Shadow Slave

Chapter 9

There was a problem.

They were planning to follow the road up to the mountain pass and then over it, getting as far away from the scene of the massacre as they could before the night came. However, the road was no more.

At some point during the last months, or maybe even just yesterday, a terrible rockfall occurred, obliterating whole segments of the narrow roadway and making its other parts untraversable. Sunny stood on the precipice of a vast chasm, looking down with no particular expression on his face.

"What do we do now?"

Scholar's voice was muffled by the collar of his scavenged fur cloak. His follower, Shifty, angrily looked around. His gaze stopped at Sunny — a suitable victim to vent his frustration.

"I'll tell you what we need to do! Get rid of some dead weight!"

He eyed Sunny's fine boots and turned to Hero:

"Listen, your lordship. The boy is too weak. He is slowing us down! Plus, he's weird. Doesn't he give you the creeps?"

The young soldier answered with a judgemental frown, but Shifty wasn't done.

"Look! Look how he's glaring at me! I swear to gods, ever since he joined the caravan, nothing had gone right. Maybe the old man was right: the boy is cursed by the Shadow God!"

Sunny struggled to not roll his eyes. It was true that he was unlucky: however, the whole truth was opposite to what Shifty was trying to insinuate. It was not that he had attracted misfortune to the slave caravan; on the contrary, it was because the caravan was doomed to begin with that he had ended up here.

Scholar cleared his throat:

"But I've never said that…"

"Whatever! Shouldn't we get rid of him just in case?! He can't go on for much longer anyway!"

Scholar gave Sunny a strange look. Perhaps Sunny was getting paranoid, but there seemed to be a bit of calculating coldness in the older slave's eyes. Finally, Scholar shook his head.

too hasty, my friend. The

"But…"

finally spoke, putting an end

much longer he'll be able to endure — just worry about

his teeth, but then just waved a

do we do

the mountain, and finally up, where a sheer cliff wall was broken apart by the falling

used to be a path leading to the peak of the mountain. It was sometimes used by pilgrims. Later, the Empire had widened parts of the path and built a proper road on

He looked up.

above us. If we reach it, we should be able

uncomfortably at the prospect of climbing the treacherous slope. Except for Hero, of course,

wasn't an almost vertical wall anymore, but still, the incline was

was the first one

Are

Scholar helplessly shrugged.

you have a better

did. After a bit of preparation, they began the ascent. Shifty and Scholar stubbornly carried the weapons they had picked up off the dead soldier's bodies, but Sunny, with some regret, decided to leave his

As the weakest member of the group, he was already struggling to keep up, so there wasn't a lot

on his shoulders was already hard enough, but climbing up the mountain itself turned out to be pure torture. Just half an hour later, he felt like his muscles were going to melt, with his lungs on

his footing, too. On this unstable,

about something pleasant,' he

happy thoughts could he

was going to receive at the end of this trial. The boon of the First Nightmare was the most important

power. But it was this first one that determined what role an Awakened would be able to play, how great their potential would be, and what price they would have to pay… not

was simple, yet possibly the most important: after completing their trial, Aspirants were bestowed with the ability to perceive, and interact with, Soul Cores. Soul Cores were the

but a tyrant like Mountain King had five. Coincidentally, the only

of their way to battle powerful Nightmare Creatures despite the risk

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