Shadow Slave: The Blessing of Fate

'A... a Cursed Terror...'

Horrified, Sunny took an involuntary step back.

And just as he did, a pair of round, utterly insane eyes pierced him with a demented look.

A terrible pressure crashed into him, making it hard to breathe.

The Cursed Terror that had been hiding behind Oblivion's grave... was a giant, mad, and unmistakably vile bird.

'D-damnation!'

Sunny took a step back, but at the moment, the vile bird lunged forward, its demented eyes igniting with avarice and greed.

Before he could even react, he was drowned by its loathsome shadow. And then, its talons plunged into his chest.

Sunny gasped.

However, the talons did not rip his flesh apart. Instead, they dove much deeper, finding their way into his very soul.

Despite the fact that he was experiencing an indescribable agony, Sunny dove into his Soul Sea and was startled by what he witnessed.

A colossal horror, one more terrifying than any Nightmare Creature he had ever encountered, was sinking its dreadful talons into a glistening silhouette woven from countless strings.

'W-what...?'

The shape of this silhouette was unmistakably similar to something that he has known for years.

It was a silhouette that was shaped just like his very own body. The strings creating the familiar-looking weave were recognized by Sunny—they were strings of fate.

On the outside, they surrounded him like the threads that held up a marionette.

But on the inside, those strings produced a pattern that resembled his build; it felt as though they were a reflection of his very being.

And now, a vile terror was messing them up.

'Bastard!'

Sunny attempted to open his mouth to scream at the abomination, but no sound came out. He was nearly frozen solid by the torment it was inflicting on his soul—its presence had terrified him to the core.

However, he had to do something—he couldn't just let it do as it pleased. But how?

How is he supposed to stop something so horrible? A being that is able to scare senseless all that enters its gaze. He could not imagine ever fighting such an awful creature.

He used every drop of strength and clarity he had left, though it wasn't much... It was a laughable effort to be honest, but he had to try. Desperately manifesting a tangible shadow that shaped itself to resemble something akin to a javelin, Sunny threw the creation, with all of the power he had in him, at the abomination.

The javelin surged through his Soul Sea, its trajectory heading directly at the humongous bird.

The giant terror didn't so much as flinch. Seemingly undisturbed by the vague shape flying its way, it sank its talons even deeper into the shining silhouette, grasping onto many strings and tearing them apart, as if searching for something...

And then, perhaps due to some divine intervention, the javelin hit the vile thing right in one of its eyes. It didn't damage it whatsoever, but that wasn't necessary. All that was needed was a flinch, a squint of its eyes... anything.

The mad bird turned its head slightly, looking Sunny's way curiously with a demented look.

And then...

The vile terror was ejected out of Sunny's Soul Sea, releasing its grip on the strings of fate making up the golden weave.

Although torn up and incredibly damaged, it remained standing.

However, Sunny had no time to study it, because he was disturbed by a whisper entering his ear.

[Your nightmare... is... your... over... nightmare is...]

'What… what's happening to me!?' 

And then, everything disappeared.

The heart of the Estuary was gone. The beautiful tree and the sarcophagus resting beneath its branches were gone, too.

The harrowing bird plunging its talons into his chest was nowhere to be seen.

Sunny found himself in utter darkness.

...And then, he heard a familiar voice whispering.

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]

'... What?'

Sunny looked around and saw a known scene to him. He was walking, shackled by bloodied chains, on a path built on top of a jagged and lonesome mountain. The mountain's very peak seemed to cut the night sky. It was a landscape surrounded by a great mountain chain and with temperatures so freezing that anything alive would shiver. Such a cruel, brutal environment. Could anything survive its challenge? Bound to the chains in a long line were dozens of people, their eyes as hollow as they could get, looking as if they had given up on the very idea of survival.

'Just... how... what the...'

Consumed by utter confusion, Sunny lost his balance and stumbled, pulling on the chain with the weight of his body. The familiar man behind him, the shifty-looking guy, looked just like Sunny remembered.

"Whore's bastard! Watch where you're going!" Shifty shouted angrily.

He couldn't even perceive the idiot's screaming. The sight before him had brought him into complete disarray. Why was he back? How was he back?

Nothing made sense, and that terrified Sunny. If there was anything worthy of being feared, it was the unknown. Not just in the literal sense, but also those beings. The things he witnessed in the Estuary had almost ended him back then.

But now, he was back to the point where this journey filled with suffering and futility began—his First Nightmare.

He couldn't know if all of this was simply a dream. Perhaps this was the afterlife, and—in the real world—he had already died. 

Forcibly calming himself down, he focused on the most important thing at that moment…

His runes.

Sunny summoned his runes and read through them; he couldn't feel any of his cores, so he didn't even bother checking his rank and core statuses. The words before him made him almost stumble again.

***

Name: Sunless.

True Name: -

Rank: Aspirant.

Soul Core: Dormant.

Memories: -

Echoes: -

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

Aspect: [Fateful Slave].

Aspect Description: [Slave is a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention, but anything with affinity to fate is incredibly special. The chains of fate around you are supposed to be tighter than around anyone else. Though curiously, they seem to be loose instead.]

'Damnation…' Sunny was confused beyond belief.

'Still a slave, just a different kind?! Curses!'

As he was reviewing his runes, he noticed something peculiar. The Fated attribute seemed to be… greyed out.

'What the hell does that even mean...'

[Fated] Attribute Description: "The strings of fate wrap tightly around you. Unlikely events, both good and bad, are drawn by your presence. There are those who are blessed, and there are those who are cursed... but rarely both."

[This attribute is currently inactive.]

'I-Inactive?'

He wasn't certain what that meant, but he was mostly certain it was due to him being attacked by that wretched creature.

[Spark of Divinity] Attribute Description: "Every fire starts from a spark. Somewhere deep within your soul, a radiant spark shines with divine light."

'Wasn't this... supposed to be Mark of Divinity?'

Sunny was contemplating various reasons for this sudden change but got disturbed by a shout not long after.

"Stop the caravan! Prepare to camp!"

Following the head soldier's order, the slaves, including Sunny, stopped and fell to the ground. Most of them were shivering and completely exhausted. The small clearing where the road widened was somewhat protected from the wind by a protruding mass of rock, but it was still too cold to rest at ease.

Well, it wasn't that difficult for Sunny. The unspeakable things he went through up to this point were infinitely more dreadful than the cold. To others, he might look undisturbed by the terrible cold, but internally, he was freezing as well. However, there were bigger things at play.

He became the center of attention of another familiar slave, a man with a scholarly aura, who suddenly spoke up with curiosity seeping out of his voice.

"You don't seem to be affected by the cold much. Child... are you alright?"

'C-child!? Curses…'

Recognizing that he had become a teenager for the second time, Sunny inwardly scoffed at this realization. His face remained unfazed, even if he was disgusted with the idea.

"Oh, it's definitely cold, but I went through worse." Sunny replied with an emotionless tone.

"Do you mind me asking just what a child like you could have gone through?" Scholar asked.

'Again!'

"Well..."

'Hold on, what is this… It's like something is missing...'

…

'I—I have no Flaw!''

"Well, I am an incredible person after all! My kindness and humbleness know no bounds. Forged through endless torment, I've achieved the state of absolute peace and unity with my body and spirit. Ever heard of meditating? You should try it! I once meditated for a month straight without being disturbed in the slightest!"

"Oh... I see, incredible indeed." And with that, the Scholar lost his interest in Sunny and went back to minding his own business.

'What? Don't believe me?' Sunny chuckled internally.

With the bonfire blazing. The stronger slaves tried to find their way closer to the fire, while the weaker ones were forced to sit at the outer end of the circle, with their backs freezing in the cold. Of course, any movement was encumbered by the fact that they were still shackled to the chain. The broad-shouldered slave that once walked in front of Sunny ended up just where he started despite all of his efforts to get closer to the flame.

'Damn Imperials!'

"Damn Imperials!" He hissed, clearly irritated.

'Apart from the Scholar approaching me, even the timing is more or less the same.'

The soldiers walked among the slaves, giving them water and food. Sunny, just like everybody else, received a few sips of icy water and a small piece of rock-hard, moldy bread.

'Still most likely tastier than the rotting insides of an abomination playing the role of a chest…'

Sunny began wolfing down the moldy piece of bread and drinking his share of water hastily. He wasn't finished with his runes yet, and he already had an inkling of what was incoming.

Close to him, Shifty looked around in anguish.

"By all the gods, they used to feed me better even in the dungeons!"

'You should try eating a rotting demon next time. Those are true delicacies...' Sunny sarcastically remarked in his mind.

The shifty slave spat on the ground, desperate.

"And most of us innocent men in the dungeon were there waiting to visit the gallows, too!"

Around them a scattering of bright red berries was growing from the snow. These juicy berries would play a major role in conquering this Nightmare.

"I would advise against eating those, friend."

...

Sunny channeled the conversation out of his head. He already heard it once, so there wasn't any need to listen to it again. Instead, he summoned his runes excitedly and looked through them thoroughly.

***

Name: Sunless.

True Name: -

Rank: Aspirant.

Soul Core: Dormant.

Memories: -

Echoes: -

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

Aspect: [Fateful Slave].

Aspect Description: [Slave is a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention, but anything with affinity to fate is incredibly special. The chains of fate around you are supposed to be tighter than around anyone else. Though curiously, they seem to be loose instead.]

'Child of Shadows is still there…'

[Child of Shadows] Attribute Description: "Shadows noticed a lone being that carried itself like a true shadow. Although unbelonging to the shadows, they decided to recognize the being as one of their own."

'Oh… It figures that I remind them of a shadow, since I was a divine one after all...'

Just then, Sunny's attention turned to a thundering noise resounding throughout the camp, accompanied by a tremor running through the ground.

There was only one possibility.

The Mountain King was coming.