Shadow Slave : I am Sunless

'cold..'

That was the first thing Alex registered. A biting, almost unnatural chill that priced through his skin and into his bones. 

"Hah… ah… ngh… f-fuck…"

His lungs tightened as he pulled in a shaky breath. 

'I… I c-can't… b-breathe…'

The sharp scent of disinfectant and cold tile filled his senses, mixing with the coppery tang of something faintly metallic. 

His eyelids fluttered open, and his vision blurred as the harsh white light from the fluorescent bulbs burned into his eyes, making him squint in discomfort.

'A bathroom...?'

Alex blinked rapidly, confusion clouding his thoughts. He was slumped on the cold floor of a large Bathroom. The pale tiles beneath him were cracked and grimy, reflecting his dim outline. 

Slowly, he pushed himself up onto trembling hands. His limbs felt weak, foreign, like he hadn't used them in years.

His head throbbed painfully. A deep, gnawing ache rooted behind his eyes.

'Where… am I ?'

The last thing he remembered —

A knife stabbed in his chest. 

The knife was cold.

Fountation of blood.

Pain

Paniked faces of Maya and Ren as they were running around.

And lastly death

Thump… thump

His heart skipped a beat. He had died. He _knew_ that. He had felt it. The warmth leaving his body, the cold emptiness swallowing him whole — there was no mistaking that sensation. 

He had died.

Then why was he here ?

His breathing quickened as he stumbled toward the sink, his hands gripping the cold porcelain edge. Slowly, he lifted his head toward the mirror.

And froze.

'W-what!?'

The face that was staring back at him was not his own.

A boy.

Or maybe… a girl?

No — it was unmistakably a boy, but the androgynous beauty in the reflection was unsettling. Pale, almost ghostly white skin, almost as if this boy has not seen the sun for a long time. framed by long, unruly dark black hair. 

His hair was dark black in colour, they were long and unruly, they tumbled down to his shoulders, messy yet perfectly framing his delicate features. His eyes — gods, his eyes — were pools of glowing scarlet, burning like embers beneath a dark night sky, with long dark lashes. They were sharp and haunting, yet undeniably captivating.

His face was feminine in its elegance — small, slightly upturned nose, full crimson lips, and high, delicate cheekbones. His lips were parted slightly, breathless and trembling. He looked… otherworldly. Like something pulled out of a dream or a nightmare.

Pic

Alex's hand shot up to his face. His fingers brushed over it. The sensation was real — too real. His heart hammered violently in his chest as he backed away from the mirror.

'This… isn't me.' He know that the face was not his, he remember his face, he remember that he looked like a girl with dark black hairs and black eyes, with pale skin, but this... this boy was almost ortherworldly.

His hands dropped to his chest, trailing down the unfamiliar fabric of his clothes. A dark, black rug clothing, it was a dirty black shirt, dirty black pant, with holes in it, and dark black robe, with old shoes, these were the type of clothes that only a poor person would wear.

'What is happining ?' 

He couldn't help but question after all the thing that were happening around him were almost to real to be fake.

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his skull.

GASP!

Alex gasped as he staggered backward, clutching his head. His vision blurred as a flood of images surged into his mind.

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A boy

Born into poverty in the outskirts. 

A loving young mother naming him Sunless with happiness in her voice, man who looks like the boy father was also simling at his. 

Then after some time the father was annocunced dead in the factory by a toxic gass.

Shortly after the young mother's slow death joing the father in the after life, leaving the two of her children all alone. 

Sunny — that's what he liked to call himself, he was the first child — left alone in this dark world with his little sister, Rain. 

Starving in the outskirts, then moving up into the orphange, stealing from other kids to survive.

Watching Rain get adopted, while he was left behind. He could feel Sunny emotiones sadness, and unwillness.

Then he was kicked out of the orphange when he barely turn 10, he saw how the life was in the outskirts streets, people killing each other over a cheep synthetic food. 

He learn how to steal, how to fight, how to hide his traces and most importantaly how to survive.

Then a thought comes in his mind, his sister, he hope to see her again, to bring her back, it was a bad selfish and greedy request, but he was willing to pay the price for it.

Hope to find her again, but when he did his hope was curshed when he saw her simling face, with her new parents, a smile he know that he could never bring in face. 

Sunny turn back from the window, his footsteps getting silence in the heavy rain. 

Four weeks after meeting her, he turn himself in to the police as a Carrier of the Nightmare Spell.

He was almost certain that he would die a dog death, why was he so certain well it was simple he has no knowledge of nightmares, no skills in combats, and most importantly no will.

But even after this he survived, the first nightmare, it was hard and barely imposible, with the power he was given, he survived through sheer willpower, and with his cunningness, he return alive to the waking world as a Sleeper Sunless… but all of this was for nothing as died of a heart attack shortly after, and ending that no one ever saw.

Not even Alex himself

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Thud!

Alex's knees buckled beneath him as he collapsed to the cold floor. He gasped, clutching his chest as the phantom pain of Sunny's death clawed at his ribs. His fingers dug into the stone beneath him, nails scraping against the rough surface. His breath hitched.

The memories… weren't just visions. They were real. He could feel them. The hunger. The cold. The sharp pang of losing Rain. The deadfull feeling knowing that he wasn't going to survive. The terror of standing alone in front of the Nightmare creature. The suffocating pain of his heart seizing in his chest.

It was too real.

To the fact that Alex couldn't help but feel confused that are these memories of Sunless or his ?

They were just too real....

But right now that was not important, Alex knew who Sunny was. He know it very well who this boy belong too, which story, after all their can only be one man with the name of Sunny he know from the novel.

"Shadow Slave."

A populer Webnovel. Written by Russion Auther with a pen name "Guilty Three". It was on of the novels Alex had been reading before he… before he died. He had never even had the chance to finished it, But he remembered enough of the story to know that.

Sunny's life was hell, and in future it is going to become much worse.

Betrayal. 

Suffering. 

Death

These things are nothing but commen for him, after all he is going to go thought so much hell and worse things.

BUT that's not all.

This world is going to end in the future, by the fight of the Sovereigns.

Alex's slowly stood up as he looked at the mirror as his body started to trembled, cold sweat ran down his spine.

'No… no, no, no…' he wanted to deny it, he wanted to deny all of the thing knowing that what he was expereancing right now was not real but a dream.

Yeah it has to be a dream, he know that he wasn't supposed to be here.

'It is nothing but a dream.'

He has now almost convence himself, knowing that he just need to wake up and eveything will be back to normal, then without saying anything else, his hand moved on his own as he pinch his white cheeks with his pale fingers.

"Ah..."

A shot scream left his mouth, the pain felt almost too real, but one thing he notice as his face was now in absoulte horrer.

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He remember that he can't speak, he was mute.

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In his previous life, Alex had been mute since birth. No one ever truly listened to him. No one ever tried to understand him, not the caretaker, not the step-parents, and neither their kids. He had lived his whole life in silence, and in constant suffering given by others.

So why could he speak now?

His trembling gaze returned to the mirror. Crimson eyes stared back at him — haunting, beautiful and dangerous.

Glup!

He swallowed hard.

"s-s-status!!"

The word sounded shaky almost forcefull, it was almost as if this person was speaking for the first time, then as the words left Alex mouth, he saw.

Golden runes ignited before his eyes.

Name: Sunless 

True Name: Lost from Light 

Rank: Dreamer 

Shadow Core: Dormant 

Shadow Fragments: 12/1000 

Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud] 

Echoes: — 

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

Aspect: [Shadow Slave] 

Aspect Rank: Divine 

Innate Ability: [Shadow Bond] 

Ability Description: (Find a worthy master and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master.) 

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.

Alex's eyes widened as he processed the information.

"T-t-this… t-t-this.... i-is-sn't...... r-re-eal…"

He wiped at his eyes, feeling the burn of hot tears threatening to spill, he quickly wipe them away. 

His breath quickened as he shook his head violently, as he thought

'Fuck… if this is a prank… stop it. Just stop it!'

But there was only silence, he was met with dead silence, in the bathroom, their was only him and him alone.

Alex pressed his hand to his chest, forcing himself to steady his breathing. He turned toward the mirror, narrowing his gaze. His reflection stared back at him with unsettling beauty.

Then he remember something from the novel, it was a basic introduction of the chacator named Sunless, he was supposed to be sickly and thin. His face hollow, and pale, his body weak from malnutrition. But this version…

'Why do I look like this ?'

He stared at the dark black hairs, beautiful face, and the crimson eyes, 

The novel said that Sunny was suppoed to have black hairs, below average face, and most importantly black eyes, not crimson eyes.

He then looked at the runes as he saw that the name written in it was indeed of Sunless, and the memories of the boy he got also belong to him.

Suddenly something clicked in his mind, as he thought of the memories.

'Wait in the memories i got, Sunny has black eyes thoughtout his childhood, even when he enter the nightmare and got out of it, his eye colour was black, then.....'

A disturbing thought wormed into his mind.

'Is it… because of me ?' 

Alex's eyes narrowed at the thought, after all how can Sunny suddendly have red eyes, and a beautiful face.

But still, Alex remember that he didn't have red eyes in his previous life, and definitely not a beautiful face.

'Just what is going on ?'

His head started to hurt from all the thinking he was doing, then he shook his head, as he know that whatever it is he can't waste his time here, then he looked at himself, and come to know that Sunny still hasn't taken a bath, and Mater Jet must be waiting outside.

'I don't want to create any suspision, any more then it already has.'

As he remove the rug clothes from his body and enter the shower, the cold water touched his skin like some pointy needles, his mind was shocked from the things that were happing.

'Is thus done by weaver...' A thought crossed his mind, as he remember about the information of Weaver

Weaver one of the seven daemons.

Firstborn of the Unknown.

And the one who belive in knowledge was the origin of power.

A being full of lies.

Alex knows that Sunny death has to something with the Weaver after all it was too suspicious, like serously dying by a heart attack, Sunny was supposed to be one of the strongest Saint in the future, powerful enought to the point that he can take down 12 other Saints without even using his real body, so how could he die by a heart attack.

'It was indeed too suspicious.'

Then Suddenly something crossed Alex mind. 

'Wait isn't future going to be changed!!' Since the orignal Sunny was dead, Alex has taken his body, the future also can't be the same. Alex, whether he liked it or not, he damed sure is not going to repate the same mistakes that Sunny did.

'Like drinking alcohol served by a coward spy, trusting a blind bitch, and letting a prince with daddy issue escape.'

But that's not even half of the mistakes Sunny did, and Alex know that if he were to sit back and remember all the things Sunny did, then it would take a whole day.

And even after knowing the future, he will be an idoit for not using it to his advantage.

Then he remembered some lines from a popular Anime.

'Having great powers and not using it for your own advantage only a fool would do that.'

And even if he did nothing, things are still going to change, because he and Sunny are two different people.

'Thing are bound to change whether somone liked it nor not.'

And by someone he meant Fate.

Sunny biggest ememy "fate".