Shadow Slave

Sunny fell into the soft embrace of spiderwebs, screaming, his whole body convulsing in spasms of terrible pain. The unbearable agony radiated through his nervous system, his mind drowning in the endless torrent of torturous, excruciating, harrowing suffering.

It felt as though every muscle, every fiber, every molecule of his body was being torn apart and reassembled, only to be torn apart again. His eyes, especially, felt as though there were two white-hot metal rods inserted in them, making all the other pain pale in comparison. Or maybe they had become searing spheres of molten metal themselves…

He clawed at his face, leaving bloody marks on it. However, seconds later they were already gone, erased by some unknown force. His voice was soon gone, too, leaving Sunny without an outlet to express his horrible torment.

The process was the opposite of the gentle rebirth he had experienced after passing the First Nightmare. It was violent, ruthless and unnatural, forcefully reshaping Sunny's body into something that it was not meant to be.

That nothing was ever meant to be.

Powerless to stop it, Sunny had no choice but to endure the agony. All he could do was try not to go mad from pain. Tears were streaming down his face, leaving bloody trails in their wake. There was no end to torture.

…Then, after what felt like an eternity, there was. The pain subsided, lessened, and finally vanished. Sunny was left lying on the thick carpet of spiderwebs, utterly drained and depleted.

In the silence that was broken only by the hoarse sound of his ragged breathing, the Spell's voice whispered:

[You have acquired a new Attribute.]

[One of your Attributes is ready to evolve.]

***

Sunny remained motionless for a long time, slowly coming back to his senses. The memory of the terrible ordeal was still echoing in his mind, making him shudder from time to time. He was afraid to open his eyes and look at his body, afraid to see himself changed in some horrific, repulsive way.

'Have I become a monster?'

dread, Sunny shut his

like a monster. In fact, he didn't feel different at all. From what he could tell, he still had two hands, two legs, and soft

as though nothing

on. Just

his eyes and looked himself over. Everything was the same. He shifted his

He was still human.

he couldn't quite describe it. It was as though his vision was slightly different from before. The world seemed… deeper, somehow. Sunny only noticed the difference because of the contrast between his own perception

were more or less

ichor… that came from the

he raised a hand and touched his eyes. They felt

He just couldn't understand in what

blood on one of his fingers. It came from a small scratch on his cheek, one that had not healed like

golden liquid he had absorbed was still there, now a part of him, strongly diluted and fused into his own bloodstream. The shine was so faint that he

the light, it wouldn't be

hell… have I done

simultaneously thinking about the golden shine. Something switched in Sunny's head, and suddenly, he

His eyes widened.

surface of the grey fabric, five glowing embers were shining with ethereal light. Each of them represented a nexus and anchor

of the

of understood the pattern. A newly found innate knowledge helped him sense the traces of logic behind the seemingly chaotic placement of the strings, a defined purpose behind every twist and turn. They were meant to achieve certain effects… durability, resilience… and

understanding came naturally to him, as though it was his innate

need to...

There was the looming Shadow Core, the shining satellites of his Memories, and the strange feeling that something was moving just

head to try and catch sight of that something, knowing that he would not see