Shadow Slave

Sunny allowed the Lord of Shadows to turn back into a shadow after exchanging a round of insults with himself.

Released from his control, the haughty, naughty, creepy, and crazy guys glided across the floor and wrapped themselves around him, seemingly satisfied to be reunited with their happy sibling after being apart for so long.

Far away in the main camp of the Sword Army, the gloomy shadow turned its head and threw a resentful glance at Master Sunless.

Why was everyone getting together while he alone was stuck keeping company to this…

Sunny ignored the ingrate.

In any case, there was a reason for why he did not want to keep the Lord of Shadows manifested — his reserves of essence were depleted after the recent battle, so there was no point in wasting more of it than necessary on maintaining an additional avatar. Carrying Cassie with Shadow Stop had already taken a relatively considerable toll.

But it was necessary.

In truth, she did not have to meet Rain in person to use her Dormant Ability and tell Sunny what she saw — after all, the blind seer had been helping him and the other members of the cohort from a distance throughout the war.

But Rain was a bit special, being that she was a human Awakened who did not carry the Nightmare Spell. It was also easier for Cassie to learn about a being when she was close to them…

Considering how important it was to understand Rain’s situation, Sunny decided to pull out all the stops.

He glanced at the corpse of the Nightmare Creature laying in the middle of the clearing. The abomination had been stalking this area of the Hollows, so he eliminated it in advance to make sure that nothing could disturb them.

Cassie had already drawn the runes around the clearing, as well, using the soul shards harvested from the abomination as the power source. This place was halfway between the Song camp and the Sword camp, equally distant from both Sovereigns.

Hopefully, no one would learn what he was going to hear.

Rain, meanwhile, seemed to have noticed the enchanted lines of the runic circle and studied it with interest.

”What is that?”

Cassie answered after a moment of hesitation:

”It’s a runic enchantment to ward off various kinds of unwanted attention.”

Rain glanced at her with a subtle hint of amusement.

”...There are different kinds of unwanted attention?”

The blind seer nodded.

”Of course. There are natural senses, Memories with monitoring functions, sorcery, special Aspect Abilities, divination powers…”

As the list went on, Rain blinked.

”Wait, what do you mean by runic enchantment? How does that work?”

Cassie pointed to the subtly shimmering essence lines.

”Runic sorcery is the most widely known and easily accessible school of sorcery, similar to Shaping, but…”

Sunny interrupted her with a dry cough.

”We don’t really have time for a lecture on the basics of sorcery, sorry. Let’s get to business.”

Rain looked a little disappointed for a moment, then looked at him with a hint of hesitation.

”Alright. So… what do I do?”

He smiled.

”You don’t need to do anything. Just stand there and let Cassie take a good look at you.”

His sister’s expression froze.

”S—sunny! Phrasing!”

Cassie, meanwhile, chuckled.

”Don’t worry, Rain. I’m used to it.”

With that, she approached the young woman and faced her. If not for her blue blindfold, it would have looked as if she was looking Rain in the eyes.

Sunny suddenly felt nervous.

Cassie’s Dormant Ability allowed her to read the runes of a living being. Now that she was a Saint, she could gain quite a deep insight into who they were, what Memories they wielded, what powers they possessed… in fact, she could more or less learn everything about the person except for their Flaw. Ŗà₦ȫβÈꞩ

Of course, her true power was to gain insight, not to read runes. The runes that all Awakened saw — except for Rain — were just a handy instrument created by the Spell, and therefore, the runes that Cassie could read when using her Dormant Ability were merely the Spell translating the knowledge she had gained into a more familiar language.

A convenient modification of Cassie’s own power, just like creating Shadows with fragments and nurturing them by sacrificing Memories had been for Sunny.

Therefore, he was not sure what Cassie would see when looking at Rain.

Would the Spell still translate the mystical insight into easily accessible runes, like it did for the Awakened and the Nightmare Creatures the blind seer examined? Or would she have to fathom the depths of Rain’s soul herself?

And what would she see?

By all accounts, Rain was only supposed to possess a single Attribute… maybe two. Sunny himself had only possessed one innate Attribute — [Fated] — before undergoing the First Nightmare, after all.

His other two Attributes, [Child of Shadows] and [Mark of Divinity], had come from the nameless temple slave whose body he had taken in the Nightmare. Similarly, he had also received the [Temple Slave] Aspect from him, which then evolved into his true Aspect… Shadow Slave.

But Rain had never undergone the First Nightmare.

She had learned to sense and control her essence first, and then Awakened by forming a soul core herself. So, unless she had done something to develop them, there was nowhere for additional Attributes to come from. Only her innate Attribute was supposed to be there… whatever it was.

She would not possess an Aspect, either. Unlike the carriers of the Nightmare Spell, the original Awakened had to find and unseal their Aspect themselves — many never did. Neither did they find their Flaws.

Those were only required if one wished to attain Transcendence and make the first step into the realm of divinity.

Therefore, all that Cassie was supposed to see was an innate Attribute — if Rain had one — and her Memories… perhaps the [Mark of Shadows], as well.

But something had happened to Rain on that battlefield.

Sunny was not sure how she changed, but he could feel it. Something had shifted inside Rain once she chose to spare Telle of White Feather, and that change was persisting still.

So…

Had she unsealed her Aspect?

After a while, he glanced at Cassie.

The blind seer took a deep breath, then frowned, and subtly shook her head.