Shadow slave: a storm of shadows

" Wake up Sunless! Your nightmare is over! "

Sunny's eyes shot open as he gasped for breathe.

" what the hell was that?! "

Sunny's thoughts were a tangled mess, he got up, breathing slowly.

" Damnation..."

Sunny started the process of remembering what had happened. He found the Nameless Temple on the top of the Black mountain, he entered it after granted passage by the guardian. Then, he found the broken altar, and touched it, at that moment, Sunny started experiencing every moment he lived , as if time was going backwards.

The hollow mountains, the third nightmare, Antarctica, the second nightmare. It was all happening too quickly for him to register anything. It was as if he had been dreaming. A long and terrible dream.

Sunny felt a headache starting to form.

He looked around with a frown.

' am I still dreaming? '

He was in a room filled with intricate patterns, with a few pieces of furniture. The room was dark. The mechanism in charge of providing light was long broken.

Sunny knew this room very well. It was his hideout inside the cathedral of the dark city.

' how am I here? What kind of a dream is this? '

Sunny was confused about whatever this is. Had he triggered something in the Temple that placed him in a dream? Sunny came to the conclusion that the Nameless Temple was built for all seven gods, including the long forgotten Dream god.

' that doesn't seem to be the case '

Sunny had touched the altar in his first nightmare, yet this...whatever it is, had never happened.

The room was still the same from what he remembered, only the wall did not have the runes of his name that he had carved upon leaving the Dark city .

Sunny walked over to the balcony and jumped down to the cathedral hall. it was empty and silent, just like his last visit.

Sunny was still deep in thought.

He pinched his skin, and it still hurt.

' is this even a dream? '

It was only after he reached the entrance of the cathedral, did Sunny stop in his tracks. A shocked expression appeared on his face.

Out there, up in the sky, was the artificial sun of the Forgotten Shore.

Sunny simply stood there, a whirlwind of emotions swirling in his heart. Confusion, shock...but mostly confusion.

" what the hell is happening...? "

Sunny couldn't understand. even if this wasn't a dream , the Forgotten Shore should be ruled by nothing but silence and darkness. The artificial sun should be destroyed with the Crimson terror. Yet, it is not.

" what the spell..."

His voice grew quiet at the sound of a horrifying howl far away. Sunny acted on instinct and spread his shadow sense, enveloping the entire city. Sunny's eyes widened. His breath hitched.

" impossible..."

The city was full of life. Nightmare creatures roaming the narrow streets...and people. Sleepers in the bright castle. Shadows of different Sleepers, wondering about their day. hunting parties, pathfinders, Castel guards, handmaidens.

He sensed the shadows of different people, all too familiar. Aiko, Stev, Gunlaug, Effie, Caster, Cassie...and Nephis.

" what is this..."

Sunny felt a storm of emotions filling his heart.

' how...?'

The question kept repeating itself in Sunny's mind with no apparent answer. What had happened to him after touching the altar?

' could it be...'

All citadels were different in some way, the Nameless Temple was from the time of all seven gods. They created the absolute laws, death, space, time. Was the act of touching the altar trigger within the Temple that sent him...back in time?

' it's not possible...'

Even then, there was nothing other explanation.

" wait..." Sunny sensed shadows near him. He turned around to his own...shadows.

' Gloomy, happy, creepy, haughty, naughty, crazy...'

He was still a terror, somehow.

It was then that he noticed another one, a seventh. It seemed to pay no mind to anything, as if it couldn't bother, or that it took too much effort. It seemed, lazy.

Sunny, along with the other shadows, stared at the lazy shadow with a silent question. Lazy didn't seem to answer, but eventually he shrugged.

" what do you mean you don't know?! How the spell did i become a titan?! " Sunny glared at the Lazy shadow, who took several seconds, then shrugged again.

Sunny felt another headache starting to form, he pressed his hands to his temples and walked back to the cathedral. The shadows followed.

________

Sunny's soul sea was as vast and as dark as before, now with seven dark suns high above, and a magnificent dark temple in the center, where a vast legion of shadow gathered around. But Sunny paid that no mind, the temple must be there because he claimed it as his citadel...somehow.

Sunny was more focused on others things.

He could not summon Saint, Fiend, Nightmare, even the marvelous mimic. They lay dormant inside the lightless depths of his shadow cores. But he managed to summon Serpent. The intricate tattoo coiled around his body.

' speaking of my body '

He had found out that he still retained his transcended body, he looked the same, only now he looked around bit younger, which was hard to see the difference since awakened always looked young and beautiful compared to their real age.

He also found out that he couldn't use most of his powers, such as Shadow step, Shadow manifestation, and Shadow incarnation. But he still had the position of the Lord of Shadows. He still had Blood weave, Bone weave, and Soul weave as well. And he suspects that Fateless is no different.

Sunny sighed.

" I can't make sense of this, and yet..."

Did he need to? If he truly was sent back in time, if he was in the past...

A pale mischievous smile formed on Sunny's face.

He saw an opportunity. A chance to change things. The fates of many people that he could not before.

He thought of the Dreamer army, of Belle, Dorn, And Samara. He thought of the people of Antarctica, of Falcon Scott. He thought of Jet, of Kai, and Effie, of Cassie.

He thought of Nephis.

Sunny opened his eyes in the secret chamber of the cathedral. His shadow sense enveloping the entire dark city. a few brought his attention.

A group human shadows, heading towards a shadow under the ground...in a well.

Sunny stood up, the same smile on his face.