Shadow Slave

Sunny dreamt of a black pyramid.

Somber and wreathed in darkness, it rose from a sea of flawlessly white sand like a towering mountain. Its slopes were like vast plains, and its sharp peak was like a spear that pierced the heavens. Outlined against the backdrop of the starlit sky, the pyramid was like a black rift in the fabric of the world.

Its edifice was built from millions of colossal stone blocks. Each block was darker than the darkness itself and perfectly aligned, leaving no gaps between them. And each of them... each...

Sunny felt a cold terror grip his heart.

Each of the stone blocks... was a Seed of Nightmare. There were millions of them, some already in bloom, some still waiting for their turn to blossom. At the base of the pyramid, the Nightmares were shallow and weak. Higher, they were harrowing and unfathomable. And higher still...

The slope of the colossal pyramid was broken and covered in cracks, with many blocks either shattered into dismal dust or missing. Four vast scars were tainting its immaculate surface, as if some unholy beast had torn through the eternal stone with titanic claws.

Above the scars was a narrow capstone.

But Sunny... he was not someone who could gaze upon it.

The moment he did, his soul convulsed in agony, and his consciousness shattered.

The time reversed its flow, but then stuttered and froze.

The time warped and screamed.

The silhouette of the black pyramid exploded into a myriad of lightless shards.

And then, Sunny was no more.

There was the sound of wind whistling in his ears.

He was falling.

Coming to his senses, still disoriented, he sighed.

'Here we go again...'

Before doing anything else, Sunny summoned the Essence Pearl...

The next moment, he hit the water.

'Ha! I just knew this would happen!'

Instead of thrashing wildly, he let his body sink and waited for the breathing Memory to manifest itself. At the same time, Sunny extended his shadow sense outward and tried to understand the nature of his surroundings.

...Water. Nothing but water.

'Well, that's strange. Wasn't I in the desert just a few moments ago?'

They entered the Nightmare through a giant block of black stone that lay between the dunes, half-buried in the sand. Since the Seed was in the desert, the Nightmare was also supposed to take place in the desert... unless the Spell had sent them in a past so distant that the desert itself did not exist yet, hidden at the bottom of a sea.

The thing, though, was that...

'That's... very strange.'

was freshwater. If Sunny was so inclined, he could open his

'Huh.'

Nightmare, he was now sure - the giant block of black stone was, in fact, one of the

happened to stumble upon one. Just

had just gotten

maybe it

In any case...

'Finally!'

of ethereal light, and Sunny could breathe again. He could also see again, not that it was of

current, too... a strong and turbulent one. Sunny felt himself

'Back to the surface.'

he watched the direction in which the bubbles rose, and followed. This time, Sunny did not have to panic

Essence Pearl was held safely

the surface of the water. Sunny looked around and frowned. Everything was covered in thick fog and suffused with somber

be of a harmless, albeit somewhat mystical, kind. It was

be thankful,

But he did not.

Instead, Sunny felt... numb.

less of an ordeal than the Nightmare Desert, but for now, at least, Sunny

forever, Sunny

slowly spun in the water, and eventually noticed an unclear shape swaying on the waves some distance away, hidden by the mist. With nothing better to do, Sunny started to swim in that

minute later, he reached a large piece of wood resting on the water. The piece of floating wood was flat and irregularly shaped, with

onto the

sky, only

were slow

was a real

now inside the Third

bizarre one, at

of the Nightmare was the Tomb of Ariel. Funnily enough, the cohort had failed to reach the real pyramid in the Dream Realm, but still ended up brushing

happen, so he had no idea where exactly he found himself, and

And lastly...

million challengers? What

million Awakened in the whole

the

But Sunny...

was too tired to think about all that

to explore the area first. Then, I'll start searching

he slowly inhaled and closed

***

to sleep by the gentle swaying of

Not again!

wooden shelter lurch and almost capsize because of his sudden movement. The remnants of a dire nightmare were already disappearing from his

slightly, then grimaced and rubbed his

having nightmares within a Nightmare. What a great damn start

anger, he stood

Curse it

hoarse voice drowned in the