Shadow Slave Cinema (reaction fanfic)-Chapter 26: Nostalgic Despair

"M-Mommy...is uncle Sunny hurt?"

All of the faces in the first and second row became shadowed and dark as the question echoed in the room. Effie turned to Ananke who stared sadly back as Effie looked down, her mouth hesitantly opening.

"I-I don't know dumping." she quietly said.

By her side Rain sunk further into her seat with worrying concern, "Is this w-what all trials are like?"

To her words, all the Saints shifted as their faces became increasingly concerned. Kai turned to her, his eyes strained as his brows creased—unsure whether to be saddened or concerned or a terrible mixture of both.

"No...trials are never like this."

"Maybe it's not so bad." Jet echoed, "He could be in the body of one of the soldiers."

"Y-Yeah!" Kai chimed in, turning his head to the upper rows with a hopeful glance, wishing someone would chime in. Some of them caught his gaze....while others continued to hold distant and grim looks.

"We still don't know who he is" Julius murmured, his tone wavering with hopeful uncertainty.

Cassie nodded as she opened her mouth to add on....but stopped as something on the screen caught all of their attention. Their stomachs dropped at the scene before them as the room around them seemed to become nonexistent, darkening as it immersed them in the scene.

Towards the back of the linked slaves....an especially small, scrawny and dirtied figure swayed, lurching forward as their knees gave out and they stumbled, crashing into the snow. Their body lay lifeless and still as the people ahead briefly glanced back before turning and lumbering forward. Behind them, the chains grew taught as they began to drag his weak and light body through the bloodied snow.

But then....the body twitched. Its limbs convulsed as what should have been a corpse stirred. Shakily raising a bony arm, the slave pried themselves up as they stood motionless on the spot....as if spacing out.

Then, something beneath their disgusting hair shifted as they looked around, their voice sounding out.

'What... what the hell is this?'

Step. Step. Another step.

A dull ache was radiating through Sunny's bleeding feet as he was shivering from the cold. His threadbare tunic was nearly useless against the biting wind. His wrists were the main source of agony: badly hurt by the iron shackles, they sent a sharp pang of pain every time the freezing metal touched his broken skin.

'What kind of a situation is this?!'

"H-How can this even be a trial? How is this fair at all?" Saint Roan murmured.

Even Telle paused with her popcorn, watching the scene unfold. Her own trial had been average in the eyes of Awakened, but this.....How on earth could this be considered fair at all? She glanced at Windflower who also sat motionless, catching her gaze as they worriedly glanced down at Rain who sat in the first row.

How could she even describe what she felt as the images flashed before her.

Not even Noctis had the gall to make a quick whip of the moment, sitting silently with dark eyes—his lips grimacing as Solvanne sat indifferently beside him.

It just felt so.....

So wrong to see.

They one they had watched fight a dead Sacred in the body of a God, handling Saints like nothing laughing behind his sinister mask. And now....here he was, stripped of everything and barely standing as he truly embodied the role of a Slave. So utterly weak and helpless...

Nephis rarely expressed concern, but now her eyes were narrowed as her fingers slightly clenched her armrests.

"I-It should b-be fine no? He has a Divine Aspect after all!" Kim mumbled.

Saint Cor subtly nodded, "Perhaps he'll break free and slaughter them all in the next second."

Slowly hopeful murmurs began to arise as the air in the room buzzed.

"S-See! Look! He's trying to summon his runes right now, he'll show them." Jet voiced as the screen shifted onto the Sunny.

Sunny was more bewildered than panicked.

True, these circumstances were not like what the First Nightmares were supposed to be. Usually, freshly chosen aspirants would find themselves in a scenario that presented them with a fair amount of agency: they would become members of privileged or warrior casts, with plenty of access to necessary weapons to at least try to tackle any conflict.Starting out as a powerless slave, shackled and already half-dead, was as far from being ideal as one could imagine.

However, the Spell was as much about challenge as it was about balance. As the old policeman said, it created trials, not executions. So Sunny was pretty sure that, to counter this abysmal start, it would reward him with something good. A powerful Aspect, at least.

'Let's see... how do I do this?'

Remembering popular webtoons he read as a child, Sunny concentrated and thought about words like "status", "myself" and "information". Indeed, as soon as he focused, shimmering runes appeared in the air in front of him. Once again, although he did not know this ancient alphabet, the meaning behind it was somehow clear.

He quickly found the rune describing his Aspect... and, finally, lost his composure.

'What?! What the actual fuck?!'

***

Name: Sunless.

True Name: —

Rank: Aspirant.

Soul Core: Dormant.

Memories: —

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows].

Aspect: [Temple Slave].

Aspect Description: [Slave is a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention. A temple slave is just the same, except much rarer.]

Speechless, Sunny stared at the runes, trying to convince himself that he was maybe just seeing things.

Surely, he couldn't be that unlucky... right?

Stunned, no—absolutely shocked was the only appropriate way to describe the majority of expressions at the display on the screen, as figures shot up from the crowd.

"W-What the fuck! What the hell even is that!?!? How the fuck is that an Aspect at all!?!" Effie yelled

By her side Jet and Kai also stood, their faces alarmed as Kai's shaky voice rang out, "B-But we see a glimpse of his runes in the f-first viewing! It wasn't anything like this, he has a completely different Aspect!!"

All around them, vocal whispers rang out as heads turned to others with confusion and concern, even Daeron was at a loss for words at the scene. Their attention became even more frazzled as the now quiet skull began to aggressively click, Rain looking around nervously as she sat rooted, the animate skull's voice now echoing in the room.

"Preposterous! How can such a being be a Divine Shadow!?"

Rain's eyes widened with alarm as he began to vibrate on her thighs, his voice sounding even more hostile and deep.

"Girl, turn me to the Nephili-"

He didn't even have time to finish his sentence as Rain's body moved faster than she herself could process her actions—swiftly placing and angling the skull on the headrest to Nephis.

"You, wretched spawn....you promised that whatever this is would involve my Divine Shadow associate, not this....this thing!"

The air became still as everyone in the first row slowly turned to look at Nephis, holding their breaths...watching as she slowly turned and silently glared at the skull. After a good second the spark in her eyes shifted as her mouth reverberated through the room, albeit with some hidden restraint.

"This place has only shown us viewing related or involving Sunny, there is no logical reasoning for it to show some random individual....as if it hasn't monlogued that it is Sunny himself who's in the body."

Her response was met with the imitated sound of spitting, as Eurys tone shifted dangerously.

"This? How can this be a Divine Shadow?"

"Pardon, but is it not possible for his Aspect to evolve into such? I know it has never been recorded in history but it seems like the only possible answer." Julius voiced from the second row, causing some heads to subtly nod in agreement.

Eurys remained silent for a good pause before speaking again. Maybe it was because of his brief fondness for the court discussion he shared with Julius as now the hostility in his tone was greatly filtered.

"You children have no idea of the actual meaning behind being a Divine Shadow..."

"Then what does it mean?" Saint Cor echoed. Everyone slightly shifted as they leaned forward in their seats, silently praying that the Cinema wouldn't filter what he could potentially say. Or maybe they wished it had, as their muscles tensed at his voice...

"What else?...."

"A Divine Shadow is nothing but a God"

The words seemingly carried an invisible shockwave as the shoulders of everyone slightly shuddered, their ears pricking as Julius's quiet voice sounded.

".....A God?"

"Yes a God! Shadow God is a shadow and as a shadow himself he has his own shadows....the Divine Shadows. They are individual calamities that make up Shadow as he is, all of them carrying a margin of his power."

On the armrests, his trembling grew more violent as Rain sensed his gaze on her, "Girl please lift me ab-"

Once again before he could even finish his sentence, Rain's body strangely moved before she could even register it—lifting Eurys above her head with her arms as she tilted and moved him around, like a puppet. Beside her, Effie's eye twitched.

'Are they interlinked or something?'

"So....you expect me to believe that a Divine shadow, and the one I know..." his voice echoed as Rain tilted him, imitating what would be pointing at the screen. "....Is the same husk crawling through snow?"

To answer his question, the screen once again began to shift, as a horse rapidly approached Sunny's area.

"What is going on here?"

There was no particular menace in his voice, even something resembling concern. When everyone hesitated, the gentle-voiced slave answered:

"It's nothing, sir. We are just all tired and cold. Especially our young friend over there. This journey is truly too hard for someone that young."

The soldier looked at Sunny with pity.

'What are you looking at? You're not much older than me!' 

Sunny thought.Of course, he didn't say anything out loud.The soldier sighed and took a flask from his belt before extending it to Sunny.

"Bear with it a little more, child. We will stop for the night soon. For now, here, drink some water."

'Child? Child?!'

Due to his thin body and small stature, both caused by malnourishment, Sunny was often mistaken for someone younger. Usually, he didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage, but now, for some reason, being called a child really irked him.Still, he was really thirsty. He was just about to take the flask when a whip cracked in the air, and suddenly Sunny was in a world of pain. 

He stumbled, once again pulling on the chain and causing the shifty slave behind him to curse. Another soldier, this one older and angrier, stopped his horse a few steps back. The whip that sliced the back of Sunny's tunic open and drew blood belonged to him. Without even glancing at the slaves, the older soldier pierced his younger colleague with a disdainful glare.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The young soldier's face darkened, "I was just giving this boy some water."

"He'll receive water with the rest of them once we camp!"

"But..."

"Shut your mouth! These slaves are not your friends. Understood? They're not even people. Treat them like people and they'll begin imagining things."

The young soldier looked at Sunny, then lowered his head and put the flask back on his belt."Don't let me catch you making friends with slaves again, newbie. Or next time it will be your back tasting my whip!"

As if to illustrate his intention, the older soldier cracked his whip in the air and rode past them, radiating threat and anger.

"Well he did say he was a slave" Mordret hummed with amusement in the second row, causing everyone to shoot him threatening daggers. In Rain's palms Eurys stared a the estranged man....somewhat glad that his hunch about his creepynes was right.

"It does seem like him..." Kai murmured, stroking his chin.

Sunny watched him go with well-concealed malice.

'I don't know how, but I will watch you die first.'

Then he turned his head and glanced in the direction of the younger soldier, who was falling behind with his head still lowered.

'And you, second.'

"Such foul language....it can only be our beloved Sunless!" Noctis laughed in the back, causing brief glances...before something else happened. At the front stretched with outstretched arms above her head, Eurys trembled....a whisper sounding out.

"Auro?....."

Heads turned in alarm as Nephis tilted her head up, "You recognize one of them?"

Clicking sounds echoed, "That soldier...is Auro, one of us Nine."

Breaths became audible as people continued to learn forward, creaking noises sounding from the gears of the seats. Eurys's clicking sounds ceased, replaced by a hum as his voice echoed.

"Though he's much more scrawny and has a baby face...."

In the adjacent seat, Kai shivered, sensing the unseen gaze of the skull as he nervously looked up at it.

"Yes....you strangely resemble him."

Panicked Kai waved his arms, nervously smiling as sweat began to form under his chin, "Uhmm, no! I don't think I look or compare to Auro at all, not to mention one of the Nine."

Eurys silently stared at him before a snort sounded.

"You're right, you do look much better than him"

Kai's eyes went blank, "Wha-"

"What the hell is wrong with you people making comments like that! Auro! The Nine! T.H.E.N.I.N.E, hello!?" Effie exclaimed in shock.

"Yes yes I'm right here" Eurys cooed.

"Tell us something useful" Cassie voiced, causing the skull to grumble.

"Why I thought this was common history? Such an audacious thing he would brag about...slaying lots of Nightmare creatures before even awakening, such a dramatist!"

Gazes straightened in disbelief as the skull droned on and complained, a unanimous thought floating through all of their mins...

'Is this really one of the Nine, or a charlatan stealing his name?'

The tension faltered as Daeron coughed.

"But there is an explanation..."

All inquisitive gazes shifted onto him as the room grew silent, his defined voice piercing their ears.

"In the description of the bell...which is highly connected to this, there was a mention of a promised hero, and....a doubtful mention of an audience with the Gods. If so...."

By his side Julius whirled around, his mouth and eyes wide as he breathed, "You don't mean to say?...."

Daeron nodded, "Yes."

"It is possible that Shadow personally blessed him and made his existence into a Divine Shadow....which is how he is the only person who was able to claim the lineage....."

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on ƒreewebɳovel.com.

He paused, swallowing as he carefully considered his words.

"Because in that act....his very existence became the lineage itself."

Mouths dropped open at the words. Both Song and Valor failed to hide their shock at the statement. Becoming a lineage in itself? How.....was such a thing a possibility? Lineage were shrewd and selective in themselves, only those fortunate through bloodline and blessed through loyalty were bestowed them. But acquiring a lineage in itself was unique. Those that stemmed as the source did not reveal how they did so....only that Ichor was the truth.

But being a lineage in one's own existence.....being a literal portion of a God?

Technically that was what every lineage was, but this was at a different level.

Yet it strangely made sense....

Nobody had been able to successfully find and attain the Shadow lineage. Clans and Legacies had invested years and untold amounts of money with no fruitful results. How could one achieve any results?

The Lineage in itself..... was Shadow God, or a large part of him. Thus to be personally blessed and become a Divine Shadow, meant to be personally assimilated.

Fate was the only appropriate term.

All of them could now hear their heartbeats hammering against their ribs as their ears started to become warmer, their eyes twitching as the scene continued.

For a few minutes after that, Sunny was in a dark mood. 

But then he pulled himself out of it and inhaled deeply, trying to enjoy the fresh air. Indeed, air like that was hard to come by in the real world: micro dust and other pollutants made it rough and unpleasant, not to mention the general stench of the outskirts. In the better parts of the city, sophisticated filtration systems worked diligently — however, filtered air tasted sterile and stagnant.

Only the very rich had access to truly pleasant breathing.And here he was, able to enjoy an unlimited amount of pristine, delicious air like a second-generation chaebol.

'Truly, being chosen by the Spell has its benefits.'

If only there was no dreadful cold, his feet did not ache, and his wrists and back were not in agony!The slave caravan slowly dragged itself up the mountain, with more and more slaves stumbling and periodically falling to the ground. A couple of times, those who could not walk anymore were taken off the chain and unceremoniously tossed off the road, down into the abyss that loomed to the left of it.

Sunny watched them fall with a bit of compassion.

'Poor fellows. Rest in peace, you pitiful souls.'

All in all, he was in good spirits.It was a bit strange to feel good amidst this disaster of a Nightmare, but, thankfully, Sunny had time to prepare himself for this eventuality. When the symptoms of the Spell first appeared, he did not handle it well. Dying before you even turn seventeen was not something one could easily cope with.

But, in the end, it only took Sunny several days to come to terms with it. After visiting his parents' makeshift resting place — well, actually, since he was too poor to afford even the cheapest slot in the remembrance facility, it was just two lines carved into an old tree — and adding a third line for himself, Sunny suddenly became relaxed and carefree.

After all, he didn't have to worry about earning money, finding food, protecting himself and planning for the future anymore. 

Once the worst that could happen had already happened, what else was there to fear?

"I-Is he insane?" Luster muttered, sinking further into his seat, blood continuing to rush to his head. At the front, Effie was undergoing a similar situation as her mouth opened and closed, rarely not a single snappy quip or questionably worded remark escaping

"High spirits? What the hell was his life before the Trial...."

By her side Jet crossed her arms as she solemnly watched, "Hell, life in the outskirts is a hell more real than any existing hell.....even I was slightly relieved that I got infected."

She paused, stirring in her seat as she turned to Morgan, shooting a condescending look.

"Look at that, I was right! Not a privileged hidden legacy....just a familiar outskirts rat too spiteful to die."

Morgan only spared her a glance, avoiding the ceaseless ragebait as Gilead and Jest slightly glowered at her.

All around, voices became blurred as Rain watched the screen, her lips slightly quivering at the words.

'My...my real mom and dad have a grave?A-And he was only 17 during this....w-why had he never appeared in my life, o-or did he but I just forgot?'

Her grip tightened on the ancient bone as her toes curled. Secretively she looked down at her shadow, pitifully watching as it silently stared back at her, sitting there....wishing to say something, anything. She opened her mouth to whisper but jumped as a gentle hand rested on her shoulder.

"He'll make it through child...we've seen his future. And when this is all done, you can have your worries and questions answered."

Rain quietly held her gaze, slightly smiling as she nodded.

Their attention broke as murmurs continued to grow in tandem with the screen once again shifting.

Using the opportunity, Sunny decided to take another look at his status and summoned the runes again. 

The last time he was too outraged by the Aspect and didn't study the Attributes well. While not as important as one's Aspect, the Attributes were often the deciding factor between life and death. They represented one's natural traits and affinities, sometimes even providing passive abilities and effects.

[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."

[Mark of Divinity] Attribute Description: "You bear a faint scent of divinity, as though someone briefly touched by it once, a long time ago."

[Child of Shadows] Attribute Description: "Shadows recognize you as one of their own."

'Hmmm... Interesting.'

Sunny quickly recognized the first attribute, [Fated], as the main culprit of his predicament. At first glance, it seemed to indicate that he was destined for a certain fate — to die miserably and vanish without a trace, for example. But after reading the description, he realized that being fated actually just meant that improbable things had a higher chance of occurring when he was around.

'I guess this is how I managed to receive one of the super rare useless Aspects — and a weird variant of it, at that!'

If [Fated] was his innate Attribute, then the other two came from the [Temple Slave] Aspect. [Mark of Divinity] was more a less straightforward — it was supposed to allow passage into certain sacred places inside the Dream Realm and enhance several types of sorcery. Since there were no sacred places in sight and Sunny's Aspect had nothing to do with sorcery, it was useless, too.[Child of Shadows] was a stranger one. He had never heard of it and had no idea what it was supposed to do — at least not until the sun hid behind the mountain and the sky began to darken. 

To his surprise, Sunny found himself able to see perfectly in the darkness, as though it was still as bright as day. This ability alone was nothing to scoff at, and it was quite possible that shadows would reward him with some other, yet unknown, gifts.

Saint Cor approvingly nodded, "Smart, even with the situation he's still processing things with logic."

"He has three attributes....but are they enough to make up for his useless Aspect?" Saint Roan muttered.

Heads turned in the direction of the second row towards Julius, who sat silently, stroking his beard—his voice droning on.

"Yes...this is the mentioned [Fated] attribute, quite peculiar! It is out of my knowledge on the weight behind its existence, equilibrium between valued and disfavored events should be natural yet there seems to be more to it? [Mark of Divinity] is also something reminiscent of few in legacy clans who were willing to share information, although it likely correlates to the nature of his possessed body hence his final attribute of [Child of Shadows]

"What do you conclude?" Nephis asked.

Julius stuttered, glancing down as he smiled, shaking his head, "Honestly...it is still very underwhelming with the given situation. [Mark of Divinity] and [Child of Shadows] are eye catching but offer no real purpose. The only possible variable is the mentioned [Fated], but I am not very knowledge in that field...."

His voice dropped off as he titled his head smiling at Cassie.

She nodded, glancing at the screen before standing to the crowd.

"[Fated] is indeed very particular. Balance between positive and negative outcomes is an untouchable jurisdiction....but the emphasis on how good and bad are drawn to him. It seems like something directly influencing fate."

"So it's a powerful wildcard..." Morgan echoed, earning a brief nod from Cassie.

"It's likely something we may understand more we view, for now I cannot really say much other than it has purpose."

"How so?" Revel said.

Cassie tilted her head, pointing at her blindfold as she smiled, "Intuition, the one thing that still works for Seers!"

To Revel's left, DeathSinger shot up, beaming as she eagerly nodded.

"Yep! Intuition is still great as always, it's always working, even now! Oh I can already feel it! Death! Death! So much Death awai-"

Her voice carried off as Beastmaster yanked her down in a swift motion, as though she had become trained in the matter. Seisan briefly nodded at the others, as the scene continued, the caravan now stopping.

"Well at least it seems to be working now, he can finally get some food in his tank" Effie mumbled.

"Stop the caravan! Prepare to camp!"

Following the head soldier's order, the slaves stopped and fell to the ground, shivering and exhausted. The small clearing where the road widened was somewhat protected from the wind by a protruding mass of rock, but it was still too cold to rest with ease.The soldiers got busy herding the slaves into a tight circle, forcing them to share warmth, and lighting up a large bonfire in the center of the camp — although not before tending to their horses. The heavy wagon carrying food, water and other cargo, to which the main chain was firmly affixed, was pushed forward to block the wind. 

While looking around, Sunny noticed the young soldier from before watching the mountain with a complicated look on his face.

'What a weirdo.'

Soon, the bonfire was blazing. The stronger slaves tried to find their way closer to the fire, while the weaker ones, like Sunny, were forced to sit at the outer end of the circle, with their backs freezing in the cold. Of course, any movement was encumbered by the fact that they were still shackled to the chain. That's why the familiar broad-shouldered slave ended up just where he started despite all of his efforts to get closer to the flame.

"Damn Imperials!" he hissed, clearly irritated.

The soldiers walked among the slaves, giving them water and food. 

Sunny, just like everybody else, received a few sips of icy water and a small piece of rock-hard, moldy bread. Despite its unappetizing look, he forced himself to eat the whole thing, just to be left as hungry as he was before.By the looks of it, he wasn't the only one.The shifty slave that had been walking behind him looked around in anguish.

"By all the gods, they used to feed me better even in the dungeons!"

He spat on the ground, desperate."And most of us innocent men in the dungeon were there waiting to visit the gallows, too!"

A few steps away from them, where the paved road ended and sharp rocks began, a scattering of bright-red berries were growing from the snow. Sunny had noticed them before, clustering here and there along the road, and even noted how pretty those resilient things looked contrasted against the white. 

The shifty slave's eyes glistened as he tried to crawl towards the berries on all fours."I would advise against eating those, friend."

It was the gentle-voiced slave again. Sunny turned around and finally saw him in the flesh for the first time. It was a tall man in his forties, lean and strangely handsome, with a dignified look of a scholar. How a man such as him ended up a slave was a mystery. 

Yet there he was.

"You and your advice again! What?! Why?!"

The scholar smiled apologetically."These berries are called Bloodbane. They grow in the places where human blood was spilled. That's why there's always a lot of them along the slave trade routes."

"So what?"

The older man sighed.

"Bloodbane is poisonous. A few berries might be enough to kill an adult man."

"Curses!"

The shifty slave flinched back and glared at the scholar.

Sunny did not pay them a lot of attention.

To Rain's side Effie lips curled, nudging Rain as she leaned over.

"See? I told you, it will get better for him from her-"

The words died on her lips as the air in the room shifted, the screen violently shaking as the terrain shook, figures scrambling as screams began to ring out. All of the first and second row slowly turned to glare at Effie, who could only blankly stare at the screen.

And then....

All hell broke loose.

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Would be the signature move now to just leave it on the Mountain King's Entrance. lol

I quite like this part, so I think I will do it quick

Been geeking out with Civ 6 

But now I'm locked in since I'm writing chaps for Cinema and Supreme I like

(You have to lock in 0_0)

So I will prob be moving back more towards the regular 2-3 day schedule

Really just depends on if I like writing the chaps or not 

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