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.

returning from their shifts, Song warriors on patrols, caravans loaded with heavy cargo... life

comparison. However, it somehow felt much more vibrant. Its atmosphere was entirely different, as though everyone here was looking forward to the future, instead of

including her younger siblings, into the Dream Realm. Sure, her father had been offered a new position as one of the government liaisons in

was it worth it, to uproot the family, abandon the safety and modern convenience of NQSC, and tie the lives of their children to the Dream Realm? Returning to the waking world or leaving the Domain

asked her parents why they wanted to move to

where the future

understood what he had meant.

Realm... but in a generation or two, their positions would be reversed. Eventually, the dying birthplace of humanity might even be entirely abandoned, making this harsh and dreadful world their only

an advantage in that future. So, the decision her parents had made was ultimately for the sake of Rain and her siblings. It was all

even survive in

not a given, despite the power of

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

rolling past Rain was being pulled by... a

nightmarish fusion of a carnivorous bull and a

no draught animals in the Dream Realm, or any other kind of cattle. However, here in Ravenheart, Nightmare Creatures were often

lives of