Roll, you creaky piece of shit!'
Sunny pressed himself against the wagon, pushing with all he had. Four powerful oxen that used to pull it were now dead, and instead of them, three tired slaves were trying to do the job. Even with the slope of the road helping them, the speed of the wagon was agonizingly slow. The tyrant, in comparison, was moving much faster.
Pushing Hero back with a deadly swipe of his lower arms, he raised the other two to its neck and tried to grab the chain that was wrapped around it like a noose. However, this time Mountain King's fearsome physique turned into a disadvantage: its long, terrifying bone claws were perfect for tearing flesh apart, but they weren't the best tool for precise manipulations.
It took the tyrant some time to get a hold of the chain without slicing its own neck open.
By then, the wagon was nearly at the edge of the cliff.
'Come on! Just a little bit more!'
What followed happened very quickly. The wagon's rear wheels finally slid from the road, hanging over the dark, seemingly bottomless pit beneath. The creature turned, staring expressionlessly at the three slaves with its five milky, dead eyes. The wagon careened, throwing Shifty and Scholar off their feet, and then froze, balanced precariously on its middle axis.
Sunny was the only one left standing. He cast a last glance at the towering monster, and then slammed his shoulder into the front of the wagon, putting all of his weight behind it.
The wagon finally lost its balance and rolled over the edge, scraping its underside deafeningly against the jagged rocks. Sunny fell forward and landed on his knees, narrowly saving himself from tumbling down the cliff with it. Turning his head to the tyrant, he gave it a wicked smile.
Mountain King made a move to lunge at the scrawny slave, but it was already too late. A moment later, the chain on his neck drew tight, and he was yanked back with tremendous force, flying over the edge of the cliff like a rag doll. The creature fell into the darkness silently, as though refusing to believe that it was defeated by a tiny human.
'Go and die, bastard.' Sunny thought.
Then he took one deep, ragged breath and dropped to the ground, utterly exhausted.
'Is this it? Did I pass the trial?'
He rested on the cold stones, staring at the night sky, and waited for that faintly familiar, but elusive voice to announce his victory. But instead of that, wave after wave of pain that he had earlier chosen to ignore finally started to catch up with his abused body.
Sunny groaned, feeling hurt all over. The skin on his back, slashed by a slaver's whip and pierced by the bone spikes of a newborn larva, especially, was in agony. He was also starting to shiver, once again consumed by the dreadful cold.
'I guess not.'
His thoughts were slow and muddy.
'What else am I supposed to do?'
A dark figure appeared above him. It was Hero, looking calm and as handsome as ever. There were dirt and scratches on his armor, but otherwise, the young soldier appeared to be fine. He extended one arm to Sunny.
"Stand up. You'll freeze to death."
Sunny sighed, accepting that his First Nightmare was not over. Then he clenched his teeth and slowly rose to his feet, ignoring Hero's helping hand.
Around them, there was a scene of utter carnage. Except for the three slaves and Hero, every member of the caravan was dead. Their bodies were littering the ground, horribly maimed or torn into pieces. Here and there, a repulsive carcass of a larva could be seen. Shadows cast by the bonfire were dancing happily across the stone platform, seemingly unperturbed by this morbid view.
Sunny was also too tired to care.
Shifty and Scholar were already up, looking at Hero with weary apprehension. With or without shackles, they were still slaves, and he was still a slave driver. Noticing their tense gazes, the soldier sighed.
"Come closer to the fire, all of you. We need to warm ourselves and discuss what to do next."
Without waiting for their response, Hero turned around and walked away. After hesitating for a few moments, the slaves followed.
A bit of time later, the four of them were seated around the bonfire, soaking up pleasant heat. Shifty and Scholar were close to each other, maintaining a safe distance from Hero. Sunny sat apart from everyone — not because he had a specific reason to distrust one more than the others, but simply because he didn't like people in general.
Growing up, Sunny was always a misfit. It's not that he had never tried to become close with someone, it's just that he seemed to lack the ability. Like there was an invisible wall between him and other people. If he had to put it in words, Sunny would say that he was born without a small, but important gear in his brain that everyone else seemed to possess.
As a result, he was often baffled and stumped by human behavior, and his attempts to imitate it, however diligent, inevitably fell flat. This strangeness made others uncomfortable. In short, he was a bit different — and if there was one thing people hated, it was those different from them.
Over time, Sunny simply learned to avoid getting too close to anyone and settled comfortably into his outcast role. This habit served him well, since it not only made him self-reliant, but also saved him from being stabbed in the back by shady characters on multiple occasions.
That's why he was not thrilled to share the rest of this Nightmare with three strangers. Instead of trying to start a conversation, Sunny sat quietly by himself, lost in thoughts.
After a few minutes, Hero's voice finally broke the silence:
"Once the sun rises, we will gather whatever food and water we can find and go back down the mountain."
Shifty gave him a defiant look.
"Why should we go back? To be put in chains again?"
The young soldier sighed.
"We can go our separate ways once we leave the mountains. But until then, I'm still responsible for your lives. We can't continue up the road since the way over the mountain pass is long and arduous. Without the supplies that were stored on the wagon, your chances of making it are not high. That's why going back is our best hope."
Scholar opened his mouth, planning to say something, but then thought better of it and remained silent. Shifty cursed, seemingly convinced by Hero's rational words.
"We can't go down."
All three of them turned to Sunny, surprised to hear his voice.
Shifty barked a laugh and glanced at the soldier.
"Don't listen to him, your lordship. This boy is, uh, touched by the gods. He's crazy, is what I'm trying to say."
Hero frowned, looking at the slaves.
"The two of you are only alive thanks to this child's bravery. Aren't you ashamed to badmouth him so?"
Shifty shrugged, showing that he wasn't ashamed at all. The young soldier shook his head.
"I for one would like to hear his reasoning. Tell me, why can't we go down?"
Sunny shifted, uncomfortable in the center of everyone's attention.
"Because the monster isn't dead."
These ominous words hung in the silence. Three pairs of eyes widened, staring right at Sunny.
"Why do you say that?"
After thinking about it, Sunny came to the conclusion that the tyrant was, indeed, still alive. His reasoning was pretty straightforward: he did not hear the Spell congratulating him on slaying the creature after it fell off the cliff. Which meant that it was not slain.
But he couldn't explain that to his companions.
He pointed up.
"The monster jumped from an incredible height to land on this platform. Yet it wasn't harmed at all. Why would it be killed by falling off the platform?"
Neither Hero nor the slaves could find a flaw in his argument.
Sunny continued.
"Which means that it's still alive, somewhere down the mountain. So by going back, we will be delivering ourselves into its maw."
Shifty cursed loudly and crawled closer to the bonfire, staring into the darkness with terror in his eyes. Scholar rubbed his temples, mumbling:
"Of course. Why didn't I realize myself?"
Hero was the most stoic of the three. After thinking it over, he nodded.
"Then we go up and over the mountain pass. But that's not all…"
He glanced in the direction where the tyrant had fallen.
"If the monster is still alive, there is a high possibility that it will return here, and then pursue us. Which means that time is of the essence. We will need to move as soon as the sun rises."
He gestured to the torn bodies littering the platform.
"We can't allow ourselves to rest the whole night anymore. We need to gather supplies now. If there was a chance, I would have liked to give these people at least a humble burial after gathering all that we can from them, but alas, fate has decided otherwise."
Hero rose to his feet and brandished a sharp knife. Shifty tensed up and watched the blade carefully, but then relaxed, seeing that the young soldier showed no sign of aggression.
"Food, water, warm clothes, firewood. That is what we need to find. Let us split up and accomplish one task each."
Then he pointed at himself with the tip of the knife.
"I will carve the oxen carcasses to get us some meat."
Scholar looked around the stone platform — most of it drowning in deep shadows — and grimaced.
"I'll look for firewood."
Shifty also glanced left and right, with a strange gleam in his eyes.
"Then I'll go find us something warm to wear."
Sunny was the last one left. Hero gave him a long look.
"Most of our water was stored on the wagon. But each of my fallen brothers was carrying a flagon. Gather as many as you can find."
***
Sometime later, far enough from the bonfire to be hidden in the shadows, Sunny was looking for dead soldiers with half a dozen flagons already weighing him down. Shivering in the cold, he finally stumbled on the last broken body clad in leather armor.
The old veteran — the one who had whipped him for trying to accept Hero's flask — was badly injured and dying, but, miraculously, still clinging to life. Horrible wounds were covering his chest and stomach, and he was clearly in a lot of pain.
His time was running out.
Sunny knelt beside the dying soldier and looked him over, searching for the man's flagon.
'What irony,' he thought.
The older man tried to focus his eyes on Sunny and weakly moved his hand, reaching for something. Sunny looked down and noticed a shattered sword lying on the ground not far from them. Curious, he picked it up.
"Are you looking for this? Why? Are you guys like Vikings, longing to die with a weapon in your hands?"
The dying soldier didn't answer, watching the young slave with some unknown, intense emotion in his eyes.
Sunny sighed.
"Well, it might as well do. After all, I promised to watch you die."
With that, he leaned forward and slit the old man's throat with the sharp edge of his broken blade, then threw it away. The soldier twitched, drowning in his own blood. The expression in his eyes changed — was it gratitude? Or hatred? Sunny did not know.
Illusion or not, it was his first time killing a human. Sunny expected to feel guilt or fear, but actually, there was nothing at all. It seemed that, for better or worse, his cruel upbringing in the real world had prepared him for this moment well.
He sat quietly near the old man, keeping him company on this last journey.
After a while, the Spell's voice came whispering into his ear:
[You have slain a dormant human, name unknown.]
Sunny flinched.
'Oh, right. Killing people is also an achievement, as far as the Spell is concerned. They don't usually show this in webtoons and dramas.'
He registered that fact and put it away. But, as it turned out, the Spell wasn't done speaking.
[You have received a Memory…]
Sunny froze, opening his eyes wide.
'Yes! Come on, give me something good!'
Memories could be anything, from weapons to enchanted items. One received from a dormant-rank enemy wouldn't be too powerful, but it was still a boon: weightless and undetectable, able to be summoned from nothingness with a simple thought, a Memory was incredibly useful. What's more, unlike corporeal things, he would be able to bring it back with him to the real world.
The advantage of having something like that back in the outskirts was hard to overestimate.
'A weapon! Give me a sword!'
[... received a Memory: Silver Bell.]
Sunny sighed, disappointed.
'Well, with my luck, what was I expecting?'
Still, this thing was worth investigating. Maybe it had a powerful enchantment, like being able to send out destructive sonic waves or repelling incoming projectiles.
Sunny summoned the runes and concentrated on the words "Silver Bell". Immediately, an image of a small bell appeared in front of his eyes, with a short string of text below.
[Silver Bell: a small memento of a long-lost home, which once brought its owner comfort and joy. Its clear ringing can be heard from miles away.]
'What a piece of crap,' Sunny thought, dejected.
His first Memory turned out to be pretty much useless… like everything else he possessed. He was almost starting to see a theme in how the Spell was treating him.
'No matter.'
Sunny dismissed the runes and then got busy removing the dead man's fur cloak and warm, sturdy leather boots. As an officer, the quality of these clothes was a notch above those of the simple soldiers. After putting them on, the young slave finally felt warm for the first time since the Nightmare began — not considering the short time he had spent near the bonfire.
'Perfect,' he thought.
The cloak was a bit bloodied, but then again, so was Sunny.
He looked around, easily piercing the veil of darkness with his tenebrous eyes. Hero and Scholar were still in the middle of their tasks. Shifty was supposed to be looking for winter clothes, but was greedily pulling rings off the dead men's fingers instead. Unseen to them, Sunny hesitated, considering if he had really thought things through well.
His companions were unreliable. The future was too uncertain. Even the requirements of passing the Nightmare remained a mystery. Any decision he could make would have been a gamble, at best.
Still, he had to make some if he wanted to survive.
Not wasting any more time thinking, Sunny picked up the flagons and sighed.
***
They spent the rest of the night sitting with their backs against the bonfire, staring fearfully into the night. Despite the exhaustion, no one could sleep. The possibility of the tyrant coming back to finish the four survivors off was too frightening.
Only Hero seemed to be fine, calmly sharpening his sword in the bright light of the dancing flames.
The sound of the whetstone scraping against the blade was somehow comforting.
At the break of dawn, when the sun had lazily begun to warm up the air, they loaded themselves with all the supplies they'd managed to gather and set out into the cold.
Sunny looked back, taking in the sight of the stone platform for the last time. He had managed to get past the place where the slave caravan was supposed to perish. What was going to happen next? No one could tell.
By the time they decided to stop, Sunny was on the verge of fainting. After hours and hours of traversing the rough mountain slope, his body was almost at its limit. However, to everyone's surprise, Shifty seemed to be doing even worse than him.
The roguish slave's eyes were muddy and unfocused, aimlessly wandering around. His breath was ragged and shallow, as though something was exerting pressure on his lungs. He looked feverish and unwell.
As soon as Hero found a suitable place for a camp, Shifty simply collapsed on the ground. The most unnerving part about all of this was the lack of angry cursing that they had already gotten used to. The slave lay silent and motionless, with only movements of his chest betraying that he was still alive.
Several moments later, he uncorked his flagon with a shaky hand and greedily drank a few large gulps.
"Conserve your water," Hero said, a hint of concern somehow finding its way into his usually stoic voice.
Disregarding these words, Shifty drank more, emptying the flagon completely.
Scholar didn't look much better than him. The arduous climb took a heavy toll on the older slave. Despite the unbearable cold, he was sweaty, with bloodshot eyes and a grim expression on his face.
Being the weakest of the three, Sunny had somehow managed to endure the best.
"Can't we just melt the snow once there's no more water?"
Hero gave Scholar a complicated look.
"There might come a time when we won't be able to make a fire, as to not attract unwanted attention."
No one commented, knowing perfectly well whose attention they had to avoid. The memory of Mountain King's horror was still fresh in their minds.
Luckily, today Hero had managed to find a natural alcove in the mountain wall, perched precariously behind a narrow ledge. The fire was well hidden by the rocks, allowing them to enjoy its warmth without the fear of being noticed. No one was in the mood to talk, so they just roasted slices of oxen meat above the flames and ate in silence.
By the time the skies had turned completely black, Shifty and Scholar were already asleep, lost in the thrall of their own nightmares. Hero took out his sword and moved to the edge of the rock outcropping.
"Try to rest, as well. I'll take the first watch."
Sunny gave him a nod and lay down near the fire, dead tired. Falling asleep inside a dream was a new experience for him, but, unexpectedly, it turned out to be quite mundane. As soon as his head touched the ground, his consciousness slipped into darkness.
After what felt like only a second, someone had gently shaken him awake. Groggy and disoriented, Sunny blinked a few times, finally noticing Hero hovering above him.
"These two didn't look too well, so it's better to give them some time to recover. Don't let the flames go out and wake us up once the sun starts to rise. Or if… if the beast appears."
Sunny silently rose and changed places with Hero, who added a couple of logs into the fire and was soon fast asleep.
For a few hours, he was on his own.
The skies were black, with dim stars and a sharp crescent of the newborn moon. However, its light was not enough to pierce the darkness that enveloped the mountain. Only Sunny's eyes seemed to be able to do so.
He sat quietly, looking down the way they came. Despite the fact that they had managed to climb quite high during the previous day, he could still see the distant ribbon of the road. He could even trace it back to the stone platform where the fight with the tyrant had taken place.
The tiny dots littering the stones were the dead bodies of the slaves.
As he was watching them, a dark figure slowly crawled on the platform from beneath the cliff. It stayed motionless for a while and then moved forward, scraping its claws against the ground. Every time a claw hit one of the bodies, the tyrant would grab and bring it to its maw.
The wind brought the muffled sounds of crunching bones to Sunny's ears. He flinched, accidentally pushing a small rock off the ledge. It fell, hit the slope and then rolled down, causing a few more to follow.
The noise of these falling rocks sounded like thunder in the silent night.
Far below, the tyrant suddenly turned its head, looking directly at Sunny.
Sunny froze, petrified. He was scared to make even the tiniest sound. For a while, he even forgot to breathe. The tyrant was staring directly at him, not doing anything.
A few torturous seconds passed, each feeling like an eternity. Then the tyrant calmly turned away and continued to devour dead slaves, as though he had not seen Sunny at all.
'It's blind,' Sunny suddenly understood.
He inhaled, watching Mountain King with widened eyes. It was true. The creature could not see.
Looking back at everything that had happened earlier, he grew more and more certain of his guess. Those milky, expressionless eyes. Come to think of it, he never saw the tyrant moving them at all. And back when Sunny was pushing the wagon off the cliff, the tyrant only reacted after the wagon's had started to fall, scraping loudly against the rocks.
Of course! It was all making sense now.
***
At the break of dawn, Sunny had woken the others up. Hero had hoped that a full night's rest would do Shifty and Scholar some good, but his hopes were crushed. Somehow, the two slaves looked even worse than before. It was as though yesterday's climb had overstrained Scholar too much.
However, Shifty's condition could not be explained by simple overexertion. He was deadly pale and shaky, with half-conscious eyes and a lost look on his face.
"What's wrong with him?"
Scholar, who himself was not doing very well, helplessly shook his head.
"It might be the mountain sickness. It affects different people differently."
His voice sounded raspy and weak.
"I'm fine, assholes. Get out of my face."
Shifty had trouble forming full sentences, but still insisted that he was alright.
Hero frowned and then took most of the supplies the defiant slave was supposed to carry before adding them to his own load. After hesitating a little, he gave some to Sunny, too.
"Did anything happen while we were asleep?"
Sunny stared at him for a few seconds.
"The monster ate the dead."
The young soldier's frown deepened.
"How do you know?"
"I heard it."
Hero moved to the edge and looked down, trying to make out the distant stone platform. After a minute or so, he clenched his jaw, showing signs of uncertainty for the first time.
"Then we'll have to move faster. If the creature is finished with all the bodies, it will come for us next. We need to find that old path before nightfall."
Frightened and dejected, they set out again and continued to climb. Sunny was slowly dying under the weight of the added load. Thankfully, Shifty and Scholar had already drunk most of the water, lightening it a little.
'This is hell,' he thought.
They climbed higher, and higher, and higher. The sun was climbing with them, slowly approaching the zenith. There was no talking, no laughs, only strained breathing. Each of the four survivors was concentrated on his own steps and footing.
However, Shifty was falling farther and farther behind. His strength was abandoning him.
And then, at some point, Sunny heard a desperate scream. Turning around, he only had time to see a panic-stricken face. Then Shifty fell backward, his foot slipping on an ice-covered rock. He hit the ground hard and rolled down, still trying to grab onto something.
But it was too late.
Frozen in place and powerless, they could only watch as his body tumbled down the slope, leaving bloody marks on the rocks. With each second, Shifty looked less like a man and more like a rag doll.
A handful of moments later, he finally came to a halt, hitting the top of a large, protruding stone in a pile of broken flesh.
Shifty was dead.
The three of them stood motionless, looking down in uneasy silence. What happened to Shifty didn't come as a shock, but it was still a hard thing to digest. An ominous feeling settled in their hearts — seeing the broken body of their companion, it was too easy to imagine one of them sharing the same fate.
No one knew what to say.
After a minute or so, Scholar finally sighed.
"It's a good thing that you took most of the supplies he had been carrying."
'A bit heartless, but not wrong,' Sunny thought, giving the older slave a careful look.
Scholar frowned, realizing that his mask of a kind-hearted gentleman had slipped for a second, and hurriedly added in a somber tone:
"May you rest in peace, my friend."
'Wow. What a performance.'
Actually, Sunny had not believed in his benevolent act for a second. Every kid from the outskirts knew that people who acted kind for no reason were the ones to be most wary of. They were either fools or monsters. Scholar didn't seem like a fool, so Sunny became cautious of him from the moment they met.
He got this far by being a mistrustful cynic, and there was no reason to change now.
"We have to go." Hero said, casting one last look down.
His voice was even, but Sunny could feel a well of emotion behind it. He just couldn't tell what that emotion was.
Scholar sighed and turned away, too. Sunny stared at the bloodied rocks for a few more seconds.
'Why do I feel so guilty?' he thought, bewildered by this unexpected reaction. 'He got what he deserved.'
A little unsettled, Sunny turned around and followed his two remaining companions.
Just like that, they left Shifty behind and continued to climb.
At this altitude, traversing the mountain was getting harder and harder. The wind was slamming into them with enough force to throw a person off-balance if they were not careful, making every step seem like a gamble. The air was becoming too thin to breathe. Due to the lack of oxygen, Sunny was starting to feel dizzy and nauseated.
It was as though they were all slowly suffocating.
Altitude sickness was not something one could overcome with effort. It was subtle and overbearing at the same time, affecting the strong and the weak with no regard to their fitness and endurance. If his luck was bad, an elite athlete could succumb to it faster than a random passerby.
It was just a question of your body's innate aptitude and adaptability. Lucky ones were able to get over it after experiencing mild symptoms. The others were sometimes crippled for days or weeks, suffering from all kinds of torturous side effects. Some even died.
As though all that wasn't bad enough, it was getting colder, too. The warm clothes and fur weren't enough to keep the chill at bay anymore. Sunny felt simultaneously feverish and freezing, cursing every decision he had made in his life to end up here, on the endless icy slope.
This mountain was not a place for humans.
And yet they had to go on.
A few hours passed. Despite everything, the three survivors continued to struggle forward, slowly moving higher and higher. Wherever that old path Scholar had talked about was, by now, it couldn't have been far. At least that's what Sunny was hoping for.
But at some point, he started to doubt if the path even existed. Maybe the older slave lied. Maybe the path was long ago destroyed by ravages of time. Maybe they had already missed it without even noticing.
Just as he was about to fall into despair, they finally found it.
It was weathered and narrow, barely enough for two people to walk side by side. The path wasn't paved, but rather cut from the black rock by some unknown tool or magic, winding its way up the mountain like a tail of a sleeping dragon. Here and there, it was hidden beneath the snow. But most importantly, it was flat. Sunny had never been that happy to see something flat in his life.
Without saying a word, Scholar dropped his rucksack and sat down. He was deathly pale, gasping for air like a fish out of water. Despite that, there was a slight grin on his face.
"Told you."
Hero gave him a nod and looked around. A few seconds later, he turned back to the triumphant slave:
"Stand up. It's not time to rest yet."
Scholar blinked a few times, then glanced at him with pleading eyes.
"Just… just give me a few minutes."
The young soldier was going to retort, but Sunny suddenly put a hand on his shoulder. Hero turned to face him.
"What is it?"
"It's gone."
"What is gone?"
Sunny gestured down, back the way they came.
"Shifty's body. It's gone."
Hero stared at him for a few moments, clearly failing to understand what Sunny was trying to say.
'Oh, right. They don't know that Shifty's name is Shifty. Ahem. Awkward.'
He wanted to explain, but both Scholar and Hero seemed to have grasped his meaning. Simultaneously, they moved to the edge of the stone path and looked down, trying to spot the place where Shifty had met his end.
Indeed, the splattering of blood could still be seen on the jagged rocks, but the corpse itself was nowhere to be found.
Scholar flinched back and crawled as far away from the edge as he could. The young soldier also backed away, instinctively grabbing the handle of his sword. The three of them exchanged tense looks, clearly understanding the implication of Shifty's disappearance.
"It's the monster," Scholar said, even paler than before. "It's following us."
Hero gritted his teeth.
"You are right. And if it is that close, we will inevitably be forced to fight it soon."
The idea of fighting the tyrant was as frightening as it was preposterous. He might as well have said that they will all be dead soon. The truth of it was painfully clear to both Sunny and Scholar.
But the older slave, surprisingly, did not look panicked. Instead, he lowered his gaze and quietly said:
"Not necessarily."
Hero and Sunny turned to him, all ears. The young soldier raised an eyebrow.
"Explain?"
'Here it comes.'
Scholar sighed.
"The beast had traced us this far in just a day. That means that there are two most probable possibilities. Either it is smart enough to realize where we are going, or it is following the scent of blood."
After a bit of thinking, Hero nodded, agreeing with this logic. The older slave smiled slightly and continued.
"Whether it is one or another, we can throw him off our trail and buy some time."
"How do we do that?"
Despite the urgency in Hero's voice, Scholar hesitated and remained silent.
"Why are you not answering? Speak!"
The older slave sighed again and slowly, as though against his will, answered. Sunny was waiting for this moment for a while now.
"We'll just have to… make the boy bleed. Drag him down the path, then leave him there as bait and go up instead. His sacrifice will save our lives."
'Right on time.'
If Sunny wasn't mad — and scared witless, of course — he would have smiled. His judgment, it seems, was eerily on point. Affirmation was always nice… but not in the situation where being right also meant potentially being used as monster bait.
He remembered the words Scholar had spoken back when Shifty was campaigning to have Sunny killed — "Don't be too hasty, my friend. The boy might prove useful later on." These words, which had sounded benevolent then, now turned out to hide a much more sinister meaning.
'What a bastard!'
Now it all depended on whether or not Hero would decide to follow through with Scholar's plan.
The young soldier blinked, astonished.
"What do you mean, make him bleed?"
Scholar shook his head.
"It's simple, really. If the monster knows where we are going, we have no choice but to abandon our plans to reach the mountain pass and go over the peak of the mountain instead. If the monster is following the scent of blood, we have to use one of us as bait to mislead it."
He paused.
"Only by leaving a bleeding man further down the path can we reliably avoid the pursuit no matter how it is tracking us."
Hero stood motionless, his eyes jumping between Scholar and Sunny. After a few seconds, he asked:
"How can you bring yourself to propose something so vile?"
The older slave masterfully pretended to look aggrieved and somber.
"Of course, it pains me! But if we do nothing, all three of us will die. This way, at least, the boy's death will save two lives. The gods will reward him for his sacrifice!"
'Gee, what a silver tongue. I'm almost convinced myself.'
The young soldier opened his mouth, then closed it again, hesitating.
Sunny was silently watching the other two survivors, measuring his chances of coming on top in a fight. Scholar was already halfway to being a corpse, so overpowering him would not be a problem. Hero, however… Hero presented an obstacle.
Right now, that obstacle was looking down, avoiding Sunny's gaze. His hand was resting on the sword handle. As always, the young slave had no idea about what was going on inside Hero's perfectly shaped head.
The uncertainty was making him nervous.
Finally, after some time had passed, the soldier spoke:
"I have only one question."
Both Sunny and Scholar stared at him while holding their breaths.
"Yes?"
"You said that one of us must be sacrificed to save the other two. Why him? From what I see, you are far closer to the grave."
'A great question! I was just about to ask it myself.'
Sunny turned to the older slave, trying very hard to suppress a mocking grin. But to his dismay, Scholar had an answer ready.
"Before the first attack, he was already bleeding because of your senior's whip. During the attack, he was drenched in the blood of a fellow slave. His cloak, too, was soaked in it when the previous owner died. The boy already reeks of blood. Keeping him alive will put us in danger. That's why he is the best choice."
The grin died before reaching Sunny's face.
'Curse you and your big brain!'
Scholar's reasoning was appallingly solid. Hero listened, his expression growing darker with each word. Finally, he looked at Sunny, a dangerous light shining in his eyes.
"That is true."
Sunny felt his mouth getting dry. Cold sweat was running down his spine. He tensed, ready to act…
But at that moment, Hero smiled.
"Your logic is almost unassailable," he said, unsheathing the sword. "However, you failed to account for one thing."
Scholar raised an eyebrow, trying to hide his own nervousness.
"What might that be?"
The young soldier turned to face him, the smile disappearing from his face. Now, he was radiating thick, practically palpable killing intent.
"It's that I know who you are, Your Grace. I also know what you've done, and how you ended up a slave. Just one of the revolting crimes you have committed would be enough to make me want to kill you. So if there is someone among us who deserves to be sacrificed… it's you."
Scholar's eyes widened.
"But… but the smell of blood!"
"Don't worry about it. I'll make you bleed enough to overpower whatever residual scent the boy carries."
It all happened so fast that Sunny barely had time to react. Hero lunged forward with a speed that seemed almost inhuman. A moment later, Scholar was shrieking on the ground, his leg broken with one strike from the flat side of the young soldier's sword. Not giving him an opportunity to recover, Hero stomped on his other leg, and a sickening sound of shattering bones could be clearly heard.
The shriek turned into a sobbing howl.
Just like that, Scholar was done for.
The brutality of Hero's actions was in such stark contrast with his usually graceful demeanor that Sunny felt blood turning to ice in his veins. This was… scary.
The soldier gave him a calm look and said in a placid tone:
"Wait for me here."
Then he grabbed the older slave and dragged him down the path, soon disappearing behind a rock outcropping. After a few minutes, terrible screams could be heard echoing through the wind.
Sunny was left alone, trembling.
'Crap! This is… this is too much!'
He still couldn't believe how sudden Scholar's demise came to be. And how ruthless it was.
Some time later, Hero was back, acting as though nothing had happened. But it was exactly that normalcy that unnerved Sunny the most.
After sorting through the contents of Scholar's rucksack and throwing most of the firewood out, the young soldier put it over his shoulder and nonchalantly turned to the young slave:
"Let's go. We need to hurry."
Not knowing what to say, Sunny gave him a nod and headed forward.
Now there were only two of them left.
It was sort of stupid, but Sunny suddenly felt lonesome.
Walking on the stone path was much easier than scaling the mountain wall. He even had time for unnecessary thoughts. A strange feeling of melancholy descended on Sunny… somehow, he began to feel that the end of this nightmare, whatever it might be, was not far off now.
They walked in silence for some time before Hero spoke.
"Don't feel guilty about what happened. It's not your fault. The decision was mine, and mine alone."
The young soldier was a few steps ahead, so Sunny couldn't see his face.
"Besides, if you knew this man's sins… actually, it's better that you don't. Just trust me when I say that killing him was an act of justice."
'I wonder which one of us feels guilty.'
These people… always trying to rationalize their actions, always desperate to maintain an illusion of righteousness even while doing most foul things. Sunny hated the hypocrisy.
Not getting an answer, Hero chuckled.
"You don't like to talk, do you? Well, fair enough. Silence is gold."
They didn't speak again after that, each preoccupied with their own thoughts.
The sun was setting, painting the world into a million shades of crimson. This high up, the air was clean and crisp, pierced by streams of scarlet light. Below them, a sea of maroon clouds was slowly rolling past the mountain. The stars and the moon had begun to reveal themselves in the vermillion sky.
It was quite beautiful.
However, Sunny could only think about how cold it was going to be once the sun fully disappears.
Before that happened, Hero had found them a shelter. Not far from the path, hidden behind some tall rocks, was a narrow crevice that extended into the slope of the mountain. Happy to be safe from the piercing wind, they explored the crevice and ended up in a small, well-concealed cave.
Sunny made a move to unbundle some firewood, but Hero stopped him with a shake of his head.
"Today we will camp without making a fire. The beast is too close."
Camping without the warm flames to keep them company was not going to be pleasant, but at least they weren't going to freeze to death inside the cave. In any case, the alternative was too frightening.
Sunny sat down, putting his back against the cave's wall. Hero settled opposite of him, looking downcast and thoughtful.
He was obviously in a strange mood. If nothing else, it was apparent from the fact that today, for the first time, the young soldier had failed to care for his sword after making camp.
Soon, the sun was gone, and their small cave became completely dark. Sunny, of course, could still see perfectly well; Hero, on the other hand, was now completely blind.
In the darkness, his handsome face looked noble and, for some reason, sorrowful. Sunny studied it, not willing to fall asleep.
After a while, Hero suddenly spoke in a quiet voice:
"You know, it's strange. Usually, I can feel someone's presence even in absolute darkness. But with you, there's nothing. It's like you are just one of the shadows."
With only silence to answer him, he smiled.
"Are you asleep?"
The question echoed in the darkness. Sunny, who had never spoken with Hero unless there was an urgent need to, and even then only using a few words at best, felt like there was a strange intimacy between them now. That's why he decided to talk. Maybe the darkness gave him courage.
Besides, there was an occasion.
"Why? Are you waiting for me to fall asleep before you kill me? Or will you do it in the morning?"
The smile froze on Hero's face. He lowered his head, as though in shame. After a minute or so passed, shrouded in heavy silence, he finally answered.
"Yes. I thought that if I do it when you sleep, you won't have to suffer."
Unseen to him, a bitter grin appeared on Sunny's face.
A long sigh escaped from the young soldier's lips. He rested his back against the cave's wall, still not looking up.
"I don't expect you to forgive me. This sin, too, will be mine to bear. But, please, if you can… find it in your heart to understand. If things were different, I would have gladly faced that monster to let you escape. But my life… does not belong to me alone. There is an unencompassable duty I am sworn to fulfill.
Until it's done, I cannot allow myself to die."
Sunny laughed.
"You people… Look at you! Planning to kill me and still insisting on having a good excuse. How very convenient! I really hate hypocrites like you the most. Why don't you be honest for once? Don't give me that crap...
just say it! I'm going to kill you because it's easy. I'm going to kill you because I want to survive."
Hero closed his eyes, his face full of sadness.
"I'm sorry. I knew you wouldn't be able to understand."
"What's there to understand?"
Sunny leaned forward, anger coursing through his veins.
"Tell me. Why do I have to die?"
The young soldier finally looked up. Even though he couldn't see in the dark, he turned his face in the direction of Sunny's voice.
"That man was a villain… but he was also right. The scent of blood is too heavy on you. It will attract the beast."
"You can just let me go, you know. We'll part ways. After that whether or not the monster finds me won't be your problem."
Hero shook his head.
"Dying in that creature's maw… is too cruel a fate. It's better if I do it myself. You are my responsibility, after all."
"How noble of you."
Sunny leaned back, dejected. After a short while, he quietly said:
"You know… when I just came here, I was ready to die. After all, in this whole world — two worlds, actually — there's not a single soul who cares whether I live or die. When I'm gone, no one will be sad. No one will even remember that I existed."
There was a forlorn look on his face. A moment later, however, it was gone, replaced by mirth.
"But then I changed my mind. Somewhere along the way, I decided to survive. I must survive, no matter what."
Hero gave him a thoughtful look.
"To live a life worth remembering?"
Sunny grinned. A dark gleam appeared in his eyes.
"No. To spite you all."
The young soldier was silent for a few moments, then nodded, accepting this answer. He rose to his feet.
"Don't worry. I'll make it quick."
"Aren't you overly confident? What makes you think you'll be able to kill me? Maybe I'll kill you instead."
Hero shook his head.
"I doubt that."
… But in the next second, he staggered and fell on one knee. The young man's face turned deathly pale, and with a pained groan, he suddenly vomited blood.
A satisfied smile appeared on Sunny's face.
"Finally."
***
"Finally."
Hero was standing on his knees, the lower part of his face covered in blood. Astonished, he was staring at his hands, trying to understand what had happened to him.
"What… what magic is this?"
With wide eyes and a pale face, he turned to Sunny.
"Was… was that thief right? Did you put the curse of the Shadow God on us?"
Sunny sighed.
"I wish that I had the ability to throw divine curses around, but no. To tell you the truth, I don't have any abilities at all."
"Then.. how?"
The young slave shrugged.
"That's why I poisoned you all."
Hero flinched, trying to comprehend his words.
"What?"
"After the tyrant first attacked, you send me to search for water. While gathering flagons from the dead soldiers, I squeezed Bloodbane juice into each one — except my own, of course. Not enough to taste it, but enough to slowly kill anyone who would drink from them."
The soldier gritted his teeth, struggling through pain. A sudden realization appeared on his face.
"So that's why… the other two were in such bad shape."
Sunny nodded.
"Shifty drank the most, so his condition worsened the fastest. Scholar was also not long for this world, but you finished him off before the poison could. Yourself, however… it was as though Bloodbane had no effect on you at all. I was really starting to get worried."
Hero's face darkened.
"I see… I understand."
He thought about something, then looked at Sunny with surprise.
"But… but back then you didn't know… that we will turn on you."
Sunny just laughed.
"Oh, please. It was obvious. Shifty was the kind of man who would kill for a pair of boots. Scholar was like a wolf in sheep's clothing. People are selfish and cruel in the best of situations — was I supposed to believe that those two weren't going to do something terrible to me when faced with certain death?"
Hero spat more blood.
"Then… what about me?"
"You?" A disdainful expression appeared on Sunny's face. "You are the worst of them."
"Why?"
Sunny looked at him and leaned forward.
"I might have not learned much in my short life, but I do know one thing," he said, all traces of humor gone from his voice.
Now there was only cold, callous contempt. Sunny's face hardened as he spat:
"There is nothing more pathetic than a slave who begins to trust his slaver."
Hearing these words, Hero lowered his head.
"I see."
Then, suddenly, he laughed.
"You… you are a wicked little shit, aren't you?"
Sunny rolled his eyes.
"There's no need to be rude."
But Hero wasn't listening to him.
"Good. This is good. My conscience will be clearer."
The young slave sighed in irritation.
"What are you mumbling about? Just die already."
Hero chuckled and suddenly pierced him with a stare. Somehow, he didn't look so sick anymore.
"You see, that plan would have worked if I was a normal human. But, alas, my Soul Core has Awakened long ago. I've slain countless enemies and absorbed their power. Bloodbane poison, unpleasant as it might be, can never kill me."
'Crap!'
Sunny turned around and tried to run away, but it was already too late. Something hit him in the back, sending his body crashing into the rock wall. With a scream, he felt a sharp pain piercing his left side. Rolling out of the cave, Sunny clutched his chest, scrambled back onto his feet and ran, trying to escape the narrow crevice.
He managed to reach the old path, finally being able to see the stars and the pale moon shining brightly in the night sky. But it was as far as he was able to get.
"Stop."
As the cold voice sounded behind him, Sunny froze. If Hero really had an Awakened Soul Core, he had no chances of getting away from him. In a fight, he had no chances at all.
"Turn around."
The young slave obediently turned, holding his hands up. He looked at Hero, who was wiping the blood off his face with a displeased look in his eyes. The two of them stared at each other, shivering in the murderous cold.
"Was it worth it? No matter. Despite it all, I will be true to my promise. I'll make it quick."
The soldier unsheathed his sword.
"Do you have any last words?"
Sunny did not answer.
However, a small silver bell suddenly appeared in his hand.
Hero frowned.
"Where were you hiding that thing?"
Sunny shook the bell. A beautiful, clear ringing sound flowed over the mountain, filling the night with an enchanting melody.
"What are you doing?! Stop!"
The young slave dutifully stopped.
"What was…"
Right under Hero's bewildered eyes, the silver bell disappeared into thin air. He looked at Sunny, stumped and suspicious.
"Tell me! What did you just do?"
But Sunny didn't answer. In fact, he hadn't said a single word ever since escaping the cave. Right now, he wasn't even breathing.
Hero, on the other hand, continued to speak.
"Tell me right now or you will regret it."
He scowled.
"Why are you not saying anything?"
The shivering boy just stared at him, completely silent.
No… he was staring into the darkness behind him.
Hero's eyes widened.
"What…"
Sunny had no choice but to resort to one last, desperate gamble.
He had no chance against the enemy in a direct confrontation, at least not without an advantage. Bloodbane poison was supposed to be his hidden card, but turned out to be nearly useless. Being able to see in the dark did not help that much, too: somehow, Hero was able to perceive their surroundings even without any light.
Whether he was using his sense of hearing or some magical ability, Sunny did not know — not that it mattered now that they had left the cave and were standing under the moonlit sky.
Now he had only one advantage left. The fact that he knew that the tyrant was blind, and Hero did not. Acting on that knowledge, however, was easier said than done.
But what else could he do?
That's why he tried to stay as quiet as possible and rang the silver bell. If the description did not lie, its ringing could be heard from miles away. Surely, the tyrant was going to hear it, too.
Now Sunny only had to stay silent, stall for time and hope that the monster would come. As he did so, Hero's bewilderment slowly turned into anger.
"Tell me right now or you will regret it."
His voice was quite threatening, but still, the young slave did not answer. He just shivered in the cold and tried not to groan despite the pulsing pain in his chest.
"Why are you not answering?"
But Sunny did not dare to answer. 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 Hero'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 into an iron grip. The bone claws scraped against the armor, pulling it apart. Mountain King dragged Hero 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, Hero," 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…"
***
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, a young man with pale skin and black hair reached the peak of the mountain. However, his looks didn't match the magnificence of the scene: wounded and staggering, he looked pathetic and weak.
The young man looked like a walking corpse.
His coarse tunic and cloak were torn and smeared with blood. His sunken eyes were cloudy and lifeless. His body was bruised, beaten and cut. There were specks of bloody foam on his lips.
He was hunched over, cradling the left side of his chest. Each step caused him to moan, ragged breath barely escaping through gritted teeth.
Sunny was hurting all over. But most of all, he was cold.
So, so cold.
He just wanted to lie down in the snow and fall asleep.
But instead, he continued walking. Because he believed that the Nightmare will be over once he reaches the peak.
Step. Step. Another step.
Finally, he had made it.
At the highest point of the mountain, a vast expanse of flat rock was covered with snow. In the center of it, illuminated by moonlight, stood a magnificent temple. Its colossal columns and walls were cut from black marble, with exquisite reliefs decorating the stygian pediment and broad frieze. Beautiful and awesome, it looked like a palace of a dark god.
At least it did once. Now, the temple was in ruins: fractures and cracks marred the black stones, parts of the roof had collapsed, letting in ice and snow. Its tall gates were broken, as if smashed into pieces by a hand of a giant.
Still, Sunny was satisfied.
"Found you," he said in a hoarse voice.
Gathering the last of his strength, the young slave slowly limped in the direction of the ruined temple. His thoughts were muddled and confused.
'See this, Hero?' he thought, forgetting for a second that Hero was already dead. 'I've made it. You were strong and ruthless, and I was weak and timid. Yet now you are a corpse, and I am still alive. Isn't it funny?'
He stumbled and groaned, feeling the edges of his broken ribs cutting deeper into his lungs. Blood was dripping from his mouth. Dead or not, Hero had gotten him good with that single strike.
'Actually, it's not. What do any of you even know about being ruthless? Poor fools. In the world where I come from, people had thousands of years to turn cruelty into an art. And as someone on the receiving end of all that cruelty… don't you think I would know more about being vicious than you ever could?'
He was getting closer to the temple.
'Truth be told, you never stood a chance… wait. What was I thinking about?'
A moment later, he had already forgotten. There was only pain, the dark temple, and the overpowering desire to sleep.
'Don't fall for it. It's just hypothermia. If you fall asleep, you'll die.'
Finally, Sunny reached the steps of the black temple. He started to climb them, not noticing thousands of bones that were scattered around. These bones once belonged to humans and monsters both. All of them were killed by the invisible guardians still lingering around the temple.
As Sunny was climbing the steps, one of the shapeless guardians approached him. It was ready to snuff out the spark of life that was burning weakly in the defiler's chest, but then stopped, sensing a faint, strangely familiar scent coming from his soul. The scent of divinity. Sorrowful and lonesome, the guardian moved aside, letting Sunny pass.
Oblivious, he entered the temple.
Sunny found himself in a grandiose hall. Cascades of moonlight were falling through the holes in the partially collapsed roof. Deep shadows were surrounding these circles of silver light, not daring to touch them. The floor was covered in snow and ice.
At the far end of the hall, a large altar was cut from a single piece of black marble. It was the only thing inside the temple untouched by snow. Forgetting why he came here, Sunny headed for the altar.
He just wanted to sleep.
The altar was dry, clean, and as wide as a bed. Sunny climbed on it and lay down.
It seemed like he was going to die.
He was okay with it.
Sunny tried to close his eyes, but was stopped by a sudden noise coming from the direction of the temple's entrance. He turned his head to look, not even a little bit curious. What he saw would have sent chills running down his spine if he wasn't so cold, tired and indifferent.
Mountain King was standing there, looking at him with its five blind eyes. He was still massive, terrifying and revolting. Worm-like shapes were still moving frantically under its skin. It was sniffing the air, salivating.
Then it opened its maw and moved forward, slowly approaching the altar.
'What an ugly bastard,' Sunny thought and suddenly clutched his chest, convulsing in a fit of torturous coughing.
Bloody foam flew from his mouth and fell on the altar. However, the black marble soon absorbed it.
A second later, it was as pristine as it was before.
The tyrant was just about to reach Sunny. It was already stretching its hands to grab him.
'I guess this is the end,' he thought, resigned to his fate.
But at the last second, suddenly, the voice of the Spell resounded in the dark temple.
[You have offered yourself as a sacrifice to the gods.]
[The gods are dead, and can not hear you.]
[Your soul bears the mark of divinity.]
[You are a temple slave.]
[Shadow God stirs in his eternal slumber.]
[He sends a blessing from beyond the grave.]
[Child of Shadows, receive your blessing!]
Under Sunny's astonished eyes, the shadows crowding the great hall suddenly moved, as though coming alive. Tentacles of darkness surged forward, entangling Mountain King's arms and legs. The mighty tyrant struggled, trying to get free.
But how could it resist the power of a god?
The shadows dragged Mountain King back, pulling in different directions. The tyrant opened its maw, and a furious howl escaped it.
The next second, its body ruptured, torn apart into pieces.
Blood, viscera and severed limbs fell on the floor in a crimson torrent. Just like that, the horrible creature was dead.
Sunny blinked.
Once again, he was alone in the ruined temple. The great hall was dark and silent.
And then the Spell whispered:
[You have slain an awakened tyrant, Mountain King.]
[Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal…]
[Prepare for appraisal…]
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 three dormant humans, names unknown.]
[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 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.]
***
'Divine… it's Divine.'
Sunny was standing on his knees, stupefied. The shock was so great that for a second there he lost all control over his limbs and fell.
'It said "divine"... right?'
He raised a trembling hand and rubbed his eyes, making sure that he was awake. Or rather conscious, since, technically, he was still sleeping in the underground vault of the police station.
Confused by all this terminology, Sunny silently summoned the runes and found the lines describing his aspect.
Aspect: [Shadow Slave].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However, your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your former master and long to find a new one.]
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.]
That was… a lot to digest.
First of all, Sunny felt his heart beating faster. He heard it right! All the suffering and horror he had experienced in the First Nightmare paid off in the end. A divine Aspect, he had received a divine Aspect! Anything above Awakened was rare and immensely valuable!
People with Ascended Aspects were rare enough to be fought over by various factions. The factions themselves were built around singular powerhouses with Transcendent or Supreme Aspects. And he had never, ever heard of anyone acquiring a Divine one. Never!
Anything with the "divine" prefix was so hard to find that it mostly lived in the realm of myths and legends. After all, the human race had not reached that high yet; it was only slightly more than a decade since humans managed to finally conquer the Third Nightmare and receive the ability to evolve their cores to Transcendent rank.
As Transcendents — or Saints, as they were called in the real world — powerful Awakened ruled over the Dream Realm, but even they did not dare to face Nightmare Creatures of higher ranks. Subsequently, there were not a lot of Memories and Echoes of Supreme rank around, let alone Sacred… or Divine. The same went for Aspects.
And yet Sunny just got one!
He grinned, driven half-mad by joy and arrogance. However, his jubilation was a little muddied. After all, there was that weird innate ability. Of course, he had no intention of becoming someone's magical slave, with no free will of his own. To hell with that!
But it wasn't that bad. All he had to do to avoid that fate was to conceal his True Name. No one except for him could see his status. That meant that Sunny just had to keep his mouth shut, and no one will know that he even had one.
It meant giving up on all the benefits that someone who was bestowed a True Name after the First Nightmare was entitled to, but it all paled in comparison with a Divine Aspect.
'Not a problem,' Sunny thought with a smirk.
If the Spell had the ability to laugh, it would surely do so after hearing his thoughts. However, it didn't. Instead, it began to speak again:
[The First Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers…]
Sunny felt something waking up inside of him. With a startled cry, he clutched his chest and stared into the darkness, trying to understand what was happening. The feeling was not painful or unpleasant, yet it was like nothing he had ever experienced. It was as though his soul was being shaken awake, infused with strange new energy.
However, that energy did not come from some outside source. Rather, it was coming from within, as though it had always been there, sleeping.
The energy filled every fiber of his being. Sunny felt his emotions becoming clearer and sharper. Then, his body began to change, too. He felt as though a miniature star was burning in the center of his chest: waves of heat were radiating from it, slowly reaching his stomach and shoulders, then his arms and legs, then his hands and feet.
Under that heat, his bones, muscles, organs and blood vessels were being rebuilt and revitalized. Sunny felt like he was being reborn. He was becoming stronger, faster, healthier.
It was euphoric.
With each second, his transformation was becoming more profound. New confidence settled in Sunny's heart. He was not a weak, frail street kid anymore. He was not as vulnerable against anyone who would wish to bully him as he was in the past.
With his powers awakened and his will tempered by the horrors of the First Nightmare, he was now someone you would not want to cross.
After some time had passed, the star burning in his chest finally cooled down. The heat was replaced with a soothing coldness. That coldness washed over Sunny's body, taking away all the aches and discomforts that had been accumulated there over the years. Then it moved up, reaching his brain and, finally, his eyes.
His vision strangely doubled.
He could still see the void populated by an endless pattern of stars. But he could also see something different.
A silent, calm dark sea illuminated by a lonely black sun.
From his previous knowledge, Sunny knew that this was his so-called Sea of Soul. But he also knew that it was supposed to look quite different.
For starters, it was supposed to be much more lively. The star hanging above — the visual representation of his soul core — was supposed to be burning with bright light, filling the Soul Sea with a warm, blinding shining.
However, Sunny's soul was dark and lightless.
'That's strange.'
He took a look at the black sun. At a closer examination, it actually turned out to be transparent. It's just that with no other major source of light around, the star appeared to be as dark as its surroundings.
Also, no one was supposed to be here except for him. It was his soul, after all! But Sunny had a nagging feeling that somewhere just beyond the periphery of his vision, hidden in the darkness, shapeless forms were constantly moving. No matter how he turned his head, he couldn't catch a clear glimpse of them. And yet the feeling would not go away.
Not wishing to waste any more time on this right now, Sunny turned back to the black sun and finally spotted two spheres of light orbiting around it, as though caught in the soul core's gravity well. A subtle smile appeared on his face.
These were his Memories: Silver Bell and Pupetter's Shroud. Later, there would be dozens of such spheres here. If he was lucky, he would even acquire an Echo or two!
The Spell's voice suddenly pulled him out of the Sea of Soul.
[Awakening Aspect Ability…]
'This is it. The moment of truth,' Sunny thought.
Divine Aspect or not, his immediate future still depended on the first Aspect Ability he would receive. His role in the Dream Realm would be based on its characteristics. If it was a combat ability, he would be most useful on the frontlines of the bloody battles against the Nightmare Creatures. If it was tied to sorcery, he would likely become a powerful, but fragile ranged fighter.
If it was something having to do with utility, he would be a vitally important part of the behind-the-scenes workings of the Dream Realm. Utility Abilities were also extremely valued in the real world, where Awakened performed many tasks that kept it going.
If he was lucky, he could even become a healer. Healers were very rare, and as such, sought-after specialists.
[Aspect Ability acquired.]
[Aspect Ability Name: Shadow Control.]
Sunny hurriedly summoned the runes. He wanted to go to the description of his new ability right away, but then decided to give his overall information a look first.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Dreamer.
Shadow Core: Dormant.
Shadow Fragments: [12/1000].
'What? What is that?'
Where the rank of his soul core was supposed to be written, a mysterious "Shadow Core" appeared instead. Sunny looked at it, blinking. He had never heard of anyone having a different kind of core before. Was he that unique?
This enigmatic shadow core would certainly explain why his Sea of Soul looked so strange. And also… He moved his eyes down, noticing the "Shadow Fragments" counter. Usually, there was supposed to be an indicator of the number of soul shards consumed. However, it was nowhere to be seen.
'Do I… do I actually have a completely different progression path than all Awakened?'
The idea was as exciting as it was frightening. Not having to fight for resources with anybody else was an incredible advantage. Most of the human society in the Dream Realm was built around the acquisition of soul shards. If he had no need to gather them to evolve… not only would he be able to become more powerful with incredible speed, he would also be completely self-sufficient.
On the other hand, he had no idea how to acquire these shadow fragments. However, he had gotten twelve of them somehow already: so whatever it was that he had to do, he had already done it in the First Nightmare.
'I'll have to explore this carefully.'
Satisfied with this decision, Sunny continued to study the runes.
Memories: [Silver Bell], [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.]
'What is that supposed to mean?'
Sunny held his breath and began to read the description again, but at that moment, a new set of runes appeared just below it. Simultaneously, the Spell's voice resounded in the black void.
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a Flaw.]
[Your Flaw is: …]
Sunny read the runes, and his eyes widened in horror.
'Oh, no. No, no, no...'