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.

I shouldn't sell the blades we harvested from the Stone Worm. Next time, I can place

a good idea, but don't rely on traps too much. This time, the bastard ran straight, but next time, you might not get so lucky. What

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 be

think luck is, brat? Luck is not something that just happens to you, it's something that you make happen. Believe me, I would know! I

Rain climbed high enough to escape the raining ash. The scorching heat was replaced by merciless cold, and the black soot was replaced by pristine snow. A strong

the pack, wrapping herself 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

she lifted the pack and turned to look at her

wearing nothing but his light armor. Nevertheless, he was not showing any sign of being bothered by the cold, which only

gazed was

direction, she suddenly noticed a dark silhouette slowly moving through the snowstorm. Rain tensed for a moment, but then relaxed,

the blizzard ended just as suddenly as

and headed toward

"Hey! Are you lost?"

in the air.

her teacher disappeared into the shadows? He

already rising when she finally got a good look at the approaching

a young woman three or four years younger than herself. A teenager, really. Just like her teacher, she was only wearing a suit of light armor, which was torn and turned dark with frozen blood. Her

frosty glass, devoid of any light, and her face

She was dead.

"Don't disturb her."

a step back to let

corpse drew, the better she could see the terrible wounds covering her frigid body. Eventually, unable to look, Rain turned away and furtively rubbed

her bruised pale face motionless, and slowly disappeared into the swirling snow. A few moments later,

her teacher were left alone