Sunny was enjoying a hot shower. After their short conversation, Master Jet had sent him to clean himself, saying that he "reeked of Nightmare". The unnatural slumber of the Spell would slow down the body's metabolism, and the medical apparatus he had been strapped into was supposed to take care of the rest, but he was still asleep for three whole days.
Even if only psychological, the scent of bloodshed, despair and madness lingered around him.
'Ah, I'm in heaven,' Sunny thought.
He was alone in the police station's showers, relaxing under the streams of hot water. After a bit of time had passed, Sunny reluctantly turned the tap off and walked over to the towel rack. Coincidentally, he saw himself reflecting in the mirror.
The changes in his physique were subtle, but noticeable. His pale skin seemed a little healthier, his muscles a bit more pronounced. He looked slenderier and leaner than before. There was a slight luster to his dark hair and a shine to his eyes.
However, he was still rather diminutive. Not exactly a picture of masculine handsomeness, to say the least.
'Flower boy, huh?' Sunny thought, full of bitterness.
Then he suddenly froze, noticing something strange. As he was looking at himself in the mirror, the reflection of his shadow seemed to move. It was as though the shadow lowered its head and quietly facepalmed.
Sunny quickly turned around, piercing his shadow with a nervous look. However, everything seemed normal. The shadow was doing exactly what it was supposed to do, repeating his every motion.
"I clearly saw you move," he said, feeling a bit strange. "You have just moved on your own, right?!"
Sunny glared at the shadow, which obediently glared back.
"Did you move or not?"
The shadow enthusiastically shook its head.
'What the?!'
"What do you mean, "no"?! You've just moved your head! Do you think I'm a fool?"
Sunny immediately thought of [The Shadow] attribute but it's name didn't change unlike the others so maybe [Fated] probably not sunny immediately thought of "runes" and soon his runes appeared.
***
Name: Sunless.
True name: Mad Prince.
Rank: Dreamer.
Shadow core: Dormant.
Shadow fragments: [110/1000].
Memories: [Whistle of death], [Puppeteer's Shroud].
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Fated], [Flame of Divinity], [Madness incarnate], [The Shadow].
[Fated] Attribute Description: "The strings of fate wrap tightly around you. Unlikely events, both good and bad, are drawn by your presence. There are those who are blessed, and there are those who are cursed... but rarely both."
[Flame of divinity] Attribute Description: "Your soul is aflame with the light of divinity."
[Madness incarnate] Attribute Description: "You are the embodiment and personification of Madness and insanity."
[The shadow] Attribute Description: "You have inherited the lineage of the Shadow God, the shadows recognize you as one of their own."
Attribute traits: [Living Shadow], [Shadow bond], [Shadow Control], [???], [???], [???], [???], [???], [???].
[Living Shadow] Attribute Trait Description:[Others simply adapted to the shadows and darkness, you on the other hand was born in the shadows and darkness. And quite literally molded by it. You are able to see through the shadows and darkness whilst inside of them your physical capabilities are boosted including your senses you can also sense shadows and darkness and within them your presence is completely hidden.]
[Shadow bond] Attribute Trait Description: [Find a worthy master and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master. Yet you are quite picky being a divine shadow it was only right for you to be the one to pick.]
[Shadow Control] Attribute Trait Description: [Your shadow is more independent than most. It is an invaluable helper.]
'Oh... Wait hold on isn't this technically a second aspect.'
'Wait hold on [Child of Madness] changed to [Madness incarnate] sooo... Does that mean it doesn't have a limit anymore?'
He decided to experiment a little.
"Hey, you. Tell me what you can do."
The shadow was silent and motionless.
'Right. It doesn't have vocal cords.'
As though that made any sense! Shadows were not supposed to have muscles either, and yet it knew how to move.
"Uh… show me?"
No reaction. It seems the shadow was content pretending to be an ordinary, lifeless blob of darkness.
Sunny sighed.
'I'm doing this wrong.'
Independent or not, the shadow was still a part of him. It was a manifestation of his secondary Aspect Ability. So instead of asking the shadow, he really should have been asking himself.
"Whatever ill do it myself then."
Sunny closed his eyes and directed his perception within, exploring himself for the first time since returning to the real world. He felt the beating of his heart, the steady rising of his chest, the slight chill of the shower room. He heard droplets of water falling on the tiled floor. Felt the movement of filtered air against his skin.
And there, on the verge of his consciousness, something new.
A completely new sense.
Sunny concentrated on it, and suddenly a whole other world opened to him. It was hard to describe with words, just like one would have trouble explaining how hearing or touch feels.
It was as though he could communicate with vast forms that crowded around him and receive an understanding of both their own shape and the surrounding space, guided by the different degrees of pressure they exerted on his mind and each other.
That understanding came naturally and instantaneously, like an instinct.
These forms were shadows. And among them, one — not the largest one, but the deepest — didn't feel like an external entity. It was like a part of his soul.
Once Sunny grasped the feeling of it, he could sense the shadow just like he sensed his limbs. The only thing was that his limbs were made out of flesh, and the shadow was made from the absence of light.
Sunny opened his eyes and looked at the shadow. Then, with a thought, he willed it to raise an arm.
The shadow raised an arm.
He willed it to sit, stand, turn around, kick. Then he willed it to change shape, turning into a circle, then a line, then a monster. And finally, back to his own silhouette. The shadow was mercurial and fluid, like water. The only constant was its size.
"Ha! How about that?"
The shadow pouted, then reluctantly raised its thumbs.
"But how are you useful?"
He willed the shadow to strike the towel rack. It obediently moved and delivered a powerful kick. Of course, since it was just a shadow, its leg passed over the towels harmlessly, not even causing them to sway a little.
"Is that… all you can do?"
In his mind, the image of shadow tentacles tearing the mighty tyrant into little pieces cracked and shattered mercilessly. It seemed he would not be competing with Shadow God any time soon.
How regretful.
The shadow looked at him with disdain. Then it shrugged and stopped moving altogether, clearly offended.
Sunny sighed and took a towel off the rack.
"Alright. I will explore it later."
***
A few minutes after that, he was wearing a clean police-issued tracksuit and heading for the cafeteria. Master Jet was waiting for him at one of the tables, with two trays full of steaming synthetic food in front of her.
"Help yourself."
Sunny glanced at the cheap gruel, which was not so different from the stuff he used to consume in the outskirts, and sighed. Somehow, he had expected his first meal after becoming a Sleeper to be more lavish.
Still, it was food.
He sat down and began to wolf down the gruel ravenously. He was very, very hungry.
In the process, his thoughts began to wander. Sunny stole a glance at Jet and wondered. The Spell told him to find a master, and the next thing he knew there was a woman calling herself Master right in front of him. He tried to imagine being an obedient slave to someone like her.
Weird thoughts started to appear in his mind…
'You know what, Sunny,' he thought with dark irony. 'Knowing your luck, this would be a perfect moment for her to ask…'
"What are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking that it would be a perfect moment for you to ask me about what I am thinking," he finally said.
Jet gave him a weird look.
"Alright. Are you almost finished with your food?"
Sunny nodded.
"Then I'll begin. As per protocol, I am obligated to inform you of a few things. It is mostly a formality. First of all, concerning your Nightmare…"
She glanced at him and sighed.
"You are entitled to receive free psychological counseling. No matter what traumatic experience you have encountered, there is no shame in asking for help. Your mind is as important as your body — it's only right to keep it healthy. Are you interested?"
Sunny shook his head. Jet shrugged and continued:
"As you wish. You can also talk to me. Was it very hard?"
How could he answer?
"It was simultaneously much worse than I expected and exactly as bad as I expected."
She nodded, satisfied with that explanation.
"That's a good attitude. I won't pry any further. Us outskirt rats are way more resilient than people think."
Sunny looked at her in surprise.
"Master Jet… you grew up in the outskirts?"
She grinned.
"What? You can't tell because of my exquisite manners and polished exterior?"
Sunny almost laughed out loud only releasing a chuckle quiet but still loud enough for a ascended to hear.
"I couldn't tell at all."
After thinking for a while, he added:
"Are there a lot of people like us among the Awakened?"
Jet's smile disappeared.
"No. There's not. In fact, they can be counted on one hand."
As expected. Odds were really stacked against people like them. That made the three stars on Jet's insignia even more exceptional.
'One day, I'll be a Master too.'
If she can do it, why can't I?
"So... what happens now? What else are you obligated to tell me?"
Sunny had no idea what he was supposed to do after leaving the police station. The winter solstice was just several weeks away.
Jet leaned back and answered:
"That's basically it. There are some additional hoops to jump through, mostly having to do with your family, but… well. I've read your file, so I know it doesn't apply. The only thing left is to decide how you will be preparing for your first journey into the Dream Realm."
She looked at her communicator and grimaced.
"I must stay, your luck is exceptionally bad. There's not a lot of time at all. First of all: you are free to do what you want. No one is forcing you to make a certain decision. That is to say, you can choose to prepare on your own, or not prepare at all. Party until the lights go out."
Sunny was not very well versed in partying.
"However, I would advise against that. As a Sleeper, you are also entitled to enroll in the Awakened Academy. You'll be provided with food, lodging and a wide choice of preparatory classes. This late into the year, you won't be able to learn a lot. But it's better than nothing."
She was silent for a few seconds, then added:
"More importantly, you will get acquainted with most of the people who will enter the Dream Realm with you. Some of them might become your companions for life."
'And some may end up trying to end that life once we're inside the Spell,' Sunny added, reading between the lines of what Master Jet had said.
"So, what do you say? Do you want me to take you to the Academy?"
Sunny thought for a while and said.
"I have heard alot of bad things about school but overall..."
Finally, he looked down, at his empty tray, and made a decision.
"Free lodging and food, you say? Yeah. I want to go to the Academy."
***
Sunny was standing in front of the massive, seemingly indestructible red gates of the Awakened Academy. The Academy was, in fact, a city within the city. It was built like a fortress, with a high wall made of hard alloy, deep moat and numerous large-caliber turrets which were placed in certain positions to create a deadly air-suppression dome. No Nightmare Creature, not even colossal titans, were supposed to be able to break through its defenses.
It was a legendary place. Actually, many of the most popular webtoons, youth dramas and novels took place right behind that wall. Adventures, rivalries and romantic entanglements of the young Awakened heroes were the mainstream theme of modern entertainment. Never in his wildest dreams did Sunny imagine actually becoming one of these heroes.
Of course, how things really were differed a lot from how it was portrayed in the media. More than that, he had only four weeks to spend here before venturing into the Dream Realm. Even if he wanted to, there was not enough time for any type of entanglement. And he definitely did not want to.
He had to learn how to survive, not waste time on such nonsense!
The snow was slowly falling to the ground. It was cold and silent in front of the Academy gates. Except for Sunny, there was only one other person — another new Sleeper, if he had to guess.
It was a tall, slender girl of around his age, with clear grey eyes and a detached look on her face. She had strange, silver-white hair that was cut short and neatly parted to the side. Just like him, she was dressed in a police-issued tracksuit and had no personal belongings with her. On her head, there was a pair of old-fashioned headphones. She was calmly listening to music while they waited.
There was a certain vibe to the silver-haired girl. It was sort of… as though she was apart from the world. She looked confident and self-sufficient, but also a bit lonely.
He glanced at the girl and sighed but his breath got stucked in sunnys throat why? you may be asking.
Well the girl was already looking at him when sunny looked the girl straight eye — to — eye it wasn't uncomfortable it felt like it was supposed to happen and within her eyes somethings were lingering in them but sunny couldn't exactly tell what they were.
He looked away but felt her eyes as if they were looking straight into his very soul.
Finally, the gates began to open. The giant, ridiculously thick sheet of reinforced metal slowly descended, creating a long bridge. Sunny looked ahead with grim determination.
Master Jet's parting words echoed in his mind as a way to wash away the girl that kept looking at him.
***
On their drive to the Academy, Sunny didn't speak much, looking at the sights of the city that were flying past the window of Jet's personal transport vehicle. Actually, it was his first time sitting in a PTV: most people in the city couldn't even dream about getting a license and purchasing a vehicle like that, having to do with public transportation.
He had ridden in the back of a police cruiser once or twice, but that was a completely different experience.
At some point, Master Jet looked at him and said:
"Since we both come from the outskirts, I'll give you three pieces of advice. Whether you listen to me or not is your business."
Sunny turned his head, waiting.
"First: once you're registered in the Academy, they'll offer you psychological counseling again. There will also be a valuable reward for sharing your experiences in the Nightmare and the details of your Appraisal. You'll be able to receive a soul shard, maybe even several of them."
He frowned.
'i probably won't be able to use them anyways.'
Then he spoke.
"Are you trying to convince me to visit a psychiatrist again?"
Jet shook her head.
"No. I'm telling you to refuse."
Surprised, Sunny raised his eyebrows.
"Why?"
There was a pause before she answered.
"You're too green to understand, but out there in the Dream Realm, Nightmare Creatures are not the only danger. Once you grow powerful enough, humans will become an equal threat. The less they know about your Aspect, the better."
So that's how it is, sunny almost laughed when he heard too green.
"The easiest way to defeat a powerful Awakened is to use their Flaw. That's why young fools in the Academy are encouraged in various ways to share the details of their Aspects. I'm not saying that the government will leak your information, but once two people know a secret, it's no longer a secret. And there's a lot of people working for the government."
That made a lot of sense.
"Thank you, Master Jet."
She gave him a nod.
"Second: there will be a lot of courses to choose from. All types of combat training, deep dives into Nightmare Creature categories and vulnerabilities, basics of various types of sorcery, artifact study and so on."
Sunny gulped. Actually, he was already agonizing about what weapon to train with. Four weeks was not enough to master a weapon, but at least he would have a basic understanding of it.
"Disregard all of that. The only course you have time to attend is Wilderness Survival."
He blinked.
"What?"
Jet glanced at him.
"It's different for city kids, who learn all sorts of useful things in school and from their tutors. But we don't have that advantage, do we? What was the biggest threat to your life during the Nightmare?"
Sunny thought about it. On the surface, the most dangerous thing he faced was the nightmare creatures, followed by Hero… Auro of the Nine. But actually, what almost killed him in the end was, well nothing his body was immune to it but he didn't exactly know how to properly survive in the wild so it was...
"Lack of survival knowledge."
Jet smiled.
"Smart. You only know how to survive in the city. But the Dream Realm is mostly made of wilderness. Do you know how to make a fire? How to procure food? How to find safe shelter? No. Fighting monsters is important, but it'll be useless if you die of hunger or exposure to the elements. Trust me. I've learned it the hard way."
Sunny nodded, angry at himself. It was so obvious, yet he never even thought about these seemingly simple things. He was blinded by his past habits and experience.
Human brains were like that: once accustomed to a certain way of living, it was hard to see past the already familiar routines. It was lazy thinking at its worst.
At that point, Master Jet had stopped the car and opened the door, getting out. Sunny followed her and was momentarily stunned, staring at the colossal metal gates in front of them.
This was… the famous Awakened Academy.
After a few seconds, he shook off his amazement and turned to his senior.
"This is as far as I go," she said, looking cheerlessly at the walls of the Academy. "I've already notified them. Someone will come fetch you in a while."
There was something dark in the depths of her icy blue eyes. Sunny suddenly felt a cold feeling spreading through his body.
"What's the third advice?"
Master Jet glanced at him, then sighed.
"Remember: no one can survive in the Dream Realm alone. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Try to get along with your peers, even if they don't treat you well. It might save your life."
Then she suddenly smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"You've done well to survive until now. Make sure to keep yourself alive in the future, too."
Then she got back into her PTV and drove off. Just like that, she was gone.
***
The end of the metal bridge hit the special grooves in the ground and stopped moving after a set of loud clicks. Sunny looked ahead, wondering what kind of life he was going to be living in the next four weeks.
The things he was probably going to do were maybe leak only his True name considering it didn't really matter sunny could have just declined being their slave's sunny would obviously not leak anything about his secondary aspect and he will probably not say anything about his main aspect.
The plan was set keep your Flaw and your two Aspect secret and leak your true name which would be enough for a good ranking considering how rare they are, learn to survive in the wilderness, be nice to other Sleepers. It didn't sound too hard.
But, for some reason, he was sure that these weeks were going to be as challenging as his First Nightmare. Or maybe even worse.
Seemingly free of such concerns, the silver-haired girl walked forward and stepped on the bridge.
Sunny sighed and reluctantly followed.