Shadow Slave

Some time later, they were hidden in a small cave at the bottom of a deep canyon, sitting in front of a fire. A piece of monster meat was roasting on it, filling the cave with a delicious smell. Sunny was a bit sullen, because it had taken all his knowledge of wilderness survival to make the small fire... snowy reaches of Antarctica were not exactly the best place to search for fuel.

He had almost been forced to use the divine flames of the Cruel Sight to cook, which would inevitably result in an atrociously burned dinner for him.

Currently, Sunny was passing time by trying to play a simple melody on a flute made of emerald bone. Kai would have probably become ill if exposed to his musical talent, but Jet didn't seem to mind.

She stared at the fire, flames reflecting in her icy blue eyes. After a while, she suddenly said:

"...I can smell things too, you know. When I am sufficiently full of essence. My Aspect might only give me a semblance of life, but it's a faithful imitation."

Sunny lowered the emerald flute and looked at her gloomily.

"What I'm hearing... is that you want to rob me of some of this meat. Right?"

Jet lingered for a moment, then grinned.

"Right. That was exactly what I meant. I am hungry, too."

He sighed, then hung more meat above the fire.

"Should have just said so. Gods... what is up with me always ending up with gluttonous women? It just never ends..."

Sunny turned the meat over. After a while, following a whim, he asked:

bad... but if I survived the First Nightmare only to be killed by the Spell during the assessment, I would have been pretty

did not understand how it would

laid down, staring at the stone roof of the cave. She sighed,

I did not survive the First Nightmare. I

turned her head and

grave, somehow, and finished the trial. I guess the role I played in the Nightmare, or maybe my innate Attribute, created the

If he had not been sent into the body of a temple slave, Shadow God would not have responded to his unintentional call. And if he did not have the [Fated]

come together to create the possibility... he had been the one to grasp it, though. Anyone else

her Flaw. What would happen if he gave her Weaver's Mask? Would she come back

his heart, he knew the answer. After learning about Weaver, the Spell, and the vicissitudes of fate, Sunny developed an intuition about these things. Jet would indeed come back to life... but her soul would remain shattered. And

was the only thing that

about his own

he would have had if not for the inability to lie. Would

have become enslaved, that was for sure. But he also would have never gotten close to other people, choosing to lie and manipulate them instead of trusting them, out of fear of being rejected and betrayed. And for that reason, he

he was supposed

you hypocrite. Weren't you yourself the master of

a waste of time. He would still choose to get rid

breaking the

imagine, it's not easy for a Sleeper

Sunny shifted slightly.

"Who did you ask?"

She chuckled.

you think? Just like you, I've been invited to the Academy after becoming a Sleeper. And just like you, I've been asked for the details of my Aspect... on a voluntary basis, of course. But what would an ignorant kid from the outskirts know? I told them everything, and from that moment, they had a