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?'

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

could

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

Legacy was nearly upon her, and only realized it when something blocked

'What...'

Rain gasped as something hard rammed into

"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

her, was the Legacy girl's

boulder barred their path — hissing a stifled curse, Tamar used the second step to change their direction

— she would not be able to

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

"...old ...n!"

body was violently

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

eyes and tried to

ring. She was surrounded by darkness — the sky was like a narrow line of

damp wall of the canyon. One of her hands was thrust into a narrow crack, while the other

'I'll be damned.'

They were actually alive.

Well... for now.

her Dormant Ability again. Then, like a squirrel, she could slowly make her way back to the surface

a big

The canyon was weeping.

to turn

the darkness, but she thought that she noticed a panicked look in

they were enveloped in

them like a concrete wall. Rain did not even have

hand was violently wrenched out of the crack, and they were carried away,

thing Rain remembered was the sight of a

***

She was cold.

And tired.

Rain did not want

sleep a five more

could be late for class... but she could, a little bit. If she pretended to be pitiful, maybe mom would let

wasn't her mom far

anymore. Instead, she

stared at

rain were falling

sky for a bit, then flinched and

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

small fire crackling near, with her teacher warming his pale hands over

on the other side of the fire. She seemed to be in a