Shadow Slave

Sunny was paralyzed for a few moments.

He tried to summon the runes several more times, but there was no result. The Spell did not respond to him, as though he was not one of its carriers at all. A part of him that had long become integral was simply gone.

The shock Sunny experienced at that moment was hard to describe.

After a while, he tried to calm his wildly beating heart and think things through.

'Calm down. Calm down. This is not the first time something like that happened…'

He had been cut off from the Spell once before, in the Red Colosseum. Back then, it was the result of Solvane's zealots using Hope's own sorcery to prevent the sacrificial slaves from escaping.

But there was no enchanted collar around his neck right now. And he was in the waking world, not inside an ancient theater built by a daemon.

More than that… the absence of the Spell felt much more profound this time, somehow.

In fact, as he concentrated on himself, he realized that he felt rather strange. Something else felt absent from the world..

The world was subtly unfamiliar.

Trying not to panic, Sunny slowly assessed his abilities.

His shadow sense was still with him. So were the other facets inherent to his Aspect. His Abilities, his Attributes — those of them the existence of which he could prove without the runes, at least — and his Aspect Legacy did not disappear.

His Flaw was also present. He had learned that by trying to tell a lie aloud, despite the fact that it hurt like hell.

His six shadows were observing his actions with varying reactions, all present. Saint, Fiend, and Nightmare could also be summoned.

However, he could not summon the runes. Neither could he dive into his Soul Sea to take a look at his Memories.

And the Memories…

Most of them were gone.

After trying to summon every Memory in his soul arsenal, Sunny realized that only a few of them remained.

were Silver Bell, Puppeteer's Shroud, Extraordinary Rock, Endless Spring, Weaver's Mask, Covetous Coffer, Shadow

of Ice, Strike of Thunder, Morgan's Warbow, Bone Singer, Dying Wish, Bitter Cusp, Stifled Scream, Essence Pearl, Nimble Catch, Shroud of Graceless Dusk, and Crown of Twilight were

felt a chill running

to protect himself from the elements with clothes, but it was still uncomfortable not to wear anything underneath his

some of his Memories remained while others seemed to have been

were those that had been either personally created or modified by him, as well as his two

were gone, which brought

'M—my… my Memories!'

Sunny almost spat blood.

Memories he had spent years gathering... hurt almost as

if he had

leaned on the cracked alloy wall and stared into the darkness with an empty

a while, Sunny had

from the

damned bird had done something to him, resulting in such an impossible thing happening. Which

free from

be accessible to him anymore. No more receiving Memories and Echoes from the slain enemies. No more runes that conveniently described and categorized the

Nightmares… and no more shortcuts

worse, would be entirely different from now on. Sunny was sure that he would be discovering the consequences of not being

future me reach further

speaking about not being infected

did not even know what his Transformation Ability

he was a Saint, there were more new things he was supposed to be able to do. Awakened traveled to the Dream Realm when they slept, while Masters could do it at

supposed to come and go between the two worlds as they pleased, and could even bring other living beings with them — although that last part was very

learn to do so without the Spell? Although its help was subtle, it did help Awakened learn their innate abilities by making them instinctual. Controlling essence, using Memories, placing tethers in the waking world, and many other

did not have

to sense how to use

happen if his Transcendent Form was truly

likely, it would simply not work if there was not

still curious

looked at his

you