldn't. Sunny wasn't sure if it was due to the shock he was experiencing right now, but in the end he wasn't against the idea.

"Ehrm, sure, let's do that. How about we meet up here every three days at this exact hour? I don't want to take up too much of your time..." He said with a slight cough.

"Every other day..." She said weakly, he couldn't hear her properly.

"Eh, sorry. What was that?"

"Let's spar every other day instead of every three days." Nephis replied with a serious face and voice.

He stared at the slender silver-haired girl for a while.

"S-sure..." Sunny replied with a frozen, slightly shocked expression on his pale face.

***

The next day, Sunny was approaching Cassie's table, while holding a tray overflowing with a mountain of food, humming cheerfully. He put the food down and sat across from the blind girl.

"Hey, Cassie. How are you doing on this wooonderful morning?" He prolonged the "wonderful" part.

"Hi, Sunny. I am doing alright, thank you for asking." Cassie replied and continued.

"Umm, if you don't mind... Just how much food did you bring? It sounded like a mountain landed on the table..."

"Oh, haha... Yeah, I might have overdone it a little bit. I had quite the eventful evening yesterday, I just needed a refill, I guess." Sunny replied with a cheerful look on his malnourished, and seemingly more tired than usual, face.

Just as he was about to continue talking, he suddenly noticed, in the corner of his vision, that a silver-haired girl approached their table and proceeded to sit down next to him. He turned his head and stared at her for a bit, before asking.

"Oh, h-hey there, Nephis... W-what are you doing here?"

The slender girl turned her head, now both looking at each other, she said simply:

"I came to eat at this table." she stared at him with a blank face.

"O-oh, I see..."

And with that, their conversation ended. For the rest of their meal, Nephis had not spoken a single word, most of the time she was just diving into her food and immersed in her thoughts. But Sunny caught her looking at him with a curious look a few times. Cassie and Sunny continued to chat for a bit, she was waiting for him to finish the mountain of food he brought with him.

Nephis finished her food and simply sat there, just staring into space. It was like she was playing invisible.

'How can she be so... cute?'

'W-wait! J-just what am I thinking?! Shut up, Sunless!' Sunny tried to shut his thoughts, but his heart was already beating faster than usual, he was beginning to blush slightly. Fortunately, Nephis wasn't looking at him at the moment and Cassie was blind, so neither of them had noticed, which was a really, really good thing. He was so embarrassed at how he was acting.

He hurriedly finished his mountain of a meal and said his goodbyes to the both of them and ran off as fast as he could.

***

As the days passed by, Sunny and Nephis were continuing their sparring sessions and she kept on coming to sit at their table everyday - very rarely speaking, mostly when she was prompted to. And soon enough - the destined day came.

The winter solstice.

Sunny woke up feeling tired and drowsy. No matter how much he tried to shake off this listlessness, it wouldn't go away. In the end, he just stayed in the bed for a while, wrapping himself in a blanket.

It was his last day on Earth for a long time. Once nightfall comes, every Sleeper will be taken away by the Spell, to challenge the vast expanse of the Dream Realm. Sunny was sure of what kind of hell he is going to go through.

'Ugh. So tired...'

With a sigh, he got out of bed and went along with his usual morning routine. Starting with a hot shower, he didn't bother to mess with his hair today, even though he rarely really did, anyway. If there was something to look forward to, it would be the last "Mountain Meal" as he had dubbed it.

The cafeteria was full of nervous Sleepers, it was completely quiet. There were no loud questions spoken nor any whispers - only the Legacies remained calm and collected. However, even they kept to themselves.

Sunny chuckled inwardly at the sight.

'Well... You should be nervous, thinking too much of yourself will only get you killed.'

Sunny immersed himself in his memories, trying to remember what he was doing at this time of day.

'Oh right, I had a coffee. It was the first time I tried out putting cream and sugar in there.'

His thoughts slipped deeper and deeper, right into the core of his mind. All of time he had spent on the Forgotten Shore, how he had lost Nephis for the first time. His Second Nightmare. How she returned to him and how he had lost her again after she had decided to join Valor, and he went off to Antarctica.

He remembered how he had lost her for the third time, not counting the events of the Third Nightmare.

Her memory of him.

All of the people in the world lost their memories, no one truly knows him, not anymore. He's just an outskirts kid now - not a Master, not a Major, not a Mongrel, not a survivor of the Forgotten Shore, not an accomplished explorer and researcher and not one of Nephis's cohort members. He was no longer the man she loved. Although she never told him, he knew for a long, long time...

His expression turned dark, he was contemplating his entire existence. What was the point? They're no longer here - or rather, he was no longer there. He made a selfish choice and this is how it turned out.

Be careful, what you wish for.

Sunny was taken out of his thoughts by a voice, a familiar voice. It was the voice of the girl he loves.

"Hello, Sunless."

He looked up, facing the girl, attempting to smile at her. There was still a tinge of sadness on his face. Nephis seemed to have noticed this and patted him on the shoulder, her face showing a gentle smile.

At least it was an attempt of a gentle smile.

"I know it's scary, but it'll be alright. You're strong, Sunless."

His eyes widened, a single tear stroke down his pale cheek.

Although Nephis was trying to comfort him, because she thought he was scared of re-entering the Dream Realm. What she had unknowingly accomplished was of much greater importance to Sunny's current mental state.

Sunny's mind was filled with a feeling of reassurance and warmth. The beautiful young woman in front of him was like a single star, shining bright, on a cloudless moonlit sky. An inner desire awoke inside of Sunny, a desire to protect this beautiful star. To make sure her radiant light never extinguishes.

His onyx eyes showed that desire as well, his resolve blazed immensely yet again. Seeing, that Sunny has calmed down, Nephis nodded sharply and took her hand back. She then followed him to take their final meals on Earth for a while.

They walked next to each other, Nephis had a regular portion and Sunny had an absolutely ridiculous amount of food on his plate. It looked quite comical and it made an interesting contrast.

A short, pale, raven black-haired boy with a cheeky grin on his face, walking with a mountain of food, a "Mountain Meal".

A tall, slender silver-haired girl with a blank, emotionless face, walking with a regular-sized meal.

The two young Sleepers approached a table, where a beautiful blind girl with an exquisite face was sitting. Cassie looked their way and greeted them with a tiny smile on her face.

"Hi."

"Hey Cassie."

"Hello... Cassie."

They sat down and dug into their food. They stayed quiet until it was time to head out, just before they stood up, Cassie suddenly spoke out.

"Sunny, Happy Birthday."

Sunny looked at Cassie with a big smile.

"Thanks!"

***

In the snowy parks that surrounded the white building, multiple Awakened were leading their own batches of Sleepers to the same destination. It was the Academy's medical center.

Its interior contained both highly advanced technology as well as some of the best Healers among the Awakened. For the duration of their first journey into the Dream Realm, the bodies of Sleepers would be kept safe in specially designed pods and sustained by the magical powers of those Healers if anything unfortunate were to happen on the other side.

Of course, whether or not they would wake up in the end wholly depended on the Sleepers themselves.

Awakened Rock brought the group to the part of the complex that held the facility meant for caretaking of the Hollow ones. The people that had not made it.

It was a pitiful sight, they were just a husk of their former selves, a bunch of empty, soulless shells.

"If you're lucky, once your spirit is destroyed, your body dies with it. But if not, you'll become just like them. Hollow."

"So don't die out there."

***

Half an hour later, Sleepers had been led to their personal rooms and were preparing to enter the pods. Before Cassie entered her room, Sunny came up to her and gave her the last words of encouragement. For now.

"You'll make it, don't worry. Perhaps we'll end up close by, I will definitely help you out if you do!" A wide smile crept its way up his face, Cassie couldn't see it, but she could sense it from the tone of his voice.

"See you, Sunny!" She replied with a wide smile of her own. And with that, she had entered her room.

Sunny saw Nephis in the distance, the both of them looked at each other and just nodded, and took off to their own rooms.

Standing before the sleeping pod, Sunny glanced at his shadow.

"Well? Are you ready for another ride?"

The shadow shrugged and didn't answer.

Sunny chuckled.

"Yeah, me too."

With that, he stepped forward and climbed into the pod.

***

In the vast echoing darkness, he heard:

[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Sunless!]

[One of your Attributes has been modified.]