Shadow slave: In The Eye of The Beholder

Silas arrived at the entrance to the survival class, his footsteps echoing lightly in the mostly empty hall. The early morning air carried a slight chill, enough to keep him alert. As he rounded the corner, he wasn't surprised to find only one other person waiting in front of the door—Sunny.

Sunny stood with his arms crossed, lazily leaning against the wall with his usual nonchalance. His brows furrowed slightly when he spotted Silas approaching. "You're here too, huh?" he asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice, though less surprised than the day before.

Silas gave a nod, glancing at the empty hallway around them. "Looks like it's just the two of us," he said, scanning the space again for any sign of movement, but it remained eerily quiet. "No one else really showed up?"

Sunny shrugged with a smirk. "Nah it was just me yesterday."

'Good,' Silas thought, seizing the opportunity. 'If there's anyone, I need to learn more about, it's him—the guy immune to my aspect.' Plus, Sunny's easy-going attitude was starting to grow on him. It reminded Silas of the scrappy survivors he used to run with back in the outskirts.

The two stepped into the spacious, tastefully decorated room. The instructor, already seated behind a wide wooden desk, perked up at the sight of Silas. Unlike the day before, Sunny simply offered the man a brief nod.

"Ah, you must be the new student," the man said, standing up and brushing off his messy grey hair. His absentminded eyes brightened with recognition, while his bushy eyebrows bounced with energy. "Come in, come in!"

"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. And your name is...?"

"Silas," he replied.

Julius raised an eyebrow, then straightened his posture and gestured for both of them to sit. "Well, Silas, welcome to survival class. I already met sunless here yesterday." He gave a brief nod to Sunny, who remained relaxed in his seat.

"Now," Julius continued, looking at Silas, "what other courses are you taking?"

Silas answered, "Combat class and archery.

Julius glanced between the two of them, nodding thoughtfully. "Well then, I'll do my best to make sure you get what you need in the time we have. You've missed a bit, but I won't let that hold you back. And you..." He gave a playful smile in Sunny's direction. "I trust you can help fill in the gaps for your friend here."

Sunny raised an eyebrow but didn't protest.

Julius clapped his hands together. "Alright, let's get started."

The lesson began smoothly enough, with Silas finding some aspects of the course—like basic survival necessities—fairly intuitive. However, when Instructor Julius started delving into dead languages of the Spell, Silas quickly found himself out of his depth.

He made an attempt to convince Julius to focus on more relevant material, but the instructor gently declined, insisting on the importance of the subject. So Silas had no choice but to struggle through it, slowing down the class as he tried to catch up with Sunny, who seemed a little annoyed at the delay. But there was also a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, his superiority in literacy apparent.

Silas wasn't the best at reading and writing in the first place, so learning an entirely new language—especially while not being proficient in his own—was a challenge. Sunny, on the other hand, breezed through the material. It was surprising to Silas just how adept the smaller Sleeper seemed to be in this field, a stark contrast to his rough demeanour.

Silas despite the troubles still had enjoyed the class somewhat, instructor Juluis was a great teacher who helped him expertly, while sunless was someone he actually knew, so he finally got to converse in a class for once, it was a nice change. 

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With survival class finished, Silas made his way to the cafeteria for a quick brunch before heading to combat class.

The combat class was different from what he'd experienced before. The students were divided into groups, each assigned to individual instructors. To Silas's surprise, he was grouped with two other students—the valiant Caster and the graceful Nephis. He found himself standing silently next to them, unsure of what to expect.

Unlike the other groups, they had been singled out as the top of the top, supposedly too skilled to need an instructor. Instead, they were encouraged to sharpen their skills by training with each other, relying on one another's brilliance to improve.

However, the situation wasn't as straightforward as it sounded. Nephis, aloof and quiet as ever, didn't initiate any discussion, and Silas, still new to the environment, wasn't sure how to break the silence. The session lingered in a state of awkward confusion—until Caster, ever the leader, stepped up to carry them into productivity.

They decided to test their swordsmanship by duelling. Caster chose an elegant sabre as his training weapon, Silas opted for a broadsword due to its similarity to [Mad Cow's Canine], and to his surprise, Nephis selected a two-handed great sword.

The first duel was between Silas and Nephis. Silas had been curious to see how he would fare against another holder of a True Name, and Changing Star did not disappoint. Despite Silas's advantages with his aspect, he soon found Nephis's silver blade at his throat, mere moments away from beheading him.

He gulped as the cool edge brushed his skin. He had lost his first duel against Nephis. Though he had bested the seemingly stronger Caster before, this fight was different in many ways.

For one, unlike the barehanded brawl with Caster, this duel required skilful swordsmanship—and Silas was leagues behind Nephis in that regard. She moved with an effortless grace, wielding the great sword as though it weighed nothing. Each of her strikes was flawless, precise, and designed to fell him.

In this duel, any strike of the sword was considered an instant loss, leaving no room for error. Such a tall order made Silas's task feel nearly impossible. Nephis's hand-to-hand combat skills had already impressed him, but her mastery with a blade was even more honed. Although Silas could see the strings through his aspect, it was incredibly difficult to predict the right counters. Every exchange felt like a struggle to keep up, and while he managed to avoid an immediate defeat, the gap in skill was undeniable.

When Silas tried to alter fate with his [Guiding Tapestry], the results left much to be desired. Unlike before, he couldn't manipulate the strings to make significant changes. Nephis seemed to possess a kind of resistance to his aspect, making it harder for him to shift the outcome. At best, his interference caused slight deviations in the arcs of her swings or minor changes in her positioning. It bought him time and saved him from a few dangerous strikes, but it wasn't enough.

What frustrated him even more was that he couldn't draw as much strength from [Empowerment]. He reached for that familiar source of power, but when he looked at Nephis—the silver-haired girl who wielded her great sword with terrifying skill—he faltered. Unlike Caster, who was a legacy that looked down on him with arrogance, Nephis was different. She respected him as a worthy combatant from the start. There was no condescension in her eyes, only focus and determination. Silas couldn't summon the same hatred or resentment he had used before to fuel his power. Without that animosity, his usual strength was diminished.

His desire to win was strong, but the benefit from [Empowerment] wasn't the same. While Nephis lacked Caster's raw speed, her combat prowess was something else entirely. If anything, fighting her was even more intimidating.

In the end, Silas's defeat felt inevitable.

Caster seemed surprised by his loss, while Nephis, though a bit confused, remained as confident as ever. As Silas stepped back to switch out with Caster, he noticed Nephis's lingering gaze before she refocused on her new opponent.

Silas stood on the sidelines, watching intently as the two clashed. Their sword styles interwove into a complex and fluid dance, a display of proficiency that left him in awe. He had never seen such skilled fighters meet in such a precise, almost artistic manner. But as he observed their mastery, he couldn't shake a sense of emptiness that crept into his chest.

He had no such style. His own fighting method was nothing more than chaotic, instinctual movements—wild, unpredictable, and lacking the finesse or control that Nephis and Caster exhibited. His combat skills had the rawness of a beast, and he knew that without his aspect, he wouldn't even belong in a duel with them. He simply wasn't on their level.

Jealousy gnawed at him, accompanied by disappointment. Yet, instead of wallowing in it, Silas remained focused on the duel. He carefully studied their movements, hoping to glean any tips or ideas to improve his own technique. If he couldn't match them in skill yet, perhaps he could learn from their brilliance and forge his own style in time.

After the class and repeated duels Silas found himself winning 1/3 of his matches against Caster, his Victorys felt satisfying though did not nearly instil nearly as much joy as he had thought they would, he had not dominated the battles but merely managed to trick and deceive Caster at times, though such a tactic was null against nephis who seemed to see through everything he threw at her, so he was still lacking a win against Changing Star. 

At the end of the class Silas found himself sweating on the floorboard out of breath, with plenty of bruises to match his prior fights. Though finally deciding to get up and head to the cafeteria, though as soon as he patted himself off, he found nephis hesitantly glancing his way. 

....

'why is she looking at me like that?"

"Is there something you wanted to say? Silas offered politely.

Nephis tilted her head for a second before responding softly. 

"Your strange"

Silas stammered a bit. 

"What do you mean by that!?"

She took time some time again before continuing. 

"When we were fighting before your eyes seemed somewhat absent, unlike someone who was utterly focused on my sword or stance you seemed ignorant of such things. The normal flow of battle has each participant watching each other for every move, but instead of trying to understand my style you were looking somewhere else, it's like you see something I don't and react off it, no matter what I try to do you always seem to know."

She squinted her eyes before continuing. 

"It's not like you are a skilled combatant, you don't know the basics of swordsmanship, you're a complete novice. yet you are aware of the battle like no other."

Silas seemed taken aback at the words she spoke, not only has it been the first time he's heard her talk more than one word at a time, maybe the aloof girl finally had wanted to actually speak, it seemed swordsmanship was something she was passionate about.

But the most alarming thing was she already glanced into what the ability of [beholders eye] was. 

'Luckily though she hasn't caught on to guiding tapestry yet...'

Silas though wide eyed attempted a fake smile and responded, desperately trying to switch the conversation. 

"Oh, uh thank you I guess, I'm not exactly sure to what you mean, though in regard to my skill I'm definitely a novice, I hope you can teach me in the future."

Nephis stare seemed to bore holes into him as she waited to respond, but eventually changing stare broke the awkwardness that was emerging with a nod.

"I am not opposed to assisting you"

Silas took a breath of relief and responded. 

"That would be great thank you!" 

But when he finished speaking, the silver haired girl had already started to walk away, seemingly done with the conversation. 

So, Silas was left alone in the dojo, the only sound being Changing Stars footsteps exiting.

he looked at the sight with astonishment 

'What do you mean I'm strange? Shes clearly weirder' to him she acted normally when talking about his awareness in combat, yet the second it drifted away from swordsmanship she acted robotically and delusional to the people around her. 

She was simply unpoetically uninterested and honest otherwise. 

letting out a sigh he decided to follow suit and head to the cafeteria, eager to not miss out on the delicacy's the academy had to offer. 

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That was how Silas spent his first three days at the academy, the rest of the days spent learning seemed to pass in a blur, his days spent studying and refining his skill in the classes while as exploring further into his aspect and its possibility's, as well as interacting with the sleepers he had already gotten to know. 

And just like that, three weeks passed, he had trained the best he could, but it was all he could manage, soon enough it was only one day before he would be forced to dive into the unknown. 

Into the vast wilderness the dream realm had to offer.