Shadow Slave

1524 Bitter, Sweet
By the time Sunny woke up, it was night.
Even this place of endless dawn had a night, just like the crimson expanse of
eternal dusk had one. However, nights were short and fleeting at the edges of the
Great River.
Before he knew it, the sevens suns were already rising again.
The world became painted by the soft colors of the breaking dawn.
With a sigh, Sunny rubbed his eyes and sat up.
He felt... strangely great. His body was in perfect shape because of Neph's
healing flames, and his mental energy had been restored with the help of the
Shroud of Dusk after having a good sleep.
Nightmare had also guarded his dreams, as well as the dreams of everyone else
aboard the Chain Breaker. Here in the pyramid built by the Demon of Dread, that
alone was more important than one would think.
“Great..."
Nevertheless, his good mood was diminished when he remembered what had
transpired in Twilight.
“I... should probably be happy, right?"
Beyond himself, even.
And he was, to an extent. Two of the most dangerous enemies there were in the
Tomb of Ariel had been slain, so why wouldn't he? Finally, the end of this
Nightmare did not seem so distant as to be impossible anymore. Salvation was
within reach, already visible far in the distance — just like the first rays of the
rising suns were, shining from beyond the horizon to break the reign of night.
But Sunny couldn't feel completely happy. That victory of theirs had been too
perilous, almost turning into defeat. In fact, it should have been a defeat, if not for
a couple miracles.
Other than that... he was not happy with himself, personally.
Sunny had accomplished a few astonishing feats during the battle for Twilight,
true — reaching the throne room of the Serpent King's palace, lifting the curse of
frozen time, resisting the authority of the Dread Lord, fighting the Defiled Saint
almost to a standstill while being inhabited by madness, and even realizing the
full potential of his current level of mastery over Shadow Dance.
What other Master could boast that they were not only capable of transforming
themselves akin to a Saint, but were also not limited to a single static form?
Turning into monstrous serpents, winged horrors, and dreadful beasts... truly, the
depth of his Divine Aspect was slowly starting to put the entire hierarchy of
Awakened under question.
Most of the things Sunny had done yesterday, nobody else could have
accomplished. And without him there, the cohort would have undoubtedly
perished.
And yet...
In the end, he had been defeated. He had been defeated by the Dread Lord, and
he had been defeated by the [King's Resentment] enchantment of the Crown of
Twilight. Most of all, he had been defeated by his own lack of foresight and
knowledge. He was only alive by chance.
Knowing that did not feel great at all.
Sunny sighed.
“Well, one can't win every time."
He knew that such thoughts were immature and childish. He had long realized,
after all, that his allies were a part of his power. So, their triumph was his triumph,
just like his triumph would be theirs in turn. Still... Sunny couldn't help but feel a
bit disappointed in himself. He had done remarkably well in this Nightmare up
until yesterday. Experiencing a serious setback was a change of pace.
And then there was the fact that Nephis had to resort to using Shadow Bond in
order to make him come back to his senses.
He.. did not know how to feel about it.
Logically, there was no reason to be hurt or angry. It had been done for his own
good, after all, and brought him no harm. It might very well have saved the lives
of his friends, too. In fact, if Sunny had been able to think at that moment, he
would have asked Nephis to use her power over him to help him escape from the
insidious effect of the [King's Resentment] himself. That would have been a
cunning way to cheat the system.
But humans were not logical creatures.
All Sunny knew was that he could not forget that moment. The horror of having
his will violated in such a tyrannical fashion. The hopelessness he felt when his
body and soul moved despite his wishes, refusing to obey him. Obeying
someone else instead. The demented fury he had felt at that time only made the
experience so much more disturbing and vivid.
That memory was like a shadow that hung over his head.
Grimacing, Sunny shook his head and looked around.
A moment later, his expression soured. He noticed a pair of hateful eyes glaring
at him from a few meters away... the Sin of Solace was back, looking at him
mockingly.
"Finally awake, are you? So, how does it feel to be..."
"Shut up."
Sunny did not let the sword wraith finish and stood up, deciding to go find the
other members of the cohort.
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Nephis was still in the strange state
of having had her... reserve of
humanity burned away by the terrible
torment of her Flay Usyaly, Ghe
=

Ravealtea
would I eady been up and
about, preparing breakfast for the
cohort, but today, that did not
happen. Instead, Nephis was simply
meditating at the stern of the Chain
Breaker, unmoved and unbothered by
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chapter there!
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The other members of the cohort had
chosen not to disturb her. There was
a tantalizing sak donc
ie ar wEffiehad taken it upon
herself to cook up a feast, using the
supplies stored in the cargo hold of
the flying ship without sparing any of
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Sunny heard his stomach growl, and realized how hungry he was.
Soon, all of them — even Nephis — had gathered on the mess deck, sitting
around a table.
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Cassie had regained consciousness,
but was still pale. Kai seemed to be a
bit out of it, Ui digesting
the many Rovedible twists and turns
of this bizarre Nightmare. Effie and
Jet were, more or less, their usual
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It almost looked like the good old days when the cohort shared meals together,
with the added bonus of having Jet keep them company.
There was only one thing spoiling the atmosphere.
Mordret was also there, sitting near Sunny and looking at them with a curious
expression.
The Prince of Nothing picked up a pair of chopsticks and smiled pleasantly.
"What's for breakfast?"