Shadow Slave

In one of the fortified lecture halls of the Awakened Academy, a large auditorium was slowly filling up with students. These young men and women, however, did not look like inexperienced Sleepers. Instead, most of them possessed the grim confidence of battle-tested veterans.

They were sharp and rough around the edges, exhibiting the tell-tale signs of those who had just recently returned from the Dream Realm. For the same reason, the crowd of students was suffused with a sense of energy and liveliness typical to people who had recently brushed with death, but managed to escape its clutches alive.

These were the newly Awakened. Several weeks after the winter solstice, most of those who were destined to survive had already found their way to a human Citadel and returned to the waking world. Now, they were settling into their new lives and responsibilities.

While some chose to forge their own path, many decided to remain in the Academy for a while longer. Its curriculum was not only aimed at Sleepers, after all. A larger part of the complex was dedicated to continuous training of the Awakened students.

Just because one had survived the crucible of their first venture into the Dream Realm did not mean that they could stop learning, after all. In fact, faced with its many challenges, most of the survivors learned one crucial lesson.

No matter how prepared they were, that was never enough.

…Granted, the lecture that these particular young Awakened were about to listen to was not from a popular course. Titled "Resource Management during Prolonged Expeditions and Intercitadel Travel", the course had nothing to do with battle training or Aspect proficiency. As such, it was rather obscure and unpopular.

The large crowd of students had more to do with the identity of the lecturer as opposed to the theme of the course. As an actual Ascended and a person of wide renown, this star lecturer presented an irresistible attraction to the Awakened students.

Who was better to teach them than a person who had braved the dangers of the Dream Realm and slain countless Nightmare Creatures with their own two hands?

As the time of the lecture approached, the students settled on the seats in the auditorium and waited for the lecturer to arrive.

One of the last to come in was a young man in stylish civilian clothes. They were predominantly black, with subdued grey accents. The young man glanced at the young Awakened, then proceeded to walk to the center of the auditorium.

A few people looked at him in confusion.

Instead of joining his fellow students, the young man walked to the teacher's desk and outstretched one hand. To everyone's bewilderment, he was summoning a Memory!

Stranger still, that Memory turned out to be in the shape of an exquisite wooden chair. The strange guy put it down, then took a sit behind the desk and looked at them as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

Several Awakened opened their mouths to condemn his childish antics, but then hesitated. Although the eccentric student was bound to anger the lecturer with his disrespectful behavior, there was something about him that demanded attention. Another reason for their hesitation was that he was… incredibly attractive.

The young man was not very tall, but his slender build and stylish attire made him look very charming. With his porcelain skin and raven black hair, he looked like an exquisite doll. His striking dark eyes seemed to glint with good-natured humor.

At the same time, there was something cold about them that made those who looked at the young man for too long shiver.

It was as though shadows grew a little deeper around him.

After a few moments, one of the young women in the first row cleared her throat and said in a friendly tone:

"Hey! You better move before Master Sunless arrives. Here, there is a free seat… uh… right next to me…"

The young man looked at her and smiled pleasantly.

At the same time, the girl next to her whispered furiously:

"What are you doing?! This is Master Sunless, you idiot!"

The first girl slowly opened her eyes wide, then turned beat-red and raised one hand to cover her mouth in horror.

A wave of whispers ran through the auditorium.

"What? This is Master Sunless?"

"But he's our age!"

"Of course he's our age! It took him less than two years to Ascend! Why do you think he is famous?!"

"...He's not at all like the actor who played him in the Song of Light and Darkness! The casting director must be crazy!"

Sunny, who listened to all that with the same pleasant smile, cleared his throat. Immediately, the students grew quiet.

"Good morning, Awakened. I am Ascended Sunless. You can call me Master Sunless, or simply Master. Welcome to the first lecture of the Resource Management during Prolonged Expeditions and Intercitadel Travel course. As some of you might know, I have a tiny amount of experience with that…"

I few polite chuckles resounded from the audience, making him wince internally.

'Damn. Tough crowd!'

As this was his first day as a teacher in the Academy, Sunny was unsurprisingly nervous. He would much rather fight a room full of Nightmare Creatures than speak in front of a room full of people.

He could kill the Nightmare Creatures, at least!

Sunny paused for a moment, then said:

"We will explore various topics in the course of these lectures. But first, let me ask you a question…"

He looked at his students and smiled.

"What was the biggest threat to your life in the Dream Realm?"

***

Overall, the lecture went better than Sunny had expected. If not for the fact that many female students had stared at him a bit too intensely, for some reason, he would have been completely comfortable teaching these young Awakened.

After all, he was basing the lessons on his own experience, and the students, while not as battle-hardened as him, were not amateurs themselves. Each of them had survived the First Nightmare and a journey to the Dream Realm. So, the lecture was more of an exchange of knowledge between professionals than a traditional lesson.

It was even refreshing, compared to his tutoring sessions with Rain. Although his sister was incredibly talented and hard-working, not to mention nice to be around, there were many things he simply couldn't explain to her with words.

With a sigh, Sunny turned off the projector and looked at the empty auditorium.

Was this his life now?

Six months had passed since the cohort returned from the Second Nightmare. During this time, many things happened. He had celebrated his twentieth birthday just a few weeks ago… some of the changes were good, and some were bad.

On the bright side, he got to spend a lot of time with Rain, teaching her how to protect herself and slowly growing closer to her. Sunny had been careful not to appear too friendly, though. He still did not want anyone, including the girl herself, to know that they were siblings.

He had also spent a lot of time talking to Aiko and trying to turn the Brilliant Emporium into a small, but thriving business.

However, there was one big problem that loomed over everything he did.

Ever since returning from the Nightmare, Sunny was not able to enter the Dream Realm again. He had spent all six months in the safety of the waking world. And the reason for that was the strange situation he had found himself in with clan Valor.

While Saint Tyris had done everything in her power to shield Sunny and Cassie from the wrath of the great clan, her influence was not unlimited. The White Feather clan itself got into hot water with their overlords. From what Sunny learned, they were dismissed from ruling the Chained Island and burdened with another duty.

What that duty was, he did not know.

Both Cassie and he would have fared poorly if they remained Awakened. However, their Ascension changed things substantially and gave them more room to bargain. If before the great clans would have been inclined to make them disappear, now, they were more careful in their approach.

Which did not mean that everything was fine.

The issue was too nuanced and sensitive to be solved quickly. So, the preparations for the negotiations took a lot of time. For the time being, both of them had to protect themselves.

Things were much worse for Cassie, who seemed more complicit in Mordret's escape. After all, she had requested to be stationed in the Night Temple, only to leave after a while and return, causing the disaster.

Since no one except for Saint Tyris knew about Sunny's clash with Mirror Beast, it was easy to believe that Cassie had come in contact with the imprisoned prince during her stay in the Citadel, and then orchestrated his escape… or that she had this goal in mind from the very beginning.

As the result, things turned a bit ugly for the Fire Keepers. After a couple of them disappeared, the rest took shelter in the Ebony and Ivory Towers, where the ocean of divine flames and the Crushing protected them from any threat. They rarely returned to the waking world to avoid problems.

Sunny was on the opposite side of things. Thanks to Master Jet, he enjoyed a bit of protection from the government. Since the Great Clans had a lot of influence in the Dream Realm, but were not as powerful in the waking world, he was advised to remain there for a while.

Which meant that he could enjoy some peace and quiet for a bit.

…It also meant that he could not hunt the Nightmare Creatures and saturate his cores, unless a Gate suddenly opened nearby.

This… was a problem.