Shadow Slave

Sunny spent some time staring at the pile of books in front of him with a dark expression. After a while, he sighed heavily.

So, there were hidden forces out there that exerted influence over the entire human race. The authority was as invisible as it was frightening. And now, he knew their names. The Sovereigns were at least as powerful as the government, or maybe even more so.

The exact relationship between these two hegemonic powers — one official, the other secretive — was not clear, but for now, knowing the full extent of the authority resting in the hands of the Sovereigns was not that important.

However, it was important to know that the world was not at all as he had imagined. It was much more dangerous.

Why?

Because if there was one thing that all wielders of authority shared, it was the animosity toward others encroaching on their power. That was just human nature — among the strong, only one entity could be the strongest. And so, that entity was always apprehensive of others growing stronger.

Bosses of criminal gangs in the outskirts were always paranoid of their lieutenants usurping them, and tended to violently get rid of those who were too successful. In the Dark City, Gunlaug reigned with an iron fist, destroying anyone who dared to be strong without submitting to his rule.

And Sovereigns would be much the same.

Since Sunny was already powerful beyond reason, for a person of his age at least, and had an even more frightening potential, the Sovereigns would never allow him to exist outside their control.

Luckily, they did not know the true extent of his strength yet.

But since his main goal was to become stronger — as strong as he possibly could, as fast as he possibly could, to not fall behind Nephis — that… was going to be a problem.

some things about the Awakened

that Master Jet had no chance of ever becoming a Saint. Apparently, one had to have a team of outstanding

Dream Realm belonged to the Legacy clans, especially when it came to anything having to do with higher Ranks. And the clans were controlled by the Sovereigns… which basically meant that they could prevent anyone from becoming a Saint simply by refusing

more powerful because they didn't serve one of the Supremes? There were a couple of

hate it

was just his conjecture. And yet, one thing was certain: the choice presented to him by Master Jet was not as straightforward as he

clans, the government, and independence. He was deciding between entering into the service to the Sovereigns or

further by his

'...Damnation!'

stared at the bookshelves surrounding him, and then stood up. He had to get

the last one away and rubbed

of a plan began to form in his mind. However, he still needed more information. He wouldn't be

have to visit an old

thing he did find, nevertheless, was a bit more

and

one was possibly the most renowned. An heir of the great clan, he was mentioned many times in the texts describing the human expansion into the northern territories of the Dream Realm, as well as the history of

'Strong...'

mention of his death, but the reigns of clan Valor were

come from one of the lesser Legacy clans, and it was by her hand that it was elevated to the status of a great one. The stronghold of clan Song, Ravenheart, was the second major human settlement in the Dream Realm. Its sphere of influence was separated from the other two territories by especially dreadful regions.

Song was still the ruler of her clan, although she rarely appeared in public. She was known as a benevolent and charitable person, but that was pretty much all the

was the most mysterious of the three. No one seemed to know where he came from and where he went after the Broken Sword's cohort was disbanded.