Shadow Slave: Monochrome

Nero stared at the operating table with a hurricane of emotions swirling inside of him. First there was confusion, then fear, panic, understanding, and finally, clarity. Officer Wort put his hand on Nero's shoulder.

"I wouldn't advise you take your time in here, but come out when your ready. Just don't pull a prank like that again. Oh... and take a shower when your done? Please?"

He silently left Nero alone in the room, looking down at his brother who was still asleep. Once he was gone, he finally checked his runes using the [Bond] attribute.

Name: Epsilon

True Name: —

Rank: Aspirant

Soul Core: Dormant

Of course, he should've expected this. He had been theorising a bit about why they shared a Nightmare. Was it because the Nightmare spell recognized them as one person? That couldn't've been true, otherwise they would have identical, or merged runes which was not the case.

So if the Nightmare Spell could tell the difference between them, then was it because of [Bond]? But that also shouldn't be possible, otherwise Epsilon would've cleared it the moment Nero did too.

Nero then recalled the strange thing the Nightmare Spell said while it was appraising his performance.

[You are but a test. A trial to decide the future. Do not disappoint us.]

He was being watched, and it was likely that Epsilon was too. The Spell— and someone else, had for some reason put them in the same Nightmare. And the weirder thing was, that they weren't even the main act. If whatever they were planning would be successful, then it was possible that more people like Nero and Epsilon would appear in the future.

People who had shared the same Nightmare, perhaps even large groups of them at a time.

'Who exactly was that other person though?'

That would be a question for another day. Anyhow, his brother should wake up in a day or two assuming that everything went right.

**

A stream of hot water fell down on Nero's face. His head fluffy with bubbles of shampoo and other exquisite soaps which he greedily enjoyed. This was the first proper shower he had gotten to taken in a long time, and even then, it was his first time doing it with soap.

Even if it was bad Karma, he would take as much time as he liked.

Before he knew it, an hour then passed, to which the Officer started to bang on the shower rooms door.

"Why don't you keep taking your time in their!?"

It was only then, that he started notice that his skin was getting wrinkly.

"Uh oh."

Nero quickly hopped out, and dried himself using a towel. When he glanced at himself in the foggy mirror though, he paused. His heart froze as then quickly wiped away the cloudy moisture on it.

"My hair..."

This was the first time he had seen his face since he awakened. There were stories of Awakened changing appearances when they got their aspect. Of course, everyone got more handsome, but some peoples skin would change into a strange colour, others could grow beast like teeth, but for Nero, his hair had changed into a very unnatural black. It seemed unreal even.

But must importantly, it reminded him of the Night children. He immediately shifted his head away from the mirror, as he tried to forget that time. He did not want to remember it, ever again.

"Damn my Aspect."

Thinking about it now, his Flaw was quite a weird one too. He quickly summoned the Runes to check its progress.

Requirements: [1 Dormant]

Duration: 46:54:34

How would he get Soul Shards for it?? Especially in the next two days. The winter solstice was still 3 weeks away, so he wouldn't be sent to the dream realm till then.

"I'm so screwed."

And even if he somehow procured soul shards before the timer ended, it was likely that the amount would increase every single time. Nero was decently educated in maths, so he had no problem working out the estimated amount.

'Right.. so 3x7 is 21 days.. 21 divided by 2.. plus 1 dormant shard increase every time'

Nero's legs grew weak as he then fell to the floor. Tears began to stream from his eyes, and his face turned into a bluish purple.

'55 dormant soul shards...'

He'd have to gather 55 dormant soul shards in total before he was sent to the dream realm... His awakened life was over before it even began. He didn't know when it would start to include awakened soul shards, but right now, his future seemed bleak.

Yet suddenly, a light bulb in his head seemed to flicker back to life.

"Wait a minute!? Maybe there is some hope!"

**

Once Sunny left the shower room, he approached the front desk of the officer. His skin was now gleaming, but his face seemed still bleary from his earlier crying. Wort noticed this, but didn't say anything about it out of respect.

Nero was able to discard his old worn out clothes, and was instead donning a black flight suit.

"Sleeper Nero! I think that suits you quite well?"

"..."

"Um, are you hungry? You were meant to talk with that guy over there, but I don't think that will happen for a long while.."

"...yes..."

The officer left the office to his rooms cafeteria, to prepare something to eat for the starving sleeper. The second he left though, Nero immedialty ran to the Sleeping awakened, before giving him a good power slap.

He immediately woke up in a panic, and was surprised to see Nero bowing to him on the floor, with his forehead pressed into the ground.

"PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!"

Cyrus looked rightfully puzzled at him. He was just rudely awakened, but seeing him beg for help just confused him even more. The second he started to drift back to sleep though, Nero immediately wrapped his arms around his waist, and forced out the most desperate plea that he could.

"PLEASSSEE! I'M GONNA DIE IF YOU DON'T!! WILL YOU NOT HAVE ANY PITY ON A POOR BOY LIKE ME!???!"

He needed to procure soul shards? Easy! He should just beg the government to give it to him! All he needs to do is flex his Divine aspect a little, hook them onto the idea that he will work for them, and then run away to a legacy clan later. What would they do to him then? Fight the whole clan??

There weren't any legacy clans stationed in the Endroll colony, so he wouldn't be able to contact them until he entered the dream realm. Right now, this was his only option. But it was one that he could work with.

"Kid.. your getting snot on my.."

"PLEASEEE!!! YOU WON'T REGRET IT! MY ASPECT RANK IS—"

Cyrus seemed to jolt back to life as he immedialty blocked Nero's mouth with surprising speed. Nero was just about to complain, but his spine then froze.

Cyrus's gaze was cold, empty like the depths of a void. His eyes intense, making Nero's hair stand on ends. Somehow he was both incredibly angry, yet calm at the same time. and reminded Nero of when Rodenaus used to threaten him to not do something rash.

"Don't say that so carelessly."

Nero gulped.

"Okay... but?"

Cyrus sighed.

"If its because of your flaw, then only give the amount of info needed. Your lucky it was me who you brought this up to, they would've pried for a whole lot more."