Shadow Slave alternate paths: The sun of song

[You have slain an Awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[You have received a Memory: Azure Blade.]

[…Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny felt a small trickle of power enter his body.

He checked his runes and saw a very satisfying [29/1000].

Sitting up, Sunny moved his eyes and found the cluster of runes describing his Memories. Azure Blade… had he finally gotten a weapon?

The [Burrower's Claw] was good and all, but it was impractical against anything with a semblance of armor and creatures of higher rank.

It took him a solid second to pierce the thin chitin.

Memory: [Azure Blade].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Type: Weapon.

Memory Description: [On this forgotten shore, only steel remembers.]

'Huh. Interesting.'

Not very informative, but interesting.

Sunny summoned his new weapon, and a sharp, light sword immediately appeared in his hand. It was about a meter long, including the handle. The blade was straight and single-edged, ending in an angular tip. It was forged out of azure steel, with a beautiful, layered pattern. Deep inside the steel, white sparks could be seen. The cross guard was minimalistic and simple, offering almost no protection to the wielder's hands.

He recognized it from the variety of swords he trained with.

A tang dao.

A weapon that was made for slashing and cutting, not so much for piercing. It was also a dual wield.

Also, it was very pretty.

He looked up. The day was young, but he was still a good distance away.

Ordering his shadow to wrap around the blade, he began to hack away at the corpse and, with some assistance from his Echo, successfully extracted a few strips of tender, pink meat. He also did not forget to extract the radiant crystal from the beast's chest — the soul shard.

He stared at it for a second before placing it in his seaweed rucksack.

'They're really of no direct use to me.'

He had already tried with the dormant shards back at the manor.

But he still had to pretend, so he simply broke them and closed his eyes for a couple of seconds to give the impression that he did absorb them in front of his sisters.

He hopped on the back of the Echo and continued his way forward.

***

'Well, that's worrying.'

Sunny had reached, and climbed, the hill with some time to spare.

After climbing it and approaching the massive growth of coral, Sunny dismissed the Echo and began looking for a way up.

But just as he was about to start climbing, his shadow notified him of figures approaching.

He focused on what it was seeing, and his eyes widened slightly.

The first thing Sunny saw was fair skin… a lot of skin. The tall, lithe girl was only dressed in a makeshift skirt and a crude brassiere, both made out of seaweed. However, it didn't seem to bother her. With a calm expression, she stopped and looked back. The wind was playing with her short silver hair.

It was Nephis, the Changing Star.

In one hand, she was holding the end of a strange golden rope.

And on the other end of the rope, Cassia, the blind girl, was carefully following behind.

'Wow. What a sight…' Sunny thought.

He suddenly regretted that he was not an artist. The picture just begged to be made into a painting.

'Wait… why am I thinking about that? People! I found people!'

What a stroke of luck!

He was going to start trekking down the hill but froze.

Was he close enough with them to just go over and casually say hi?

Sure, he had helped the blind girl once and was familiar with Nephis to a certain degree.

But enough for her to view him as an ally?

Sunny frowned. There was also a chance for Nephis to accidentally decapitate him if she got startled.

He opted for the safer route and simply waited until they reached the top.

As the two girls slowly made their way up the coral-strewn hill, Sunny sat cross-legged near the edge, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.

When Nephis finally crested the hill, she halted abruptly.

There was a heavy silence.

He slowly lifted a hand in a casual wave.

"Hey," he said, voice light. "Fancy meeting you here."

In the next heartbeat, a long sword materialized in Nephis's hand with a sharp whisper of displaced air.

Sunny stiffened.

"Woah—woah there," he said quickly, both hands rising in a placating gesture. "Easy! I'm Sunless — remember? Not some Nightmare creature wearing his skin."

Nephis didn't relax. Her pale knuckles gripped the hilt tighter, her eyes narrowing.

"Wait," Cassie said, her voice uncertain. "That voice… you're the guy who helped me get to the cafeteria, aren't you?"

Sunny risked a small nod. "That's me."

Cassie stepped slightly forward, one hand brushing against Nephis's arm. "It's okay. I think he's telling the truth."

There was another moment of silence.

Then, without a word, Nephis dismissed her sword. The golden rope uncoiled slightly, no longer taut between her and Cassie.

Sunny exhaled, very slowly.

"Gods," he muttered. "You people really know how to make a guy feel welcome."

Nephis shrugged and spoke for the first time. "This is an unexplored area. There's no telling what type of creatures there are here."

She pointed at the sack that was attached to his side. "What's that?"

Sunny grinned. "Oh this? Some very delicious-looking crab meat."

She looked at him doubtfully. "You came across a dead one?"

Sunny subconsciously straightened his back.

"I didn't find it. I killed it."

Nephis looked him over again, reevaluating her opinion of him. Now, there were hints of approval in her eyes.

Carapace Scavengers were only beasts, but they were still Awakened. With the addition of their mighty physique and natural armor, defeating one was not an easy feat for any Sleeper, who all had a dormant core.

Now that she thought about it... maybe it was too suspicious.

Sunny, guessing what she was thinking, hurriedly explained.

"It was wounded, and I ambushed it."

Nephis shrugged.

"A kill is a kill. You did well."

After that, she fell silent, as though not planning to say anything else. Sunny also wasn't sure what to say. Luckily, Cassia came to the rescue.

"Are you seriously injured?"

He shook his head.

"Some minor scratches, nothing much thanks to my armor and cape."

He saw Nephis eye the armor with something resembling envy in her eye.

After all, she almost had nothing on.

Sunny gritted his teeth and offered his hand, gesturing for her to do the same.

She frowned but hesitantly did.

Slowly, the cape disappeared into ethereal spark. The sparks moved towards Neph's core and disappeared.

[You have transferred a Memory.]

His shadow did an over-exaggerated gentleman bow.

Nephis blinked in mild surprise.

"…Thank you," she said quietly, clearly unused to expressing gratitude.

"I'm expecting it back as soon as you get an armor Memory," he grumbled.

Cassie, roughly grasping what transpired, turned to Sunny and smiled. "Thank you... Sunless. I felt guilty ever since Nephis gave me this."

She gestured towards her tunic.

Sunny squinted in confusion. Why would she do that?

As much as he felt bad for the blind girl, he simply wouldn't help her, let alone spare her a whole armor Memory.

He simply thought that she would be dead weight.

But he smiled nonetheless. "I'm not giving it to her. I'm still expecting it back as soon as she gets an armor Memory."

Nephis, now draped in the dark cloak, looked towards the sun and spoke. "We should start ascending the coral tower now. It's getting late."

Sunny agreed. The sun was getting quite low.

And so, he watched as Nephis dismissed the rope and summoned it again, its size tripling.

The golden rope shimmered in the dwindling sunlight.

Nephis threw the rope upwards. He watched as it caught on a faraway coral branch.

Nephis tested it with a small tug, then began her careful ascent.

Taking a deep breath, Sunny followed behind.

***

Welcome to the fourth day of the tomato chapter-thon.

Unexpectedly you guys reached the goal!

Expectedly, there is a new goal!

but i started feeling a bit of shame (Gasp)

So today its going to be a bit easier.

Goal: 65 power stones and something special...

The croc needs a name (Drownscale echo)!

Most liked comment is the name (try for it to be something plausible please)

P.S: please tell me if the characters feel... out of character, i tried to make them close to canon and align the way they think and act.