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.

Weaver's Mask, Covetous Coffer, Shadow Lantern, Shadow Chair, Overpriced Saddle,

Heavenly Burden, Memory of Fire, Memory of Ice, Strike of Thunder, Morgan's Warbow, Bone Singer, Dying Wish, Bitter Cusp, Stifled Scream, Essence Pearl, Nimble Catch,

chill running down his

himself from the elements with clothes, but it was still uncomfortable not to wear anything underneath his cloak. Sunny manifested the Marble

which some of his Memories

he could still summon were those that had been either personally created or modified by him,

rest of them were gone, which brought him almost

'M—my… my Memories!'

Sunny almost spat blood.

losing most of his soul arsenal... the precious Memories he had spent years gathering... hurt almost as much as receiving Soul Weave

felt as if he had received a terrible

he had some time to come to terms with the unforgiving reality, he leaned on the

while, Sunny had to

from the

to him, resulting in such an impossible thing

he was free

enemies. No more runes that conveniently described and categorized the world. No more guidance and support in the perilous undertaking of walking the path of Ascension, tyrannical as it

and no more shortcuts to

scale of this tectonic change was too vast to comprehend. His life, for better or worse, would be entirely different from now on. Sunny was sure that he would be discovering the consequences of not being a

hell did the future me reach further

about not being infected by the Spell and

did not even know what

a Saint, there were more new things he was supposed to be able to do. Awakened traveled to the Dream Realm when they

however, were akin to miniature Gateways themselves. They were 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

help Awakened learn their innate abilities by making them instinctual. Controlling essence, using Memories, placing tethers in the waking world,

not have such

to sense how to use my Transformation

looked around, evaluating the small pocket of dusty space. What would happen if his Transcendent Form was truly giant?

it would simply not work if there

still curious

at his six shadows and

you think?