Shadow Slave

Sunny opened his eyes.

The grand arch of white marble was exactly the same as when he had last seen it. The sun was already climbing the grey dome of the sky, chasing the remnants of the dark sea away. The rest of the cohort had woken up some time ago and were now preparing for the journey ahead.

He had overslept.

However, it didn't matter.

With eyes burning with excitement, Sunny sat up and recalled everything that he had witnessed in his dream.

The memories were still there, clear as day. He could recall every movement, every step, every breath of the dance that the beautiful slave had performed.

..The nameless slave's mother.

His eyes dimmed slightly.

That dream of his, while a precious gift, was also a source of numerous questions. Now that he was awake, Sunny was able to see a few things with more clarity.

The scene that he had witnessed at the very beginning of it was that of the nameless slave's… the original Child of Shadow's… birth. He was born during a solar eclipse, not unlike Sunny.

That fact put a lot of things into perspective. Everyone knew that the Spell did not choose the role an Aspirant would play during their First Nightmare randomly. That was apparent from the fact that the bodies they inhabited in it, while different, were very close to their real ones.

However, the actual principle of how the Spell chose these roles and the events of the Nightmares were largely unclear.

But now, Sunny knew that he shared more than simply outer appearance with the temple slave whose body he inhabited for a few short days.

Both of them were born in similar, extremely rare circumstances. Both of them were at the very bottom of society, oppressed and unwanted, surviving against all odds instead of because of them.

Both of them were left without a family at a young age. The tough life in the outskirts took Sunny's parents and sister away. To the nameless slave, it was the servants of the mighty War God that destroyed his childhood home and life. Sunny didn't know what happened to the beautiful dancer after the last temple of Shadows was destroyed by them... but he doubted that it was anything good.

heavy sigh, he

was fate. What he shared with

Spell was connected to the Strings of Fate in

was

void he had found himself in after completing his first trial, Sunny looked into the distance with wonder. That void was filled with a myriad of stars that served as

the

He shook his head.

the Spell was, it was not something he could know or understand… yet. Numerous people, most of them better informed and smarter than him, had

concentrate on something within

The Shadow Dance!

Sunny smiled.

slave girl because it was truly stunning and enchanting. He was riveted beyond belief by

a battle art at all.

was there a

this case,

often described the way true masters of battle fought as dancing. At their core, fighting and dance were very close. That's why combat, when brought to a truly impressive

couldn't a dance, when mastered to

essence of Shadow Dance and gained insight into its foundation. With the memory of the beautiful dancer moving as one with her seven shadows, he

but he did now possess all the components needed to

be easy. Even with all that knowledge stored in his mind, he would still have to spend a lot of time and effort and spill a lot of blood, both his own and that of his enemies, to turn the graceful dance of the beautiful slave girl into

wasn't even certain that

if he wasn't going to

art. He was going

the familiar voice of the Spell

she

an Aspect Legacy, Shadow

***