Shadow Slave

Sleep was avoiding Sunny. For a while, he sat silently in the darkness, listening to the calming rumbling of the waves. In this rare moment of respite, memories of the past few days came flooding into his mind. However, he was too tired to seriously think about anything. He was warm, full, and relatively safe. For now, that was more than enough.

Soon, the rhythm of Cassia's breathing changed, indicating that she fell asleep. Nephis was guarding the camp, motionless and, as always, a bit distant. With her silver hair and fair skin, she looked like an alabaster statue.

Sunny sighed. He struggled for a bit, and then said quietly:

"Hey. Can I ask you a question?"

Nephis glanced at him and shrugged. The lack of an audible response clearly indicated that she remembered about his ability to see in the dark.

"Sure."

'Would it be too personal?'

Sunny hesitated.

"I thought you Legacies come into the Spell with a whole inherited arsenal of Memories. I mean, that's supposed to be your main advantage. How come you only had three?"

Nephis was silent for a few moments.

"Actually, I only had two. The rope came from Cassie."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh. I see."

Realizing that her answer wasn't really an answer, Nephis thought for a while and added:

"We lost most of our Memories when my father passed away. The ones that remained were sold one by one over the years, to keep the family afloat. This sword and armor came from my First Nightmare."

So that's how it was. Sunny realized that the fall of the Immortal Flame clan might have been more thorough than he had thought. Still, something about it didn't make sense.

"Surely, with your clan's reputation and standing, there were other ways to make money."

Without any strong reaction, Nephis simply said:

"There were other reasons."

Then, she unexpectedly turned her head in his direction.

"Can I ask you a question in return?"

Sunny swallowed.

"Yeah, go ahead."

Nephis tilted her head.

"How did you know that I'm a Legacy?"

'What? That's it?'

"Simple. I heard Caster mention it. He was scolding other Sleepers to make them treat you with respect."

She gave him a nod and turned away. What thoughts were hidden behind her calm grey eyes, Sunny did not know.

courage to ask the question that he really wanted to ask. Before doing it, though,

ask

a negative response, he

burdening yourself with

Changing Star's mouth curled

"Why? Wouldn't you?"

Flaw pushing the truthful answer out of

"No."

he wanted to believe to the last moment that the answer would be "yes". But one of the things he had lost after

not pity the blind girl or didn't want to help her. It's just that he knew with certainty that it was simply not something he could do. He

couldn't help but be a little disappointed in

to judge him. She showed no reaction at all.

"Because I want to."

'Because… she wants to?'

pretty sure that she would either lecture him about virtue and compassion

believe that she was putting her life in danger, to the point of sacrificing an awakened

'Ridiculous!'

first, he dismissed her response as a non-answer. But the more he thought about

maybe, it was actually the

to. Most of the time, he was doing them because he needed to. It was never a question of "want"... it was always a question of "must". For him, this was a basic rule of

but they weren't as ample as he had imagined. She had no wealth and no arsenal of relics to empower her. However, she did have a mentality that was different

the audacity to disregard need in favor of something

simply because

was the greatest advantage of

the real barrier that separated Legacies from

was a lot to think about. However, before Sunny could gather his thoughts, Nephis

"My turn."

her turn to

meant. Changing Star once again turned to Sunny and,

the

What sort of a

head. Then, remembering that she

"No."

A few moments later, she

Awakened. Achilles with an Aspect of indestructible body, Diomedes that was so ferocious even the God of War was

staring at

Where did this come from? Why is she suddenly

Meanwhile, Nephis continued:

Over

creating an

delights. As long as loving Calypso was by his side, Odysseus was even immortal. But…

Nephis smiled.

boat and abandoned the island, leaving all its delights, the beautiful fairy, and even his immortality behind. So, my question is… why did he

Sunny blinked.

'What?'

was that? He even considered that Nephis was mocking him, but it

'Weirdo!'

a bit, and then said without too

he was far away

appeared

away… from home.

turned away and lowered he head, becoming like a