Shadow Slave: Endless Souls

Days flew by.

Instructor Rock pushed his students to their limit, he made them do hellish physical exercises, it was pushed to the point every time class ended students dragged their sore bodies to the changing room while cursing. Still, even in those hellish days, teenagers found time to spend it on something else something like love and all.

After all, there were a hundred beautiful young people locked underground in close proximity to each other, with the added spice of a deathly threat hanging above their heads. Many felt that life was short and it was their time to seize the day. Passion bloomed in the shadow of approaching danger.

He also got surprisingly many love letters and confessions, well, the ones that got the most were of course Caster who was friendly with everyone. He also saw many people were interested in Nephis and the blind girl Cassie sadly one was too nonchalant towards them while the other was... well, to be blunt destined to die because of her rather fatal Flaw.

Of course, how would it be school if no rumors were spreading like wildfire? And ships are being sailed one after another in the people's minds. Somehow they put Caster and Nephis in one while him and Cassie in another one possibly because he seemed like the only person getting closer to her during these days where the winter solstice is getting closer and closer.

Days fly by like an arrow and before they can realize the day they have been waiting and afraid for has come. Before anyone could realize it, the winter solstice was already here.

***

On the day of the winter solstice, Sunny woke up feeling tired and drowsy. No matter how much he tried to shake off this listlessness, it wouldn't go away. In the end, he just stayed in bed for a while, wrapping himself in a blanket.

He was already familiar with this feeling of never-ending, ensnaring sleepiness. It was the same in the days before his First Nightmare. It was also quite similar to what he had experienced while slowly dying of hypothermia on the slopes of the Black Mountain.

Remembering the cold embrace of approaching death, Sunny couldn't help but shiver.

This was his last day on Earth… at least for a while. By nightfall, the Spell was going to take him away once again, this time to challenge the vast expanse of the Dream Realm. What was he going to face in that ruined magical world? Would luck be on his side this time, or would there be another disaster?

'Ugh.'

There was no point in guessing. He had already done everything in his power to prepare for the inevitable. He studied hard, trained hard, and kept his secret safe. His Aspect was better than most, and his will to survive was long-tempered by the harsh reality of the outskirts and the even harsher ordeal of the First Nightmare.

All in all, he was ready.

With a sigh, Sunny got out of bed and went along with his morning routine. If this was going to be his last hot shower in a long while, he was going to really enjoy it. If it was going to be his last scrumptious breakfast for the time being…

Actually, he had no appetite.

The cafeteria was full of Sleepers, but no one was talking. Everybody was in low spirits and seemed to be uncharacteristically introspective. There was no usual laughter or boisterous conversations — only the Legacies remained calm and collected. However, even they kept to themselves.

Well, even that had exceptions somehow, Edward who doesn't look drowsy and sleepy as the rest of the Sleepers, was munching his meal like it was every other day. He couldn't help but ask himself is it possible that this bastard was Legacy too? After all his calm demeanor wouldn't help but one shown by the Legacies in the one side of the cafeteria.

Sunny thought about the last time he was preparing to enter the Spell and, with a bit of trepidation, approached the coffee machine. During his stay in the Academy, he had long discovered that a lot of people were in a habit of adding sugar and milk to their coffee. So, on this auspicious day, he decided to give it another try.

After all, it was nice to have a tradition.

A few minutes later, he had taken his usual seat near Cassia and Edward. Despite their compulsory closeness, only Edward and Sunny will exchange a few words with each other from time to time, excluding Cassie most of the time. Edward tried to pull Cassie into their conversation a few times but Sunny didn't want that. So both the blind girl and the crazy lunatic from the outskirts remained strangers to each other. Sunny did not see a reason for anything to change today.

However, as soon as he took the first step of coffee, Cassia suddenly turned her head and stared at him with her beautiful, blind-blue eyes.

Unnerved, Sunny looked around, checking if someone else had attracted her attention, and, after making sure that there wasn't anyone standing behind him, asked:

"W—what?"

Cassia was silent, as though hesitating if she should reply, and then suddenly said:

"Happy Birthday."

'What?'

Sunny frowned, trying to comprehend the meaning behind her words. Then, a flash of surprise appeared on his face.

'Oh, right. It's my birthday today.'

Sunny gave the blind girl a strange look, opened his mouth, and then decided to let the issue go. She was just too creepy.

"Uh… thanks."

With a nod, Cassia turned away and seemingly lost interest in having a conversation once again.

Which was for the better.

Sunny returned to his coffee, finding it not too bad this time. Of course, sugar and cream were doing most of the work. However, he did feel a little bit more awake after drinking it.

'Seventeen, huh?'

Sunny was never sure that he would make it to this age alive. And yet, despite everything, he did. Life was sure unpredictable sometimes.

If anyone had told him a year ago that he was going to celebrate his seventeenth birthday by drinking real coffee with real milk and sugar, he would have laughed in their face. But now it was a reality.

Unwillingly, Sunny remembered all the people who used to celebrate his birthdays with him, a long time ago. Before his mood turned sour, he decisively dispelled these thoughts and forced himself to smile.

'This is not bad. Let's do it again next year when I'm already an Awakened.'

Cheering himself up like that, he finished his coffee and left the cafeteria.

***

They were currently heading to the Academy's medical center. The center looked more like a shrine than a hospital. Its interior contained both highly advanced technology as well as some of the best Healers among the Awakened. For the duration of their first journey into the Dream Realm, the bodies of Sleepers would be kept safe in specially designed pods and sustained by the magical powers of those Healers if anything unfortunate were to happen on the other side of the Spell.

Of course, whether or not they would wake up in the end wholly depended on the Sleepers themselves.

There they each were assigned to their own personal rooms and sleeping pods.

In one of the rooms, the blind girl, Cassia, was helplessly trying to orient herself in the unfamiliar space, touching the walls and strange pieces of machinery with her hands. Tears were streaming down her beautiful, doll-like face.

In the other room, proud Legacy Caster was staring listlessly at the floor. His lips were moving, repeating one strange phrase over and over again. He was trembling.

Somewhere else, Changing Star Nephis, the last daughter of the Immortal Flame clan, was looking down at her hands. Underneath her skin, soft white radiance was slowly growing brighter and brighter. Her face was contorted in a grimace of harrowing agony.

In another corner, there was a room where Shadow Slave Sunless, Lost from Light, turned away from the sleeping pod and glanced down at his shadow talking with it while preparing to jump in.

Lastly in the room not too far from his Edward Lancers, the Other Worlder, was looking at the transparent system window in front of himself with a smirk.

[Connection between target [Sunless] and your trial has been successfully re-established.]

"It's time for the real beginning huh?"

As he muttered those words and slowly entered the pod everything went dark.

***

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