Shadow Slave

Sunny remained silent for a while, looking at the blind girl with a strange expression.

'Aletheia... of the Nine?'

The words sounded familiar. He had met a person with a similar name a long, long time ago. The young Awakened swordsman from his First Nightmare, the one whom he called Hero... the Spell had called him Auro of the Nine.

Was it a coincidence, or something more?

Sunny frowned.

What did he really know about Hero?

Not much. Hero had been alive during the twilight of the Golden Age, not long before the Doom War started. He was a soldier of a militant empire which worshiped War God and had conquered many lands. He was a warrior of considerable skill and had already Awakened at his young age...

Now that Sunny knew how long it took one to Awaken without the assistance of the Spell, that fact seemed even more impressive.

But Sunny had known that Auro of the Nine was not a simple person all along. Not because of his skill and talent, but simply because of all the people in the Nightmare, he was the only one whose name the Spell remembered.

That alone told Sunny that Auro was special. The Spell appraised Sunny's performance in the First Nightmare as glorious, which meant that he had deviated from the natural course of events to a great degree.

What would have happened to Auro if Sunny had never taken the place of the nameless temple slave? The slave would have died, most likely, while the young swordsman would have survived. If he lived on and escaped the mountain pass... what fate would have awaited him in the future?

And there was one more detail...

'What was it that he said to justify killing me?'

Right before their fateful confrontation, Auro had said something peculiar. Something about how he would have gladly faced the Mountain King to let Sunny escape if his life belonged to him alone. But it did not, because the young swordsman had sworn to fulfill an... an unencompassable duty of some sort. He couldn't allow himself to die because of it.

What was the duty Auro had spoken of?

And why was the name of another person of the Nine inscribed on the base of the Seeker's Tower?

Who were the Nine?

Sunny took a deep breath and glanced at Cassie.

do you think

girl remained silent for a

Seeker who used to live on this island. He or she was proficient in sorcery, it seems.

Sunny sighed.

ever heard of the

answer, but to his

remember correctly, Nephis mentioned once that she had

Sunny blinked.

'Huh?'

have met one

have been

the case, then these Nine seemed to have a habit of popping up in many

had been, more

mental note to ask Nephis about the person she had

this Aletheia was the master of Wind Flower, and left a powerful enchantment to protect the

shook her

not have been called Wind Flower back then. It's just a name by which people of Fallen Grace call it today.

Sunny shrugged.

case... how do we break the

for a few moments,

destroying some of

silent for

But if the key ones are erased, the enchantment will

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

you couldn't make sense

The blind girl smiled.

but breaking it is much easier than that. Nevertheless, don't be too encouraged. The runes are carved deep, and there

He chuckled.

able to cut a mountain with one slash of my sword, but breaking a cliff or two shouldn't be a

fell silent, concentrating on identifying the key runes of the enchantment. Sunny, meanwhile, studied the

and Effie had hidden among the cliffs and shared a meal. Sunny watched them through the shadow and listened to the calming flow of their conversation. Neph was holding the Guiding Light,

stealthily around the black cliff and reached the spot where the

"There. Destroy that section."