Shadow Slave

The initial series of tests, the interview with the government specialists, the somber conversation with Cassie, and the hours Sunny had spent pondering about his past, present, and future took up almost an entire day. A new dawn was already bathing the world in soft sunlight, which Sunny knew because one of the walls in his underground room was made into a false window, with a vista of one of the parks in the Academy being projected onto it from a remote camera.

He was experiencing mild mental fatigue, but was not sleepy at all, at least not yet. Truly, the physique of an Awakened was much more resilient than that of a mundane human.

There were still a few things he had to do. In all the turmoil of the past twenty-four hours, he had not gotten a chance to take a proper look at his Memories, for example…

Sunny was about to summon the runes when, suddenly, there was a knock on his door. He flinched.

'...What? Who can it be?'

For a moment, a mental picture of Effie and Kai appeared in his mind, but then he dismissed it. The two of them must have been as busy after their Awakening as he was. Much more, most likely, considering that they probably had friends and families to deal with, too, on top of everything else. With them being in different facilities, coming to the Academy just to pay him a visit was not a likely scenario.

Certainly not that soon.

Hiding one of the shadows on his body to appear like a normal person, Sunny walked to the door and opened it.

Standing there was a striking, confident woman in her late twenties.

Immediately, it seemed as though the temperature inside of the room dropped by a couple of degrees.

She had short, raven-black hair and icy blue eyes. Her flawless skin was smooth, supple and as white as snow. The woman was dressed in a dark blue uniform with silver epaulets and black leather boots. The jacket of the uniform was casually unbuttoned, revealing a tanktop that was currently drawn taut against her full…

'Crap!'

"...What are you staring at, Awakened Sunless?"

Sunny looked up with wide eyes.

"Master Jet! I was just… uh… appreciating your fashion sense."

Indeed, it was Soul Reaper Jet — the Ascended who worked for the government and had welcomed him back to the real world after the First Nightmare.

Sunny had sometimes thought about this beautiful woman during his journey into the Dream Realm. Not only because the three pieces of advice Master Jet had given him ended up saving his life on multiple occasions, but also because she was from the outskirts, just like him.

Knowing that someone as unfortunate as that had managed to not only survive, but even thrive in the ruthless reality of the Nightmare Spell had given fuel to his determination, as well as providing vital perspective.

…But what was she doing at his door?

Sunny studied Master Jet, suddenly full of doubt.

She looked exactly as she had a year ago, the only difference being that her uniform had more wrinkles, and there were now dark circles under her eyes.

As he watched, she grinned.

"My fashion sense? Why, thank you! If you want, I can introduce you to my tailors. You will have to sign a few thick contracts to receive a comfy suit such as this, though."

Sunny forced out a smile.

"Ah, I see. Those tailors are slightly out of my price range, I'm afraid. But thanks for the offer."

After a short pause, he cautiously asked:

"Uhm, Master Jet? It is very nice to see you again, but… to what do I owe the pleasure? I am sure that you are too busy to visit every random returnee."

She looked at him for a couple of seconds, then suddenly yawned and shook her head to chase away sleepiness.

"...Correct. But since there's some procedure you still have to go through and we already know each other, I thought that I'd do the honors."

With that, she looked around the deserted corridor of the hospital complex with a dubious expression, lingered for a couple of seconds, and then asked:

"Wanna eat?"

***

Some time later, the two of them were walking through the ground level of the Academy hospital. Sunny had thought that Master Jet would take him to the cafeteria there, but instead, she headed toward the exit.

"Uh… where are we going? I thought that cafeteria was this way?"

She looked at him with confusion, then grimaced slightly.

"Hospital food? No thanks. Let me take you to the Instructors Lounge. That's where they keep the really good stuff."

Sunny coughed.

"But, Master Jet… you're not an instructor?"

She smiled, then pointed to the three-star insignia on her left sleeve.

"Technically, I'm not. But the Academy is a government facility, so I outrank most of the people here. What are they going to do?"

He blinked a couple of times, then shrugged.

Indeed, what are they going to do? Tell a Master to get out? Who would be that suicidal?

As they exited the hospital complex and walked across the Academy grounds, Sunny couldn't help but throw furtive glances at the confident young woman. Not because he was mesmerized by her, but because seeing her again was a strange experience.

Back when they first met, he was just fresh from the First Nightmare, barely accustomed to his new status as a Sleeper. Being in the presence of a Master was like standing in front of a legend. He remembered vividly how much fear and awe this beautiful stranger inspired in him.

How acutely he felt the measure of ease with which she would be able to kill him, if she wished. All it would take was a flick of her finger.

Now, slightly more than a year later, so much had changed. He was still pretty sure that he had no chance of taking her in a fight, a fair one at least, but the reverent fear was gone, replaced by simple respect. Sunny knew that he had it in himself to if not win, then at least survive a confrontation with someone like Jet.

In a sense, he was now half a legend himself.

As he thought about how different things had become, the two of them approached a small, picturesque building near the center of the Academy.

Without slowing down, Master Jet walked past a few people that were staring at her with a strange mix of regard and disdain, and entered the Instructors Lodge.

'Oh, right… I remember Teacher Julius mentioning that she has a terrible reputation. To be exact, he described her as a "murderous savage", "barbarian", "having a problematic personality", and "psychopathic killer". Uh…'

No wonder people were giving them weird looks throughout the whole walk.

For some reason, Sunny suddenly felt annoyed. Maybe because Jet was someone he knew, or maybe because she used to be an outskirt rat just like him, but he found himself feeling… protective.

'Stare away, bastards… see if we give a damn.'

Master Jet clearly didn't, so why would he?

Sunny looked at the next person to give her a dirty glance coldly, activating the murder math to its fullest potential. Immediately, the onlooker paled slightly and turned away.

Sunny smiled.

'That's right, look away. Now... the most important part. Let's see what the Instructors eat!'