"Or you could call me...."
"Lost From Light" Sunny said that with a smirk. But inside, he was afraid that his shadow bond might be there, but the spell didn't show it.
"Lost From Light? Wait.... do...do you mean that you also got a true name from your first nightmare?" After realizing what Sunny said. Both Neph and Cassie looked so shocked. Even Neph expression looked so surprised
After hearing Neph repeating his true name, Sunny let out a sigh, relieved that [Shadow Bond] has indeed disappeared. "Yeah, what? Do you think you're the only one who was able to get a true name from their first nightmare?" Sunny said confidently with a big smirk on his face
"I am honestly very surprised." This time, Neph didn't bother hiding her surprised tone.
"But Sunny, why didn't you say that in the Academy?" Cassie asked innocently
"Well, I have my reasons. And I also don't like many people knowing this information about me. It's better to make people think that I'm weak. And I also don't like attention." Sunny said as he was having fun from their surprised expressions.
"But Sunny, since you don't like people knowing this information, why are you telling it to us?" Cassie looked at him with puzzlement.
"Well, as I said before, we'll be depending on each other for the next weeks. So I figured it's a good idea to tell you this. To build trust between us. And from what I concluded from our stay the past month I can tell that you both will keep it a secret if I wanted that." Cassie nodded in understanding.
After their surprised expression started fading, Sunny continued, "My attributes make the shadows in the area like an extended part of my body. I can use it as my eyesight or my ears. I have some affiliation to divinity. And unpredictable things will happen around me."
"As for my abilities, as I said, I can use the shadows in the area as my eyes or ears. But only in the half mile area around me. But I can split my shadow and let it go scout for a longer distance. I can send him up to 5 miles away. Lastly, I could see in the dark" After saying this. Nephis slowly turned her head in his direction, while Cassie became a bit pale and raised her hands to cover her chest.
Sunny sighed and said "I know what you're thinking about. No, I didn't use my ability for inappropriate things. You really think I have enough time to care about that!"
Neph's eyes gave a more suspicious look towards Sunny.
"I'm telling the truth!" Sunny protested. But they both didn't seem to buy it.
Sunny sighed in frustration and just continued, "Anyway, that's my ability. As for my memories, I have three. An armor, a sword, and a bell that makes a really big noise. And I have 2 Echoes, one was the carapace scavenger you saw. The other is a Serpent" Sunny ordered Serpent to turn into his physical form. They saw the snake tattoo move along Sunny's hand, and a Serpent came out from it.
Both Neph and Cassie looked shocked again. "Wow, Sunny. You're so lucky. And how did you manage to find one and kill it." Cassie asked while she was still shocked. It was already a big chock that Sunny got a true name from his first nightmare. But now he managed to get two Echoes.
"I didn't. He's part of my aspect. He's an awakened beast." Sunny said as he looked at Serpent and ordered him to go back.
"He'll be a big help in our journey." Neph said as she was amazed by Sunny's luck.
After he finished. Neph shared some information about her attribute and said that her ability can heal. Cassie continued after her and shared her abilities and memories.
"Well then, with everything we have, we have a high chance of making it back alive. But anyway, I think it's time for us to sleep now."
After saying that. Neph looked at Sunny and said "I'll take watch first."
"Actually you don't have to. My shadow doesn't need to sleep, he can be in watch. And he can also see in the darkness, so he'll be helpful." Sunny said confidently with a smile
"I'll take watch first." Neph said with a bit of coldness in her voice. Sunny sighed, knowing that she still thinks that he's the assassin.
Sunny laid on his back and stayed like that for a while, after hearing Cassie's breathing rhythm change, indicating that she was asleep. He looked at Neph, who was guarding the camp. He thought for a while then spoke, "You really don't have to stay awake. My shadow will sense any movement in the area and wake me up. "
Neph slowly looked toward his direction. And said in a cold tone, "I just wanna do it."
After hearing this, Sunny's mouth curved in a little smirk. "You know, you really don't have to be too cautious of me. After all...."
Sunny stopped for a little seeing Neph listening closely. "I'm not the person sent to kill you." After saying that. Neph expression turned cold and looked at Sunny with sharp cold eyes.
"How do you know about this?" Neph said with a cold tone while looking at Sunny's direction.
"How did I know about this? Well, I ACCIDENTALLY heard someone say it while talking on the phone."
Neph looked at Sunny and questioned him with a cold tone again "then by that, does that mean you know who's that person?"
"Indeed, and I'm willing to tell you who is that person if you stopped looking at me like that." After Sunny said that, Neph's body, who looked like it's ready to strike in any moment, gradually lowered its armed state.
After seeing this, Sunny continued, "Well, when I was testing the limits of my ability. My shadow stumbled upon Caster, who was hiding somewhere and using some type of memory to block sounds. And not gonna lie, I was interested on what kind of call this legacy was having. To use a sound block memory, it means that he was probably talking about something sensitive information. And guess what I heard him say?"
"He talked about assassining me?" Neph asked with suspicious.
"Indeed, he was talking about something like that." Sunny looked at Neph after saying that. He saw her thinking to herself for a while, then she looked towards him again.
"And how can I know that you aren't just saying lies to make me lower my guard?" Neph still gave him a sharp look.
"Well, remember the first time we met at the gates. That was the first time I've ever seen you. Before that, I didn't even know who you are." Although Sunny knew who Neph was. But it's still true about his first life.
"Oh, and also. I can't lie. That's actually my flaw. " Neph eyes widened from Sunny casually sharing his flaw
"Why are you telling me this?" Neph sharp look shifted to confusion from Sunny's boldness
"Why? Well, it's simple. I don't want you to be too cautious of me and start trusting me. After all...." Sunny stopped for a moment
"I, too, hate the sovereigns, not as much as you are. But I still hate them so much. "
After Sunny's declaration of knowing their existence. Neph's eyes turned serious and asked, "How much do you know about them? and who told you?"
"As for how much I know about them. All I know is that it's something about domains. And inside their domains, they're practically immortal. As for who told me, it's someone really precious to me. And please don't ask who it is. I'll be forced to answer."
After hearing that, Neph thankfully didn't try to push him to answer that and but asked another question "how do you know that I hate them even though you said that it was your first time seeing me at the academy"
"Well, I figured that out after seeing the current informations. First, your parents, who are supposedly close friends to the sovereigns. After dying, the sovereigns didn't seem to care about their best friend's daughter. And seeing that one of the legacy families was bold enough to send someone to kill you could mean two things. Firstly, the sovereigns were involved in the fall of the immortal flame family and have put a bounty on your head. Although I really don't know why they won't just send awakeneds to kill you secretly or even kill you themselves. Or Secondly, one of the legacy family really hates your family to the point where they ordered their son to kill you. But I think the first conclusion is most close to the truth." Sunny said with a confident smile
"You're surprisingly very smart. But what are your reasons to hate them?" Neph was surprised from how he concluded all this. And was curious for why he hated them.
"Well, I hate them because they're all selfish bastards who would leave humanity to rot if it's for their own selfish goals." Sunny said with hatred in his tone.
Neph was surprised even more from Sunny's reason. A smile appeared on her face as she said, "I didn't know you were that kinda of guy. I thought you were a selfish guy who only cares about himself. "
Sunny was silent for a while and then chuckled. "Well, I can't say I'm not selfish. But not like before. Let's just say that everyone experience some events in their life that change their personality."
After saying that, Neph laughed in a low tone, and a small smile appeared on her face. Sunny was surprised by that. He had missed Neph a lot. Missed everything about her. Her smile, her laugh, her everything. "Why are you laughing? I didn't say something funny."
After she stopped laughing, she said in a teasing tone, "Well, for a moment, you sounded like my grandma. Sounding like you're some old man."
After hearing that, Sunny just chuckled from her answer. They kept quiet for a while. Neph's eyes looked at Sunny, and then she asked him, "Sunny, what are your goals in life?"
Sunny pondered for a moment and then said "Well, one of my goals is to become rich and open memory store, where I would be selling memories! And I would also love to open a Caffè. And have a big house." After that, he stopped for a moment
Neph looked a bit disappointed by his answer. But then Sunny continued, "and I also want to protect all the precious people to me." Neph's eyes fluttered in surprise
"What about you, Neph? What are your goals?"
Neph looked at Sunny as she thought for a while. Normally, she'd just give usual answers like become strong and live safely. But for some reason, she wanted to share her real goals. Her ambitions. She inhaled heavily and then answered, "I want to take revenge from those who killed my parents. And I want to destroy this world, and the spell!"
After Neph said that, she looked at Sunny waiting for him to say something like, "Are you crazy?!" Or "Are you insane!?" But he surprised her once more with his reaction.
"Well, good luck with that, I'll look forward to seeing you achieve your goals."
Neph didn't sense any sarcastic in his tone. He was really wishing her good luck. "Why do you seem normal? Don't you think I'm crazy?"
Sunny started laughing after hearing her. She felt frustrated and also, embarrassed?
"Crazy? Of course you're crazy. But that doesn't mean that it's not possible." Sunny stopped for a while,"and maybe I'll help you in the future. Who knows what the future holds for us."
After saying that, they stayed silent for a while. Neph was happy by Sunny's answers. A beautiful smile appeared on her face. As for Sunny, he kept staring at Neph. Admiring her smile, knowing that she can't see him staring at her. After a while she asked
"Sunny, do you have a family?"
Sunny pondered for a moment and then answered, "Well, my dad died when I was just a kid. I have blurry memories of him. As for my mom, she died when I was 8. I also have a sister who's 4 years younger than me."
Neph looked at Sunny with pity. "And where is your sister now?"
"Oh well, she got adopted by a rich family. And she's living comfortably. But because I was older and looked troublesome, I didn't get adopted. I left the orphanage and just lived in the outskirts. And here I am now. What about you, Neph?"
A fainted smile appeared on her face. "I have no one. All of them have died. "
Sunny stared at her with a sad expression. Hoping he could hug her and let her now that he'll be staying by her side. But they aren't this close yet. "I hope you find someone important to you one day"
After that, they both stayed silent. Neph went to sleep knowing that Sunny's shadow could be trusted.
...
When the sun rose and the sea descended. Cassie talked about her vision. And that she saw herself with Sunny walking to a human castle in the west.
After hearing Cassie. Sunny summoned his runes and looked at [Chain breaker]
[Chain Breaker] Attribute Description: "You're a Shadow Slave who broke from chains of fate and time and escaped his master. You're existence is unrecognizable by fate. You're existence will cause unpredictable events to everything around you"
'If my existence is unrecognizable by fate. Then how did i appear in Cassie's vision?' Sunny thought for a while but didn't get to any conclusion.
'I guess that will have to wait for another day. Maybe I'll know what this means in the future.'
After preparing. Sunny, Neph and Cassie. Started heading towards the statue. On their way, they stumbled upon a horde of 6 scavengers.
One of them was completely fine. Another two were missing most of their legs. The other three were severely injured. Having one of their pincers missing. And in order to keep going forward, they had to kill them.
Surprisingly it wasn't hard. With Serpent and carapace scavenger echo. It was easy taking them down.
Sunny took out the fine scavenger. And Neph took down one of the two that were missing one of their legs. And then she and Sunny took down the other one. As for the other three, Serpent and Echo were able to take down the three on their own.
After that, they continued their journey and didn't stumble on any other creatures. Before the Sun descended. They reached the statue and cooked dinner.
After the sea rose again. The trio sat in a circle while looking at the 6 soul shards they got today. It was divided evenly, each getting two soul shards.
While they were still sitting, Sunny took out the 19 soul shards he have and gave 10 to Neph and the other 9 to Cassie.
"Su...Sunny, where did you get all that?" Neph looked at him with shock.
"Well, the day before I found you two. I was actually hunting. I took down 16 scavengers in total that day. And I killed 3 right before I found you two."
Cassie and Neph were shocked from this "si.. sixteen, wow, Sunny, you're something else. But why are you giving it to us with the ones you got today?" Cassie looked at him with confusion.
"Well, I can't get strong from using the soul shards. I have to kill the nightmare creatures to get stronger. So it's no use with me. And it's annoying to carry them all. So, think of it like a dept. When you later in the future have some memories you don't want, like useless memory, you could give it to me." Sunny looked at Neph
"Also, how about we make a deal, Neph. I'll give you all the soul shards I get throughout our journey. In return, I'll get the last hit on the nightmare creatures. How about that?"
Neph thought for a while. "Okay, deal. But I'll kill it if it was dangerous."
"Of course you can kill them if you were in a dangerous situation." Neph nodded at him.
After that, all of them went to sleep. Sunny was happy that Neph could trust him at keeping his shadow in watch. But this was just the start. They'll eventually get closer throughout their journey. Now that Neph knew that he was a strong and reliable ally. She could rely on him in the future. Sunny then smiled happily and slept.