Shadow Slave

Sitting inside the Vile Thieving Bird's nest, Sunny frowned and clenched his fists.

Something unnatural was happening to them ever since they came to the Ashen Barrow. Now that he had remembered Cassie's warning, it was apparent that their minds were affected, making them forgetful and easily distracted.

Even now that he knew about it, thinking straight was strangely hard. It took all of his will just to keep the knowledge of the anomaly in his memory.

The events of these past few days were still hazy. Remembering something else, Sunny closed his eyes in frustration.

Had they really spent mere days on this island? The number of shadow fragments he received from eating Soul Tree fruits suggested otherwise. It was quite possible that as much as a whole month had passed since the first time they ate them.

And their minds were corroded a bit more with every day that passed. Pretty soon, there would be nothing left of them at all. Only empty shells, walking around wearing their faces.

Sunny's face paled.

With a growing feeling of dread, he realized that there were large gaps in his memory. He could not remember how they got to the Ashen Barrow, and where they were going. Other things, too, were unclear and blurry.

'Stay calm.'

Despite how compromised his memory was, there were still ways to understand what was going on, and then maybe undo it. After all, he was able to remember Cassie's warning. That meant that their memories were not gone, just obfuscated.

'First step: resist the impulse to forget everything again.'

Not succumbing to the constant pull on his mind was not an easy task, but he was able to manage, at least for now.

'Second step: try to understand the reason why you were able to remember these things.'

When Cassie begged him to remember the number five, she must have already known that he would receive a new Attribute. He had noticed the existence of the mysterious fifth Attribute as the result, which triggered the frightening revelation.

However, why was he able to not forget about the existence of the fifth Attribute altogether?

What made him so special? Cassie had even said that he was the only one who could do it. Why him and not Changing Star?

Sunny massaged his temples. Then, a sudden realization came to him.

'Doubtless!'

One of the enchantments of the Puppeteer's Shroud was providing him with a small amount of resistance against mind attacks. That's why he was slightly less susceptible to the frightening forgetfulness that infected them on the Ashen Barrow.

to eat the "miraculous" fruits. Why he had often felt that things

Puppeteer's Shroud, and that's why she had chosen him instead

'Smart girl.'

state was the result of a mind attack. But who could

was

'That damned tree!'

Sunny felt cold sweat

ancient and utterly horrifying Nightmare Creature. If he was right, then its power had to be

able to drain a whole area of the crimson labyrinth

Of all the horrors in this hell, it might have been the most

no other Nightmare Creature dared to approach the Ashen Barrow. Even monsters were afraid of the

equally harrowing things that dwelled beneath

a moment, Sunny entertained the idea of setting it on fire, but quickly abandoned it. He would need a volcanic eruption

'So… what to do?'

for some time, Sunny decided not to be hasty and

had to know the exact

again to read the

there, but could not remember what it

'Figures.'

his own, Sunny moved his attention to the Mark of Divinity. New runes appeared under its

Attribute Description: "You bear a faint scent of divinity, as though someone briefly touched by it once, a long time

Divinity] is

wasting time,

name and the description of the Attribute changed. The new runes

Attribute: [Spark of Divinity].

"Every fire starts from a spark. Somewhere deep

not he wanted to proceed was just a formality, and the Attribute already evolved back when he had consumed the drop

to divinity has increased. Neat. Although I'm not sure

some other stuff like

being called Weaver, and then became able to see the strings that were weaved through the Memories, giving them their unique qualities.

this was true, did it mean that there were different kinds of divinity? And he inherited a small

had heard about was named in a similar fashion. There was Shadow God, War God… well, that's it. He had never heard the names of any other

name was

not a deity at

he, she or it was actually one of