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?'

but time also seemed to slow down. Plummeting into the wailing darkness, Rain looked around feverishly

could

that was not because Tamar was nowhere to be seen. Rather, it was because

upon her, and only realized it when something

'What...'

gasped as something

"Argh!"

it turned out, Tamar had been quicker to react. After regaining her bearings, she swiftly evaluated the situation, located Rain, and then used the first of her two steps to arrest her fall and launch herself to intercept

of her, was the Legacy girl's shoulder. Since Tamar was clad in a suit of plate armor, her steel

around the waist, she continued to fly toward the wall of the canyon. However, another huge boulder barred their path — hissing a stifled curse, Tamar used the second step to change their

be able to use it again before touching a

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

"...old ...n!"

body was violently jerked and

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

and tried to assess the

wailing rising from the depths of the canyon was absolutely deafening, making her ears ring. She was surrounded

One of her hands was thrust into a narrow crack,

'I'll be damned.'

They were actually alive.

Well... for now.

like a squirrel, she could slowly

a big

The canyon was weeping.

that it was going to turn into a

but she thought that she

enveloped in the roar of rushing

the flood slammed into them like a

wrenched out of the crack, and

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

***

She was cold.

And tired.

so Rain did not want to wake

a five

could, a little bit. If she

wasn't her mom

no classes anymore.

stared at

rain were falling

the sky for a bit, then flinched

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

a small fire crackling near, with her teacher

Tamar of Sorrow was laying on the other side of the fire. She seemed to be in a rough shape,