Shadow Re: Slave

The next morning, just after dawn, they set out.

The journey to the city was long and quiet. The dark, broken streets stretched endlessly between ruins, shrouded in eerie silence. It was hard to tell if the place had been abandoned for years… or if something was still watching them from the shadows.

Effie moved confidently through the desolate maze, her posture relaxed but alert. Nephis followed with her usual calm, Cassie beside her, quiet and observant.

Eventually, they reached Effie's dwelling—a battered hut nestled between the crumbling remains of what had once been two others. Now, those neighboring structures were nothing more than hollow piles of rubble, long since abandoned and forgotten.

Effie gestured for them to sit.

"Alright. Here's how it works," she said, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"The castle belongs to a man named Gunlaug," Effie said, her voice laced with dry amusement.

"If you want to live inside those walls—safe, fed, and under the protection of his hunters—you've got to pay tribute. One shard per week. No exceptions."

She shrugged.

"And if you can't pay… well, surprise. You're not allowed in. That's why all the folks who either won't or can't afford the price end up out here."

Effie gestured at the bleak sprawl surrounding the looming fortress.

"We call this place the Outskirts."

She paused.

Nephis listened without expression, but her mind was already elsewhere. The moment they had arrived, she had glimpsed the outer wall of the Great Castle—and made her decision.

She would rebuild the outskirts. Not just because it aligned with her long-term plans to seize control of the castle, but for another reason.

For him.

Sunny had come from the outskirts. She remembered his quiet bitterness about it, the way he tried to pretend it didn't matter. This… rebuilding effort… it was something she could do for him. A sentiment, perhaps. Something like it.

Later that day, they returned from the castle with a Legacy named Caster—a tall, lean young man with sharp features and an eager disposition. He had taken an immediate interest in Nephis, following her around with respectful attention and a constant offer of assistance. He seemed genuinely committed to helping, even if his motives weren't entirely clear.

Nephis didn't question it. He was competent. And that was enough.

Together, they tried to form a hunting party with Effie. But the huntress wasn't impressed.

"You're weak," she told Nephis bluntly. You'll slow me down. Come back when you stop looking like fresh meat."

So the three of them—Nephis, Cassie, and Caster—went hunting alone.

It was difficult. Without Sunny, every fight felt heavier, more fragile. He had always known how to exploit the terrain, manipulate enemies, and cover their blind spots. Without him, Nephis had to think three times as hard just to keep the others alive.

Still, Caster's skills proved useful. He wasn't Sunny… not even close. But with him, the fights were endurable. Survivable.

Eventually, they brought their kills back to the city and showed Effie.

Effie raised an eyebrow at the haul. Then a smirk spread across her face.

"Alright," she said. "Maybe you're not as soft as I thought."

She agreed to form a hunting party with them after all.

From there, things began to fall into rhythm—just as they had the first time, even though they didn't knew that, in a version of this story that now only lived in memory. The pattern of survival resumed: hunting, gathering, enduring.

Only now, there was one person missing.

No one in the city knew that the team should have been four.

No one remembered that things were meant to be different.

No one… except Sunny.