Shadow Slave

There was a single question at the root of the problem... why had the Thieving Bird stolen his fate? Sure, the loathsome thing seemed to be obsessed with everything that concerned Weaver. But Sunny did not think that it was the only reason.

After pondering the question for a while, he had developed a certain suspicion. He had lost the connection to the Nightmare Spell after becoming fateless, which meant that carrying the Nightmare Spell had something to do with one's fate. Perhaps fate was the medium through which the infection spread.

In any case, the creature which now possessed his fate... would therefore possess his connection to the Nightmare Spell, as well.

So why would the Thieving Bird want something like that?

To answer that question, one had to realize that the creature that Sunny had met in the Nightmare was not the real Thieving Bird. The real Thieving Bird was long dead. Instead, the odious thing he had run into at the Estuary was a replica of the vile Terror created by the Spell.

And a replica could only exist in the illusory realm of the Nightmare.

A carrier of the Spell, however... a carrier of the Spell would be expelled back into the real world once the Nightmare was over. They would have a way to go back.

So, Sunny had come to belleve that the real reason why the Thieving Bird wanted his fate was to become a carrier of the Nightmare Spell, and slip through the cracks of the illusory realm, finding a backdoor to reality.

If so, that would be the greatest prison break in history... quite a suitable feat for the greatest and most vile thief to have ever lived.

Very few creatures could find a way back into existence after having been destroyed for thousands of years, and in such an original way.

Therefore... the creature that had stolen his fate, and was now in possession of it, was not gone. It had not been erased forever by the collapse of the Nightmare. It was somewhere out there, in the real world, liberated from its illusory prison and free to roam the world, stealing anything that had caught its fancy.

Which meant that it could be hunted down and killed. And that he could get his fate back from it, somehow.

Sunny was nowhere near powerful enough to risk facing a Cursed Terror, let alone a Cursed Terror that neither gods nor daemons had been able to deal with.., even the Void Beings were said to have loathed the Vile Thieving Bird, which meant that they had suffered from its mischief as well.

The damned bird was a real menace…

More importantly, though, he didn't know if he even wanted to get his fate back. Despite everything, he wasn't sure.

Because there were strings attached to regaining his fate... both literally and figuratively. Some days, Sunny woke up and wanted nothing more than to be remembered. Some days, he woke up and felt that he would never give up his freedom, which he had paid for so dearly.

But Cassie deserved to know that there was a possibility, at least.

He sighed.

"There is a way. However..."

Sunny's voice turned heavy.

a price to pay if one wishes to become fated. And I... am not sure if

courtyard, where a lonesome tree stood, its leaves

than it had in the outskirts, even though there was no sun to shine on its leaves and bathe

two of them looked at it in silence - Sunny with his

a while,

plant this tree in vour

about another tree, perhaps, one that

the Soul Devourer in

hesitated for a while, then looked at the base of the tree's trunk. There, three lines were carved into the

"...It's a memorial tree."

turned to him

He smiled.

lines into it, as a grave for my parents. Later, I added a third... as

a moment

never told you about it,

she did not. Cassie seemed distracted

we proceed to the actual

had known that about him, as

them into two chairs and a table.

shadow, and Sunny was not controlling him directly. That was why there was a subtle, but unmistakably lecherous smile on the bastard's face. He

was even extra gallant when pouring Cassie

and then she let out a melodious

I just can't get used to that ability of

Sunny smiled.

Well, and sometimes, I feel like I am actually too used to it. It's

sighed and dismissed the

already far removed from what a normal

young and old, strong and weak, sick and healthy, male and female. That kind of experience was not something a human would ever be privy to... and it must have changed her perception of

several lives at the same time. He knew that it had changed him. His three personas were quite different from each other despite being controlled by one mind... it was as much of an

why he was clinging to his secrets so desperately, feeling a

Sunny leaned back.

become, if we succeed. A Supreme being must be even further from being

silent for a while, staring at his tea with a bleak expression. Then,