SHADOW SLAVE

‘Train her…’

Wasn’t that exactly what he wanted?

It was.

But wasn’t it also exactly what he wanted to avoid?

Yes, it was that too.

Sunny was in a strange predicament. The solution to the problem that had tormented him for many months had suddenly fallen right into his lap out of nowhere, but to make use of it, he had to do something that went against all his previous reservations.

He didn’t want Rain to be connected to him in any way. If Sunny was honest with himself, he had to admit that he was drawn to her… or rather, to the faint, half-forgotten memories of a different, happy time that she represented. His desire to reconnect with Rain was both selfish and misguided, since he knew that nothing was going to bring those memories back to life.

…And if Sunny was really honest, he had to admit that deep down, he harbored a lot of resentment toward her, too. For having a loving family while he had none, for being fine. For not needing him at all.

What a mess of emotions that was! And if there was one thing Sunny was really bad at dealing with, it was his feelings. For him, fighting hordes of Nightmare Creatures was much easier.

And then, as if his inner turmoil was not enough, there were external forces at play, too. There was his [Fated] Attribute, the strange connection he had to Weaver, and Nephis with her murderous feud against the Sovereigns and the inhuman will to see the Spell destroyed.

The more he and Rain were connected, the higher were the chances of her being implicated in all this. But…

Maybe, as long as they only had a shallow connection between a kid from an affluent family and her hired tutor, things weren’t going to get out of hand.

He also had to consider that the threat posed by a potential First Nightmare was much greater than that of being superficially tied to him. After all, Sunny had not done anything to attract the really dangerous kind of attention… or rather, had not been caught doing anything like that yet.

,m …While he was torn between these conflicting thoughts, Rain waited patiently, and then, misjudging his silence, said:

“Oh! Of course, I will pay you. I have some money saved for a trip, and… well, I can also talk to my parents. It’s just that you’re the only Awakened I know… you know? Apart from my combat instructor in school.”

Sunny looked at her, a deep frown on his face. Eventually, he asked:

“What brought upon this conversation? Why do you suddenly want someone to train you? You said it yourself, you already have a combat instructor. I thought you rich kids get taught everything you need in school.”

Rain suddenly grew quiet and looked away.

After a while, she said:

“Ah, that… you probably haven’t heard, but there was a… there was a Gate that opened near my school today. Many people almost died. I saw a real Nightmare Creature, even. It was… was this close to me. An Awakened like you won’t probably understand how it feels, right? Oh! Sorry, what am I saying? Of course you’d understand. I mean… what I meant to say is that I was absolutely powerless, and that was… not a nice feeling. Not a nice feeling at all.”

He glanced at him, and said with a suddenly serious voice:

“So I want to become strong. Really strong. Strong enough to never feel that way again.”

Sunny almost laughed.

‘Oh, what irony… here we are, so different and in such different situations, but our desires are completely the same. Become stronger, so much stronger. As strong as one could possibly be…’

Rain paused for a few moments, and then added:

“And what we are taught in school is not nearly enough. At least… at least it wasn’t today. Some of my classmates have private tutors that their parents hire for them, real Awakened fighters. But it’s just a question of status to them. They don’t really learn… or if they do, I didn’t see it make any difference when the Nightmare Creatures were trying to kill us…”

Sunny smiled from the corner of his mouth.

“That’s because a thousand hours of training will never be as impactful as one real fight. My own… mentor told me that once.”

He hesitated for a second, and then sighed.

“I myself was trained by a very special person. The best fighter I have ever met, and probably ever will. The funny thing is, though, I sort of swindled her into teaching me how to handle a sword. Felt a little guilty about it ever since. So I guess it won’t hurt to pay it forward and help someone like you out.”

Sunny looked at Rain with a dark expression, realizing that he had already made a decision.

‘Ah, to hell with this… why make things complicated when they are actually really simple?’

He shook his head.

“Be warned, though. If you want me to train you, I will really train you. It’s going to be hard as hell and hurt a lot. I don’t want to hear any complaints, or see you slacking off. Understood?”

Rain suddenly giggled.

Sunny scowled.

“What’s so funny?”

She waved a hand.

“Sorry! Sorry. It’s just… it’s funny when you act all strict and serious, because you, you know… are barely older than me. But I do understand. I’ll work hard, I promise.”

Sunny stared at her for a bit, then said in a low voice:

“What do you mean, barely older than you? I’m ages older than you! Just half the crap I’ve seen would be enough for a few lifetimes of the likes of you!”

Then, he smiled menacingly and added:

“Oh, and by the way, I also won’t be cheap! I have mouths to feed, you know. That guest you’ve seen… I can’t seem to get her to leave. There’s also a stone-hearted beauty who always follows me around, and her diet is unreasonably expensive. But what can I do, attracting women with terrifying appetites seems to be my curse…”

He sighed, looked at Rain, and added:

“But if you still didn’t change your mind, then fine. I’ll train you, Rain…”