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.

however, there were light wells cunningly hidden here and there. Sadly, the ingenious system of mirrors that was supposed to bathe the hidden chamber

In fact, this was one of the features of his secret lair that he enjoyed the

was his

his face to chase away the last remnants of sleep. His long,

'Let's make some breakfast.'

But first things first…

jumped into the air and landed 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

to a wall empty of engravings, he used the kunai to scratch a small line into the stone. All around it, there were dozens and dozens of similar lines, grouped neatly

been four months since Sunny came to this loathsome,

had happened during

***

monsters wandering its narrow

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

were no Gateway in the

had managed to survive the lethal hellscape of the Forgotten Shore due to their strength or luck — were stuck there with no hope of ever returning to the real world. It was nothing but a graveyard of

but laugh out loud. Oh, what a fool he had been. So full of hope and newfound faith

over and slapped his

What do you

didn't respond, staring at him with reproach. Its silence only made Sunny laugh louder.

living alone in the city. He was more or less alright after leaving the castle due to that unfortunate

on his third week, that damn bastard of a knight had almost disemboweled him, leaving 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, Sunny wasn't quite

'Good times…'

Anyway, he survived.

he had scavenged from the ruins