Shadow Slave

Sleep was avoiding Sunny. For a while, he sat silently in the darkness, listening to the calming rumbling of the waves. In this rare moment of respite, memories of the past few days came flooding into his mind. However, he was too tired to seriously think about anything. He was warm, full, and relatively safe. For now, that was more than enough.

Soon, the rhythm of Cassia’s breathing changed, indicating that she fell asleep. Nephis was guarding the camp, motionless and, as always, a bit distant. With her silver hair and fair skin, she looked like an alabaster statue.

Sunny sighed. He struggled for a bit, and then said quietly:

“Hey. Can I ask you a question?”

Nephis glanced at him and shrugged. The lack of an audible response clearly indicated that she remembered about his ability to see in the dark.

“Sure.”

‘Would it be too personal?’

Sunny hesitated.

“I thought you Legacies come into the Spell with a whole inherited arsenal of Memories. I mean, that’s supposed to be your main advantage. How come you only had three?”

Nephis was silent for a few moments.

“Actually, I only had two. The rope came from Cassie.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Oh. I see.”

Realizing that her answer wasn’t really an answer, Nephis thought for a while and added:

“We lost most of our Memories when my father passed away. The ones that remained were sold one by one over the years, to keep the family afloat. This sword and armor came from my First Nightmare.”

So that’s how it was. Sunny realized that the fall of the Immortal Flame clan might have been more thorough than he had thought. Still, something about it didn’t make sense.

“Surely, with your clan’s reputation and standing, there were other ways to make money.”

Without any strong reaction, Nephis simply said:

“There were other reasons.”

Then, she unexpectedly turned her head in his direction.

“Can I ask you a question in return?”

Sunny swallowed.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Nephis tilted her head.

“How did you know that I’m a Legacy?”

‘What? That’s it?’

“Simple. I heard Caster mention it. He was scolding other Sleepers to make them treat you with respect.”

She gave him a nod and turned away. What thoughts were hidden behind her calm grey eyes, Sunny did not know.

Some time had passed before he gathered enough courage to ask the question that he really wanted to ask. Before doing it, though, he made sure that Cassie was sound asleep and lowered his voice.

ask another

a negative response, he

are you burdening yourself

Changing Star’s mouth

“Why? Wouldn’t you?”

pushing the truthful answer out of

“No.”

would be “yes”. But one of the things he had lost after the

that it was simply not something he could do. He was barely able

but be a little disappointed in

to judge him. She showed no reaction

“Because I want to.”

‘Because… she wants to?’

she would either lecture him about virtue and compassion or disclose some obscure way to make Cassie’s

expected him to believe that she was putting her life in danger, to the point of sacrificing an

‘Ridiculous!’

a non-answer. But the more

maybe, it was actually

doing them because he needed to. It

her upbringing, but they weren’t as ample as he had imagined. She had no wealth

impossible for her to have the audacity to disregard need in favor of something as frivolous as desire,

girl simply because that was

that mentality was the greatest advantage

that was the real barrier that separated Legacies from the rest of

However, before Sunny

“My turn.”

does she mean it’s her turn to ask

meant. Changing Star once again turned to Sunny and, after a long

the legend of

of a weird question

remembering that

“No.”

sighed and turned away. A few moments

an ancient war. In the legends, some humans back then had powers akin to the Awakened. Achilles with an Aspect of indestructible body, Diomedes that was so ferocious even the God of War was wary of him, Ajax who was as strong as a giant. Odysseus was not

staring at the silver-haired

did this come from? Why is she

Meanwhile, Nephis continued:

never to return. Over the years, he survived one horror after

in the darkness, creating an

kinds of wonders, delicacies and delights. As

Nephis smiled.

a makeshift boat and abandoned the island, leaving all its delights, the beautiful fairy, and even his immortality behind. So,

Sunny blinked.

‘What?’

kind of a mind game was that? He even considered that Nephis was mocking him, but it didn’t seem

‘Weirdo!’

thought for a bit, and

he was far

smile appeared

away… from home.