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 looked

he shared with the temple slave was a

more convinced that the Spell was connected to the

it was weaved

Sunny looked into the distance with wonder. That void was filled with a myriad of stars that served as nexuses for an inconceivably complex net made of countless strings of silver

those the strings

He shook his head.

the Spell was, it was not something he could know or understand… yet. Numerous people,

to concentrate on something within

The Shadow Dance!

Sunny smiled.

girl because it was truly stunning and enchanting. He was riveted beyond belief by it because he recognized the pattern of the battle style hiding

a battle art

was there a

this case,

wasn't a coincidence that people often described the way true masters of battle fought as dancing. At their core,

a dance, when mastered to perfection, be

was certain that he was right. He had already comprehended the 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

the battle art yet, but he did now possess all the

spend a lot of time and effort and spill a lot of blood, both his own and that of his enemies, to turn

wasn't even certain that

damned if

become his personal battle art. He was going to make it

echoing his last thought, the familiar voice of the Spell suddenly whispered into

heard what she said, his

have received an Aspect

***