Shadow Slave: Monochrome

The next day came swiftly, and likewise, Nero was once again taken to the room of dark waters. He had grown used to it now, so being in the dark was not an issue.

But what he was worried about though, was the last remaining boy that was with him. Although he never spoke or showed a hint of emotions, Nero would try to converse with him. He had nothing else to do in this darkness except wait after all.

"Well aren't you a quiet fellow? Legends say that the greatest of friends don't need to even utter a single word to understand each others feelings."

The boy was unmoving, unphased, and did not respond.

"See! You get it, you get it!"

Despite their awfully one sided conversations, Nero had grown a little attached to him.

"Okay! I can be the heroic knight, and you can be my squire. But that's a title, so you'll need a proper name... How does Leonhart sound? Wait no, that's too posh for you... Leon will do just fine."

One day they were knights, another they would be hero's stopping the villains conjured in Nero's mind, and the next they would even be thieves robbing a bank. After that great heist, they would feast on a mighty meal.

"Turkey.. gravy... roasted potatoes..."

Their* mouths could only water over such a meal. Nero never had one himself, but they fantasised anyway.

But on this terrible day..

Leon's body fell into the water as Nero rushed over to him. He quickly picked him up so that he wouldn't drown, but he was shocked at what he saw.

The boy's face which was so stale, so robotic, was finally showing emotions.

He was scared, shocked and confused. Yet he understood very well, that he was dying.

Leon raised his hand, and tried to reach for Nero's face, but then it limped to the ground as he suddenly felt incredibly weak.

"LEON! DON'T LEAVE ME LEON! WE STILL NEED TO FIND THE ONE PIECE! PLEASE DON'T GO!"

As the child's eyes slowly closed, Leon exhaled heavily before whispering something.

"Um.. what did you just say? I didn't catch that.."

He shook his body to try wake him back up, but it was no use. Leon, was dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

'I'm going insane...'

And thus Nero was the last remaining human in his room of dark water.

**

As per usual, the door to the room of darkness swung open once again. But this time was different. In this consistent cycle where almost everything never changed, bar the mass deaths, something was different.

The knight who was assigned to his room had changed.

It was a fellow who seemed just as old as the last, but he had a very visible scar which made him seem blind in one eye, and his build seemed to be much better despite the armour he wore. His face was drenched in exhaustion like the rest of the knights, yet somehow his was different.

He didn't show despair like them.

Right away, Nero could think of someone who sounded very similar to what he was seeing. But he still needed to confirm it first. If he started saying that man's name all of a sudden, and the knights happened to know each other, Nero would seem suspicious. And in a place like this, he certainly did not want to stand out.

Nero approached the door the way he usually did. Living amongst these children, he too had learnt how to hide the emotions of his face, so he didn't seem out of place whatsoever.

And yet, he felt as if the man was glaring into his very soul.

The knight tossed Nero a long white cloth to wrap himself with, which he tied as he usually did. He had gotten much better at wearing it, and thus it only took him 5 seconds to put it on this time.

And it took the knight even less time, to pick up Nero by the neck and smash him against the wall.

Nero obviously shouted in pain as his body was ramed against it, and it didn't help that the knight drew his sword and plunged it easily into the brick wall. It was just but a milimetre away from slicing Nero's face off.

The knight then asked with aggression,

"Who are you."

Nero was panicking. The stone face which he had cultivated for the last 4 days was instantly broken, as he was overcome with fear. He had grown accustomed to living in this place, but this was the first real danger he was directly facing.

"I said, who are you."

With his monstrous strength, the knight pushed his sword forwards, forcing it to move a little bit closer into Nero's cheek, as it slowly cut through the brick wall it was plunged in. The sword began to bite into him, as a sliver of blood dripped down Nero's own face.

Before the knight allowed the blade to progress any further though, Nero struggled to mutter while being strangled,

"Sir.. Sir... Rodenaus.... please..."

Rodenaus froze. He then released his grip from Nero, letting the boy fall to the ground. He breathed heavily while trying to wipe the blood off his face, but of course it didn't stop.

"Who are you.", Rodenaus now asked with a hint of passivity.

And Nero did not hesitate to answer back.

"I don't know..."

Rodenaus sighed, as he reached for his sword which was still stuck in the wall and pulled it out with ease. This made Nero jolt as the man displayed incredible physical strength.

'Is he an awakened?'

Rodenaus seemed to be satisfied with Nero's answer, as he dusted off his sword by giving it a light tap, before sheathing it.

"A suitable response. No child of night should have a name, especially you."

Nero's face paled.

"Your unique. Maybe because of that, you have lost your memories to those dark waters instead of your body. But that's all the more reason to get you out of here. I cannot allow the King Of The Dark to obtain you, no matter what."

'Huh??'

He was referring to Nero as if he was property! This is a violation of his human rights! Even he wasn't treated this badly in endroll... this King Of The Dark fellow was a maniac, even Rodenaus too!

"Anyhow, our time to escape is nigh. Just one more day, and those impotent fools should be too weak to stop us. That Dark bastard should be another week from coming here, so we can escape before then."

Nero's desire to avoid the king then surged, as even Rodenaus seemed to be scared of him. But then a wave of questions erupted in his mind.

He finally found someone that he could talk to freely, someone who was knowledgeable about this place, so he wanted to learn as much about him as possible. And yet, the first question he asked was...

"We can't go... I need to save my br— I mean my friend."

Rodenaus looked at him with confusion. This boy who was supposed to have no memories, had a friend? 

"Who?"

"He's somewhere down there."

Nero pointed at the ground, but Rodenaus immediately understood who he was talking about.

"No. We leave him."

Nero understandably got upset. After that promise he made to Epsilon, he refused to leave this place without him.

"Then I refuse to come with you."

Nero cautiously took a step back, but then Rodenaus grabbed his arm with startling speed.

"No. You do not understand. If that boy leaves this place with us, we will all die long before we can even reach the surface."