Shadow Slave: Rainy Days

Nephis woke up feeling refreshed and ready for the day, since she had gone early to bed the day before. Wanting to get ready for today, Nephis quickly took a warm shower and brushed her teeth, before leaving her room and heading for the cafeteria.

Inside, Nephis ordered a warm cup of coffee and something light, so she could start off her morning nicely. When she looked around for a free table, Nephis noticed how cliques had already formed. There were of course the highly respected legacy clan members, who all had been trained since their birth, which gave them false confidence and made them think they are better than others.

Secondly there were the sleepers which came from middle class families. They all had an average education, which gave them the mandatory skills to survive in the Dream Realm. That didn't mean they weren't nervous though. But maybe that nervousness was also what gave them the feeling of camaraderie.

And the last group she saw consisted of one singular person. It was the blind girl, Cassie, that had run into her the day before. It seemed like people didn't want to spend time with her- they had already seen her as pretty much dead after all. She sat quietly in a corner of the room, struggling to eat because of her blindness.

Nephis looked at Cassie for just one more second, before turning around and moving to a free table herself. The blind girl wasn't her problem. She sat down in a corner, and softly started drinking her hot coffee.

After sipping on her hot coffee for a while, she noticed how a commotion was starting to stir up. Wanting to know why, she glanced towards the source of the sounds, where she saw many sleepers looking up at what appeared to have been a ranking of every sleeper in the academy.

"How... how can this be ?!"

"I'm not seeing things, right ?"

"What kind of monster is she ?"

Curious, Nephis gazed up at the rankings, and on the number one spot, she only found herself.

"Name: Nephis"

"True Name: Changing Star"

Nephis, not caring enough, just continued focusing on her breakfast.

***

The four weeks until they would all be sent into the Dream Realm passed by in a blur, the day everyone was waiting for approaching each day.

Nephis spent that time either in the introductory combat class, which was taught by Awakened Rock, or just relaxing in her dorm room. Unfortunately Nephis had no way of training with her Aspect Ability, since her flaw always made her feel really agonizing pain. That was the reason why she only focused on improving her abilities with the sword.

Nephis didn't have any real friends- the only ones who even so dared talking to her being a guy called Caster, who was ranked second, just a spot behind Nephis herself, and occasionally Cassie too.

On the day of the winter solstice, Nephis felt very tired and drowsy, even though she had gotten a lot of sleep that night. The reason for that was of course the spell.

There were no classes today, but that was no excuse for her to not train. She started her day off like always, first taking a shower, then brushing her teeth and finally going to the cafeteria.

This time though, the mood was very different from normal, since everyone was quiet. For a good reason too. All of the sleepers that came from the middle class were of course scared and nervous, but even the legacies didn't show the confidence they had before.

Nephis shrugged her thoughts off, before moving to the spot she always ate her breakfast at. After a while, her eyes landed on a particular girl.

'She has been alone every day for these past few weeks. Her blindes will make it impossible to survive, so she'll probably die a few minutes after being sent into the Dream Realm. This isn't like me but maybe I should talk to her for a final time.'

And so she did. Nephis stood up from her chair and started moving towards the blind girl. Cassie, hearing footsteps, turned around.

"Hey Cassie.", Nephis started.

"Uhm, Hello, Nephis. Is something wrong ?", Cassie asked, since she didn't really expect that someone would speak to her.

"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to spend some time with you before we'll get send into the Dream Realm.", spoke Nephis with a calm and indifferent tone.

"That's so nice of you, Nephis."

For a moment, both of them stayed fully quiet, the silence of the cafeteria washing over them. Suddenly, Cassie, hesitantly broke the silence.

"Nephis... aren't you scared ? You seem so carefree and calm."

Nephis decided to wait for a few seconds, choosing her words carefully.

"I would lie if I said that I am not scared. But I can't do anything against our situation, so I see no reason to break my mind over it. The only thing I can do is stay calm and collected. I know I will survive- I cannot afford to die before reaching my goal."

Cassie let Nephis's words wash over her, the confidence making a shiver run down her spine.

"You make it sound so simple."

"It is simple. Simple but hard.", Nephis said.

Cassie breath hitched, a few tears falling down on her beautiful face.

"You might be right. But I'm so scared. What am I supposed to do in the Dream Realm ? I can't fight."

Nephis didn't know how to answer the question Cassie asked.. She never was the best when it came to talking with other people, so she did what she always does, saying the truth and being direct.

"To be completly honest with you, I think the chance of you surviving and coming out as an Awakened is pretty much zero. The only chance you have is to either be lucky and appear really close to a citadel, or just have someone help you through everything."

Nephis's honest answer made Cassie, who now held her shoulder low and was close to fully breaking down, visibly shake.

"I don't want to die.", Cassie whispered.

"Good. Then don't die."

And with that, Nephis lost interest in the conversation, making her stand up and leave, since she didn't see any more reason to continue the conversation.

Nephis had told Cassie everything she wanted to.

***

As the end of the day finally approached, professor Rock gathered his batch of sleepers outside of the sleeper center, and lead them through the snow, only having one destination in mind, the Academy's medical center.

Inside, they were met with a lot of advanced technology and awakened healers, who would take care of theirs bodies, while they were in the Dream Realm.

Before instructor Rock lead them to the pods that would send them into the Dream Realm, he lead his batch of sleeper somewhere else.

In front of them, many people sat on a wheelchair, all of them having no expression or reaction to their entrance. They just existed.

Nephis instantly knew what they were, since her mother was the same. A hollow. The sight made her heard pound a little bit harder and made her feel emotions that she normally didn't- one of anger and frustration.

Instructor Rock gritted his teeth, the sight before him also having an affect on his mind.

"Each one of them was either a Sleeper or an Awakened. Some of them were weak, some of them were strong. Some were even incredibly powerful. All of them have perished in the Dream Realm."

'All of them perished. Just like that.'

Even though there were a lot of sleeper in this room, he only looked and Caster and Nephis.

"So don't die out there."

***

Half an hour later, the Sleepers had been lead to their personal rooms and were preparing to enter the pods.

In one room, Cassie tried to move her way through the unknown environment, touching the walls and machines to try and find her way to the pod. While doing so, tears were streaming down her beautiful face.

In a different room, the normally confident Caster was trembling from the fear that came with his situation, while repeating one strange phrase over and over again.

And somewhere else, Nephis of the immortal flame clan, looked down at her hands, her face contorted in one of pain because of the white radiance she produced under her skin.

'Nephis, you're ready. You have trained for this day and this day alone. I don't need to hide my powers in the Dream Realm. I'll make everything that comes into my way burn into ashes.'

And with that, Nephis, and everyone else laid down on their pods, before their vision turned fully black.

And in that all consuming darkness, the faint voice of the Spell spoke softly.

[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Nephis!]