Shadow Slave - After the Third Nightmare - A different Story

"Let me tell the rest. Being fateless has very serious implications for me. One in particular can interest you. Princess, do you know what the Nightmare Spell is made of?
"I don't."
"Really? That's bad for someone who wants to conquer all Nightmares. Let me tell you: The Nightmare Spell is made of strings of fate. If you want to destroy it, you have to be able to go against fate."
By irony the three of them shared similar desires. Sunny didn't want to be controlled by fate, and so he has become fateless. Nephis wants to destroy the Nightmare Spell, but it's made of fate, and therefore she can only go against fate. Cassie, the one that still didn't say anything, probably learned something, something so bad, that she can only hope to change the future for the better. Then all of them shared the intention to alter fate.
"I seem to understand now. You don't have access to the Spell. It has to be uncomfortable."
"Yes, and it goes with all kinds of problems. I lost almost all my Memories, those belong to the Spell. I also can't dive into my Soul Sea. All that time the Spell was doing that for me. I have to regain these things. I don't know how to travel between worlds as Saint. I'm not desperate, but I still seek your help."
"Why do you think we should help you? You're a shopkeeper. Sell me a good reason."
"Because... Princess, that's what you want. You want to find the heart of the Nightmare Spell, and then rip it to shreds, crush it, obliterate, ruin, destroy it. In addition to that awfully ambitious goal, you still want it to turn out well. How are you going to do that if you can't help one Awakened to live without the Spell? You need someone like me."
"And I won't ask you to do things for free.The time of a Saint has to be precious, and I prefer making profitable deals. So... you'll help me by aiding me in the process, share also some Memories, and I'll help you to empower your Fire Keepers. I can craft, and modify Memories to some extent. For example, I can turn an ascended armor into transcendent. All without the Anvil knowing."
Nephis sighed heavily.

"Fine. I gladly accept. You have your deal. After what you said, and revealed I don't even think it's okay to reject you. Somehow you know me too well, and revealed knowledge that has some value. Not only that. You disclosed your flaw. You have to really want my trust, and you're ready to pay the price."

"If we have an initial agreement, I would like to ask a question that has bothered me since my arrival. Why didn't Saint Cassia say anything this entire time? I'm very sure she has her own thoughts on whatever we're talking about."
This time it's Cassie who spook out. She stood out from being just a Nephis' assistant.
"I'll answer that. I just wanted you to ask that question. I was testing something. And I can talk with Nephis through telepathy. With this ability there was no need to say anything."
...
By the deal Sunny was allowed to anchor in the Tower of Longing. Nephis quickly introduced him into the secret of establishing an anchor as Saint. Without Spell's assistance it was a bit harder than it was before. Fortunately he was still able to use conventional Gateways, which spared him effort.

The same unfortunately couldn't be said about regaining the ability to see his Soul Sea. Paradoxically no one knows how to do that. The Spell somehow can do that so Sunny suspected that Weaver had such profound knowledge. It didn't lead him anywhere, but Cassie could offer some advice on how to sense the soul.

Being deprived from the sense of sight Cassie was already used to self-perception. As seer she had an incredible mastery over her own mind. She had also the clearest memories of looking at her Soul Sea, because it wasn't contaminated with the splitted perception that occurs normally when an Awakened enters his Soul Sea. All thanks to the fact she's blind... Cassie could impart that unusual insight to him.
Cassie's new powers seemed to revolve more around memory manipulation. She could make someone forget. A horrifying power. If he allowed her to mess with his memories she could easily screw him for life. Technically, even without it she screwed him more than once. Probably she would do something to him once again.
In contrast to how bad it turned out for him, this time he didn't really blame her. He was informed well enough how serious it is to become fateless, and he did it of his own volition, and technically that fixed her worst mistake... Not only that, as the mind behind everything, she sacrificed many important memories of him.
His spite... it wasn't satiated. He still felt hurt, but he decided he's going to try to let go. After all her powers are based on the affinity to revelations, and revelations reflect fate. By making Sunny fateless Cassie turned him into a powerful counter to her own powers.
So despite being vary he let her impart some of her insights, and trust her a bit. After one of the sessions she asked.

"Sunless, for some reason you're exactly what I was looking for. I don't know how to feel about you, but I know what I sense."

"Nothing, I guess, because there's nothing to sense."
"Yes, and that only proves you're true to your words. Yet I don't know anything about you. You appeared out of nowhere. Normally that should be a reason to not trust you. And yet I am."
Sunny chuckled at her statement.
"What's so funny?
"I'm exactly the same. You know more than anyone here, and you decide to leave everything for yourself, carrying the burden of knowledge all alone. And I have a problem bringing myself to trust you."

"So why?"

"Because I want to."
The truth was very simple. In fact Sunny missed his friends. He would be stupid to not want to find them. Even if fate rejected him there's no reason to reject his affection for them. Cassie however didn't understand that so she changed the topic.
"If you want to find your Soul Sea faster, you shouldn't use many bodies at once during sessions. It distracts you."
"So you know."
Cassie shook her head.
"Like you said, I know my things. Also I know it's cliche, but it would be convenient if you could block some of your senses. It's a trick that was very common among the acolytes in the Night Temple. It came from the teachings given by the Oracle of the Night when she was still alright. Take care."
Sunny nodded, thanked for the session, and deactivated the avatar. He got a few Memories to upgrade, some awakened swords, spears, and a bow. He wanted to upgrade them with some spare ascended soul shards, and improve future performance of the Fire Keepers. He could use transcendent ones, but the task would be too time consuming.
There was also something more interesting to do. He managed to borrow an ascended charm, [Prolonged Rest] that could give an improvement to essence regeneration in exchange for not being able to move the body. It was hardly a useful enchantment. One could use it in sleep, but only if the environment is safe. Also dismissing it was kind of slow so in the moment of danger using it is like a death sentence.
The charm had a form of a white ring decorated with white flowers, resembling the ones he saw on some desolate islands. Sunny considered it's related to the Chained Isles.
The Awakened who lent it to him still wanted it back soon. Here, in the citadel, the risk was acceptable so he still wanted to use it despite the danger. Sunny had to copy it quickly, and return it to the owner soon or declare his failure, and then return to the owner.

It's one of few Memories that offered an improvement to passive regeneration of the essence. However there was a problem. The act of summoning it activates its enchantment so to study it he had to use one of his avatars, and then use the original body to examine it without touching.

Charm Memories usually target their masters. Sunny is a peculiar case of the same person having many bodies. If his original body touched the charm summoned by his avatar, the original body would be affected with the same drawback.
He tried it two times, and it was annoying to be suddenly paralyzed. He had to dismiss, and resummon the Memory to continue. The moment it's complete he couldn't modify it anymore.
While he was studying the enchantment in his home, Rain found him, and witnessed two Sunnies. She grabbed her head with both of her hands.

"Good morning, Teacher Nobody. What is this?"

The original body looked at her, and without changing his position he welcomed her.
"Good to see you, Rain. Go to the basement. We will follow our usual routine. Almost"
"What is that thing on your bed?"
She pointed at the avatar lying in bed.
"It's my clone, don't you see? Isn't it handsome?"
"Yes, teacher, but that's not what I mean to ask. How do you have clones?"
"I make them."
"What do you even need that clone for?"
"For the good of sorcery."
Rain nodded. and made her steps towards the basement. She didn't want to listen to this anymore. Even the fact her teacher revealed to be a sorcerer didn't console her or explain much, and that was an incredible revelation even thought she already knew him as the owner of the Brilliant Emporium Memory Boutique.
She entered the basement where she was supposed to be instructed. Then from her shadow another body of her teacher emerged. She shook it off like it was nothing.
"Time to start."
She started another session of exercises. This time it more resembled a dance. Very strange, and unpredictable. It was supposed to make her used to the specific cadence that her movements were supposed to maintain.
The strangest part was that she was supposed to perform with torches around being lit as if the purpose of it was to make shadows assume the correct shape. Sometimes movements were gentle. Sometimes sharp. Elegance, though, wasn't the purpose. Rain also didn't show much of it.
Often she was missing movements. Stances were often too unnatural to assume. Her body couldn't follow it properly. There were even times he lost balance, and was falling miserably. The moments she looked at her teacher she could see he was actually worried. He also had doubts if it's possible for her to do whatever he told her to do.
Nonetheless she continued her session. Mastery isn't something that can be achieved in one day. Even the previous sword styles she learned were very hard. She spent months on them, and she still couldn't tell she's really good, when compared to legacies. He kept on pointing out her mistakes, which were... usually not the problems with following the movements alone, but something he referred to as 'the lack of adaptability'.
Perhaps it was a matter of the legacies of her age already faced Nightmares. Becoming like an Awakened purely by practice is a ridiculous task. Or maybe just years of accumulation are impossible to replace. There was a time she suggested time. She was berated by her teacher while talking something about him, and his friends that caught up pretty well.
She didn't understand what kind of people he was talking about. When she asked about them he listed Kai, Effie, Cassie, and Jet. The last one was especially strange, but all of them were top Saints. She didn't know what that meant, but the previous... she saw all of them! Kai even personally taught her how to use a bow. Was her teacher really close to them? She was growing suspicious.
But nothing could be compared to the report on Tomb of Ariel. It was long, and complicated. It could be what she imagined as a proper academic paper with proper hermetic language. Not to mention that many pages were written in runes. She had to skip them, because she couldn't read them anyway. The author was kind enough to translate whatever could be translated there. It is supposed to be a candy for researchers.
What remained was several doses of incredibly structured insanity. A river flowing through history seemed to be so mystical, and yet it was somewhere in the Dream Realm that also seemed to be so mystical, and distant. The civilization of people whose age depended on place on the river. All-powerful butterflies, when she rarely could see really powerful humans that weren't her teacher, couldn't be very possible to accept. It was better suited for a depiction of the end of the world.
'Everything is doomed...'
That was the loose opinion she formulated.
Even knowing about the Tomb didn't tell her much about who her teacher is. Well, there's an exception, based on exclusive reasoning. If the report was real deal, it couldn't be written by someone who couldn't survive in the Tomb of Ariel. He's someone who saw the inside of the Tomb, and lived to tell about it. And not just got a mere glimpse of it. No, no, no. He traveled it across and down.
Her teacher was someone who would survive when everything else is doomed. He was like... definitely like a cockroach. An atomic bomb could fall on him, and everyone would die. Then he would crawl his way from the rubble without announcing his victory.
"You, I suspect you think something nasty of me."
Said man unfractiously. There was only a bit of irritation in his voice.
"No, teacher. How do you know?"
He smiled, and pointed at her.
"You have it written on your face."
Rain was more troubled by the very fact that she can't afford to offend him.
"It's just I thought about what the report implies about you."
The man's expression sank. He was the one that proposed to her she should read that book, but seemingly felt also insecure about revealing it. He uttered in low voice.
"Is it bad?"
"Rather not, but it makes me worried. What you've seen... it's definitely all messed up."
Hearing these words he sighed heavily.
"You'll get used to it."