Shadow Slave

Sunny studied Effie for a short while.

She had long recovered from the harrowing starvation forced upon her by the Dreamspawn, looking as hale and brimming with vitality as ever. Her figure was just as outstanding as it had always been, her skin was dewy and supple, and her eyes were bright and clear.

However…

There was a shadow hiding in their depths, one that had not been there before.

Sunny hesitated, then manifested a similar kind of club to hers. Walking over to stand over one of the balls, he asked:

“Shall we compete to see who can hit a ball further?”

Effie gave him a dubious look.

“There’s no way to see where they fall, though. How are we going to judge the winner?”

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

Even the vast reach of his shadow sense was not enough for that purpose. He could potentially send one of his incarnations or Shadows to the shores of the Stormsea, but that felt like too much hassle.

“Whatever. Let’s just whack some balls, then.”

He remembered how Effie had done it and swung the club. This time, it did not shatter — sadly, the ball still exploded.

Sunny sighed.

“Damn.”

Effie laughed and swung hers, then watched her ball streak across the sky with satisfaction.

Sunny spoke in a neutral tone:

“Everyone seems inclined to talk about the Fourth Nightmare today. Jet, Kai… now you, too.”

Effie shrugged.

“Well, today is Remembrance Day. It has been a year since the end of the Plague, and the immediate fires caused by it have been put out. Now, for the first time, we have time to look to the future instead of focusing on how to deal with the fallout of the past. So it’s only natural that everyone is thinking about the Nightmare.”

Sunny lingered a bit.

“You seem to be in a bad mood.”

She shook her head.

“Not bad. Just… there’s a lot to consider, I guess.”

Effie studied the vista of the Bastion.

“Do you know that people in Bastion almost never have nightmares? Not in the past year, at least. As a result, we are doing much better than all other cities. Crime is down, productivity is up — the same goes for most other parameters. That’s how important good sleep is, I guess, especially when the entire species is dealing with a recent trauma.”

She glanced at Sunny and smiled a little.

“And it’s all because of that horse of yours. Ever since it settled in the real Bastion, things like that keep happening. That’s the impact one Supreme creature can make. So, how can I not be thinking about the Fourth Nightmare?”

Sunny remained silent for a long while, considering his words carefully. In the end, he said:

“No one is forcing you to challenge it, Effie. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

She chuckled and looked at him with humorous sparks glistening in her hazel eyes.

“Sunny… did you ever want to challenge a Nightmare?”

He could not help but scoff.

“What? Of course not. It was just that the circumstances forced me to… still forcing me, actually. I would much rather live somewhere comfortably without the need to risk getting killed.”

Effie sent another ball flying with a loud thunderclap.

“There you go, then. The world is ending, Sunny, and I have a lot to lose. So, I am quite motivated to grow as powerful as I can and prevent it from falling apart completely. It’s just… it’s deeply ironic, don’t you think?”

As Sunny shrugged, unsure what to say, Effie sighed.

She stared at the scattered balls for a while, then spoke in a quiet tone:

“Sunny… you were seven when your mother died, weren’t you?”

He was surprised by the question.

After looking at her silently for a while, Sunny nodded.

“Yes. Why are you asking?”

Effie grimaced and rolled another ball closer to herself.

“Ling is seven. Actually, he’s turning eight soon. So… that’s why. How long are we going to spend in the Nightmare — a year, maybe? Two years? Nobody knows. And while I have no intention of dying, there’s a distinct possibility that I will. So I might miss a huge chunk of his childhood — or even all of it, if worst comes to worst.”

She swung her club, only to see it snap in half. Effie grimaced, tossed the bent handle down, and cursed quietly.

Sunny studied her for a few moments, then sighed and looked away.

He struck a ball, finally managing to send it flying without destroying either it or the club.

The corner of his lip twisted upward in satisfaction.

“Little Ling and I are completely different.”

Sunny looked at Effie and smiled.

“I was all alone, while he is surrounded by a swarm of people who love him and care about him. So, there’s no comparison at all.”

Effie exhaled slowly.

“I know. Don’t misunderstand me, Sunny — I am not hesitating. In truth, I have already decided to go into the Nightmare during our odd adventure in Mirage City. You see… missing a part of his childhood feels terrible. But I have to make sure that he even gets to have a childhood first. Unlike the two of us, who barely got to be children.”

She looked at the city below and raised a hand, as if trying to hold it in her palm.

“There are countless children in Bastion, Sunny. I want to make sure that none of them has to be in a rush to grow up.’

Effie paused for a moment and then chuckled.

“Actually, I am not worried about my Dumpling that much. If anything, I worry about his dad more… how is he going to handle a Transcendent rascal alone? You’ll have to help him a lot while I’m gone, doofus.”

Sunny smiled.

He wondered how far his ball had already reached.

“That’s Uncle Doofus, thank you very much. How is that guy doing, by the way?”

Effie hesitated for a moment.

“He doesn’t remember what happened, so he’s fine. Actually, he’s not fine… he saw what state I was in back then, and I think that left a mark on him. So, he’s completely focused on achieving natural Ascension now. He and Aiko have a competition to see who can become a Master first. Uh… crazy times we live in, right? Natural Ascension, who could have thought?”

She smiled.

“Hey, Sunny… do you remember, back on the Forgotten Shore, I once told you that the Dream Realm is a paradise?”

He nodded.

“I do. I mean, how could I have forgotten something so nonsensical?”

Effie chuckled, then inhaled deeply.

“Now, I don’t think that it’s a paradise… it’s not a paradise yet.”

She picked up another club and rolled a ball closer.

“But I think we can make it into one, if we really try. We will probably fail… but we won’t know unless we try, will we?”

Sunny opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment, the Spell suddenly whispered into his ear.

It said…

[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Undetectable Forest Maw.]

He froze for a moment, then glanced at his club.

‘Huh.’

Noticing his expression, Effie raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

Sunny remained silent for a moment, then smiled.

“Oh… I think I won our competition, that’s all.”