Shadow Slave: Endless Souls

Sunny was cursing crazily the crazy bastard. He held his breath and watched, horrified, as the familiar colossal figure appeared behind Hero. His lungs were on fire, and his heart was beating like crazy. It was beating so loud that he was even afraid that the blind tyrant would hear it.

But, of course, it couldn't be louder than Auro's voice, who was still talking, turning himself into the only source of noise on this mountain.

At the last second, a hint of understanding appeared in the young soldier's eyes. He began to turn around, his sword rising with lightning speed.

But it was too late.

A massive hand appeared from the darkness and caught him in an iron grip. The bone claws scraped against the armor, pulling it apart. Mountain King dragged Auro back, paying little attention to the sword biting into its wrist. Viscous saliva was streaming from its opened maw.

Petrified by fear, Sunny slowly turned his back to them and took a couple of steps up the old, winding path. Then he darted away, running as fast as he could.

Behind him, a desperate scream tore apart the silent night. Then a hungry roar followed. It seemed that Hero wasn't going down without a fight, even though his fate was already sealed.

But Sunny didn't care. He was running away, climbing higher and higher.

"I'm sorry, Auro," he thought. "I did say that I will watch you die… but, as you know, I am a liar. So go and die on your own…"

***

Edward after the hulking figure of Mountain King disappeared from his sight chasing after its next prey - the clever boy Sunny - a small smile appeared on his face. Soon Sunny will stumble into the old temple of Shadow God and finish his First Nightmare. He was a little sorrowful for not being able to benefit from Mountain King's death but he also knew going too close to the temple while being not marked by the Shadow God would only result in his early death.

Knowing that Sunny's First Nightmare coming to an end and resulting in their return to the world he silently sits on the edge of the road enjoying the beautiful view.

A lonesome dark mountain stood tall against the raging winds.

Jagged and proud, it dwarfed other peaks of the mountain chain, cutting the night sky with its sharp edges. A radiant moon bathed its slopes in the ghostly light.

Under that light, he sits there humming a low tune enjoying the gentle breeze, he has finally taken off his helmet revealing his silky black hair and handsome face. He couldn't enter the Dream Realm on his own because of the system but he could enter using someone as an anchor just like he had done with Sunny. He was rather lucky when he located the familiar young man buying coffee from a coffee shop and headed straight to the police station. At least his appearance was similar to the character card that was shown on the site.

To say the truth it was a little too perfect for simple coincidence, the tired appearance he possessed because of late night gaming, the arrival of Sunny and both of them meeting at the same police station. Perhaps he had a real Nightmare Spell there is a [Fated] attribute in his list of attributes too.

[Host, target [Sunless] has finished his trial. Soon you will injected into the real world.]

A small chuckle escaped from his mouth, he looked at the moon, it was pale and beautiful almost making him wanna snatch it from the starry sky.

"I'll be relying on you a lot, Sunny."

***

Sunny found himself in a space between dream and reality. It was an endless black void illuminated by a myriad of stars. Between those stars, countless strings of silver light were woven into a beautiful and inconceivably complex net, forming various nexuses and constellations. It was truly breathtaking.

Somehow, Sunny understood that he was seeing the inner workings of the Nightmare Spell. He also couldn't help but think that it looked a lot like the celestial equivalent of a neural network. If so… was the Spell alive?

This was a question that countless people had been asking themselves for the past few decades. The best answer they had come up with was that there was no way to know. The Spell was neither alive nor dead; neither sentient nor mindless.

It was more of a function than a creature.

But Sunny was in no mood to ponder philosophical questions. He was eagerly awaiting his boon.

The Spell was still appraising his performance. However, the first reward had nothing to do with it.

[You have received a Memory: Puppeteer's Shroud]

'Yes!'

Sunny felt incredibly elated. He was almost ready to do a happy dance. That Memory belonged to Mountain King, who was an awakened tyrant — which meant that the Memory itself was of the Awakened rank. Getting it was a stroke of incredible luck!

There were seven ranks to everything in the Spell. These ranks were, in order of growing power: Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent, Supreme, Sacred, and Divine (with the exclusion of Nightmare Creatures, who were ranked as Dormant, Awakened, Fallen, Corrupted, Great, Cursed, and Unholy).

From the Spell's point of view, Sunny was a dormant human. Having a Memory of a higher rank than his own soul core would be of great help once he enters the Dream Realm. The power gap between different ranks simply could not be overestimated.

He wanted to take a look at the Puppeteer's Shroud, but there was no more time. The Spell was done with its appraisal.

Here in the void, its voice didn't sound subtle and familiar anymore. Rather, it seemed like the universe itself was speaking. Sunny held his breath, listening.

[Aspirant! Your trial is 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 spilled his blood on the sacred altar. The gods were dead, and yet they listened.]

[You have defeated a dormant beast: Mountain King's Larva.]

[You have defeated an awakened human: Auro of the Nine.]

[You have defeated an awakened tyrant: Mountain King.]

[You have received the Shadow God's blessing.]

[You have achieved the impossible!]

[Final appraisal: glorious. Your treachery truly knows no bounds.]

That final part was not really necessary, as far as Sunny was concerned, but he was still pretty satisfied with the praise from the Spell. He felt like his chances of evolving his Aspect to an Awakened or even Ascended one were pretty high.

His overall power was still dependent on the rank of his soul core, which would remain dormant until much later, but the rank of the Aspect itself would do wonders for his overall potential.

[Dreamer Sunless, receive your boon!]

He was an Aspirant no more. Sunny grinned.

[You have been bestowed a True Name: Lost from Light.]

His jaw dropped. A true name! He had received a true name! Never in his wildest dreams did Sunny dream of becoming one of the chosen few to accomplish such a feat — and in his very first Nightmare to boot! Not even all of the Saints could boast of having one. He was an elite now, a bonafide cream of the crop! He was going to be rich!

But the rewards kept coming.

[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]

'What kind of a question is that?!'

Sunny crossed his fingers and said "Yes".

[Dormant Aspect Temple Slave is evolving…]

[New Aspect acquired.]

[Aspect Rank: Divine.]

Sunny fell over.

[Aspect Name: Shadow Slave.]

***

Name: Sunless.

True Name: Lost from Light.

Rank: Dreamer.

Shadow Core: Dormant.

Shadow Fragments: [9/1000].

Memories: [Puppeteer's Shroud].

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows].

Aspect: [Shadow Slave].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Abilities: [Shadow Control].

Aspect Ability Description: [Your shadow is more independent than most. It is an invaluable helper.]

Flaw: [Clear Conscience].

Flaw Description: [You cannot lie.]

After a lot of surprises that are both good and bad, he finally saw his Aspect in its full glory, still having lingering feelings about it. But right now after his mind calming down the shocking news of his Aspect he finally starts wondering about his First Nightmare in more detail.

There was that strange psychopathic soldier who he suspected was a high-ranking Nightmare Creature who was pretending to be human. Which caused him to shudder just thinking about that possibility, but then again his actions weren't exactly that of Nightmare Creature too. "Possibly someone going through First Nightmare like me?"

Edward's creepily smiling face flashed in his mind.

"Yeah, not at all. Besides I never heard of two people going through the same First Nightmare."

Perhaps this will stay as the never-solving mystery of his life.

***

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Also here is a little glimpse of the future:

[Memory: Hunter Set

Rank: Dormant

Enchantment: [Silent], [Well Maintained], [Creature Of Night].

Description: Suit worn by the hunters of the far away land, they share so different yet so similar fate with the creatures of this world. Trapped in the eternal nightmare of their own where they could only hunt for their survival only destined to turn into another beast that will be hunted later. Perhaps this old cloth could bring warmth to another hunter.

Price: 500 SP]