41: Dream of Shadows

The dreamscape surrounding Sunny was ephemeral, shifting, and shrouded in shadows. Above him, the sun was like a circle of darkness, with crimson light drowning in a fiery sea of clouds. However, none of that light reached him.

In the gloomy hall of black marble, only an empty silence reigned.

...Which was now shattered by the sound of a baby's cry, of course.

The woman's screams had long since fallen silent. As Sunny looked into the stygian depths of the dark marble hall, he saw nothing but endless shadows. The baby's cries came from somewhere beyond them.

...Or perhaps from within them.

A subtle thought entered Sunny's mind. The monumental walls, the colossal columns, the grand hall... all seemed strangely familiar. As if he had been here once, a long time ago.

The only things missing were the signs of desolation and a great altar carved from a single block of black marble. In fact, it should have been right where the cries were coming from.

Familiar words appeared in his mind, now filled with new meaning.

'...Son of Shadows?'

The next moment, everything disappeared.

***

The world was swaying. An apparently endless surface of black stone flowed before his vision, moving up and down.

...No, it wasn't the stone, but Sunny himself. He was the one swaying.

'Wh-what?!'

Indeed, Sunny found himself in the body... of a small child. He was currently being held gently by a young woman walking down a long stone corridor, dimly lit by burning torches. Hence the swaying.

The girl was very young, no older than Sunny himself, in his real body. She was slender and exquisitely beautiful, with soft porcelain skin and long jet-black hair. The slender beauty was dressed in a flowing silk robe that exposed her delicate neck and shoulders.

A black snake was coiled around her arms and neck, its scales so intricately tattooed that it sometimes seemed as if the creature were moving. Whoever had marked the girl's skin with this image was a true genius in their craft. Sunny had never seen anything like it in the real world.

However, he had seen similar marks in Nightmare.

…This was the mark of a slave belonging to the God of Shadow.

The young woman was a temple slave, just as he had been in his First Nightmare. The snake coiled around her neck and arms served as both a collar and shackles.

She was also the mother of the little one. Sunny realized this from the love with which she held the child and the gentle smile that appeared on her face every time she looked at him.

Sunny might have lost his own mother at an early age, but at least he still remembered that.

"If the mother is a slave, the child is too."

Finally, Sunny began to understand what was happening to him.

The dream he was in did not belong to him. Instead, it belonged to the nameless temple slave whose role he had assumed during the First Nightmare.

The original Son of Shadows.

This vision was his memory.

***

Soon, the young woman entered a grand hall shrouded in darkness. Judging by the black marble walls, they were in another part of the ancient temple. Sunny couldn't see much of his surroundings, but somehow he could tell they were underground.

In the center of the hall, seven tall braziers burned with strange, pale flames. On the edges of the light, motionless, stood a dozen people.

Sunny shuddered and suddenly remembered the silent shadows that populated his Sea of Soul. However, these were not ghosts, but humans. There were several more slaves, while the rest appeared to be priests.

To be honest, there wasn't much difference between them. It seemed as if the servants of the God of Shadows did not pursue opulence and status. In fact, many of the priests bore the same marks as the slaves, suggesting that they themselves had once belonged to the temple.

'What are they doing here? What's happening?'

Approaching one of the older slaves, the young beauty entrusted the child to them. Separated from the warmth of his mother's chest, the child... Sunny... felt cold and afraid. However, the older woman comforted him with kind words, preventing the child from crying.

Then, she stepped back to stand with the rest of the people gathered in the underground hall. Their faces were calm and solemn.

The young woman, meanwhile, walked slowly toward the circle of light. Her movements were elegant, fluid, and graceful.

Stopping in the center, she remained still among the seven pale flames, surrounded by seven shadows.

Sunny stared at the beautiful slave, feeling that something important was about to happen.

But what?

While he was pensive and uneasy, a sudden sound broke the silence. It was the deep, reverberating sound of a zither.

As the musical instrument sang, the slave moved suddenly.

As she did, her seven shadows moved with her.

'This... this is...'

With wide eyes, Sunny watched the young woman.

She was dancing.

The beautiful slave danced in the circle of light surrounded by impenetrable darkness, each movement filled with indescribable grace and clear yet elusive purpose. Her young body was flexible and agile, yet also strong and trained as much as a warrior's. Her skill as a dancer was like that of a battle master.

It was mesmerizing.

The young woman wove a beautiful pattern with her movements, her cadence and nature simultaneously firm and fluid, sharp and soft, clear and unpredictable. She danced alone but also with seven companions, effortlessly controlling both her own body and the seven shadows projected by it.

Sometimes it was hard to tell which of them was real.

Her dance was... insidious, formless, and ever-changing.

Sunny froze.

He recognized these movements. They were the same as how his shadow moved.

This was the source and origin of the fighting style he wanted to create.

This was the Shadow Dance...

***

Jonathan sensed a change in Sunny's emotions and became alert.

He had been attentive to Sunny's dreams since the beginning of the month at Ashen Barrow after teaching him what he needed to do, all with the purpose of seeing what the spell did when one was transported to a dream by it.

And what he felt... Well, it was something terrifying.

When he felt Sunny's soul, it was there, still in his body, without many changes or fluctuations, it was calm but...

When he focused more on his soul, he could sense an intrusive entity in it.

That thing, whatever it was, was hidden so deeply in his soul that he almost didn't perceive it if he hadn't known something special was happening to Sunny.

As far as he knew, this was the moment when Sunny should be seeing the dream that would reveal the Shadow Dance, his aspect legacy.

That had been Jonathan's goal all this month. Of course, he had done more than just that; he had also made Nephis build the boat with the demon's body and take it to the western peak.

He also prevented her from going to that hill too often so that Sunny could practice with her. Now, with his goal achieved, all that was left was to climb to the top of the tree with Sunny and grant him his new attribute.

In any case, aside from all that, the emotions he felt from Sunny as he entered his dream were:

Fear, caution, excitement, fascination.

All that in a few minutes, it seemed that dream was a source of various emotions for Sunny.

It all lasted a few minutes until Sunny woke up.

He sat up quickly, his brow furrowed in deep contemplation. His soul reflected his thoughts; suspicion, joy, and astonishment, then disbelief, and then joy again.

He had really experienced a lot in a short time.

"Sunny, hey. Did something happen? You have a strange look on your face right now," Jonathan asked, already knowing the answer but still waking Sunny from his fascination.

Sunny looked at him perplexed for a moment before standing up and accusing Jonathan.

"You! How did you know about this, don't tell me you didn't know because you guided me to discover this." He blurted out, with a mix of confusion and joy.

"Calm down, calm down. First, tell me what you mean by what I knew, I don't understand you right now, so either you calm down or I'll calm you down."

The last part of his sentence sounded like a threat, which Sunny took seriously and stepped back.

"My legacy, I just discovered my aspect legacy.

And you guided me to discover it, that's why you asked me to watch the shadows and then fight while observing the shadows of others. You knew that this way I would obtain my aspect legacy," Sunny said, his voice not very loud but filled with doubts.

Jonathan looked at him for a moment, examining his soul and emotions before speaking.

"No, I didn't know that would unlock your aspect legacy. But yes, I guided you to learn about the shadows because I noticed something peculiar in your soul."

He paused for a few seconds, watching how Sunny's emotions changed, and then continued:

"I knew it from how your soul behaved when you fought with others. Your soul seemed to move and adapt to your enemies, but it seemed you weren't aware of it, and since you are attuned to shadows, I thought that if your soul changed with them, you might also have something special that would change if you molded yourself to the shadows of others."

Trying to sound convincing, he said all this with a firm and relaxed voice. And apparently, either because of the spell that Sunny had that avoided very complex thoughts, he seemed to believe him, and his emotions returned to their normal fluctuations.

"Fine, I'll believe you, but you should know that you're a very suspicious person, Jonathan."

Thus, both moved a bit away from each other and slept, well, only Jonathan, Sunny remained awake.