Shadow Slave

Sunny stepped into the patch of mangled obsidian and slowly approached the alabaster phalanx, then kneeled beside it and lingered, studying its golden shine.

He was trying to determine if any sign of the harrowing rot remained, but also felt pulled toward the radiant bone and found it hard to look away.

'All of this insanity, just for that little piece of bone. What secrets does it hold?'

He hesitated for a moment, then reached down and picked up the phalanx.

Sunny had instinctively expected it to crumble into a torrent of white sparks and hear the Spell proclaim that he had acquired a new Memory, just like what had happened with Weaver's Mask… that Memory being, perhaps, another Drop of Ichor.

But nothing of the sort happened.

The bone felt cold and smooth to the touch. There was still marrow inside, wet and infused with bright golden radiance. Sunny tilted his head, stumped. What was he supposed to do now?

In hindsight, the fact that the phalanx was not going to turn into a Memory was rather sensible… obvious, even. After all, Memories were simply copies of real items recreated by the Spell, just like Echoes were copies of actual creatures — or items conjured by it from scratch following some unknown principle.

This, however… this was the real deal.

The alabaster bone had nothing to do with the Spell. It wasn't a recreation, it was… the original.

Sunny frowned, feeling unsure about how he was supposed to proceed.

Then, a certain scene suddenly appeared in his mind. Back in the ruined cathedral of the Dark City, Saint stood above the rusted remains of the Black Knight, holding a black gem in her hand. With a hint of some dark emotion burning in her ruby eyes, she raised the gem to her mouth, and bit into it.

Before he could fully process the implications of this image, Sunny followed a strange instinct. Without allowing himself time to think about it, he opened his mouth, put the phalanx inside… and swallowed it.

'What?!'

He blinked a couple of times.

'What did I just do?!'

Sunny stared at his empty hand, in which a divine bone had been just a few seconds ago, with wide eyes.

And then… it was as though a furious fire ignited in his chest.

'Crap!'

***

Sunny tumbled to the floor, feeling a harrowing pain permeate his entire being. It was the unbearable agony he knew and remembered all too well… the feeling of his very nature being forcibly changed into something that it was never meant to be. That nothing was ever meant to be…

Or maybe simply not allowed to.

It was the opposite of the euphoric sense of rebirth the Awakened experienced after completing the First Nightmare or returning from the Dream Realm for the first time... the feeling of your whole body being torn apart and reassembled, only to be torn apart once more.

"Argh! Here… here we go again!"

The torturous suffering he was experiencing was very similar to what he had gone through after consuming the drop of Weaver's blood. Back then, it had felt as though every muscle, every fiber, every molecule in his body were destroyed and recreated over and over again, becoming slightly different with each time. The agony had been especially excruciating when it came to his eyes, which had felt as though two white-hot rods were inserted into them…

This time was different.

The pain was concentrated in his spine, in his bones, in the marrow permeating them. His fingers in particular felt as though there was molten, incandescent, liquid metal flowing through them.

Sunny shrieked.

"Damn it! God damn it! Damn it all!"

It hurt so much…

However, the torture did not last as long as it had back in the branches of the Soul Devouring Tree. After a few more minutes of it, Sunny felt the Blood Weave suddenly come alive and rush through his veins, absorbing the harrowing heat and then carrying it to every cell of his body. Slowly but surely, the pain lessened.

But the process of transformation continued.

Sunny sprawled on the floor, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He could feel himself changing… it was a strange and extremely unpleasant sensation, one suffused with a feeling of profound wrongness, but not as devastatingly excruciating as it had been just a few seconds ago.

"Hell, that was... rough."

His voice was hoarse and creaky.

Sunny glanced to the side and noticed Saint, who was standing silently above him and looking away with cold indifference.

'Such heartlessness! No sympathy at all…'

At least the happy shadow seemed very concerned about him… or itself. It was pacing nervously, turning to Sunny from time to time and timidly offering its encouragement.

The gloomy shadow was currently wrapped around his body, so it couldn't offer any feedback. He had no doubt that it would have just mocked him, anyway.

'That jolly guy is… really irritating! I would rather be mocked, curse it all!'

Gritting his teeth, Sunny closed his eyes and endured the unpleasant feeling of his body being demolished and reconstructed as best as he could.

After a long while — which felt like an eternity — it was all finally over.

A deep feeling of relief spread through Sunny's body. It felt… more solid, somehow. Strong, firm…

Resilient.

'Just what have I…'

The voice of the Spell suddenly thundered in the solemn dark hall, interrupting his thoughts.

Was he imagining it, or had there been a note of dark excitement in it?

It said:

[One of your Attributes has evolved.]

[You have acquired a new Attribute.]

'You don't say!'

Sunny struggled to sit up, and then hurriedly summoned the runes.

'What… what have I done to myself this time?'

The runes shimmered in the air in front of him, and Sunny quickly looked at the cluster describing his Attributes.

Attributes: [Fated], [Ember of Divinity]...

'Wait… ember?'

This was new. He concentrated on the [Ember of Divinity] and studied the string of runes:

Attribute Description: [Deep within your soul, an ember of divinity shines, almost ready to erupt into a radiant flame.]

'Huh… so I have an even higher affinity to divinity now. Makes sense…'

He had just swallowed a phalanx of an actual deity, after all...

Impatient, Sunny turned back to the list of Attributes, where three more remained. The first two he knew all too well…

[Child of Shadows], [Blood Weave].

But the third one was new. At the very end of the list, several new runes appeared. Sunny held his breath, and read:

Attribute: [Bone Weave].