Shadow Slave: The Blessing of Fate

This one is pretty short, I'd like to switch from 3k words per chapter to around 1.5k to 2k and instead upload more regularly, you can tell me what you think about this "deal" in the comments.

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Torrential rain poured down from the skies, roaring thunder boomed throughout the air and shook the world. It is just like they say - where there's rain, there's thunder. The three Sleepers held tightly to the golden rope that was attached to a giant coral pillar. They wouldn't let go no matter what.

"Hold on tight! This might take long!" Sunny roared, but to no avail. The sky's tears were knocking loudly on the ground beneath them, the winds surged, blowing aggressively into their dripping ears. For the sake of the dead gods and daemons, they had to make it. They had to survive and live to tell the tale of the Forgotten Shore. 

To spite the world and its brutality.

As the mighty storm passed, the cloud dispersed and the Forgotten Shore's artificial sun shone once again.

The shadow, the star and the oracle were dripping buckets, their hair glistening and relatively heavy. Sunny's armor held without trouble, Cassie's tunic turned translucent and, thankfully, Nephis' makeshift seaweed cover didn't tear nor fly away, which was a miracle.

They no longer held onto the golden rope, they sat down and finally relaxed. After going through this whole ordeal, they deserved a little rest. Sunny closed his eyes and summoned his runes, wanting to check how many Shadow Fragments he had at that moment.

Name: Sunless.

True Name: Lost from Light.

Rank: Dreamer.

Shadow Core: Dormant.

Shadow Fragments: [52/1000]. 

…

'Crazy… Maybe I could even become a Titan this way.' Sunny remarked inwardly.

The number of Shadow Fragments he obtained was twice as many as it would have been with the Shadow Slave aspect.

Sunny opened his eyes and looked to his right, Nephis was sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed. He had a good idea of what was happening. She was meditating while using her powers, to train her mind to be able to withstand the pain coming from her Flaw.

However, what he was about to do did not involve her. Sunny stood up and released the stored shadows all around him, witnessing what had changed, he realized that his theory was correct.

The message "Your shadows grow stronger." means that not only is he becoming more powerful, but the shadows that rest in the imaginary room, which resides inside of his soul, do as well. Meaning, that any shadow that enters the limited space can grow in strength, becoming deeper and more vast. The enhancement looks to be proportional to the amount of Shadow Fragments he currently has, and most likely the size of the Shadow Gate relates to his current rank. Shadow Gate being the temporary name that he decided on for this mysterious storage space used to store shadows. 

The power of his augmentation has not grown, Sunny wasn't sure if that would remain the same in the upcoming future, but at that moment it was at the same level as always.

Sunny stood up and walked towards Cassie, who was sitting on her makeshift bed with her knees held closely to her chest, her arms enveloped around them. The poor girl had a gloomy look on her delicate face. She wasn't crying, but Sunny knew she wasn't taking any of this well. He decided to speak up and attempt to encourage her.

"Hey, Cass. How are you feeling?" he said with a gentle, warm tone.

"I… I've been better…" her words drifted off, she was awfully anxious.

"Look, I know all of this is tough and scary, but we need to be strong. Tell me, what kind of abilities do you have? Let's make use of everything we can."

A few seconds passed, Cassie seemed to be contemplating about how much she should actually tell him. She sighed and began to talk.

"I am able to read a person's attributes and grasp a general sense of their identity, I also sometimes have prophetic visions about the upcoming future. I don't have any combat ability, I… I really don't know how I could be of any help to the two of you…"

"That's plenty. Look, if we wish to get out of here, it's entirely possible that we will meet other people somewhere on the way. People that might not be friendly. We live in a cruel world, not everyone is kind and giving, most actually would rather take from others. It's pathetic."

He wasn't done talking yet.

"Your ability might be crucial to us, reading someone's attributes would allow us to gain a general understanding of what they are capable of. And not even talking about prophetic visions, you can literally see the future, how could that not be useful?"

Cassie blinked a couple of times, she had a frozen expression on her face. He was absolutely right, her abilities can be used to help each other. A small smile found its way onto her beautiful face, she did not need to respond, he already understood what she was thinking about. 

Sunny nodded and went to mind his own business, now that he was no longer thirsty nor hungry and he studied all of the changes in his abilities, he now had time for himself. He wasn't completely sure what to do, in fact, there wasn't anything useful he could do. He didn't have a needle capable of being used as a tool for weaving. Actually, he didn't even have Blood Weave!

He could theoretically spend the next few hours training with his sword, but not only would that not really help him with reaching a new level of mastery, but he would most likely make Nephis even more curious about him and his past if she were to watch him.

'Wait… should I tell her about my past?'

From a logical point of view, if he were to use his prior knowledge of Nephis' personality and her life, tell her a few things from his past and dodge around the subject a bit, he could make the girl believe him more. 

But is that what he wants to do? To toy with his loved one?

It was quite the dilemma for Sunny, but he had to come up with something soon. If it were to continue this way, she would grow more suspicious of him and the imaginary bathtub filled with suspicion and curiosity would soon overflow, perhaps making her unable to trust him. After a few minutes of deliberating, he was finally finished with his plan.

He made a decision.

Of course, he had to hide the fact that he returned in time. The thought was absolutely ridiculous, she would either think he's utterly insane or some sort of creep. A very skilled creep, though. As a matter of fact, he could not actually be certain if revealing this secret is safe. Who knows, if there are some sort of rules to regression? What if, once he actually tells somebody, they would die immediately after hearing those words?

So he came up with a way to naturally let Nephis ask questions, while he also asked questions about her. To, supposedly, learn about everything from her in the first place.

***

When the sun was about to set, Sunny approached the tall girl and sat down next to her. She turned her head and just stared at him.

"Hey, Neph."

"Hey." she replied simply.

Sunny was a bit nervous, he had to choose his words carefully.

"Listen, I am pretty sure you are suspicious of me, for whatever reason that is. I don't really blame you, if someone that acted like I do approached me out of nowhere and proceeded to even show off unexpected skills, I would definitely be suspicious of where they came from and what their game is."

Nephis continued staring, he didn't pay attention to her face and continued voicing his thoughts.

"The fact that we were brought here together doesn't help either. I would like us to be able to work together comfortably, for our sakes and Cassie's as well. So I'd like to propose a deal."

He looked at her face, which had not changed a tiny bit. She was doing her best not to show any kind of reaction.

"For every question you ask, I will ask one as well. All of the answers will be honest, in fact, if you choose to accept this deal, I'll reveal something that might give you a bit of reassurance in that regard."

It was his turn to stare without uttering a single word now, he was waiting for her reply.

After a few seconds of staring at each other, it finally came.

"What if I choose to be dishonest?"

He looked at her curiously, he didn't expect that sort of question. He would have thought that she would either decline immediately or just let it go. She was never the type of person to reveal things about herself. Her attitude served as an excellent shield against potential foes in battle or people attempting to use her.

With the rising pressure of his Flaw, Sunny had to answer. And did so without a problem.

"I don't think you are that kind of person, Neph. However, if you do choose to do that, I would not be able to do anything. I will never force you to tell me anything and don't intend to lie to you either."

After a few seconds of silence around the pair of Sleepers, Sunny continued talking one last time.

"So, do we have a deal?"