A lonely Shadow

The light in the room dimmed as Sunny's words resonated within Rain. Taking somebody's life was an idea that Rain never thought she would need to deal with, after all, it was the easy way out. Despite what humans may try to do, everyone had their own story and lives they had lived. Taking it away from them seemed...absurd.

"Judging by your expression, you haven't. So let me tell you this simply, the essence of combat is murder. That's a simple truth that Nephis instilled into me from the days we first met and it's my duty as your teacher to pass it down to you. You can say 'killing is the easy way out' and you'd be right!"

Sunny swung his scythe at Rain faster than she could see and allowed the cold blade to rest on her shoulder as his eyes never strayed from hers. Soon enough, he was so close to her their foreheads were practically touching.

"You're weak, I want you to understand and internalise that. And because you're weak, you have to take the easy way out whenever you deal with any issues. Look at me! I'm much stronger than you are and yet I find my way taking the easy way out through killing all the time!"

Although Sunny killed out of pleasure usually, that was not a side of himself he was prepared to show to Rain. "So, I just need to learn how to kill people?" Rain asked tentatively, and Sunny only nodded in reply. "You do, and I have the perfect place for you to learn how to do exactly that." His grin grew larger as he prepared himself to train Rain.

Before any of that could begin though, someone had to speak to Mordret. Sunny wasn't interested in delaying their meeting any further than he already had so he planned on recording his message into the ordinary rock and giving it to Nephis. Despite wanting to go there himself, his sister took priority.

He could have messaged her on his communicator, but that wouldn't work as Sunny destroyed them a few times too many for his own liking. And so, he lifted Rain onto his back against her will and leapt to Nephis house. Nephis was still going through the motions of training in her dojo, it was her way of relieving stress in the early morning that she had done every day since she could remember.

Although, through Sunny, she felt like she had another avenue to relieve stress. Sensing his presence enter her house, Nephis quickly invited him into the dojo with Rain in tow as she wiped the sweat off her body. Sunny fought himself internally, forcing his eyes away from Nephis before walking towards her.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he transferred the [Ordinary Rock] to Nephis. "I recorded a message in there, I can't go into the dream realm to meet that man yet so I'm...trusting you to help me do it instead." The word trust escaped from his lips bitterly as Nephis simply nodded with a slight smile on her face.

Turning her attention to Rain, Nephis raised an eyebrow before her silent question quickly became verbal. "Where are you going?" the question was directed at her, yet Sunny was quickly at her side as the two descended into shadows. "We're going to kill someone." With that, the two had disappeared from the room.

Soon enough, Rain found herself in the middle of a gigantic bar. Well, as far as an intangible shadow could stand. There were fat, rotund and grotesque looking men surrounded by children who were far too young to be associated with them. A look of abject horror placed itself on her face as Sunny stared at her indifferently.

"I learnt about this place a few days ago, was going to kill everyone here myself but with you here things become easy. Close your eyes as soon as we become corporeal."

Upon ascending from the ground, Rain did as she was told. Soon enough, the sounds of liquid hitting the floor as well as roars of horror from the children nearby collided with her ears. Nobody got the chance to speak, not a single sentence was formed by the men Sunny cut down as he quickly finished his business in minutes.

All that was left was one man, the children had been huddled neatly into an empty room with looks of relief painted across their faces as blood streaked across the floor. The stench of death collided with Rain's nostrils as her face curled into a disgusted grimace. She wanted to throw up, yet every ounce of discipline ingrained into her body stopped her from doing so.

"You can open your eyes now; you need to get used to seeing blood as well." Rain did as she was told once more, Sunny was nowhere to be seen. Rain frantically looked around for the man only to notice him hanging from the ceiling looking downwards at Rain. Jumping down to meet her, he descended into her shadow without another word.

"Sunny? I thought I was meant to kill someone." Rain spoke tentatively, only then did her eyes truly focus on the man in front of her. He was seven foot eight with ivory skin and a bald head, he held a gigantic scimitar in his left hand and a look of outright fury painted across his face upon laying eyes on Rain.

"There, kill him." Sunny spoke. Of course, if things became too dire, he wouldn't hesitate to step in and stop Rain from being harmed, however he needed to see how she did on her own. The ogre rushed at her first, swinging his blade wildly as Rain jumped over it by a hairs breadth. Swinging her foot midair, she caught the man flush on the jaw as he snapped his head backwards slightly.

However, his onslaught wasn't done there as he brought his hand downwards onto her. Rain surely would have been crushed regularly; however, she managed to leap out of the way and send a slash of her sword barrelling towards the man's torso. He was unable to dodge in time, and soon enough a large gash appeared on his stomach.

His intestines were visible, yet that only served to fuel his charge as he swung his scimitar at Rain. The attack was far faster than she had thought, yet she still managed to raise her blade to deflect the blow. However, it broke her stance allowing her gigantic opponent to kick her directly in the ribs, sending her flying into a wall.

Within the shadows, Sunny screamed bloody murder as he restrained himself from leaping at the bastard who dared hurt his sister and ripping him to pieces. Rain's vision flickered as she watched the ogre barrel towards her, rolling out of the way, the man slammed headfirst into the wall behind her with crushing force, enough to crush her tenfold.

But despite his size, the human body was not designed to take such impacts to the head consistently. Rain blitzed behind him and slammed her knee into the nape of his neck as he was reeling from the blow, causing him to stagger to a knee once more. Then, she dug a sword into his back and allowed gravity to pull her downwards as she tore through his skin. After all, her memory was an ascended one, despite her inability to bind it to her soul.

The scene was bloody, Sunny knew the man was at the edge of death, the only thing left was to give him the sweet release of death. Rain's once steady steps grew unsteady as she stood over the groaning and dying man's body with a torn expression on her face. She was potentially about to take a friend, a father, a son from someone.

"Bring the sword down, he would have killed you otherwise, why do you care?" Sunny's voice resounded within her ears as her grip on the sword became tighter, and then. She brought it down. It wasn't pretty seeing as the sword passed right through his skull, but it got the job done.

Taking a few steps back, Rain stared at her bloodied hands with a look of horror on her face. Sunny emerged from her shadow and pulled her into a deep hug, "He would have killed, or even done worse to you had you not killed him. Think about it like this, you're just doing your best to protect the person your family, friends and acquaintances have come to know. Don't hesitate, you let him suffer even more through those few seconds."

His voice came out in a whisper, Rain's head collapsed into Sunny's shoulder as weak sobs radiated throughout her being. Sunny felt tears soak their way into his shoulder as he finally got the chance to comfort his sister he had longed for his entire life.

Everything wasn't fine, soon enough Rain would need to challenge the first nightmare. Yet with this, Sunny felt like it would all be ok.