Shadow Slave

Eventually, Rain reached one of the roads leading from the lowlands to the city. These mountain roads had been in use from before the Chain of Nightmares... it was hard to remember now after the population of Ravenheart exploded to many millions, but it had been a Great Citadel even prior to that.

The roads leading to the great bridge, and the beautiful palace beyond it, were actually thousands of years old. Granted, they had been in a state of desolation and disrepair when the Song clan made the ancient Citadel their home.

The Awakened of the great Legacy clan had restored them to their former glory, and the whole network was further expanded to account for the increased traffic in the past four years.

Now, heavily protected road crews were far away from the Citadel, building safe highways to other cities within the Song Domain. Many Awakened with Utility Aspects were participating in the construction, and many warriors were employed to defend the moving builder camps from the roving Nightmare Creatures. Rain had even tried to get hired for one of the crews, but no one wanted to employ a mundane fighter.

The best they could do was remain polite and not laugh in her face,

‘Ah…’

She couldn't really blame them. In any case, now that she had reached the wide and well-maintained road, the rest of the ascent would become much easier. There was probably a metaphor about the unnecessary hardships of walking the untrodden path somewhere in there, but Rain wasn't going to start complaining to her teacher again.

He had retreated into her shadow, anyway, unwilling to be seen by other people.

Rain rested for a bit, quenched her thirst from a military canteen, and continued on her way.

were many people on the road. Workers descending into the lowlands or returning from their shifts, Song warriors on patrols,

seem that large, in comparison. However, it somehow felt much more vibrant. Its atmosphere was entirely different, as though everyone here was looking forward

made to relocate the whole family, including her younger siblings, into the Dream Realm. Sure, her father had been offered a new position as one of the

and tie the lives of their children to the Dream Realm? Returning to the waking world or leaving the Domain meant being sent into the First

Rain asked her parents why they wanted to move to Ravenheart, her

that is where the

he had meant. The future of

but in a generation or two, their positions would

cradle early would have an advantage in that future. So, the decision her parents had made was ultimately for the sake of

humanity can even survive in

despite the power

aside to let a heavy wagon roll past her. Some of these wagons were being pulled by Awakened, who were much stronger and

Rain was being pulled by... a

fusion of a carnivorous bull and a horned reptile was attached

in the Dream Realm, or any other kind of cattle. However, here in Ravenheart, Nightmare

Ki Song's daughters had also done the most to ease the lives of the citizens of Ravenheart. If not for her, the development of the city, and the Song Domain as a whole, would have never been