Shadow Slave

In the morning, the island shook again. Sunny opened his eyes and reached through the shadow sense, checking in on Saint. Since the taciturn knight was standing calmly above the fissure, he relaxed and yawned with great satisfaction.

He felt incredibly refreshed.

The dark island was in one piece, and nothing was pouncing to kill them. Life was great.

He sat up, leaned on the slope of the fissure, then rubbed his eyes and looked around. Nephis was already up, doing light stretches a few meters away. Sunny watched her for a few moments, then forced himself to avert his gaze.

The sound of her even, yet fragile voice resounding from the darkness still echoed in his ears.

Neph's Second Nightmare... was different from his own, just like her First Nightmare had been. She had not battled immortal Saints to free an imprisoned daemon from divine chains. Instead, she had tried to save a small group of pitiful and forlorn creatures, only to watch them all die.

Nephis had been the last one standing on the Forgotten Shore, and after traveling alone through the purgatory of the Nightmare Desert, she built a tiny community amidst the cold darkness, only to watch it be destroyed.

She had been so strong, but the Nightmare made her weak. She had been so proud, but the Nightmare made her beg for mercy on her knees. He wasn't sure he could imagine how painful it was for her, to sacrifice the two things that were at the core of her sense of self.

Yes, Neph had not slain impossibly powerful enemies with her radiant sword in the Nightmare... but, for her, wielding a sword against an overwhelming foe was not something to be feared.

Maybe that was why the Spell always tried to break her in some other, more cruel way.

Sunny looked down at the weathered surface of the black rock.

'The Spell... I wonder...'

How had the Spell appraised Neph's performance in the Second Nightmare?

Sunny was not sure, but he had an inkling that the appraisal was exceedingly high. If his theory was right, that was, and the appraisal depended on how much the challenger had changed the flow of fate. In that regard...

He suspected that what Nephis had done was miraculous. She had wanted to change the fates of the forsaken creatures living in the darkness at the bottom of the Underwold.

task, she

had succeeded in changing

that had

compelled by her words? By her

in the hearts of the forsaken? Had the creature

horror in the Underworld had been changed, even ever so slightly, then Sunny could not really imagine what ripples that change could cause in the great tapestry

could have appraised Neph's performance as

that... that was not

see it that way. The Spell and its carriers had different criteria for success, after all. The Spell might be satisfied with Neph's performance, but Neph obviously saw it as a bitter,

at the ground,

mellow than before. But her resolve to kill the Sovereigns and destroy the Spell also seemed much more

he knew the truth... many things about her past words and

am I

Nephis, who was oblivious to his thoughts, with

thing he

of Neph's Aspect,

darkness. You bring radiance and

the Spell had presented her with in the Second

Ability she had unlocked as a result was called [Longing],

Longing, yearning, desire... wish...

the Spell that burned like fire in Neph's heart so powerful that

Ability of hers before, but now, Sunny saw it in a new light. It had seemed like a

However...

made Nephis immune to the Corruption, then wasn't it actually the

was the great and terrible Demon of

what was

what

exercises, pulled the fastened strap of her white

Nephis smiled.