Shadow Slave: Monochrome

It was dark, too dark.

Nero couldn't see anything at all, and to add to that it was incredibly stinky as well. His feet were half sunk in a strange mix of shit and piss, and he could feel himself on the brink of passing out because of the terrible miasma in here.

These were the sewers of Endroll, and up ahead, was the deep end.

**

"The deep end?? You want to throw it off the deep end??", Epsilon shouted.

"Well, we can't burn it unless you want the fumes of a super charged cocaine floating around the place, and burying it somewhere would just be asking someone to find it. Our only hope is somewhere unreachable, both to us and to even awakened."

Epsilon sighed.

"But the deep end is in the sewers?? That's the Red Sons territory??"

Nero raised a hand before placing it on Epsilons shoulder as he smirked,

"Don't worry, the deep end is a place not even the Government dare to approach. What reason would the Red Sons have for going there when they're much weaker? I'll be fine, trust me."

**

"Why the hell did I come here? I should've just buried it honestly this was so stupid..."

'But I looked so cool!'

As Nero walked, he could finally see the end of this deep tunnel, as well as the sound of water flooding downwards. He started to run forwards which wasn't made any easier thanks to the water clinging to his feet.

Once he reached the end, he had to hold himself back from looking over the edge. The width of the hole was startling to say the least, as it seemed to be about 3 kilometers, and its depth was seemingly immeasurable as you could only see darkness below, and never even hear the sounds of water reaching the bottom.

There were several other small holes in the sides of the pit, with water flooding down each and every single one of them.

The deep end was a gigantic pit where most tunnels of the sewers connected too. All the waste that gathers in the sewers, is all chucked into this place. How deep was it really? No one knew, however some people believed that it went all the way down to the centre of the earth.

'I wonder what it's like down there... what the hell, let's just get this done.'

Nero wound up his arm, as he threw the bag with all his might. Compared to the entire pit, it didn't get very far... but Nero's nervousness did grow a little lighter as he watched it sink into the deep darkness.

"Ahh, now to get out of here. I'm starting to get hungry too."

He still had that synthpaste, but he wasn't that desperate yet.

Suddenly, Nero was overcome with a faint dizziness. He gripped his head, while stumbling a little, as he quickly slapped himself awake.

"No... why me??"

And of course, things simply had to get even worse.

Far up ahead, Nero could hear the sounds of footsteps walking through the water. What would anyone be doing here he immediately thought, but then it changed to who it could be.

'The Government?'

If it was just them, then Nero would happily leave right now. He'd just look like an insane kid, so they'd let him off, but if it were some people from the Red sons...

'It is them, it 100% is them.'

Well he wasn't completely sure, but what the hell would the Government be doing here anyway? At least the Red Sons were known for stalking the sewers in the first place.

'Where the hell do I even hide?'

Nero looked around, and then his heart sank. Well, it was the only place he could hide really.

**

2 silhouettes were approaching the deep end. One was a woman with scarlet hair, wearing some kind of kimono with red blossom flower patterns covering it. In her hand, she held a chain which connected to a man's neck, who was currently crawling on the floor.

If Emma was here, she would recognise him as the awakened her and Epsilon robbed the this morning.

The woman harshly tugged on the chain as she shouted,

"Gods, this is your fault! If you hadn't lost the goddamn product, then I wouldn't be here right now!"

He then harshly kicked the man in the chest, causing him to gag as he completely collapsed in the murky water.

He weakly muttered under his voice..

"I'm.. sorry..."

The woman tugged on the chain once again, this time with much more power forcing the man back onto his knees. The two continued to crawl to the end of the tunnel, until they finally reached the entrance of the deep below.

She approached the very edge of the sharp drop, peering down for a moment.

"Klee said that it should've been around here... did it drift all the way down the to the bottom?"

The woman looked at the pathetic slave, waiting at her knees. Just the sight of him was really starting to piss her off, to the point she actually considered throwing him off the edge here and now.

She ruined her fine Kimono! Well it is a memory, it would clean itself if she sent it back to her soul sea.. but still!

"..."

The women calmed her anger as she simply turned around and left, taking her slave with her.

However, if her feet had moved just 2 more inches to the left, she would've stepped on a certain someone's fingers, causing them to plummet to their death.

Just before they had arrived, Nero carefully climbed off the very edge of the waterfall before clinging himself onto the edge of the tunnel. Since the water was quite deep and dirty, they wouldn't notice his fingers hiding inside, and since the water was going decently fast, its crest was just large enough that a human could hide inside without water ramming into their face.

It hurt, and painfully so, but it was that or die so Nero put up with it. Nero clung there for about 4 minutes, but he stayed there for an extra minute, so that the Red Son members would've gotten far enough.

The second the time was up however, he hoisted himself up while lightly screaming.

"We didn't even make a profit today...."

**

Epsilon was sitting on the edge of his family's home while looking up at the full moon. Of course, it was slightly distorted thanks the to the massive barrier which surrounded the entire colony. Growing tired of it, he looked down, where he could see a small fight going on.

It seemed to be a conflict between three homeless men. One of which was being ganged up on by the other two.

He observed the fight, witnessing as they beat the man thoroughly before robbing him of not just his Synthpaste, but even his clothes. Leaving him naked, bloodied and beaten on the sidewalk.

"This world is ugly."

That was an undeniable fact. War, conflict, and suffering, even without the nightmare spell striking terror into the hearts of many, humans have always been the cause of their own misery. Infact, even if everyone wasn't different, humans would've found a reason to fight each other anyway.

Or maybe those kinds of people weren't human in the first place. Humans are meant to be unique beings after all.

Anyway, life would be fine if you managed to fit in a certain group. Groups initally are all united by a desire or an ideal, and if just one exists, there would always be a group built around another. Eventually those groups would clash, and war would ensue once again.

Even if you were to reset the entire human race, they would get into a conflict with each other. That is simply just how they were.

"The only times they work together, is when they need to reach a common goal. Whether it be surviving, or killing those stronger than them."

And then Nero's voice echoed,

"Of course! We're all the same. You, me and even Emma."

The nearly identical boy sat next to him, sipping on a bottle of synthpaste. Of course, he was struggling to eat it, but what else could he do?

"We are both weak brother. If we didn't have Emma, we wouldn't be able to steal from others as effectively, and if I didn't have you.. gods! I don't think me and mother would've made it a single day after father died.

But, we are different from all the rest.. most of them anyway. We're not just united by a common ideal, but we're family. Even if hell comes and everything we fought for is gone, as long as you're there, I can rest assured that everything will be okay. 

Even if the nightmare spell tears us apart."

Epsilon looked silently at his brother, before looking at the moon once again. That's right.. dreams were also another reason why humans banded together. They had a dream they needed to achieve as well.

"How many credits do we have saved?"

"Not enough to get mother out. We will need to work for another 2 years at least before we have enough."

Epsilon sighed.

"If we can survive the first nightmare... if we can become awakened and work for the government, we should be able to make more than enough money to move mother, right?"

Although neither had directly told each other about it, both brothers had noticed that the other and themselves had been infected. In one week, they would fall into a deep sleep, and they would be forced to challenge the first nightmare.

"We won't just be able to get proper citizenships for ourselves and mother, but we can get good food and the like. The NQSC Sounds nice, lets send her and Emma there."

A light smile appeared on Epsilons face. He wasn't that hopeful, but hearing his brothers words made him much more confident.

He raised his fist towards Nero, as he then said,

"Let's get stronger."

Nero bumped fists with him,

"Of course."

Strength.. they were going to need a lot of it, because in seven years, a Category 5 Nightmare gate would spawn above their heads, and a cursed titan would ravage all of North America.