2 Silent Friend

The spell's voice faded and his surroundings went black.

Immediately he tried to move his arms but felt them being restricted.

Sunny opened his eyes. Finally grasping his situation he looked at the ceiling of the police station's vault before turning his head to the bulky restrains that pinned him down.

'I survived.'

He laid his head back on the iron bed and sighed. Not knowing if his life was outside the Nightmare was any better than within.

In his First Nightmare, he had spent days on end fighting against opponents that outnumbered, and even outclassed him, knowing full well that if he even hesitated he'd lose his life. But to him, that was fun— exhilarating even.

Especially when considering the waking world alternative of starving in the outskirts with nothing to his name, and no one to miss him when he was gone.

His hand twitched restlessly, but all the while his face remained passive. Not revealing a hit of his internal struggle, as he made a realization. 

'I want to keep fighting.'

Shaking his head, he let out a low sigh and finally began to take in the rest of his surroundings. Wondering if there was someone around to let him out of his restrains.

And then, he slowly looked down and froze, breathless.

'What in the-'

On a cheap plastic chair placed beside his reinforced medical bed sat the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She had short, raven-black hair and icy-blue eyes. Her flawless skin was smooth, supple, and as white as snow. Actually, this was Sunny's first time meeting someone as pale as himself. However, unlike Sunny whose complexion looked strange and unhealthy, the beautiful stranger was nothing short of striking.

The woman seemed to be in her late twenties. She was wearing a dark blue uniform with silver epaulets and black leather boots. The jacket of her uniform was casually unbuttoned, revealing a black tank top beneath.

Currently, she was stretching her arms above her head, clearly bored and sleepy. The gesture forced the thin fabric to tighten, provocatively accentuating her full breasts.

Mesmerized, Sunny almost missed the fact that there was a shoulder insignia on the woman's left sleeve. There were three stars on it.

'Three stars, huh,' he thought, distracted. 'Three stars means an Ascended… wait-'

But before his thoughts could go any further, he noticed that the woman was staring at him too.

"What are you looking at?" she said, not a gram of humor in her voice.

Sunny panicked but quickly came up with an excuse. Keeping the restraints of his flaw in mind. 

"You," Sunny answered curtly. Before quickly changing the topic of conversation, "Are all awakened as beautiful as you?"

The woman's lips twitched slightly as if thrown off by his question but she quickly recomposed herself with an amused smirk.

"No, not all, but by awakened standards, I'm below average."

Sunny glanced at her with doubt.

The woman shook her head.

"As your soul core develops, the body gets rid of all its imperfections. So it's hard to find an unattractive awakened, especially among the stronger ones. Even you seem to have become quite the flower boy after just your First Nightmare."

She gave him a playful look and added:

"In any case, since you're awake— Welcome back to the land of the living. Congratulations on surviving your First Nightmare, Sleeper Sunless."

***

Sleeper Sunless.

After his time as a nameless outskirts kid and a slave, being called his name, much less with an honorific was a pleasant experience. But he couldn't bask in its afterglow as he had much more pressing matters.

Sunny's head was full of racing thoughts, he was tempted to summon his runes immediately but held himself back, considering the lack of familiarity with the ascended in front of him. 

The beautiful woman stood up and approached the reinforced medical bed. With practiced moves, she began to undo the restraint holding Sunny in place.

"I am Ascended Jet. You can call me Master Jet. These past three days, I was on watch duty due to your Nightmare."

'Right… before I fell asleep, the policeman told me that an Awakened would arrive in a few hours to monitor my condition. To kill the Nightmare Creature if… if I die and let it through.'

Sunny was unwilling to open his mouth, terrified that all sorts of truths would come spilling out. But there were things he simply had to know.

"Master Jet? I have a question."

"Go on."

"Why would a Master be put on watch duty? Isn't it… below your pay grade?"

Jet gave him a dark look.

"You're smarter than you seem. Recently, there were a lot of Gates opening in this sector. Most of the local Awakened are either wounded or occupied with the clean-up. Or dead. It's always like that close to the winter solstice."

She opened the final restraint and took a step back.

"Plus, there's not a lot of Awakened who, like me, directly work for the government. It's by far the least lucrative or glorious carrier one of us can choose. Would you abandon wealth and fame to work abysmal hours and risk your life, fuelled only by altruism and sense of duty?"

Sunny's eyes darkened as he barely even considered it before responding.

"No, I have absolutely no reason to care about anyone from the government, especially after they abandon a fifth of the population to the outskirts."

She stared at him with a humorless expression, but her eyes glowed as if she was reminiscing about something. But she quickly recomposed herself with what looked like a forced smile.

"See, I was right. You really are smart."

***

Sunny was enjoying a hot shower. After their short conversation, the woman who had introduced herself as Master Jet had sent him to clean himself, saying that he "reeked of Nightmare". Whatever that meant. But Sunny wasn't complaining.

After all, he was finally alone.

And with just a thought, he summon his runes.

***

Name: Sunless

True Name: Lost From Light

Rank: Dreamer

Shadow Core: Dormant

Shadow Fragments: [939/1000]

Memories:[Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Cast of The Nine], [Slave's Garments], [Knife of Eve], [Larve Hust], [War Fanatics Pendant].

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Fated], [Essence of Divinity], [Prince of Shadows], [War], [Breach of Styx].

Attribute: [Essecnce of Divinity]

Attribute Description: [Born from the divinity of two major Gods, the divinity with you has reached such a density that it has permanently changed the nature of your essence.]

Attribute: [Prince of Shadows]

Attribute Description: [The long-dead God of Shadows, who had nothing left to his name but his pointless title, tore off a fragment of himself and named you his heir.]

Attribute: [War]

Attribute Description: [Having outperformed the followers of wars in their domain, you have taken the last inheritance they received before their God passed.]

Attribute: [Breach of Sytx]

Attribute: [You have assimilated multiple major divinities, standing as a symbol of a breached promise made on their names.]

Aspect: [Shadow Slave]

Aspect Rank: Divine

Aspect Abilities: [Shadow Control].

Flaw: [Clear Conscience]

***

'The hell?'

Initially, Sunny was overjoyed to see his abundance of attributes.

But as he read through their descriptions, his mood plummeted realizing that he couldn't learn a thing because of their vague wording.

'Why do I even try.'

So, in an attempt to distract himself. He turned his attention back to the running water, basking in its warmth as he calmed himself down.

***

After a bit of time had passed, Sunny reluctantly turned the tap off and walked over to the towel rack. Coincidentally, he saw himself reflecting in the mirror.

'Is that me?'

The changes in his physique were drastic, making him almost unrecognizable from his previous self. His pale skin was healthier gaining a subtle glow, and his muscles were much more pronounced. His physique now looked lean and muscular instead of emancipated and frail. There was a visible luster to his dark hair and a shine to his bottomless obsidian eyes.

His features combined looked almost as perfect as Jets, and he noticed an air of sharpness he hadn't possessed before.

'Flower boy, huh?' Sunny thought, understanding where Jet was coming from as he admired himself.

Then he suddenly paused, noticing something strange. As he was looking at himself in the mirror, the reflection of his shadow seemed to move. It was as though the shadow lowered its head and quietly facepalmed.

Sunny quickly turned around, looking at his shadow with subtle intrigue. However, everything seemed normal. The shadow was doing exactly what it was supposed to do, repeating his every motion.

"I see… so that's what the spell meant by 'independent'." He smirked, trusting his intuition as he looked at the shadow with amusement.

His shadow, noticing that he wasn't buying his act, just shrugged tiredly, causing Sunny's smile to grow.

"So what exactly can you do?"

The shadow was silent and motionless.

'So it can't talk.'

Somewhat stumped at what to do, he thought of an idea and decided to try something different.

He closed his eyes and directed his perception within, exploring himself for the first time since returning to the real work.

As his focus became deeper, he felt the beating of his heart, the steady rising of his chest, the slight chill of the shower room. He heard droplets of water falling on the tiled floor. Felt the movement of filtered air against his skin.

And there, on the verge of his consciousness, something new.

Sunny concentrated on it, and suddenly a whole other world opened to him. It was hard to describe with words, just like one would have trouble explaining how hearing or touch feels. It was as though he could communicate with vast forms that crowded around him and receive an understanding of both their own shape and the surrounding space. His perception expanded far beyond the police station and enveloped a portion of the entire city.

And despite the overload of information, he could somehow understand it.

That understanding came naturally and instantaneously, like an instinct honed since birth.

These forms were shadows. And among them, one— not the largest one, but the deepest— didn't feel like an external entity. It was like a part of his soul.

Once Sunny grasped the feeling of it, he could sense the shadow just like he sensed his limbs. The only thing was that his limbs were made out of flash, and the shadow was made from the absence of light.

Sunny opened his eyes and looked at the shadow, he willed it to raise an arm.

The shadow raised an arm.

'Interesting.'

Continuing with his experiment he tested the limits of what his shadow could do before finally stopping and turning his attention to the other shadows present in the room.

He willed them to move.

And they did, albeit only slightly as if they were met with some sort of resistance.

'I guess this is my limit.'

Giving up, Sunny sighed and took a towel off the rack.

"Alright. I'll explore it more later."

— — — — — — — — — — —

End of Chapter

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