Shadow Slave

Sunny left the cafe and caught a train to go visit Aiko. After that, he traveled to the Academy and said his goodbyes to Teacher Julius. The old man was a bit emotional to let him go, but did not try to dissuade his unruly pupil. Instead, he tried to offer encouragement.

"The Second Nightmare! Ptui! No student of mine can be killed by a mere Second Nightmare. Don't you dare put a stain on my reputation, Sunny my boy… you hear me?"

Finally, Sunny left the Sleeper compound and stood outside for a while, watching the setting sun. Then, he turned around and headed deeper into the Academy complex.

The room where Nephis slept did not change much. He replaced the flowers on one of the tables and sat down, looking at her pale and motionless face.

No matter how many times Sunny came here, seeing her… seeing her like this… brought a dull pain to his chest. The cauldron of emotions burning in his heart was too deep and seethed too furiously for him to understand it. Sunny was never good with emotions, after all.

There was resentment, longing, guilt, affection, fear… and hope.

Looking at the transparent lid of the sleeping pod, he sighed.

"Hey, Neph."

Just like before, this was the only thing he said out loud. He lingered for a bit, and then thought:

'You are still alive, out there somewhere. That is good. That… makes me happy. It really does. You know, right after everything happened, I wasn't sure if I wanted you to live. I thought that maybe it would be better for you to die. Sometimes, I did.'

Sunny lowered his head and closed his eyes tiredly.

'But after a while, as time passed, I... I started to miss you more than I wanted to be free of you. Maybe what Master Jet said is true… maybe no one is really ever free in this world. Maybe the only freedom there is is the freedom to choose your own chains.'

A dark smile appeared on his lips.

that choice was taken away from me. By you, by Cassie. By fate. I never had anything, and then, I had even less than that. Wouldn't you be angry to be dealt a hand like that? Because I am. I am so, so angry. And that is why... I am never going

at the sleeping young

destroy the Spell? Well, I want to destroy

laughed, his voice full of both mirth and

I? And if Weaver created it, why can't you break it? If that is our will… who dares to

and then grew quiet again,

he

to challenge the Second Nightmare soon. We might not be able to visit you again for a long time. So you… you take care of yourself, Neph. Don't disappoint me. I am

heavily, stood up, and

time for him

***

moved her pod into the underground dojo and installed it near his own. The two of

able to do it himself after coming back through the Gateway in Night Temple, but if things went wrong with the representatives of Valor, Effie was in charge of making the final preparations. He

that it was functioning perfectly and could sustain his body for months, if

really. After entering the Seed, he would either die or become a Master. If the former happened, the well-being of his physical body

would create a new one. So, maybe, it was more appropriate to say that Ascension allowed the spirit body to become corporeal.

that it would make her as strong and healthy as she was in the Dream Realm. Why many of the Lost dreamed of challenging the Second Nightmare, as

pod malfunctioned and thoroughly roasted Sunny's physical body instead of preserving it. If the Nightmare didn't kill him,

to his mortal shell. He didn't want any harm to come to it, if only out

took one last glance at his spacious dojo, and climbed into

was watching him silently from her wheelchair, strained to raise a hand

"Sweet dreams!"

at her and remind the gluttonous huntress to not leave dirty dishes all over the house, but he was just

the metal sarcophagus started to move, his eyes