Shadow Slave

Some time later, the six of the left the secluded ruin and made their way toward the Bright Castle. The Dark City was silent and bleak, its streets devoid of life and movement. Even the Nightmare Creatures seemed to remain hidden in the lairs today, as though the feeling the tension that hung in the air like a harbinger of a disastrous change.

A lonely star was about to ignite in the sky above the cursed city.

Nephis was the first one to walk under the marble arch and step on the road that led to the outer settlement. Her face was calm and motionless, any hint of emotion hidden behind her usual mask of indifference. It was as though she was returning home in triumph, not marching to her own execution.

There was a slightly distant look in her eyes.

Sunny abandoned his usual position at the back of the group and was now walking side by side with her. Maybe it was just a whim, but he felt unwilling to follow in her footsteps as he had always done before, from the first day they met.

As they ascended the tall hill, Changing Star suddenly asked:

"Sunny, do you remember your First Nightmare well?"

Her voice sounded relaxed and idle.

He cast a sideways glance at her and hesitated for a few moments. Then, he answered in an even tone:

"Like it was yesterday."

She smiled slightly.

"Was it hard?"

Slowly, a grin appeared on his face.

"Hard? No, not hard. Impossible. It was a ghastly, despicable, and torturous ordeal. Truly the stuff of nightmares. Calling it hard would be an injustice."

drove the memories of the

"...What about yours?"

remembering. After a while,

that bad,

at her in

or something like that? Knowing you, "not that bad" means that it was nothing short of a true

shook her

I didn't have to fight anyone, really. Up

Sunny blinked.

"Wait, seriously?"

sad smile appeared on her

family lived in a beautiful tower on the shore of a beautiful sea. Every morning, the warm sun rose from beyond the horizon, bathing the endless expanse of azure waves in beautiful light. The winds were gentle and the world was kind. It was me, my parents, and my younger siblings. We lived together in harmony, humbly but needing

He frowned.

A sea serpent destroyed the

few moments passed

point of it, I think. My Nightmare... it was actually a paradise. It was everything I dreamed about when I was a little kid.

in utter shock. As he watched, the hint of sorrow disappeared from

Because all I had to do to conquer the Nightmare... all I had to do was to walk away

hesitated for a while, then

did you

heavy sigh escaped from Neph's lips. Her

any. Day after day, night after night… as time went by, it became harder and harder to force myself to continue searching. I grew accustomed to that bliss, that warm and beautiful life. And eventually, a day came when I thought that, maybe,

head slightly and said, her tantalizing voice reaching the

was the day I went to the top of the lighthouse. You see, Sunny. You have to light yourself on fire... to rip the blessings of the fire. That was what my grandmother used to say. So that was what

and she stared at them, her face slowly turning pale, her eyes reflecting the terrible agony she felt.