Shadow slave: The Prince of Death

Sunny found himself in a space between dream and reality. It was an endless black void illuminated by a myriad of stars. Between those stars, countless strings of silver light were woven into a beautiful and inconceivably complex net, forming various nexuses and constellations. It was truly breathtaki-

"Blah blah blah, it used to be cool sure, but can we get to the point?"

[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]

[The king of shadows was tired of his fate, so he went back in time and broke it. His treachery fascinated even the spell, and the Progenitor of Shadows made him his heir.]

[You have defeated five dormant beasts: Mountain King's Larva.]

[You have defeated five dormant humans, names unknown.]

[You have defeated two awakened humans: Auro of the Nine and name unknown.]

[You have defeated an awakened tyrant: Mountain King (shadow slave).]

[You have defeated an Ascended demon: Nameless guardian.]

[You have become Shadow's heir.]

[You have achieved the impossible!]

[Final appraisal: unbelievable. Your treachery truly knows no bounds, and your spite cleaves the skies.]

[Dreamer Sunless, receive your boon!]

[You have been bestowed a True Name: Prince of Death.]

The spell's words were unbelievable, just as Sunny's Nightmare had been.

He wasn't made into a shadow slave, but instead turned into the heir of Shadow himself. What that meant exactly for his aspect, sunny was about to find out.

"I recieved a much cooler true name though!! So let's hope for the best."

Aspect: [Heir of Shadow.]

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Description: [You are a miraculous shadow that surpassed its own potential, you are a shadow that needs no master, similar to Shadow himself. Your command over shadows is greater than a mere shadow slave but your powers are relatively the same.]

Innate Ability: Shadow Cradle.

Ability description: [Your strength, speed, durability, mental fortitude, soul's defences and will's potency are doubled while surrounded by shadows.

You also recover essence and health twice as fast while embraced by them.]

Sunny grinned. "No more Shadow Bond. And this… Shadow Cradle, huh? It's like the most well-rounded augmentation ever. Even if it's weaker than some… Wait."

A realization hit him. His grin widened.

"I can stack and activate this with my normal shadow augmentation."

That was very good news.

The spell began to speak again:

[The First Seal is broken.]

[Awakening dormant powers…]

Sunny felt the familiar dormant powers filling his body and soul again, it felt euphoric just as it always had.

[Aspect Ability: Shadow Control.]

Ability description: [Your shadows are more independent than any other, and are invaluable helpers. All shadows respect and fear your authority.]

[Flaw: Hungry conscience.]

Description: [You feel the desire to grow stronger endlessly...

Also you still can't lie.]

Sunny blinked. "What kind of bullshit flaw is that?! I have two flaws now? That's—ugh—that's cheating!"

He exhaled sharply, pressing a palm against his face. "So I can't lie… and now I also have an insatiable hunger for power. Wonderful."

That was going to be fun to deal with.

Also why did he feels like the spell had purposefully written it that way?

But at least the rest of his Aspect remained the same. If anything, it had improved. That alone made it all worth it.

Then, before he could fully process his flaw, pain rippled through him.

[Your shadow is overflowing with power.]

[Your shadow is taking shape.]

[Your shadow is complete.]

"Yeah...that should make sense...."

The agony was indescribable. His body convulsed as his shadow twisted, condensed, broke apart and reforged itself anew. He collapsed, trembling as his very being was reshaped.

A monster core was forming.

By the time the pain faded, he was no longer in the void.

He was back in the real world.

---

Sunny gasped, his body drenched in sweat. His vision swam as he pushed himself upright, only to find Jet standing nearby, staring at him with wide, horrified eyes.

"A-Are you okay, Sunny!?"

He groaned. "Yeah… don't worry about it." He wiped his face, then muttered, "Got any waffles?"

Jet blinked. "…What?"

"Pancakes, then?"

She looked like she wanted to strangle him. "Sunny. What happened to you?"

He winced, massaging his temples. "Uh… second core formation, probably."

Jet stared at him blankly. "What?"

He waved a hand vaguely. "Killed a bunch of things. Can I eat first?"

---

Later, Sunny sat at the dinner table with his family, explaining his Nightmare and his newfound Aspect.

Of course, he left out some details.

He explained how he "had to" kill the soldiers because they were his slavers and how he "happened to" see the two monsters almost dead from fighting each other.

He didn't tell them about the slaves he killed, not did he explain what happened at the temple, only that he has gained a divine aspect related to shadows.

And that by killing the Awakened tyrant, which was a shadow creature, he gained 1000 fragments, instantly becoming a monster.

Sunny's family was overwhelmed, to say the least.

But he was engrossed in other thoughts.

'why didn't I get the mountain king's shadow? It was a shadow creature right? Or was it not?

Maybe it's because the spell didn't expect it to become a shadow slave and already assigned a memory to it's death?

Maybe it's because it was sacrificed and thus lost?

Ughh whatever, I got everything I wanted, and more, the absence of an echo will be fulfilled soon too anyways'

Sunny was so into his thoughts that he didn't even hear his mother speak.

"Sunny! Sunny! SUNLESS LISTEN TO ME!!"

"Huh! Uh yeah what is it?"

"Are you alright? You seem hurt. Do you want to take some rest?"

"Uh no mom I'm doing okay, don't worry about me. Though I do have an issue."

Abel raised an eyebrow.

"What issue?"

"I...uh.. I don't think I can absorb soul shards, my runes say shadow fragments instead, and I feel like I can only gain them by killing a creature."

"Why does every child in our family need to kill...it's so upsetting."

Sunny's mom may have made a thoughtless remark, but that sentence made jet very happy inside, three had considered jet to be her own daughter always.

But hearing that directly, in a casual manner, made jet feel really happy.

After the dinner, Abel checked if sunny could really not absorb soul fragments, and after that he grew somber, deep in thought. Sunny went to his bed to sleep, as did everyone.

But instead of sleeping, sunny's mind was overflowing with thoughts.

'So I've revealed my aspect, flaw and true name to my family, as well as my multiple cores. Well that is to be expected afterall, I would tell these things to my friends too in the future.

My flaw isn't as dire as it was combined with shadow bond, but it's still something, letting them know in advance was necessary to avoid future issues.

I already know dad and jet's flaws afterall, it only made sense.

I will need to get them to help me get fragments too, speaking of which

Let's see, my goals before forgotten shore should be:

Gaining the third core

Unlocking shadow dance and it's 1st step

Unlocking it's 2nd step so serpent becomes awakened.

Getting a powerful storage memory to get soul devourer's fruits and eat them at a safe distance."

Sunny's eyes suddenly gleamed with determination.

"...and bring back some important items which would be otherwise lost."

He grinned. "Dad can probably get me the last one. Man, having actual backing this time is amazing!"

With a small smirk, he turned his attention inward, and entered his soul sea.

His soul sea was quiet. Two dark suns circled above him, their silent presence soothing. His shadows—gloomy and happy were attached to him.

They had both been formed the same way as before because sunny had felt gloom in his Nightmare because of his past life.

And happiness because of his success.

His slain shadows were in the periphery of his eyes, though he wasn't able to see them yet.

He turned his focus to his new Memories.

[Stone Sword] [Indecent Desires] [Silver Bell]

The first two were minor. The torch could be useful, but the sword was irrelevant now.

And the silver bell was there as a sovenier of nostalgia, even though the stone sword had been Sunny's first memory this time, he felt attached to the silver bell more.

The next three, however…

[Defiance] [Guardian's Creed] [Puppeteer's Shroud]

Puppeteer's shroud was already known, and defiance was the Awakened sword he got from auro, it was exceptionally well made, and was stronger than the midnight shard, what was more, the sword had a weird feeling to it.

As if it had a will of it's own.

It felt like it had a couple more enchantments too, similar to that of a soul bound memory.

"Bind!"

...

"Yes! Bind!"

...

"Alright it has a requirement, but it's not killing...I didn't feel even the slightest growth of connection when I killed those guys with it, but I did feel something when I killed that guardian."

That something else was the other enchantment, it had affected the blade.

When defiance killed the guardian, sunny had felt a strange change occur in the blade, which sunny had allowed to happen. He focused on the sword, and felt a subtle hint of a power inside the sword.

Similar to the guardian.

Sunny focused on that part specifically, and then he was left speechless.

The sword had turned invisible, no...not invisible, undetectable.

The sword had copied the slain foe's attribute.

"There's definitely some limits to this power though. Perhaps the sword can only take as many attributes as the tiers it has? Which would increase by its soulbound requirement being fulfilled..."

A smirk found its way to his face. "Eventually becoming an attribute that could rotate between seven attributes. A terrifying thought indeed."

Turning to Guardian's Creed, sunny saw a charm memory, an almost invisible bracelet made of...air?

Whatever the material was, it was solid to the wear but felt like air in appearance.

If pressure was applied on it, it felt like trying to touch a 3-D picture.

He wore the charm to feel it's enchantment, and immediately understood what it did.

The ascended charm made the wearer hard to detect, not quite like the guardian itself, but still quite decently. It also increased the user's senses, whatever ones they had.

"Hmm, I could definitely benefit from it alot, but if I gave it to Cassie...

She has improved in her ability to fight without seeing, once she becomes blind she wouldn't be as helpless as before, but if she has this she can definitely manage on her own, though fighting may be still out of possibility.

And if I gave it to her, her trust in me would skyrocket,

She would no longer see Nephis as the first person who helped her. That role would belong to me.

Sunny frowned slightly.

'It feels cheap… trying to buy my friend's trust. But I'd be helping her, genuinely.

And I could get the endless spring from her in return.

It's not like she'll give it to me if we don't part ways."

After thinking some more about the future, sunny went to bed.

There was still much to do before the Forgotten Shore.

He had true power now. More than he ever had as a dormant being.

But it still wasn't enough.

The hunger burned inside him, as relentless as the sin of solace itself has been, only much more subtle.

And he would never be satisfied.