Shadow Slave

The Sleeper part of the compound was relatively small and situated in the southern part of the Academy, surrounded on all sides by training fields and parks.

It was a low, modern building constructed with reinforced materials. Like the majority of buildings in the Academy, most of it was hidden below the ground, leaving only a couple of floors above it. With its white, pristine alloy walls and wide windows, it must have looked beautiful in the summer, contrasted against all the greenery around.

Inside, the building was spacious and well-lit. Sunny and the silver-haired girl were taken to a large hall where a hundred or so of young men and women — Sleepers of the same unfortunate timing as the two of them — were already waiting for the beginning of the induction ceremony. Most of them were nervous, tense and excited.

Logistics of the Academy were a constant headache for the administrators since the rate at which the Spell infected people was always chaotic. There was no way to orderly structure for batches of Sleepers to undergo any type of standardized education on a shared schedule: some of them had a full year to prepare for the Dream Realm, some only months, some even mere days.

That's why these induction ceremonies were held each month at the beginning of the year and then every week once the winter solstice began to loom near. Some of the Sleepers in the hall had to wait days to be inducted, while Sunny had lucked out and was delivered to the Academy just hours before the scheduled event.

Once inside the hall, he understood two things.

Firstly, everyone was well-dressed and in possession of a suitcase, a duffel bag, or at least a backpack carrying their personal belongings. They were obviously coming prepared, most likely from home, sent off by their families. So Sunny and the silver-haired girl, who came empty-handed and wearing simple police-issued clothes, were not a norm like he had assumed, but actually an eye-catching anomaly.

'Right. That makes sense.'

Secondly, Master Jet was not being overly humble when she called herself below average by Awakened standards. Even though these young people were just starting their paths as Awakened, their looks were dazzling. Everyone was handsome, beautiful and radiated health.

He swallowed.

'Still, I feel like none of them compare. She might not be as perfectly shaped, but… I don't know… she has a presence. It's like shadows become deeper and the temperature drops by a couple of degrees when she's in a room.'

Was this the difference between a Sleeper and a Master?

But all of these thoughts were just him trying to postpone the inevitable. Sunny already knew that he was in for a wild ride.

Because he could not lie, and all of these excited youths, regardless of their clothes, gender and looks, wanted to do one thing.

Talk.

Every one of them wanted to talk with fellow Sleepers. They wanted to discuss their Nightmares, their future journey into the Dream Realm, and everything in between. They wanted to ask questions. They wanted to be asked questions. They wanted to discuss something important or just chit-chat about stupid things.

Everyone wanted to share.

a nightmare!' Sunny moaned, disturbed and fearful.

bit of grim determination, he

think about it as a continuation of your trial. You survived the black mountain, so you can

monsters and even gods. Was he going to be afraid of a bunch of

underestimated how scary teenagers can

half an hour, pretty much everyone in

series of conversations, Sunny had acquired a reputation of an obnoxious, foul-mouthed pervert. This reputation was quickly solidified. He was slapped a few times and even punched once. He also discovered a couple of new things

conversations went something

many do you think will return from the Dream Realm? How many will perish? What do you think our own chances of survival

but I'm pretty sure that a pompous fool like you

Or:

Memory in my Nightmare. It's an enchanted robe. Would you like to

to

Or:

They even took their

took his

killed someone just for a

other reasons. I also took

he found a quiet corner and stood there, glad that no one wanted to talk to him anymore. His face

However, he was smiling.

the whole batch of

learned how to

question, he could not keep quiet. He also couldn't lie. However, after a lot of experimentation, Sunny had found out that with a

him to say that answer aloud. Refusal to speak would result in the buildup of pressure, then piercing pain.

of the answer could be changed. The more it strayed from the initial thought, the more resistance he would meet — once again

was looking at, instead of embarrassing himself Sunny would have been able to endure a bit of pain and

be the truth, however,

corner, Sunny grinned

This is great. This is something

to lie to deceive a person. Sometimes, truth was the best material for

***