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.

and there. Sadly, the ingenious system of mirrors that was supposed to

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

his

chase away the last remnants of sleep. His long, dirty hair was

'Let's make some breakfast.'

But first things first…

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

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

already been four months since Sunny came to this loathsome,

had happened during

***

surrounded by tall walls, with monsters wandering its narrow streets. And in the center of the city, there was a hill with

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

no Gateway

luck — were stuck there with no hope of ever returning to the real world. It was nothing but

Oh, what a fool he had been. So full of hope and newfound faith in humanity… where's that faith

bent over and

Good one, Sunny. What do

at him with reproach. Its silence only made Sunny laugh

time ago. Probably around his third week of 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

'Good times…'

Anyway, he survived.

over to a table that he had scavenged from the ruins of a library and glanced at the grey rock