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.

the stone, but Sunny himself. He

'Wh—what?!'

held gently by a young woman who

with soft porcelain skin and long raven hair. The lissome beauty was dressed in a flowing silk tunic that

it seemed as though the creature was moving. Whoever marked the girl's skin

he had seen similar markings in

slave who belonged to the

he had been in his First Nightmare.

which she held the child and the

at a young age,

slave, then the child

began to understand what was

belong to him. Instead, it belonged to the

child of

was his

***

they were in another part of the ancient temple. Sunny couldn't see much of his surroundings, but he could somehow tell that

tall braziers were burning with strange, pale flames. On the edges of light, motionless, stood a

the silent shadows populating his Soul Sea. However, these were not ghosts, but humans.

the Shadow God did not pursue opulence and status. In fact, many of the

are they doing here? What

child to her. Separated from the warmth of his mother's chest, the toddler… Sunny… felt cold and scared. However, the older woman

of the people

young woman, meanwhile, slowly walked into the circle of light.

very center, she stood motionlessly between the seven pale flames, surrounded

stared at the beautiful slave, feeling that something important was

But… what?