Sunny blinked and sat up slowly.
Two new attributes?
That was unexpected, he mused.
He stood up and tried to figure out the current state his body was in.
He clenched and unclenched his hand slowly, stretched a bit, and jumped from one foot to the other a few times.
Overall he felt great.
There was not even a trace left of the previous torture his body had just gone through.
Even that light drowsiness was slowly being replaced with waves of bursting energy.
He was simultaneously dead tired, too, paradoxical as it sounded.
He was a bit cold, though — a side effect of his recent transformation, it seemed.
He frowned, then sighed dejectedly and opened his runes, not feeling a particular need to prolong the inevitable.
The first part was exactly the same as the last time he checked.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Dreamer.
Shadow Core: Dormant.
Shadow Fragments: [204/1000].
There were also two of his new Memories, of course — [Voice of Reason] and [Bottomless Desire].
Both Memories of Ascended rank and First Tier, so they were relatively powerful — especially for a Sleeper like him — and would come in handy.
The former being a simple, inconspicuous bracelet with mind-protecting properties, the latter… A bed with a hidden compartment — storage itself.
Yeah, that was a bit embarrassing, even for him, considering who gave it to him.
And what events had transpired next, a few weeks later… That was probably one of the reasons why the investigation against Jet was allowed at all.
From an outside perspective it must have looked like a love confession… He chuckled.
That was a funny thought, to muse on some other time.
The attributes were, however, much more interesting.
First, there was his Divinity.
He had paid it no mind at first, but after taking more time to reflect carefully, he noticed that for some reason he had a [Flame of Divinity] instead of a [Mark].
From all he knew, from the state of his runes, his First Nightmare was probably exactly the same as the last time.
He had many more Shadow Fragments now, but it was because the Spell had counted his slaying of that loathsome Bird in his previous life.
From the state of his other Memories and simple math, he believed that events of his Nightmare were pretty similar…
He could already feel a growing headache.
Sunny sighed.
But he wasn’t here to deeply reflect on the nature of his regression.
There were two new attributes to familiarize himself with after all!
Attributes: […], [The Shadow’s Claim], [Trace of Death].
He concentrated on the first one and frowned thoughtfully.
[The Shadow’s Claim] Attribute Description: “The God of Shadows ruled over things that do not end: shadow, death, silence, and all that lies between. He is gone now. The things he ruled are not. You carry his mark — not as a burden, and not as a gift. As a Claim. The shadow you cast has stopped pretending to be one. The rest of you is still catching up.”
“What the Spell does that even mean?!” Sunny shouted, exasperated.
He had looked at the Gloomy suspiciously, to which the shadow just shrugged, having no idea what it was talking about.
He exhaled wearily and massaged his brows.
“Damnation, was anything ever simple in my life?!” He sighed and then suddenly exclaimed.
“It’s all that hateful Bird’s fault! The dreadful thing gives me headaches even after kicking the bucket…”
Sunny clicked his tongue in irritation.
‘Well, no point in crying over spilt milk.’ After a moment of hesitation, he concentrated on his second attribute, [Trace of Death].
The name sounded cool, however…
[Trace of Death] Attribute Description: “Most things leave traces when they pass. Warmth in an empty chair. The particular silence of a room someone has just left. Dust that still remembers a hand. Death is no different. It passed close to you once — closer than most ever experience — and it left something behind. Small. Patient. Waiting.”
So it was a dud, in the end… If he understood everything correctly from its description, then it allowed him to somewhat feel the echoes of the recent demise of other beings.
There were probably some applications for that, but for a piece of the Shadow God’s Lineage… It sucked.
And all of it, indeed, felt too lackluster for a complete Lineage of a True God.
He had expected that at least his [Child of Shadows] Attribute would evolve to the next step, but he had hoped for too much, it seemed.
“Was the Shadow really a Fraud?” he muttered, irritated.
Well, he did receive a substantial boost to his physique and, by the looks of it, to the quality of his essence too… At this point he was close to the boundary of an especially weak Awakened with some kind of utility Aspect.
So it wasn’t that terrible per se, but… ‘Weaver’s incomplete Lineage was incomparably better.’
If he was right, and Weaver had indeed split his legacy into seven parts… ‘It means it could have possibly been more than twice as potent as what I had…’
That left a question.
What kind of monster was Weaver, if even his incomplete Lineage had completely outshone the Shadow God’s — one of the Seven True Gods, first creatures of Desire — complete one.
Or was the Shadow really that weak…
Well, he would probably never know that for sure.
Maybe the lineage would grow more potent with time, as he himself grew stronger.
A strange thought crossed his mind for a moment, though.
‘Maybe it’s a good thing that I’ll never have to give it away to Kai.
With how mind-shatteringly painful it was and how poorly it ended up… He would probably think of me as a sadistic fraud too, by association.’
He sighed heavily, the first signs of amusement crossing his face.
He took his communicator and found Jet’s contact and scribbled the message quickly, not paying too much attention to how it might sound — the main thing was that she should understand what he meant and what she should prepare for in the worst — or maybe even the best — case scenario they had talked about.
Sunny dropped onto the bed, exhausted.
His communicator vibrated almost immediately after.
A corner of his mouth lifted.
‘Looks like Jet has a free minute.’ He opened her message and then blinked owlishly.
“Good job, doofus. One more reason to whip your ass later.” He read the message slowly.
“Doofus, huh?! Pft, hahaha.” He started laughing heartily, a nostalgic expression crossing his face, eyes distant.
“Hadn’t heard that nickname for a while…”
He wrote a few messages after that.
But Jet was already offline.
It seemed her short break was over and there was a job to be done.
He put the back of his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, fully intending to go to sleep.
After a minute or two he started to fall into the sweet embrace of Morpheus — whoever that guy was.
But then someone touched his leg.
When he didn’t react, the stranger took hold of his shoulder and shook him a bit.
“Hmph…” He mumbled, something that distinctly sounded like a name.
“I’m not in the mood… Leave me alone. I’m dead tired and want to sle…” His voice stopped suddenly, and then he jumped from the bed, startled.
He expanded his Shadow Sense, already shifting into battle mode.
‘I’ll have a few words with Gloomy after this, why that…’
His thoughts stopped suddenly after he met the face — or lack of it to be exact — of the intruder in question.
It wasn’t an intruder at all, though.
It wasn’t even a person…
The figure that stood in front of him was his Gloomy shadow, in some kind of balloon-like semi-corporeal form.
He didn’t look like an Incarnation, and he had none of Sunny’s features at all too.
It was more like Sunny’s [Shadow Manifestation] ability was giving his shadow a tangible form.
He had no such ability yet, though and what’s more — he had nowhere near enough essence to spare for it.
Sunny blinked and wiped his eyes.
Then slapped himself on the face, trying to shake his drowsiness away.
His shadow continued to stand in front of him, arms crossed, watching him with irritation and contempt.
“Did I lose my mind completely?” Sunny muttered, but the Gloomy, tired of his nonsense, took a step forward and hit him in the nose with his shadowy fist.
Sunny took a step back.
It didn’t hurt much per se, but… His shadow was definitely solid.
Not rock-solid, but more like dense-pillow-solid.
“Okay, point taken…” he whispered thoughtfully.
And then realization hit him.
He frowned thoughtfully and then his face shifted instantly.
Sunny giggled quietly. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
“So, [The Shadow’s Claim] is not so useless after all…” A manic, greedy grin started to spread on his face.
“It’s not bad. No, this is actually good… This is something I can work with!” He cackled quietly, a crazy idea coming to his mind and overpowering all other thoughts completely.
“Forget sleep, we have some work to do…”
***
And so, the day of the Solstice had finally come.
Drowsiness had already started to slowly creep over the minds of the young Sleepers; however, when Sunny entered the cafeteria that morning, covering a yawn with his hand, an unexpected commotion met him.
People there were a little too energetic… ‘Well, figures.’
“Hey, did you hear?!” Someone whispered cryptically as Sunny was passing by.
“The kitchens were robbed again last night!” He stretched lazily as he stood in front of the food counter and scratched his chin, with slightly narrowed eyes.
He sighed and then picked up his tray, starting to choose what he wanted for breakfast.
“And only the spices were stolen again?” After getting an affirmative nod, the other Sleeper shook her head and exclaimed.
“Damn, that’s the third day in a row! What kind of lunatic would need this many spices?! And for what?”
The guy next to her looked around and then answered quietly.
“For the Dream Realm, I presume. It’s almost unheard of to find familiar seasonings there, if any at all.” After some hesitation he continued, on the edge of whispering.
“It’s probably someone from the Legacies — they’re used to extravagance and will get away with it anyway. And who else among the Sleepers could possibly have a storage Memory?” The girl close to him nodded silently, agreeing.
Sunny finished putting food on his tray, having a small mountain of it — one that even Effie would be proud to see — at this point and after he threw one last look at the counter he began moving towards his usual place.
However, right after he made a few slow steps he overheard the third Sleeper, who had stayed silent until now, exhaling and then whispering covertly.
“You’re not wrong… Actually, the perpetrator has already been caught! You won’t ever believe who it is…”
At that moment, a quick commotion and then sharp silence spread from the entrance and over the whole cafeteria as a figure of a tall young man made an entrance.
His posture strained, eyes sharp, looking straight ahead, and chin held high.
It was Caster of the Han Li Clan.
There were a few unusual things about him, though.
First — he had entered alone, already an unusual thing for such a friendly and popular Legacy.
Second — no Sleeper from his usual company was too eager to approach him.
And finally — the reaction he received was far from usually friendly greetings and cheers.
He silently passed all the Sleepers — who gave him a wide berth, dispersing as if from a plague — looked at Sunny sharply for a moment, and then approached the counter and started picking up his food.
Sunny could have sworn that he had seen the proud Legacy’s shifting in place awkwardly — almost painfully.
He suppressed the urge to smile and continued to his place.
“Morning, Cas! Slept well?” he asked, taking a seat, a satisfied grin finally slipping onto his face.
Cassie gave him a weary look for a moment and then smiled happily.
“Good morning, Sunny! Not so well, to be honest…” she murmured.
“I was too worried to sleep a wink until early morning. And now I regret it already…” At that, she yawned long and hard.
He chuckled.
“You’ll have plenty of sleep soon enough. And no need to worry — if anything comes up, I will personally come to save you.” he said confidently.
She chuckled at that.
“Thank you, really… Though, Sunny… You seem unusually lively today, by the way. Any reason?” She asked softly, tilting her head to the side.
“Well, we’re going to the Dream Realm today, of course. I’m too tired of the anticipation — better to get this over with.” Sunny answered easily with a lazy smile on his face.
It was true, of course, and indeed part of the reason.
His good mood, however, was for the most part connected to the scene that had met him when he entered the cafeteria.
To explain the full extent of his delight, we need to go a few days back.
After his Gloomy shadow’s sudden solidification, he decided to check the extent of his new attribute’s abilities.
And what better way to test such things than to rob someone!
Well, the first time he cleaned out the kitchens it was probably still the aftereffects of his overuse of [Shapeless Thief] clouding his mind.
As it turned out, his shadow not only could turn tangible at will — his own or the shadow’s — but could also store a small amount of things inside it for brief periods of time.
The capacity of the shadow being the size of the human who cast it, and the time it could store something being somewhere between fifteen and forty minutes, depending on how much weight it was carrying.
It took him half a night of runs to completely empty the seasoning reserves of the academy’s kitchen.
The good thing was that his storage Memory, which had been given to him by Jet, was half-filled with different kinds of spices at this point — more than enough for at least a few years of traveling, if he didn’t squander too much.
The academy’s staff took notice early the next morning and consequently weren’t able to prepare a replacement in time for breakfast or even lunch.
So it was a bit bland for his tastes, but that was fine.
He was more than satisfied with his profits, after all!
After running around like headless chickens for the whole day, the staff were able to acquire a sufficient amount of seasonings for the time being.
However, he robbed them again that very same night.
He had no real need to — his reserves were full enough, the Bird’s Hunger had subsided, and he had no particular contempt for the academy — he quite liked it, to be fair — or for most of its students.
He did, however, hold it against one particular Legacy Heir…
So he decided to play a prank — a stupid thing to do, really.
But he was a crazy and spiteful person after all.
So it was expected of him if nothing else!
So he robbed the kitchens again, but this time half of his profits that night did not go into his storage Memory.
Instead, he decided to leave a few clues for the investigators to find.
A spilled heap of spices here, a stray pack there, a few footprints — too large for someone as small as him to leave — all thanks to his formless shadow, of course.
And the next morning, Caster’s shirt smelled suspiciously of cinnamon.
Nothing too incriminating at that point.
But some took notice.
And that was more than enough.
The next night, security was tighter.
There was even a patrol — a patrol for the kitchen.
The thought made him giggle.
He cleaned them out anyway.
Gloomy was a shadow, after all — a very experienced one in stealth.
So he robbed them right in front of their eyes and they were none the wiser!
How could mere Awakened ever catch a shadow?
There was one little thing he had also stolen the night before — a military-grade tranquilizer used to subdue unruly Awakened.
There were substantial stocks of it, so one little piece was easy to miss.
He could have tried to wait for Caster to fall asleep and then inject him directly.
But there was a risk of him waking up in the process.
So he monitored his routine for two days and decided to go with the simplest solution.
He mixed it into his water.
It worked a bit slower than a direct injection, but that was enough.
Sunny, being paranoid as he was, even replaced the bottle with a new one containing the exact same amount as before.
After that, everything was easy.
Creating an incriminating scene and leaving a few more traces than needed.
What met the investigators in Caster’s room first was an odor of dozens of mixed spices.
Seasonings were literally everywhere — the floor, the table, the walls.
Even the bathtub was filled with spice-mixed water!
And on the bed lay the proud Legacy himself.
Well, the view was anything but proud…
He had been covered in spices from head to toe.
His face coated with cinnamon, paprika in his nostrils, and a smoking vanilla pod in his mouth… There was not a place on him that was free of it.
Even a mix of hot peppers had found their way into his pants…
Yes, Sunny was a vengeful, crazy, and spiteful bastard.
But could you blame him?
It was so much fun, after all!
He needed to considerably restrain himself from bursting into fits of giggles.
He would remember this image even on his deathbed — and he actually had a few pictures!
He could imagine the faces of his cohort when he showed them!
So by the end of the day, Caster’s hard-earned reputation had hit rock bottom.
‘A spoiled Legacy kid with a spice addiction,’ they called him now.
So all in all, his last day in the Waking World was spent in a good mood!
By the end of it, he said his goodbyes to Teacher Julius, listened to the Awakened Rock’s speech as he had the last time, gave Cassie a few pieces of advice and a supportive speech, and then went to his own sleeping pod — already feeling waves of drowsiness washing over him.
It didn’t take him long before the Spell whispered into his ear.
[Welcome back to the Dream Realm, Sunless!]
***
Cold winter winds blew from the restless darkening ocean, people swarming outside.
Some preparing for the departure of the Armored Ships, others going back home from their shifts already.
You could even see Awakened running from one place to another, trying to contain the chaos of the new Nightmare Gates opening all over the Port Town.
Jet, however, was not that lucky…
In the dimly lit chamber of the Command Center of the Town, two figures were present.
The first being Saint Cor, the Wake of Ruin, one of the current leaders of the Government.
His imposing figure sat behind the table, back turned to the window, fingers interlocked, eyes narrowed and strict — though a spark of something akin to concern could be seen there if you knew where to look.
In front of him stood — hands behind her back, eyes downcast — Soul Reaper Jet herself.
Her short hair was disheveled, eyes tired with dark circles beneath them — a consequence of not having slept a wink for the past three, or was it four, days.
The reason she was here — in this room, instead of in the fields, or better yet, catching a short nap — was simple, but absolutely humiliating once again.
‘That little smartass devil!
When I put my hands on you…’
“Jet…” Saint Cor started slowly.
He coughed a bit awkwardly — this conversation clearly wasn’t comfortable for him either.
“We already had a similar conversation a few days ago… And if I remember correctly, you had promised to be more…” He took a sip of water, trying to find words that would sound less incriminating.
“…discreet in your affairs.”
“Sir, I…” Jet started defensively, but the Wake of Ruin held up his hand, motioning for her to stay silent for now.
“We conducted an investigation of that… Sleeper Sunless. Not much to be found about him, to be honest. A kid from the outskirts — a common background, I see… — but we managed to come across his… interesting personality.” She gulped silently, nervousness rising in her chest.
‘What did that lunatic do?!’ “In light of the conversations we reviewed, our entire opinion about this situation… may have changed.”
Suddenly the screen on the wall to her right lit up.
Fragments of their messages were displayed on the screen.
The whole thing left a bad taste in her mouth — it was disturbing and somewhat disgusting how easily the Government could strip away every speck of privacy a person had.
But for her it was expected.
She was an Officer, a high-ranking one at that — being under more surveillance than normal civilians, especially after the latest scandal and her dubious reputation overall, was foreseeable.
It didn’t mean she liked it, though.
She sighed and fought the urge to massage her temples.
From what she gathered, after consuming the Shadow God’s Lineage, for some reason, Sunny’s already chaotic enough mind had become even more… chaotic.
And in that half-mad state, he had decided it was a good idea to message her — in her already precarious situation.
She exhaled through her gritted teeth and shifted her gaze to the screen with an unblinking expression.
Soul Reaper already knew what would be displayed there, but she could imagine, just for a moment, that all of that was a strange, humiliating dream — and when she looked at the offending device, she would simply wake up, embarrassed but barely remembering what had transpired.
But she was not that lucky, of course…
‘That depraved, crazy, sharp-tongued moron…’ She shivered, mentally skinning the devil alive.
‘What sins did I commit in my previous life for me to end up here…’ Her eyes fell on the messages, mind going haywire.
Jet’s cheeks burned — even to her fairly uncorrupted mind, some of the things they had discussed… sounded ambiguous.
Sunny’s latest message — a message she hadn’t even had the opportunity to read before, by the way — was: ‘My Shadow became hard after our talk.
You’d be shocked to see this.’
An urge overtook her.
Her hand covered her face in an attempt to hide her shame.
She wanted to scream.
She had never, ever experienced anything remotely as humiliating as this.
Saint Cor, however, continued.
“In light of these recent events, we have formed an opinion…” He stopped suddenly and then stood up.
“Jet… I have known you for a while. You have always been an exemplary Officer, a respectable citizen, and overall a good person.” He listed her merits.
“So it came as a shock to hear about… your ‘minor’ tastes.” She coughed at that and blushed even harder.
“I’m not blaming you, of course. I know you’re not that young anymore.” Her embarrassment was immediately replaced by indignation.
She screamed internally — ‘Excuse you!
I’m only 27, I am still young!’ But she remained silent, listening to him continue.
“So, feeling desired by someone a decade younger must have been a pleasant feeling.”
A vein started bulging on her forehead.
He was talking as though she were some past-menopause cat lady with barely any romantic interactions.
That thought irritated her somehow…
“…And of course, given your unfortunate circumstances, you are… still naive and inexperienced,” he said as he shook his head slowly.
Her?
Naive?
Inexperienced?
Damn it, who did that Old Man think she was?
Some kind of Holy Maiden?
She may have had no time for romantic relationships, but she was definitely not naive.
And totally not inexperienced.
Not at all…
“Ahem. It’s hard for me too, sorry. Never imagined I would have such a conversation with you. What I want to say is… Please, think carefully and answer truthfully. By any chance, do you think that… you’re the one who is being groomed?”
The air got caught in her throat after those words left his lips.
She coughed violently and stared at him owlishly.
Is he for real now?
Her.
Being GROOMED?
By a 17-year-old?!
‘What kind of nons…’
She blinked suddenly.
Now that she thought about it… Well, she indeed was kind of being groomed, if she looked at it from the other perspective.
Just not in the way he imagined.
After all, Sunny had spent a lot of time trying to recruit her, scheming for her and with her, even offered her a few cool gifts among some other things.
So if she were to answer honestly… Jet smiled internally, but shifted her expression to one of mild surprise and confusion.
‘It’s payback, little idiot.’
Wake of Ruin watched her closely, his eyes catching a sudden change of expression on her face.
‘As I thought… Poor girl.
What love makes us do…’
Jet, however, answered, her voice a little husky and shaky.
“Now that I think about it… You may be right, Sir. Maybe I am…” She swallowed, eyes downcast, reluctance in her next words.
“…being… groomed.”
And there it is.
The most boring arc is over.
The Dream Realm is waiting, baby.
Jet is using Sunny’s tactics against him, huh?
It’ll probably have no consequences in the future.
None at all…
Next chapter is planned to be action-filled one, so I should sharpen my kn…
pen, I mean pen, yeah…
Also, now that I’m back to work, starting tomorrow, there will be less chapters, sadly.
I reopened my passion for writing, so I would have gladly did only that.
However, duty calls or so they say.
Next chap is should probably be out by Wednesday, or so, but who knows what my boss prepared for me for this week…
As usual, would like to hear your thoughts!
See you guys, soon!