Shadow Slaves
Chapter 2: Caravan of Slaves
Sunny dreams of a mountain.
Jagged and lonely, he dwarfed the other mountain peaks, cutting through the night sky with its sharp edges. The shining moon bathed its slopes in a pale pale light.
On one of the slopes, the remains of an old road stubbornly clung to the rocks. Here and there, weathered paved rocks are seen through the snow. On the right side of the road, the surface of the precipitous cliff loomed as an impenetrable wall. On the left, the black sea of silent nothingness showed endless fallout. A strong wind crashed through the mountain repeatedly, shouting in a helpless rage.
Suddenly, the moon fell on the horizon. The sun rose from the west, streaked across the sky and disappeared in the east. The snowflakes jumped off the ground and returned to the embrace of the clouds. Sunny realizes that she sees the flow of time in reverse.
In an instant, hundreds of years passed. Snow retreats, showing off the old road. A chill shivered on Sunny's back as she looked at the human bones strewn across the ground. A moment later, the bones disappeared, and instead, a slave caravan appeared, moving backwards down the mountain with a rumble of chains.
Time slowed down, stopped, and then resumed its usual speed.
[Candidate! Welcome to Nightmare Spell. Prepare Your First Test]
‘What ... what the fuck is this?’
Stepped over. Stepped over. Another move.
The pain spread through Sunny's bleeding legs as she shivered in the cold. His thin tunic was almost useless against the biting wind. His wrists were the main source of suffering: severely injured by the shackles of iron, they transmitted a sharp pain whenever the frozen metal touched his broken skin.
‘What kind of situation is this?!’
Sunny looked up and down, looking at the long chains winding down the road, with dozens of sunken-eyed slaves like him shackled at small distances. In front of him, a man with broad shoulders and a bloodied back was walking with a measured gait. Behind him, a cunning-looking man with quick and desperate eyes secretly curses in a language Sunny does not know, but somehow it is still understandable. From time to time, horsemen armed with ancient-style armor would pass by, making the slaves look menacing.
No matter how you judge it, everything is really bad.
Sunny's more confused than panicked. True, this state of affairs was not as it should have been in the First Nightmare. Typically, newly elected candidates will find themselves in a scenario that gives them quite a lot of choice privileges: they will be a member of a special player or fighter, or they will be, with a lot of access to weapons it is necessary to at least try to resolve any conflict.
Starting out as a helpless, shackled and half-dead slave, was far from ideal as one could imagine.
However, the Spell was about challenges and also about balance. As the old policeman said, it created an experiment, not an execution. So Sunny was pretty sure that, to fight this bad start, she would reward him with something good. Strong aspect, at least.
‘Let's see... how do I do this?’
Given the popular webtoon she read as a child, Sunny concentrated and thought of words like “status”, “diriku”, and “information”. Indeed, as soon as he focused, glittering runes appeared in the air in front of him. Again, although he did not know this ancient alphabet, the meaning behind it was somehow clear.
He quickly found the runes depicting his Aspects and, finally, lost his composure.
‘What?! What the fuck really?!’
***
Name: Sunless.
Original name: –
Rank: Candidate.
Soul Core: Inactive.
Memory: –
Echoes:
Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows].
Aspect: [Temple Slave].
Aspect Description: [Slave is a useless person without any skills or abilities worth mentioning. A temple slave is the same, except much less often.]
Without speaking, Sunny stared at the rune, trying to convince herself that she might just see something. Surely, he couldn't possibly be that lucky right?
‘No Useful Aspects my ass!’
As soon as this thought popped into his mind, he lost the rhythm of his steps and stumbled, pulling the chain down with his load. Immediately, the sly man behind him shouted:
“Whore bastards! Watch where you go!”
Sunny hurriedly removed the runes, which were only visible to him, and tried to restore his balance. A moment later, he once again walked steadily however, before inadvertently pulling the chain once more.
“You little bastard! I'll kill you!”
The wide-shouldered man in front of Sunny chuckled without turning his head.
“Why bother? The weak will die at sunrise. Mountain will kill him.”
A few seconds later, he added:
“It will kill you and me too. Any minute. I really don't know what the Empire is thinking, forcing us into this cold weather.”
“Speak for yourself, fool! I plan to survive!”
Sunny silently shook his head and concentrated on not falling down again.
‘What a charming couple.’
Suddenly, a third voice joined in the conversation from somewhere far behind. This one sounds soft and smart.
“This mountain road is usually much warmer this time of year. We really have bad luck. In addition, I will advise you not to hurt this boy.”
“Why is that so?”
Sunny looked a little, listening.
“Didn't you see any marks on his skin? He is not like us, who fell into slavery because of debt, crime or misfortune. He was born a child. A temple slave, to be exact. Not long ago, the Empire destroyed the last temple of the Shadow God. I'm guessing that's how the boy ended up here.”
The man with the big shoulder looked back.
“Terus why? Why should we fear a half-forgotten and weak god? He couldn't even save his own temple.”
“The empire is protected by the mighty God of War. Of course they were not afraid to burn down some temples. But we're not here to be protected by anything or anyone. Do you really want to risk angering the gods?”
The broad-shouldered man snorted, unwilling to answer.
Their conversation was stopped by a young soldier riding a beautiful white horse. Clad in a simple layer of skin, armed with a spear and a short sword, he looked dignified and noble. To Sunny's annoyance, that bastard was also very beautiful. If this was a historical drama, that warrior would definitely be the male lead.
“What happened here?”
There was no particular threat in his voice, not even something resembling worry.
When everyone hesitated, the soft-spoken slave replied:
“It's okay, Sir. We were just tired and cold. Especially our young friends there. This trip was really too difficult for such a young person.”
The soldier looked at Sunny with pity.
‘What do you see? You are not much older than me!’ thought Sunny.
Of course, he did not say anything out loud.
The soldier sighed and took out a flask from his belt before extending it to Sunny.
“Patience a little more, Son. We'll stop for tonight soon. For now, drink this water.”
‘Kids? Child?!’
Due to her thin body and small stature, both caused by malnutrition, Sunny is often mistaken for a younger person. Normally, he did not hesitate to use it to his advantage, but now, for some reason, being called a child really pissed him off.
However, he was really thirsty.
He was just about to pick up a flask when a whip broke in the air, and suddenly Sunny felt a great deal of pain. He stumbled, once again pulling the chain and causing the cunning slave behind him to curse.
Another soldier, this one older and angrier, stopped his horse a few steps back. The whip that split the back of Sunny's tunic and spit out blood was his. Without even glancing at the slaves, the older soldier stabbed his younger counterpart with a disdainful look.
“What do you think you're doing?”
The young soldier's face darkened.
“I just gave this boy water.”
“He will receive water with them after we camp!”
“Tapi”
“Close your mouth! These kids aren't your friends. Understood it? They're not even human. Treat them like humans and they will start fantasizing.”
The young soldier looked at Sunny, then lowered his head and returned the flask to his belt.
“Don't let me catch you befriending a slave again, newbie. Or next time you'll be back tasting my whip!”
As if to illustrate his intentions, the older soldier swung his whip into the air and sped past them, emitting threats and fury. Sunny watched him leave with hidden evil intentions.
‘I don't know how, but I'll see you die first.’
Then he turned his head and glanced towards the younger soldier, who was left behind with his head still lowered.
“And you, second.”