Shadow Slave novel Chapter 3000

Sunny had regained his fate and was remembered by the world.

Ironically enough, on the same day, the memories of most humans in the world were wiped clean of the events that had transpired in the last few years.

Some remembered more, while some remembered less — but almost no one remembered it all.

Needless to say, it was a mess.

In fact, it was a disaster. The entire world was thrust into a state of disorder and confusion, and the only thing that prevented it from sliding into a devastating panic was the fact that people who lived in the Age of the Nightmare Spell had developed a strong tolerance to peculiar calamities.

Some discovered themselves in new and unfamiliar places, having moved or resettled during the time that was missing from their memories. Some found out that their loved ones had passed. Some discovered that their children had grown, or that they were awaiting the birth of a new one.

Some people suddenly found themselves wielding Awakened powers, while others discovered that they had advanced to a new Rank, even if they could not remember having conquered a Nightmare.

It was a global crisis on an unimaginable scale, comparable only to the descent of the Nightmare Spell.

Humanity had learned how to better handle such a crisis, though.

Needless to say, every person who knew what had happened instantly became terribly busy in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

In NQSC, Jet was barking orders in the conference hall of the government headquarters, pushing her dazed and disoriented subordinates to move.

Wake of Ruin was dead, but luckily, most of the high-ranking administrative personnel had survived the plague — so even if they did not know the details, they were able to begin working at mitigating the damage with a bit of guidance from Soul Reaper.

The government was the most important part of the solution, because it controlled the information channels and military forces of the waking world. However, even the great depths of its vast logistical network were not enough to deal with the consequences of the plague... or rather, of its cure.

In Ravenheart, Kai was trying to handle the situation despite having just experienced a traumatic encounter with a Cursed Devil... as well as the worst several months of his life.

In Bastion, Effie was commanding the escaped prisoners to take command of the people whom they had been fighting only hours earlier and pacify the reeling city together.

And on the Chained Isles, Nephis herself was taking charge of the great army of humanity.

Sunny was hiding in her shadow. Mordret whisked the white mist his predecessor had unleashed back into the eerie reaches of the Hollow Mountains and disappeared without a trace... from the looks of it, he wasn't keen on spending time with the other Supremes — or with any other human, really.

The Hollow Mountains welcomed him with boundless silence.

And Cassie...

Cassie was still asleep, having been utterly drained by the impossible undertaking of encompassing all of humanity in the invisible web of her Aspect.

It was unclear how long she would spend in the embrace of deep, rejuvenating slumber.

However, her life did not seem to be in danger, so all they could do was wait for her to wake up.

Sunny was busy, as well.

He had to retrieve Revel, Aiko, and the Shadow Clan from wherever it was that they had hidden themselves.

There was a disaster brewing on the Forgotten Shore, as well — from the looks of it, the ring of ancient barrows that surrounded the Burned Forest had begun to emanate some sort of ominous aura in his absence, and several hunting parties of the barrow wraiths appeared out of nowhere, ambushing for the Mimic.

That was a problem he would have to explore later, as well.

For now, though, in this time of turmoil and uncertainty, the agents of the Shadow Clan had a job to do. Their presence was desperately needed, so Sunny wanted to bring them back as soon as he could.

Everyone was terribly busy, and everyone had to do far more than what was humanly possible. The first twenty-four hours after the final confrontation against the Dreamspawn were especially chaotic, but on the other side of that day... a semblance of order started to reveal itself from the carnage.

People were still confused and disturbed, some mourning the loss of what they had forgotten, some having forgotten what they had lost. Others were coming to terms with suddenly discovering happiness they did not remember finding, instead...

But life went on.

Even if the soldiers stationed in NQSC did not remember how they had gotten to their posts that day, someone still had to man the walls of the quarantine zones established around the active Nightmare Gates, patrol the wasteland around the city, and watch over Sleepers undergoing their First Nightmares.

Even if doctors working in crowded hospitals did not remember the names of their patients, they still had to treat them. People had to feed their children, care for their elderly, and maintain the cities they lived in. Humanity had to continue moving forward... it had to recover and get back to work.

So, it did.

It began to recover, at least.

That was why, soon after the Dreamspawn was defeated, the members of the cohort arranged to meet in person at the Immortal Flame manor in NQSC. Their informal meeting was going to be followed by an emergency assembly of all the key figures of the Human Domain, but for now, the cohort was gathering in private.

Sunny arrived with a special guest, as well.

“Uncle Sunny..."

Little Ling was holding his hand as they emerged from the shadows in one of the corridors of Neph's manor. Sunny spared him a look.

"What?"

The little boy grinned.

“Can I have a nightmare horse, too? Please? Pretty please?"

Sunny chuckled.

“A fan of Nightmare, are you? Well, sorry to disappoint you. There's no horse like Nightmare anywhere in the world.”

In fact...

Were there even horses left in the world? Sunny was not sure.

They approached a private lounge hidden in the depths of the manor. Little Ling could not hear the voices yet, but Sunny could. A hesitant smile appeared on his lips.

Inside, Effie was speaking:

"What do you mean, his fate was stolen by a vile bird? What kind of... how does that even work? Ah, never mind!"

She fell silent...

But not for long.

"So he left us at Verge to go have a fight with a bird, then came back four years later... to open a shop in Bastion?"

She paused for a moment before mumbling:

“Actually, he always wanted to run a Memory shop. I guess dreams do come true... good for you, doofus."

Then, she suddenly yelled:

“But wait! There's more! He also seduced our poor, naive Nephis! The scoundrel!"

Sunny almost stumbled.

Neph's even voice resounded from behind the closed door.

"Who says that it wasn't me who seduced him?"

Effie seemed to have given her a look of pity.

"Oh, please..."

Nephis responded in the same reserved tone.

"But wasn't it you who suggested that I should... hmm... how exactly did you put it? Oh, yes..."

Effie's voice suddenly rose an octave.

"I did not! I absolutely did not! Your memory is messed up... because of Cassie. That's why you think that I said all those things about Sunny. You know, about how he is... he is..."

She fell silent and then said in a shaky tone:

"..He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

Sunny, who had opened the door a moment earlier, smiled.

"He is."

Then, a deafening shout made him wince.

"Mommy!"

Little Ling dashed forward and slammed into Effie with all his Transcendent strength. Any other mother would have probably been sent crashing through the wall by the unbridled enthusiasm of his embrace, but she just swayed faintly, glanced down, and wrapped her hands around the boy.

“Dumpling!”

Sunny watched them with a dubious smile. The scene was so overly sweet that his teeth hurt. It was a good thing that the little menace had only asked him for an infernal horse...

In the next moment, however, someone slammed into him, as well.

"Sunny!"

Sunny was dazed for a moment.

‘What is happening?’

Who was hugging him tightly enough to make him feel like he was suffocating?

‘Oh, right... it's that fool.'

Of course, it was Kai.

"Yeah... good to see you too, buddy. Now, can you let go of me?"

Instead of answering, Kai just hugged him tighter.

Sunny let out a heavy sigh and glanced at Jet, who was sitting on a chair some distance away.

His eyes were saying:

"Please, help!"

Jet studied him for a few seconds, then raised an eyebrow.

“What? You want me to join the hug, Sunny?"

He considered it for a moment, looked at Nephis, then shook his head.

Jet chuckled.

Then, a smile appeared on her lips — a rare soft smile that he had not seen grace her face before, and that suited her too well.

Jet sighed.

“It is good to have you back, Sunny. It's really... really good to have you back."

Sunny remained silent for a short while. Eventually, he exhaled slowly.

"It's good to be back, everyone."

Nephis, Cassie, Effie, Kai, Jet...

Seeing them, he finally felt... at home. There were a lot of things he had to do. The world was able to remember him once more — but for most people who had known him, that simply meant that they considered him dead, buried under snow somewhere in Antarctica. Only those who had met the Lord of Shadows or Master Sunless face-to-face would know the truth, and out of them, most believed that the Lord of Shadows was gone.

That meant two things. First, that there was no threat of the Forgotten God waking up because of him. And second... that he had a lot of explaining to do.

In the near future, Sunny would have to visit a few people. Teacher Julius, Saint Tyris... Naeve was probably very confused at the moment. Sunny would finally be able to congratulate Quentin on surviving the Second Nightmare in a meaningful way, and give Kim and Luster his official blessing. There were others, as well.

And, of course... there was Rain.

But for now, Sunny simply wanted to enjoy the company of his friends.

He wanted to ask for their forgiveness, too, even if they did not seem to hold his decision against him... even if he knew that he would make the same decision again. He had waited for his friends to greet him, knowing who he was, for so long...

Sunny let out a heavy sigh.

Then, he said:

“Alright. Get in here, fool..."

With that, he wrapped his hands around Kai and hugged him back.

"This is a one-time thing, okay? Don't get any ideas!"

Despite the dire state of the world, here and now, it suddenly felt... like things were going to be alright.

Like their future was bright, and there was hope for them, still.

***

Some time later, when the rest of the cohort left to attend the emergency assembly, Sunny stayed behind and slowly made his way to the upper floor of the manor. There, he knocked on a door and waited patiently for an answer.

Eventually, the voice of a young woman resounded from the room inside:

"It's open!"

He hesitated for a moment, then opened the door and walked inside.

The room was spacious and brightly lit. There, Rain was sitting behind a desk, writing something down on a piece of synthetic paper.

Hearing his footsteps, she glanced up and smiled.

"Hey."

“You've been watching over me this whole time. Long before we met in that convenience store... long before you told me who you are. That you and I are family." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

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