Shadow Slave

Rain made a point of using light equipment, and yet, she carried considerable weight. There were her clothes and armor, her bow, a quiver of arrows, the javelin she used, her sword, the hunting knife attached to her belt, and another knife hidden in her boot. There was also plenty of stuff in her pack and attached to her pack - everything she needed to hunt and survive in the wilderness.

It would have been nice to simply summon and dismiss all these things when she needed them, but alas, Rain couldn't use Memories. She couldn't even really use the Memories that someone else had summoned and handed to her, because her soul did not have a core, and she was not a carrier of the Nightmare Spell.

Weighed down by the additional burden of the Stone Worm's hide and fangs, Rain felt miserable.

It didn't help at all that Ravenheart was situated in the mountains. She was currently at the bottom of a deep gorge, not too far from the relatively flat area at the foot of the mountain chain where the farms feeding the city were located. There was a long and tough climb ahead of her,

Using the javelin as a staff, Rain slowly made her way out of the gorge, Luckily, she was in good shape... amazing shape, really, Her lithe and resilient body had been tempered by years of relentless training, and was pretty much at the very limit of what mundane humans could achieve.

In the past, Rain had trained extensively with private tutors. She had thought that her physical condition was stellar back then... she had known nothing. Under her teacher's harsh and prudent guidance, her physical state entered an entirely new territory. Her youthful body was strong, tenacious, and as nimble as that of a cat.

Even the most elite athletes would have been rattled and green with envy if they witnessed what she was capable of... not that it mattered. Any Awakened could still blow her away with one half-hearted slap.

'Ah... whatever!’

Sometimes, Rain was angry at her teacher for prohibiting her from challenging the First Nightmare. But, at the same time, she was thankful to him. Not for her own sake, but on behalf of her parents.

They had already lost one child to the Nightmare Spell. If she was alone, Rain would have gladly risked her life for the chance of becoming an Awakened... but she could not bear the thought of putting her mom and dad through that suffering again.

So, her teacher's promise to help her Awaken without having to challenge a Nightmare was like a glimmer of light in a sea of darkness,

In any case.., even though climbing mountains in terrible weather while carrying a heavy load was hard and miserable, she had long grown accustomed to it.

As Rain ascended higher and higher, her teacher walked side by side with her, going over the events of the hunt. She had performed well and managed to kill the Stone Worm without sustaining any injuries, but there were still things that could have been done better, and things that could have been done differently.

Next time, I can place them at

much. This time, the bastard ran straight, but next time, you might not get so lucky. What were

the second pit, of course. And anyway, was it really luck? I investigated the slope and found the wormholes, chose an ambush spot, and dug pits between the former and the latter. Beasts are stupid, so the enemy would have gone after me using the shortest path. Sure, it turned out to

you make happen. Believe me, I would know! I used to be the luckiest person in

the raining ash. The scorching heat was replaced by merciless cold, and the black soot was replaced by pristine snow. A strong wind rose, chilling her to the bone and almost tossing her off

in its warmth and pulling the fur hood down. The coat, too, was fashioned from the hide of the Awakened Beast she had hunted, so it was enough to protect her

collar to shield her face, she

armor. Nevertheless, he was not showing any sign of being bothered by the cold, which only went further to solidify Rain's conviction that her teacher was some kind of

gazed was strangely

through the snowstorm. Rain tensed for a moment, but then relaxed, noticing that it was

died down, and the blizzard ended just as suddenly as it had

and headed

"Hey! Are you lost?"

hand froze in the air. Something

the shadows? He

rising when she finally got a good look at

Just like her teacher, she was only wearing a suit of light armor, which was torn and turned dark with frozen blood. Her skin was so pale that it looked blue, like that

like frosty glass, devoid of any light, and her face was like

She was dead.

"Don't disturb her."

lowering her javelin, and then took a step

covering her frigid body. Eventually,

face motionless, and slowly disappeared into the swirling

and her teacher were left alone on