Shadow Slave | A Slave Once Again

Chapter 24: The Surface

Sunless's POV:
(The Last First POV.)

Feeling quite dizzy, I woke up to the crushing sounds of violent and furious waves. It didn't take me much to realize that it was the receding tides of the Dark Sea that made that sound.

Sitting up straight, I was met with the familiar bluish-bright piles of Soul Shards that filled the cavern to the brim.

It really was hard to find an empty spot where the soul shards didn't fill the space by either riddling the ground or being in huge piles

It took me a couple of seconds to spot a a lone figure sitting cross-legged in the middle of a small empty circle holding a soul shard with her eyes closed. Soon the soul shard turned into ethereal fragments and disappeared into the air.

She opened her eyes and stood up from her meditating position. She immediately took a stance picking up her long sword.

Holding her longsword, Nephis was practicing a complicated chain of moves, her silver hair dancing in the air. There were beads of sweat on her face, as her leather black suit clung to her lithe body. Although a bit crude, her movements were limber and flowing, gracefully cascading into each other.

She was training.

Neph's swordsmanship was beautiful. And she was beautiful, too.

Illuminated by the dreamlike flickering lights of the reflective soul shards and dancing with a silvery sword surrounded by the glittering, ethereal lights of the gems.

It was as if she walked straight out of a fairytale.

And Maybe she was.

If our world was a fictional one, she would without a doubt be its main character.

Some time passed. And I wasn't sure how much exactly.

Once the sounds of the crushing waves subsided and silence took grasp of the vicinity I shifted slightly, as though escaping a reverie. By now, Neph's sword was the only thing that could be heard in the cavern, as it cut through the air.

I tried to stand up, but a jolting pain struck me through my shoulder. Looking down at my left shoulder, I found a neatly tightened piece of cloth as a makeshift bandage.

Memories of my fight against the Fallen Tyrant resurfaced in my mind.

'I must have fallen asleep out of exhaustion.'

This was where the Scythe-like leg of the Fallen Tyrant had struck me when I got distracted by Nephis and lost focus. I shouldn't have received such damage with the marble shell in its active state before, but Unfortunately for me, its attack broke through my already weakened mantle, completely destroying its gardbrace.

And now that the adrenaline had subsided, the pain was kicking in, and assaulting my nerves.

But it was bearable though, considering the amount of things I had gone through.

I looked around in search of the body of the Fallen Tyrant, Thankfully it didn't take much, since the giant monster wasn't something to miss so easily.

As my eyes swept through the cavern, I noticed the countless worm-like corpses that riddled the floor of the cave.

It seemed like Neph and Nightmare were quite busy defending my unconscious body considering that most of the corpses were around the crater where I defeated the Fallen Tyrant.

My eyes soon found Nightmare hiding in the shadows near me. My steed was protecting my dreams.

A soft smile made its way to my face.