Shadow Slave

Life was like that.

You could train your body tirelessly to turn it into a tenacious, resilient tool. You could practice swordsmanship and archery until your hands bled, temper your observation skills and analytical thinking, and test yourself against countless opponents in real combat to turn shallow knowledge into deeply rooted experience.

And then, you can still die because of nothing but bad luck.

Rain felt resentful as she plummeted into a bottomless abyss, surrounded by an avalanche of shattered stone.

But no, that was not true... her current predicament was not due to misfortune. She was at fault. It was her who had not been cautious enough, perceptive enough, and smart enough. All the signs had been there — the cracks in the stone, the weathered state of the canyon walls, the devastating power of the Tyrant's blows. She should have put two and two together.

She should have done better.

So, Rain had no one to blame but herself.

Still... still!

She was indignant.

To die like that, it was really unfair!

All these thoughts flashed through her mind in the span of a moment. Then, she gritted her teeth and tried to think of a way to survive.

First things first... the fall itself would not kill her just yet. The bottom of the canyon was far away, and she could survive bouncing off its walls once or twice. The most pressing threat were the falling boulders — they were massive and heavy enough to turn Rain into a pancake, or at least smash her skull open.

Raising her arms, she tried to shield her head. A moment later, something slammed into her forearms, and she felt sharp pain. Luckily, the boulder was not large enough to crush her, so her bones weren't even broken.

The next one, though...

Catching a glimpse of it, Rain shuddered.

It was like a wall of rough rock was pursuing her, mere moments away from colliding with her fragile body. There was no chance to evade.

A moment before she was crushed by the massive slab of stone, however, something strange happened. The darkness seemed to touch it lightly, and the enormous boulder shattered into a million pieces.

Instead of being killed, Rain was simply showered by small pieces of debris.

'Teacher...'

Her teacher rarely helped her directly. However, it seemed that he was unwilling to let his student perish so senselessly, and interfered — just like he had interfered to keep the porters and surveyors from being ravaged by the Tyrant.

'I take back all the bad words I've called him!'

There was no time to feel touched, but Rain still felt a strange warmth in her heart.

Then, she turned her head to find the only source of salvation there was, apart from her eccentric shadow companion...

Tamar of Sorrow.

The Legacy girl could take two steps on the air, so if anyone could help Rain survive, it was her.

If she would even bother wasting her time to save a mundane porter, of course. It would be much easier, not to mention safer, to only worry about herself and let Rain fall to her death.

'Where is she?'

down. Plummeting into the wailing darkness, Rain looked around feverishly and tried to catch a glimpse of

could not see

nowhere to be seen. Rather, it was because Rain was looking

Legacy was nearly upon her, and only realized it

'What...'

something hard rammed

"Argh!"

been quicker to react. After regaining her bearings, she swiftly evaluated the situation, located Rain, and

that had collided with Rain's abdomen, knocking the wind out of her, was the Legacy girl's shoulder. Since Tamar was clad in a suit of plate

the canyon. However, another huge boulder barred their path — hissing a stifled curse, Tamar

be able to use it again before touching a solid surface

darkness, falling deeper and deeper... but, at the same time, getting closer to the wall. Tamar shielded Rain from falling

"...old ...n!"

Rain's body was violently

'Ah... crap, that hurt...'

and tried to

her ears ring. She was surrounded by darkness

of the canyon. One of her hands was thrust into a narrow

'I'll be damned.'

They were actually alive.

Well... for now.

like a squirrel, she could slowly make

a big problem,

The canyon was weeping.

going to turn into a raging river at

thought that she noticed a panicked look in

enveloped in the roar of rushing

moment later, the flood slammed into them like a concrete wall. Rain

crack, and

thing Rain remembered was the sight of a solid surface of stone, approaching

***

She was cold.

And tired.

Rain did not want to wake

a five more

little bit. If she pretended to be pitiful, maybe mom would

her mom far

anymore. Instead,

Rain stared at

falling

the sky for a bit, then flinched and

laying on the solid ground, surrounded by the vast expanse of

crackling near, with her teacher warming his pale

the other side of the fire. She seemed to be in a rough shape, and