Shadow Slave

Leaving the Sleeper Compound, Sunny felt as though even the winter cold could not keep him from feeling sleepy anymore. Wondering what time it was, he looked up out of habit and glanced at the sun.

The sun was all wrong.

Suddenly, Sunny was wide awake, his hand instinctively outstretched to summon the Midnight Shard. It took him a few moments to recognize his error.

'Oh. The sun is normal. It's just not the same as on the Forgotten Shore.'

He also didn't have to measure time by observing the sky anymore. He had a communicator that could show him what time of day it was, up to the exact nanosecond.

Shaking his head, Sunny headed back toward the hospital complex. He was late for a… a memorial. Of sorts.

The survivors of the Dreamer Army were supposed to gather today to celebrate those who remained alive and remember those who had fallen.

Entering the medical center, he headed toward the conference hall, but then lingered for a moment in front of a monitor attached to the wall. There, a hundred names were shown, listing everyone who had made it back.

And on the very top of it, there were three very special ones:

"Raised by Wolves"

"Nightingale"

"Song of the Fallen"

Effie, Kai, and Cassie…

Sunny stared at the three True Names for some time, then slowly lowered his gaze. Right beneath was his own name.

With a grim expression on his face, Sunny opened the doors and entered the hall.

Forgotten Shore were all there, at least those who had awoken at the Academy or could make it there for

strange to see all these people back in

so much to split them apart. Before, they were united by necessity and the irresistible

trauma of their harrowing experience in the Dream Realm, or something else that Sunny couldn't quite understand, but there was no division between them. On the contrary, every Awakened gathered in the hall seemed to share an invisible bond with

'...Weird.'

awkwardly and did his best to reciprocate their goodwill. After a few such encounters, he

and stared at his friend for

'I'll be damned…'

that guy become

luscious dark auburn hair was now neatly cut and styled, his clothes were simple and exquisitely fashionable, and

'Such… such injustice!'

made his way through the crowd and approached his friend. Kai noticed him from afar, and then, the conference hall suddenly seemed to

You are

wanted to answer, but then froze for a second, noticing a stranger next to the charming young man. A sickly, terribly gaunt young woman was sitting in a wheelchair, staring at

thin, with pale skin stretching over brittle bones and a strange twist to her spine. Her legs seemed lifeless and

woman smiled

the matter, doofus? You've been struck dumb by my

Effie spun her wheelchair, as though giving him the chance to

'Effie… that's... that's Effie?'

image of the mighty huntress he knew — tall, strong, beautiful, and full of vigor — to this weak, gaunt young woman. He only spoke when

what the hell

Effie smiled and shrugged.

always been, in the real

Sunny's memory. He remembered how the two of them sat

the real world was more of a

what Effie had said,

on his face,