Shadow Slave: The Sound of Glass

When Waynie arrived at Ravenheart, he spotted his younger brother patrolling the gates. Marx's lean figure stood out against the grim, weathered backdrop of the city walls. For a moment, Waynie paused, memories surfacing unbidden.

The 17-year-old boy was only a half-brother and had lived with Waynie's dad and his second wife in the city. They had left him and mom behind. But there were no hard feelings. Everyone was just trying to survive. And Waynie had been rather fortunate to become a master and provide for more parts of his family. Of course, also with the help of his brother. His name was Marx. The name was not from dad. His mother was an academic.

"I had a problem with the 'E1'. At the time where it resonated, there was just no chance to escape. The radius needs to be much bigger."

Waynie was referring to the "Cry of a callous death". When the transcendent shadow creature attacked him in Godgrave, he was neither able to warn anyone nor able to run. The resonance needed a radius of miles to be helpful.

"I don't have a solution for that either. The shards' output is limited by its holder's spirit essence. If you can't use it, you must exchange it with another shard."

Marx had planned to study physics. That hadn't worked out after he Awakened and was conscripted by Song. Just like Waynie himself. Although Waynie never really went. He had signed a letter and received a uniform. But it was not uncommon for soldiers to wear a memory instead of insignia and suits. After that he just went back to Boss. That somewhat counted as joining the army because she worked under the . Nobody was going to miss a single person anyways. But Marx had used the time after his Awakening to help Waynie with his flaw. It had been only a few months, but it was after Waynie had become a master.

"It's all right. I think I will keep it."

Even if Waynie wasn't able to prevent the danger, he still wanted to know when he was about to die. There were sometimes options for survival. At least he hadn't died yet.

When Waynie asked his brother how he was doing, he grew exhausted.

It turned out there were only twenty Awakened guarding the city now. It was mostly only defended by the undead. His brother and him left the post together and went to the house Waynie had bought for his wife.

"Aren't you going to be missed at the gate?"

Marx looked back towards a group of dead humans that stood alone watching the outskirts of Ravenheart.

"They won't let anybody in. It will be fine. The next shift only starts in a couple of hours. Nobody is going to know. There is plenty of time to be back by then. There isn't anybody who should enter through the gate anyways. "

Waynie's wife Anya was from the outskirts just like him. They had met when they were fifteen and moved together three years later. It was shortly after their marriage that Waynie got infected by the Nightmare Spell. At the time both did opportunity jobs to stay afloat, making barely enough to survive. After Waynie came back, she no longer had to work, and they moved into the city. Although she was a mundane, Waynie respected Anya deeply. He did not want her to face the things he had seen and to potentially lose her. At the same time, he knew that his own days were numbered. He had approached a loan shark to get the money he needed to pay for monthly insurance that would make sure that his family was safe after he was gone. Life insurance for the Awakened didn't come cheap. And so, he had turned to do some odd jobs for his debtors, which was where he got to know Boss.

But in all this time Waynie never forgot that Anya was the center of his life. And it was important to him to show it to her. To remind her that he wasn't some aloof asshole master that had forgotten his roots and the value of their relationship. That was why he liked to bring her little tokens when he came back home. Nothing fancy, just enough to remind her. In this case it was a glass rose that he made earlier when he had created his tears. Originally, he had planned to bring her a book, but it had been lost with the supply convoy.

His wife raised an eyebrow at the rose, but didn't say anything. She knew that Waynie could handle glass. But it was a lot harder for him to create something like this than she probably thought. Waynie couldn't help but feel dejected, yet there was little he could do to cheer her up or make her acknowledge him.

Ayna's mood seemed to be quite low, and she reprimanded him for even coming.

Marx, who knew about the debt situation interjected with his knowledge of the declining value in the money of the waking world. The value of soul shards had also been heavily inflated, but nevertheless people were eager to use it as a surrogate currency.

"Have you been thinking of just storing perhaps a thousand soul shards here as a backup? Just in case something happens? Anya could just go on her own and get infected and even immediately fill her soul core. Or even just spend it on necessities without you being here."

Marx was saying this as they were entering through the entrance into the main floor. The entrance area was spacey, and one had to take off their shoes to enter.

The house wasn't particularly big, and the kitchen was tied to the living room. Waynie walked at peace to the dinner table and cautiously rested the tears on top of it and his arms as well. Then he exhaled. A reprieve from the crushing weight on the arms he had to constantly hold in front of himself in order for them to not bounce at each other.

He saw his two children, Seigan and Nephis in the other room, who were now 2 and 3 years old. They had named Nephis before the war, so at the time they didn't know that it might turn out to be a problem later because the name giver, Lady Changing Star, a TV hero, would turn out to be responsible for bringing war to their homes and threaten their lives. A hero of the enemy's army. These days they simply called her Nai. Anya patted her on her head and then joined Waynie and Marx in the kitchen.

"You didn't seriously propose to this shady guy to bring a fortune into our house just so that some crazy Awakened finds a reason to break in and murder us all."

Anya articulated it as a statement rather than a question. As if to say: It is completely out of the question.

She had a point too. When Waynie wasn't here, and most of the time he wasn't, they would be completely helpless to almost everyone running around in Ravenheart. Perhaps not right now, since everyone was busy with the war. But even that wouldn't last forever. On top of it such a large amount of soul shards was really attractive to the Awakened. So attractive in fact, that the greed could turn an honest person into a dangerous criminal. For a master like Waynie the soul shards had no personal value. They could be sold but that was all. His core was saturated. The currency was really only valuable to the weak and perhaps to the memory smiths of Valor. Which perhaps was another reason why the objects were overflowing into the market.

After they were done talking, Marx nodded to Anya and left to return to his post. Anya left the kitchen to look after the two young kids and Waynie found himself alone in the kitchen.

Finally, he had some time to dive into his soul sea and went over his status.

[True name: Sky Lark of the Blighted]

Waynie hated that name. Nobody knew about it. As far as everyone else was concerned, his true name didn't exist. Descriptions like 'blighted' tended to make everyone nervous and gave the wrong idea that he might be corrupted. He had no idea why the Spell had chosen the name for him. Probably just to haunt him.

[Rank: Ascendant]

[Soul Core: Complete]

[Memories: Fogthorn, Loomfang, Starshade, Phantom Grasp]

The memories were all weapons. Three daggers and a sword. What he really wished for was a mattress to lie down on. Sleeping with the tears every night had proven to be a challenge for a long time.

[Aspect: Crystal Creature]

[Aspect Rank: Transcendent]

[Flaw:..]

"Waynes!" Anyas shouting pulled Waynie out of the soul sea. Her concerned eyes resting on him. There were loud and repeated knocks at the door. He could not have been there for longer than a moment.