Shadow Slave

Some time later, Sunny exited the Instructors Lounge. The clear winter day welcomed him with chilly wind and tiny snowflakes dancing in the sunlight. Despite being dressed very lightly — his skin was covered only by the soft fabric of the simple training suit provided to him by the staff of the Academy hospital complex — Sunny did not feel too cold.

'That's being Awakened for you, I guess.'

If it had been a year and a few months ago, he would have been desperately searching for shelter, hoping that he would not freeze to death overnight or, even worse, get sick. But now, Sunny felt great. He wasn't even uncomfortable.

Pulling down his sleeves to hide the serpent tattoo, he inhaled the cool, perfectly filtered air, smiled, and started walking.

'Decisions, decisions…'

The conversation with Master Jet had been useful, but left him with more questions than answers. Each of the choices presented to him had alluring benefits, but also very serious drawbacks.

'Great clans, lesser clans, government, or independent?'

Sunny tried to imagine himself as a Legacy and silently shook his head. All that prestige, all that wealth, the admiration of the masses… being a Legacy meant being a part of the nobility, the elite above all elites. It was the exact opposite of what Sunny had been all his life.

…But who said that he had to remain the same in the future? From a pauper to a prince, that would be a nice transformation. Lord Sunless… that had a nice ring to it, didn't it?

There were serious disadvantages to making such a choice, of course.

Working for the government offered its own advantages, but at the cost of not receiving as much funds and resources, while being tied down by too many obligations. Both times Sunny had met Master Jet, she seemed busy and overworked. He couldn't imagine pursuing his goals with such a schedule.

One of the functions of the Awakened forces in service to the government was hunting down rogue members of their own kind. Awakened were people, after all, and there were criminals among them, too. Especially because many were traumatized and driven to the edge of madness by their experiences in the Nightmares and the Dream Realm.

If Sunny could absorb the essence of those humans he killed like all the other Awakened, that path could have offered him a faster track to saturating his cores. But as it was, he didn't see himself putting on the uniform, unless there were new Gates opening every day, thus providing him with the endless supply of Nightmare Creatures to hunt.

...By the way, how many Gates were opening in a given year, on average? Suddenly, Sunny realized that he had no idea. The propaganda never mentioned concrete numbers, only the fact that valiant Awakened had the situation under control. Did they, really?

The last option was to remain independent. That choice was seemingly in contradiction to his desire to acquire status and as many benefits as possible, but only on the surface. In fact, Sunny had already received most of what he wanted by becoming a high-ranking citizen and getting a free pick of any Citadel. Of course, not having the vast resources of a Legacy clan or the government would be a huge loss... but it would also provide the best chance he had to keep all his secrets to himself.

All three options were worthy of being considered.

In the end, it all came to the fact that he simply didn't have enough information to make a decision. So, getting information was his first priority. But… how?

'What was it called… a library? The Academy has to have one of those, right?'

Sunny, of course, had never been to a library, but he was familiar with the concept. There were similar types of public terminals in the outskirts, too, although using them cost credits. He had never had any to spare, so his visits were few and far between. And he went there for entertainment, not to study.

Now that Sunny had himself a state-of-the-art communicator, he could access a lot of information from the network, but doing so would doubtlessly leave a digital trail behind. Considering that some of the topics he wanted to research were rather dangerous, he wanted to remain as anonymous as possible.

'A library it is…'

Ten minutes later, he approached a square white building. Like most of the Academy, its walls were made out of smooth, pristine alloy, with wide windows that could be covered at any moment with reinforced shutters. There weren't many people in sight, so Sunny assumed that the library was not a popular destination among the Awakened.

Why would it be, if most of the information stored there could be accessed remotely? He was the weirdo for coming here in person.

Entering through an automatic door, Sunny looked around and blinked a couple of times.

Everywhere he looked, tall shelves full of paper books stretched into the distance. Between them stood tables meant for study, with several young men and women reading behind them silently. Most of them were using terminals to take notes, but some were actually writing by hand.

'What… the hell… is that?'

All those books, of course, were printed on synthetic paper… but why have them printed at all?! Wouldn't it be way more convenient to read from a terminal, like all normal people did?

He had never seen a physical book in his life. The very idea of using one was mind-boggling.

…But then, it made sense. Digital data storage technology was highly advanced, but susceptible to various types of damage. During the dark times… which came before the even darker times of the Nightmare Spell… back when humanity had been consumed by an endless series of devastating wars and cataclysmic natural disasters, a lot of knowledge had been lost due to overreliance on digital mediums. Whole layers of culture were irrevocably gone as the result.

Paper was still the safest way to preserve knowledge.

It's just Sunny had never thought about it before.

'Still weird…'

Trying to not show his confusion, Sunny furtively looked around and noticed a member of the library staff. It was a young man… no, wait… a young woman? A young person, with short black hair and intelligent brown eyes, who was currently reading a vintage-looking book. There was a badge on her chest, with the name "Ren" written on it.

At least Sunny thought that it was a name. Maybe it was some weird title among the librarians. Who knew what kind of strange customs they had here?

Approaching the young librarian, he stopped a couple of meters away and waited patiently to be noticed. However, "Ren" continued to read, fully engrossed in whatever story the book told, eyes full of deep emotion. Curious, Sunny looked at the title on the cover.

'Free Fall… sounds familiar. Must be a really great book. Maybe I should read it someday...'

"Uh… hey? Can I get some directions?"

Ren lingered for a couple of seconds, then reluctantly put down the novel and looked at him with a neutral smile.

"Of course. How can I help you?"

He lingered for a bit, then said with uncertainty:

"How can I read about the Dream Realm and the current state of human expansion into its various regions?"

Ren blinked a couple of times, then asked politely:

"Uh... can you be more specific?"

Sunny sighed.

"I want to see a map and a list of all the Citadels out there, as well as learn who owns what and why. I guess."

The librarian smiled brightly:

"Ah, you are a lover of history as well! Of course, of course. You have come to the right place. We have all the records you'll ever need here. Nickel!"

Sunny flinched.

"Nickel? What does nickel mean? What is happening?"

Suddenly, another young librarian appeared out of nowhere. This one was definitely a guy, wearing a wrinkled white shirt and a brown vest. He was tall and handsome, with slightly disheveled red hair, scruffy bristle on his chin, and a friendly face. There was a badge on his vest, too, with the word "Nickel" written on it.

The two were a strange pair.

"Nickel, could you please escort this young man to the Dream Realm History section?"

The tall librarian glanced at Sunny and gave him a wide smile.

"Sure. Please, follow me."

They headed into the depths of the library, leaving Ren behind. A few moments later, Sunny heard the rustle of paper pages coming from behind. The smaller librarian was once again engrossed in the book.

'Yeah, I should definitely check that novel out. A citizen of the seventh rank should be well-read, right?'

Nickel led him through the library, asking a few questions to narrow down the search. Soon, they arrived in front of a particular set of shelves, full of books having to do with the Dream Realm and the history of humanity's slow exploration of it.

The young man helped Sunny select a few, wished him luck, and disappeared as quietly and swiftly as he had appeared. Sunny looked at the spot where Nickel had been just a few moments ago, then slowly shook his head.

'A librarian… that guy could have been an assassin, instead.'

Well… maybe he was. Come to think about it, working in a library could be a perfect cover for clandestine operators.

'Maybe I should become a librarian, too…'

Making sure that no one was watching him, Sunny put his books on a nearby table and walked back to the shelves. There, he stared at a certain book that he had noticed a few minutes ago.

Its title was simple:

"The Immortal Flame"

Sunny hesitated for a bit, and then took the book off the shelf.

He was pretty sure that the Sovereigns were at least partially responsible for the fall of Neph's clan. If so, there had to be some hints of their identity in the history of the Immortal Flame.

'This has to be a good place to start looking for some answers… right?"