Shadow Slave

"Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is…"

"Shut the hell up!"

Trying to remain in the blissful embrace of sleep, Sunny hissed through his teeth and stubbornly closed his eyes tighter. He was warm and comfortable under the blanket, on his own bed, where all the problems of the world seemed less serious and dire.

For a moment, there was silence.

'That's better…'

"Wake up, Sunless! Your…"

'Goddammit!'

Thrusting one arm from under the blanket, Sunny summoned one of his Memories. Immediately, a triangular leaf-shaped throwing dagger appeared in his hand, only to be thrown blindly at the source of the irritating voice. Missing its mark, the kunai clinked against the stone wall and fell to the floor.

However, the voice did fall silent.

Sunny sighed. It was already too late. He was awake.

Far in the distance, the waves were starting to crash against the city wall. The night was coming, so it was time to get up.

Opening his eyes, Sunny sat up and looked around.

His room was beautiful and spacious. The stone walls were engraved with intricate patterns, creating an atmosphere of sanctity and elegance. The furniture was made out of pale polished wood, with several mismatched pieces that Sunny had scavenged from different places himself.

there. Sadly, the ingenious system

one of the features of his secret lair that he enjoyed the

was his

up and rubbed his face to chase away the last remnants of sleep. His long, dirty hair was getting in the way, so

'Let's make some breakfast.'

But first things first…

on his palm. This was a trick that had taken Sunny quite some time to master: in the beginning, he almost lost a couple of fingers while trying to learn how to control

scratch a small line into the stone. All around it, there were dozens and dozens of similar

already been four months since Sunny came

had happened during that

***

to be true. Far in the west, they indeed found a vast, ruined city surrounded by tall walls, with monsters wandering its narrow streets. And in the center of the city, there was

people. However, they weren't Awakened, as the three of them had hoped. Instead, they were,

were no

or luck — were stuck there with no hope of ever returning to the real world. It

Oh, what a fool he had

hysterically, he bent over

Good one, Sunny. What do you think about

reproach. Its silence only made Sunny laugh louder. He just

week of living alone in the city. He was more or less alright after leaving the castle due to that unfortunate falling out with… well,

Sunny no choice but to crawl away while using his own two hands to stop his intestines from falling out. After finding his way to a secluded ditch and lying there for a few days, too weak to move and simply waiting to die, with not a soul around to help him,

'Good times…'

Anyway, he survived.

walked over to a table that he had scavenged from the ruins of