Shadow Slave: Kindness

Sunny's mind was exploding again.

Not from battle. Not from danger.

From Julius's endless lectures.

All he could think about was getting out of the damn classroom.

The tidal wave of new information was crushing—words like "Sometars" and "the significance of celestial pressure in the Storm Sea" floated past him like debris. Sunny had no idea what any of it meant anymore. He stopped trying to keep up two pages ago.

To escape the headache, he started doing what he always did when he needed peace: think. Not about the lecture—no. About everything else.

His life now.

It had shifted violently in such a short time. From being selected by the Spell, to Auro's cryptic messages in the Dream Realm... there were so many mysteries left unresolved.

Auro had said he would break fate. But what did that mean?

What fate? What was so special about his? Or Auro's?

And what had Auro meant when he said his life wasn't his own?

Sunny's mind wandered to the eerie temple beneath the mountain. Whose temple was it really? Which god did it worship?

Weren't the gods supposed to be dead?

Then why did they listen?

Why did they answer?

If the Shadow God had blessed him... was that death? Or something worse—a mockery of death? Could true gods even die?

He blinked slowly, then turned his head to the side.

Cassie sat next to him, her posture steady, her face calm. She didn't look tired—but then again, she couldn't even see what Julius was writing. She was probably listening harder than anyone, which must be its own kind of headache.

Poor girl's probably plotting his murder by now, Sunny thought.

Later that day, they were in the wilderness survival class. Not that it felt like the wild—just a massive underground chamber doubling as a simulated training environment. Every class had their own version of it, but theirs was particularly barren.

Until now.

Thanks to Cassie.

What was once a quiet room was now filled with low-tech, high-pain training equipment: swinging sandbags, ropes, climbing walls, scattered dummies, and all kinds of unpredictable terrain setups.

Sunny was crouched on the floor, trying to coax a flame from a half-rotten bundle of Dream Realm seaweed and dried creature tendon.

Fire-starting was harder than it looked.

He glanced sideways and saw Cassie struggling with push-ups. She was barely on her fourth.

His entire body ached. Julius had abus-worked him half to death in physical training. Every muscle was a riot of pain. A single whisper from his brain said, Just lay down. You earned it.

But there she was.

Cassie.

Blind. Exhausted. Shaking.

Still trying.

He gritted his teeth and kept going. How could I stop if she won't?

Julius had made his point the first day.

When someone had argued that the Spell boosted their bodies anyway, why bother with strength training?

Julius had shut them up first with action—dropping to the floor and executing twenty perfect push-ups, ten one-arm pull-ups, then casually walking on his hands like a gymnast.

Then he added words.

"The Spell only amplifies your raw physical potential. It makes the body capable. But capability isn't competence. You need flexibility, balance, control, precision… technique."

To demonstrate, Julius had suddenly grabbed Sunny's arm and, with a sharp twist and a pivot of his hips, flung him clean over his shoulder.

Sunny had landed flat on his back.

Hard.

With a groan, he'd stared at the ceiling and wheezed: "...Was that necessary?"

In revenge, Sunny had asked if he could try the same move.

He failed.

Miserably.

Even though he was technically stronger, Julius didn't budge. The man had laughed.

"See? Technique beats strength. Learn that early, and you won't die young."

He also tried pushups, pullups and even handstand.

keyword being tried.

What followed was thirty minutes of Sunny being rag-dolled by Cassie. Julius had insisted they train throws together.

After getting Cassie to feel how to do it from dummies and what exactly to do by giving her first hand experience and throwing her as well.

Only she was thrown at a mattress. While Sunny was rag-dolled on the floor.

'...why the unfair treatment??'

Cassie tried again and again to flip Sunny with a hip toss. She failed just as miserably—but each time she failed, Sunny hit the ground.

Sideways. Backwards. On his face.

"Why do we even have training dummies if I'm the crash test subject?" he groaned.

Cassie said nothing.

Just smiled faintly and attempted another throw.

Sunny narrowed his eyes.

This wench… she's enjoying this.

In a moment of rebellious frustration, he asked to switch.

Cassie raised an eyebrow in mock innocence.

"Really, Sunny? One day you bring me flowers, the next day you're throwing me to the ground? I thought I was a delicate beauty. Is this how you treat your charming companions? Truly? You will do that to me, Sunny?"

Sunny winced.

He had no choice.

"I… I wouldn't throw you."

Cassie tilted her head, grinning.

"That's what I thought."

Julius, of course, had found this entire exchange highly entertaining. Still, he nodded in approval.

"Good. Learn to fall. If you're not surprised by hitting the ground, you'll recover faster. That's how you live longer."

And so, with wounded dignity and a bruised back, Sunny went back to his dummies.

But even in the ache of his limbs and the dull throb in his skull from too many lectures, something in him felt… sharper.

Better.

He wasn't just learning to fight.

He was learning to get back up.

The night once again found Sunny sneaking through the halls of the Academy—though "sneaking" was generous. He wasn't just wandering aimlessly tonight. He had purpose. Suspicion.

Jack and Jill had been acting strange since day one. Last time, he'd caught them handing something over to a stranger. But his range with the shadow had limited how much he could see.

Not this time.

This time, he was wearing a tracksuit. If his shadow couldn't go far enough, his own legs would.

He wasn't just going to spy tonight. He was going to follow.

If he was right—and he usually was—Jack and Jill were passing information. About Sleepers. To someone.

And maybe even retrieving something in return.

His shadow was already on the move, riding the walls and gliding along the dimly lit halls. It had concealed itself in the corner of the elevator, blending with other shadows nearby.

That's when Sunny felt it—a presence.

Someone was around the corner.

Immediately, he tensed and commanded the shadow to merge with the darkness.

And then he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

…But no one came.

Frowning, Sunny sent his shadow scouting through the adjacent hall.

The presence was gone.

"Strange," he muttered. "I was pretty sure someone was there…"

Before he could ponder further, the soft sound of footsteps echoed from down the corridor.

He ducked quickly into a patch of shadow behind a pillar.

Jack and Jill.

They were walking quietly, scanning their surroundings with practiced ease. Like they'd done this before.

"As I thought," Sunny whispered.

His shadow slinked after them.

Meanwhile, he crept behind, careful to stay out of sight, his steps near-silent. The cold air bit at his skin, but adrenaline dulled it.

The twins reached the Academy's perimeter wall. Without hesitation, they began to scale it—light-footed and fast.

They didn't even check the ground.

Perfect.

Sunny's shadow merged with Jack's as they climbed. He remained behind for a moment longer, making absolutely sure no one else was around, then vaulted the wall using the rope they'd secured.

The shadow slithered ahead, masking itself in shifting pools of darkness.

Beyond the wall lay a quiet clearing bathed in moonlight. A lone figure stood waiting near the treeline.

A man.

He wore a deep cloak and a black half-mask. His face was hidden, posture sharp.

Jill approached him, while Jack stayed behind, clearly on lookout duty.

Sunny cursed his luck. He couldn't get close enough without being spotted—and he couldn't hear a thing from this distance.

All he could do was watch.

Jill handed the man a small, folded sheet—an image, by the looks of it. Sunny narrowed his eyes.

Is that… Yuuki?

He couldn't be sure. But their reaction today was suspicious enough.

Suspicion turned to certainty in his gut.

They were giving information about Yuuki. or maybe asking about her.

Either of the two.

Given she seems to have arrived yesterday, Sunny is leaning more towards the latter then former.

The man nodded once, then turned to leave. As he moved, the wind caught the edge of his cloak—just enough to reveal a mark on the inner jacket.

A silver insignia.

A snowflake with a sword behind it.

Sunny's eyes widened.

The Snowfall Clan.

He remembered Julius's lecture just yesterday: an obscure clan under the influence of the Great Clan Song. Not powerful. Not well-funded. Their students were usually overlooked—never called Legacies because the clan lacked the means to train them well.

Then what the hell were Jack and Jill doing?

Were they targeting other Sleepers?

And for what purpose?

As the man faded into the night and the twins turned to leave, Sunny withdrew his shadow and ducked low, backing away into the trees.

This wasn't just idle curiosity anymore.

Something was happening.

And the Snowfall Clan was up to something far bigger than anyone knew.

And Yuuki, just who is she?

No one noticed a pair of piercing obsidian eyes watching all of this and them unnoticed.

.