Shadow Slave: Foreign shadow

​In the freezing darkness of another night on the Forgotten Shore, surrounded by an abyssal sea teeming with hundreds of ravenous abominations, the situation atop a jagged peak protruding from the black waters had suddenly become rather... perilous.

​”Grrr!”

​Slash. CLANG!

​”What the hell— Neph, stop it right now, you absolute lunatic!”

​Sunny and Cassie had found Nephis roughly three days ago. Discovering her passed out, utterly exhausted, and stark naked, Sunny had wrapped her in his [Crimson Cloak] before carrying her up to a secure plateau. They had set up camp there, waiting for her to wake.

​The exact moment Changing Star opened her eyes—the very second she met the gaze of the boy whose lap she was unconsciously using as a pillow—she reacted. She grabbed him, pinned him violently to the ground, and pressed her glowing blade against his throat.

​Finding his back suddenly slammed against the hard stone, Everlasting Gloom reacted purely on raw instinct before he could be skewered. His senses flared, his [Child of War] Attribute activating in a heartbeat. He willed Soul Serpent to instantly manifest into a solid, circular black shield, crossing his arms just in time to block the deadly edge meant to sever his neck.

​”Grrr!!!”

​Slash. Slash. CLANG. CLANG.

​”Fuck, someone stop her!”

​Nephis was completely blind with rage. Silver flames ignited furiously in her eyes, and a blinding white light seemed to radiate directly from her skin. In her frenzied state, she had thrown off the scarlet cloak, leaving herself completely naked and exposed to the elements once again.

​She wasn’t lucid. She wasn’t thinking. Driven by pure, homicidal instinct, she repeatedly struck Sunny, bringing her [Dream Blade] down in a relentless barrage of wrathful overhead swings.

​Sunny held the line. The black shield absorbed the slashes without a scratch, but the brutal kinetic force of the impacts traveled painfully down his arms and into his bones, having been caught completely off guard by the sudden assault.

​”AAAH—! Mh?!”

​Changing Star raised her weapon for another heavy strike, but just as the blade reached its apex, it was stopped dead in mid-air.

​Myriad Shade, who had been keeping watch, intervened the instant she turned her head and saw the scuffle break out. Commanding the shadows, she wrapped Nephis in a thick mass of dark tentacles, binding her hands, legs, and mouth, completely immobilizing her in the midst of her blind fury.

​”What the hell is wrong with you?!” Sunny shouted, scrambling quickly to his feet, keeping Serpent’s shield cautiously raised just in case she broke free.

​”Mmh! Mmh!!!”

​Nephis didn’t answer—not that she could with her mouth bound. She simply continued to thrash wildly, consumed by her own burning wrath.

​Suddenly, a piercing beam of white light shot through the mass of shadowy tentacles restraining her. Then a second. Then a third.

​”Uh-oh.”

​Sensing the imminent implosion, Sunny immediately raised his shield higher, guarding his face and chest.

​BOOM.

​With a muffled explosion of silver flames, Nephis broke free. She landed gracefully back on her feet, her arms spread wide and her longsword tightly gripped. Her eyes were completely whited out by the soul fire.

​Sunny stared at her, about to mentally command Thene to chain her down again, but before he could even form the thought...

​SMASH.

​’Holy SH**!’

​Sunny got a crystal-clear, front-row view of a small fist flying in from the right, clocking Changing Star square in the face with enough force to dislocate her jaw.

​Nephis was sent spinning, crashing hard into the dirt, instantly knocked out cold by none other than Cassie herself.

​”Wake up, Neph, damn it!” the blind seer scolded, rubbing her knuckles to soothe the stinging pain of the punch she had just thrown.

​Her words fell on deaf ears, however, as her target was currently lying unconscious, faceplanted into the stone with a bruised jaw.

​Looking from Cassie, to Changing Star, and back to Cassie again—his mouth hanging wide open in utter disbelief—Sunny had only one coherent thought regarding the absurd scene that had just unfolded before his eyes.

​’Ah! So that’s why they call her Song of the Fallen.’

​Because first she sings you a tune, and then she drops you to the floor.

***

​A few hours later, Nephis woke up again. A sharp, throbbing pain flared along her jaw the exact moment she opened her eyes.

​Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the hard stone. Looking down, she realized her fingers were tightly gripping the soft fabric of an intensely bright red blanket—no, a cloak.

​’Where... what happened to me?’

​Changing Star wondered, her mind finally clearing as she looked around. Her memory abruptly cut off right after the image of Jayden desperately crawling on the ground, begging for mercy. Yet, no anger flared at the memory of what he had done. The rage had been entirely consumed by the blinding fire of her own fury—just like every other emotion inside her. She felt completely hollow.

​Turning her dull gaze away from the flat, dreary horizon of the dark ocean, Nephis finally noticed who was beside her. Squatting a few paces away was a young man with ink-black hair, staring at her warily with a round black shield gripped in his hand. Resting peacefully against him was a girl with smooth, golden hair.

​Sunny and Cassie.

​”Sunny?”

​”Sunny my ass, princess!”

​She blinked, bewildered by his blunt, hostile tone.

​Seeing her completely clueless about what had just transpired, he enlightened her. ”When you woke up earlier, you tackled me to the ground and tried to cut my head off.”

​”Sorry,” Nephis replied, lowering her head in shame. Her emotions felt entirely muted, and her jaw still throbbed painfully from the fracture.

​Sunny stared at her in serious silence for a long moment, watching her gaze remain fixed on the floor. Finally, he let out a heavy, drawn-out sigh, deciding to just let it go.

​’Whatever, it’s not like—’

​”Just go back to sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow. Thene will keep watch,” he said simply, before gently adjusting the sleeping Cassie in his arms and closing his eyes.

​Nephis blinked, turning her head to the left.

There, she found a tall, slender, yet voluptuously built young woman wearing an elegant black dress that left her shoulders, back, and neckline exposed. Her skin was entirely pitch-black, as were her long, straight hair and her bottomless eyes. She was utterly stunning, as if carved from the purest darkness.

But above all else, she radiated an immense, silent power.

​’An Echo... or something similar?’ Nephis reasoned, watching the mysterious woman offer her a brief, polite wave.

​Changing Star didn’t know what to think anymore.

About what happened to Luna.

About her broken promise.

About her hollowed-out emotions.

About her failure.

​She simply closed her eyes, letting her head fall back onto the bare stone alone. Clutching the fabric of the scarlet cloak tightly against her chest in shame, she let herself drift back into an even deeper, darker Dream Realm.

***

​Meanwhile, elsewhere...

​”Shit...”

​A charred body lay on the ground. The corpse was missing an arm, and half of its face had been completely burned away, leaving exposed bone and raw muscle. Despite this, the gruesome figure was still breathing. It was entirely thanks to the Memory clutched tightly in his remaining hand—a lifeline passed down to him by his Clan.

​”Shit!”

​Jayden lay completely paralyzed on the bare rock. Every single fiber of his body screamed for mercy; his skin, his organs, and his very bones were burning. Only his incredibly selfish desire to stay alive and the absolute, freezing terror of death kept him conscious.

​The Memory was healing him, but at a maddeningly slow pace. Every passing second in that state was an excruciating, agonizing torture. An eternity that seemed to have no end.

​’It’s all her fault,’ he thought, seething as the pain slowly chipped away at his sanity. ’That bitch!’

​”Ah... haha...” an attempt at a manic laugh escaped his half-flayed lips, immediately choking on the searing pain of his burns.

​’If she hadn’t rejected me, she would never have forced me to resort to violence,’

Jayden thought, his blood boiling in his veins, only serving to prolong his agony. His dry eyes burned terribly, but he didn’t have any eyelids left to blink and soothe them.

​’How dare a miserable little slut from an insignificant Clan like the House of Night refuse me?! Me! A proud scion of Valor! I am a genius! All these disgusting, inferior rats should bow before me, and instead...’

​His twisted thoughts drifted back to his time at the Academy, when he was surrounded by girls who adored him and desperately sought his favor—exactly as it should have been.

​’If it weren’t for that cursed whore! That Yukino! Who would have ever expected her Flaw to completely shield her from my charm?! And then that bastard dog, Markus! Shit! That disgusting, slimy, masochistic wretch! Because of him, I couldn’t even have my fun with all those girls who were literally throwing themselves at me!’

​Finally, his pain-warped, twisted mind returned to the most recent event.

​’Changing Star.’

​The name echoed like poison in his mind, causing him to writhe in rage, tearing open flesh that had only just begun to heal.

​’If it wasn’t for her playing bodyguard, that blue-haired little tramp would never have dared look down on me! And how the hell did she even survive the trap I set up for her?! It was perfect. Shit! How dare she reduce me to this miserable state?!’

​His burning, bloodshot eyes—once an immaculate amber—shifted to the Memory he held in his hand, his only lifeline and the very thing mending his broken body. He was so gruesomely mangled and charred that passing Nightmare Creatures simply ignored him, smelling only burnt meat and mistaking him for ash.

​”Ahahah!” Another brief, deranged laugh forced its way out of his mouth.

​’But it doesn’t matter. Because even though I’ve been mutilated and humiliated... I still managed to give her a taste of my medicine.’

---

​Name: Jayden.

True Name: —

Rank: Dreamer.

Soul Shards: [1000/1000].

Memories: [Mighty Greatsword], [Black Iron Armor], [Lifeline], [Shield of Withholding], [Overprized Bracelet], [Travel Bag], ...

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Charmer], [Child of Lust], [Silver-Tongued].

​[Charmer] Attribute Description: [Your presence is calm and reassuring, your outward appearance is sublime and extremely attractive, especially to those of the opposite sex.]

[Child of Lust] Attribute Description: [Lust recognizes you as one of its own.]

[Silver-Tongued] Attribute Description: [The sound of your voice is a pleasant melody to the ears. Your speech is refined and bewitching.]

​Aspect: [Worm of Doubt].

Aspect Description: [You are the scion hatched from an egg of the great Spirit of Doubt. Doubt is a rather treacherous poison—unlike others, it is invisible, odorless, and formless, revealing itself only when its roots have finally taken hold in the souls of its victims. Just like your glorious ancestor, you are destined to bloom beautifully and dazzlingly like a splendid butterfly.]

Aspect Rank: Awakened.

Aspect Abilities: [Seed of Doubt].

​[Seed of Doubt] Ability Description: [You can implant a seed of doubt in others, whether they are human or not.]

​Flaw: [Tyrant’s Ego].

Flaw Description: [You are more prone to yielding to vices than others. No inner chain can truly put a leash on your desires.]

---

​’Yes, exactly,’ Jayden thought, a ghastly, distorted smile curving his ruined lips. ’The Spell is right. I am destined to bring the entire world to its knees before me. Women, money, power—everything belongs to me by right.’

​”Ahahah... ahah!!!” His laughter broke out again, a warped, malevolent echo spreading across the Shore, constantly sliced in half by the sheer agony of his charred flesh knitting itself back together far, far too slowly.

​’Did you really think you got rid of me that easily, Changing Star? Eh, you filthy whore? Brace yourself. Because soon, my poison will corrupt your mind. It will make you doubt your loved ones, the people around you, your ideals, your abilities... and eventually, even yourself. And you can bet your life that I will make it my absolute duty to stay alive as long as possible just to watch it take effect. I will watch as you slowly destroy yourself from within. Oh, you can be absolutely certain of that!’

​Jayden remained there. Burned, charred, and trapped in excruciating agony, laughing his madness to the wind. And yet, he was still alive.

His skin was slowly closing over, his bones and internal organs mending with an agonizing lethargy.

​And despite everything... he was still breathing.

***

​Nephis woke up, greeted this time by the warm rays of the morning sun. The rich, savory scent of roasted meat filled her nostrils the moment she stirred.

​Turning to her left, she found Cassie, Sunny, and his dark, stunning Echo sitting around a small, crackling campfire, busy roasting cuts of Scavenger meat.

​”Good morning,” Sunny greeted calmly, sensing her gaze and turning to look at her.

​”Good morning,” Nephis replied, her voice carrying a hollow weight. She managed a faint, stiff smile. Her emotions still felt bleached and deadened, like ash after a raging fire.

​Standing up, she wrapped the red cloak tightly around herself to cover her bare skin, devoid of any other armor Memory or protection to wear. She walked over and took a seat by the fire.

Sunny handed her a skewer of meat he had just finished smoking. Changing Star accepted it gratefully, noticing how perfectly and precisely it had been cooked.

​’For a kid from the Outskirts, Sunny certainly knows his way around a campfire. Is that really just thanks to the Academy’s Wilderness Survival course... or is it something else?’

​The Doubt surfaced spontaneously.

​Nephis stared at the meat just a second too long.

​”Something wrong?” Sunny asked, raising an eyebrow.

​She shook her head slightly, banishing the thought, and took a bite.

​”So, while we eat—and preferably before someone tries to shove a sword through my eye,” he began, casting a fleeting, pointed glance at Nephis, ”I think it’s time to bring you up to speed. Neph, as you’ve likely figured out, we’re in a Death Zone. The Spell calls it the Forgotten Shore. From what we’ve gathered, it’s an endless ocean that recedes during the day beneath the sunlight, revealing an equally boundless crimson coral labyrinth underneath. It’s completely swarming with Nightmare Creatures. There are no stars in the sky to navigate by, and at night, when the black sea rises, the horizon becomes completely impenetrable.”

​Sunny took a breath before continuing. ”Cassie and I have been heading west. Thanks to her Aspect, she had a vision a few days ago of a bright, walled castle in that direction, full of people. Needless to say, without her, we’d be blindly stumbling through the dark with no hope of ever finding a way out of this hellhole. If the two of us spawning in the exact same spot in the Dream Realm wasn’t a stroke of sheer luck, I really don’t know what is.”

​Hearing herself praised, Cassie paused her chewing, a faint blush warming her pale cheeks at the immense importance he placed on her.

​”Does that match what you’ve seen, or is there any detail you’d like to add?” Sunny concluded, turning his attention back to Nephis.

​She looked at him, her mysterious silver eyes concealing a myriad of unspoken thoughts. She chewed the bite she had just taken, taking her time to swallow and carefully reflect on his summary.

​”How many days have passed since you had this vision?” Changing Star asked, looking at the blind girl.

​”About a week,” Cassie replied softly.

​Nephis lowered her gaze in deep thought, the skewer of meat pausing in mid-air between her fingers.

​”Have you encountered any abominations in particular that gave you significant trouble?”

​”None in particular,” Sunny answered. ”Aside from a Corrupted Devil that nearly devoured us on day one. But fortunately, it was too busy running away from an even bigger predator to care, so it completely ignored us and just ran right past.”

​”Okay,” she finally nodded. ”Then we continue West.”

And so, their journey finally began.