Shadow Slave

When Sunny realized that he was dreaming, the first thing that came to his mind was that there was another soul tree growing somewhere near the white arch. However, after a few moments of panic, he quickly dismissed this idea.

After all, he had never actually dreamt while under the mind hex of the ancient fiend. He had just mistaken the broken memories of his conversation with Cassie for a dream.

But this… this one was real.

The dreamscape that surrounded Sunny was ephemeral, shifting, and shrouded in shadows. Above him, the sun was like a circle of darkness, with crimson light drowning in a burning sea of clouds. However, none of that light reached him.

In the tenebrous hall of black marble, there was nothing but empty silence.

…Which was now destroyed by the sound of a baby crying, of course.

The woman's screams had long grown silent. Peering into the stygian depths of the dark marble hall, Sunny saw nothing but endless shadows. The baby's cries were coming from somewhere beyond them.

…Or from within them.

A subtle thought entered Sunny's mind. The monumental walls, the colossal columns, the grandiose hall… all of it looked strangely familiar. As though he had already been here once, a long time ago.

All that was missing were the signs of desolation and a large altar cut from a single block of black marble. In fact, it should have been standing right where the crying sounds were coming from.

Familiar words appeared in his mind, now full of new meaning.

'...Child of Shadows?'

In the next moment, everything disappeared.

***

The world was swaying. A seemingly endless surface of black stone was flowing past his vision, moving up and down.

but Sunny himself.

'Wh—what?!'

of a toddler. He was currently held gently by a young woman who

soft porcelain skin and long raven hair. The lissome

was coiled around her arms and neck, its scales so intricately tattooed that sometimes, it seemed as though the creature was moving. Whoever marked the girl's skin with this image was a true genius of their craft.

had seen similar markings in

of a slave

been in his First Nightmare. The serpent coiled

mother. Sunny could tell from the love with which she held the child and

own mother at a young age, but he still remembered

a slave, then the

understand what was happening to

belonged to the nameless temple slave whose role he had assumed

original child

vision was

***

marble walls, they were in

burning with strange, pale flames. On the edges of light, motionless, stood a dozen or

However, these were not ghosts, but humans. There were several other slaves, while the

tell the truth, there was not a lot of difference between them. It seemed as though the servants of the Shadow God did not pursue opulence and status. In fact, many of the priests bore the same markings as the slaves, suggesting that they themselves had belonged to

doing here?

of his mother's chest, the toddler… Sunny… felt cold and scared. However, the older woman consoled him

rest of the people

woman, meanwhile, slowly walked into the circle of

stood motionlessly between the seven pale flames,

beautiful slave, feeling that something important was about to

But… what?