Useless.
He felt so useless.
He could see things.
He could hear things.
But he couldn't change anything.
It was ok at first.
He was just born so even he himself didn't knew what he was capable of.
He just knew one thing.
That he was meant to be useful to his master.
He learned to share what he saw and hear.
He could even make his master stronger by wrapping itself around him.
But at the end he was just a shadow.
He couldn't touch anything.
"You can't even hit that towel? That's just useless."
He felt sad.
It wasn't his fault that he couldn't touch anything.
But he wanted to change that.
To be as much as useful.
Because that's what a shadow was suppose to do.
....
"I'LL KILL YOU BASTARD! ... RELEASE ME, RELEASE ME NOW."
He saw his master get tortured by the hands of that stranger.
He wanted to help.
He wanted to kill the tormenter of his master.
But he couldn't.
He was just too weak to do anything.
All he could do was support what his master was doing.
"If you want to help him, then be more useful." The stranger said.
How?
How can he be more useful?
....
"And what about shadows? What can shadows do?"
He also payed attention.
He wanted to listen too.
"That I don't know."
He felt disappointed.
"The only thing that I can tell you is that they are related to Death. Because Shadow God was also the God of death."
Death.
He felt a connection.
Like a deep memory.
Even though he didn't have any.
So he asked his master.
To experiment.
During their adventure.
They tried to attack the shadows of their opponents.
It was working.
But not enough.
He wasn't strong enough to kill another shadow.
But he could keep them in place.
Just barely.
And after the other three joined in, it became even more easy.
"So this is what you feel when you face death, hah!" The stranger who was now a friend, said.
He was proud.
Others were too.
They finally did it.
They unsolved a mystery.
But it was just a start.
There were many left to uncover.
Because shadows were the most mysterious creatures there to ever exist.
....
....
....
"So,....I guess this is goodbye for us too, hah!" Raine said.
Sunny and Raine were standing in front of the gate.
Nephis was still frozen in place.
"Say.... We might not be able to meet for a long time because of your ..condition, so... Do you have anything else you wanna tell me? ....you know, about my future? ... like is there something else I should be careful of?" Sunny asked.
Raine thought for a moment...
"Nah, you are strong enough to handle anything now, mhh. ....wait, I remember something. .....mhmhm."
Raine cleared his throat, like preparing for something.
"In the distant future...." Raine said, looking in the air as if seeing something only he could see, like he was giving a prophecy like some old wise sage.
"You can tell me normally, no need to act mysterious." Sunny said.
Raine continued, ignoring the remark...
".....By the will of dead gods ..."
"....You will receive something..."
'What something?' Sunny didn't interrupt him.
"Something... Mysterious... Powerful... Precious... Mythical..."
"Ok, cut it out... What is it?" Sunny couldn't handle the act.
"You will receive a ....drop of blood... ...blood of a divine god...." Raine continued the act anyway.
Sunny was shocked, but he understood it soon.
'It will be like blood weave..'
"But...."
"Due to the schemes of fate... You will lose it..." Raine said.
'What?' ...
"You will lose that divine grace... And with it... You will lose the immense power ....that would have been yours otherwise..." said Raine.
"How? Why? What can I do to stop that?" Sunny asked, as if a catastrophe was about it happen.
He couldn't let that happen.
NOT AGAIN.
He already lost one of the divine graces due to someone's schemes.
He won't let it happen again.
Raine looked at him deeply and said...
"... You can't stop it."
"...."
"With your current power, you can't stop it from happening...."
"You vessel is already occupied by another great power.... So it will consume the other one if it tries to invade..." Raine said.
"...."
"There must be something I can do right? That's why you are telling me this, right? What do I need to do?" Sunny asked.
"...All you can do is keep patience, my child."
"I AM NOT YOUR CHILD, BASTARD." Sunny shouted.
"Ummhh..." Raine cleared his throat.
"What I am saying is that you shouldn't try to consume it. ...keep it, don't consume it, keep it safe, and hidden... Until you are powerful enough to use it.... Maybe when you become a Supreme or maybe a Sacred being..." Raine said, dropping the act finally.
Sunny was shocked.
"Sacred? ...Secred... Will I become Secred in the future?" Sunny asked.
"Why not? ...the spell is trying to raise an army of gods, ..you know... to succeed where the previous one failed... So it won't be surprising if you became a divine being..." Raine said casually.
"..." Sunny didn't knew what to say.
".....only if you don't do anything stupid and die out there, of course." Raine said.
Sunny let it sink for a moment.
"Ok, ...why would I even need that blood if I can become that much powerful.. is it that important?" Sunny asked.
"Of course it's important... We are talking about the blood of the God who ruled over death itself. ...If something like that got consumed to just strengthen your attribute then that will be just a waste." Raine said.
"That's why I think you should hold on to it, until you can find a way to get the lineage of shadow God even if you already have another divine lineage."
Sunny nodded. He understood.
"Ok, I'll do that. I'll hold on to it. ....but..." Sunny hesitated.
"What? ...you don't need to hold anything back, you know? .. I'm your bro, you can tell me anything." Raine flashed him a smile.
"I was just thinking, should I even hope to achieve that high? ... I'm just a shadow, you know."
"...A shadow, who's meant to follow someone else. ...I'm fated... I'm fated to be someone else's slave." Sunny said with gritted teeths.
"Sunny, ...you are not fated to be a slave. ...you are fated for greatness. You are fated to receive the forbidden lineage of weaver. And that's the truth." Raine said strongly.
"All your coincidences, they are there to guide you to receive the things related to weaver. ... that's why spell sent you here, in forgotten shore. ..not because that bitch over there..." Raine gestured towards Nephis who was still standing there like a statue.
...at least she was a bit further away to not hear the rude remark.
"It's true that shadows are cast by someone else. ...but in this world, there already are many ridiculous things that nobody would care if you become one of them too."
"You just have to become powerful enough that no one will be strong enough to stand ahead of you." Raine said.
"You wouldn't be first one either. There was the Shadow God himself and nobody could dare to say that he was a follower. He was strong enough to stand ahead of everyone while being a shadow. ...even though many didn't like him, they couldn't do anything against him either."
"So you see, you just have to do the same." Raine said.
Sunny nodded.
"Ok, I'll do that. Thank you for this." Sunny said.
"Hey, cut it out with thank you s, you know. I don't like them." Raine said.
".....ok I'll tell you this .. if you do something for me too, don't expect to hear a thank you, because I only say thank you to strangers, you know? who aren't close to me. That's why you should do the same." Raine said.
"You don't have to feel like I did something for you, as if you are indebted to me because of it."
"The way I see it, I do it for you so I will feel good myself. ...You and I are just one and the same. ..Like we are connected.... emotionally, of course..... Not in any other way." Raine said to Sunny.
"Ok. I get it." Sunny smiled.
"Ok, so if there's nothing else, we should go. ...you should go first.. I don't know what you'll do with her if I'm not around." Raine said.
"Hay, what you mean? Why would you say that? You are saying like I'll take advantage of her if she can't move?" Sunny shouted.
"Yeah, I do think that. ..You just thouched her face, didn't you? ...like she was your girl, ..even though I was just behind, watching you." Raine said.
"...You shouldn't do that in front of others you know? ...even though shame is one of the shackles keeping the humanity from progressing further, but still. ...You should make sure if the other party is like minded or not, you know!"
"...." Sunny was speechless.
"I only did that because I wanted to give her something-" Sunny started to say but was cut off.
"I know... But that 'thing' shouldn't be given without other party consent, you know. .... that's a serious crime."
" ...A man should control his desires. You know what they say... Lust is the greatest weakness of any men." Raine continued.
"Lust is a destructive, insatiable force that erodes a man's clarity, purpose, and character, often acting as a silent downfall from within."
"...." Sunny gave him a deadpan.
"I was talking about Memory. ....I gave her a memory that will make things easier for her, you know... to survive." Sunny said.
"..." This time it was Raine who turned silent.
"Oh, my bad, my bad. Hehehe... I didn't knew. Things can be deceiving. ...Any smart person can be mistaken...." Raine said, embarrassed.
"Didn't you say that you shouldn't judge things based on the what you see?" Sunny asked.
"...I....-" Raine couldn't come up with anything.
"Didn't you say that intention is more important then action?" Sunny asked.
"....I-"
"Didn't you say I shouldn't feel shame if my mind is pure?" Sunny asked.
"...."
"Hehehe.... I got you now, bastard. You just pretend to be smart and wise ..while deep down you are just a pervert... What were you thinking when I thouched her, hah? ....I bet you were reminded of something dirty you saw in the past, and your brain assumed I was a pervert like yourself, right?" Sunny said.
"....Oh, look at the time. We should get going, hehehe ... I'm getting late to for the waking world. ...I wonder what time is it there.... Ok, then, see you soon~." Raine tried to run away from the situation.
Sunny blocked him path.
"....."
"Actually I need something from you." Sunny said, his tone serious.
"... yeah, what is it?" Raine asked, no sign of previous embarrassment on his face.
"Raine, ..I ....I want you to be the one to hold my Shackles..." Sunny said finnally.
"....."
"....."
Silence.
Nobody spoke for some time.
"Why?" Raine asked, shocked.
"Why would you ask me that?"
"....You don't have to worry about that, you know. ....Did you forgot the plan? You want me to repeat the method? ..You just have to endure till your second nightmare, alright. ...or maybe third if things didn't go well in the second one. It's gonna work. I'm sure of it. ... why do you still want to me do this now?" Raine asked.
Sunny smiled.
"I know the plan. And I will make sure it succeeds. I will break my chains. ... In my second nightmare, I will cause such distriction that even spell won't be able to recognise the place. ...I'll will force it to upgrade my aspect. ...but for that I need you to do this..." Sunny said.
"I don't get it? ...Did that old man died, I'm sure I saw his here some time ago? Why do you need me to become your master if he's alive?" Raine asked.
"Because he won't be alive for long. ... he's about to die soon... I'm surprised he even survived this long. .... that's why... That's why I need to replace him. ...I can't roam the dream realme care freely if I have to worry about him dying at any moment, you know." Sunny said.
"If that happens while I'm in the middle of something dangerous ...then my enemies will be able to use this weakness against me once again."
"I won't be able to find someone suitable in time, and even if I could find someone, .....and I'm not sure if they would be trustworthy or not." Sunny said.
"...." Raine understood the reason now.
"You know, ... During my first nightmare, I said something to a man....." Sunny said.
"...There's nothing more pathetic then a slave who begins to trust his slaver."
Raine looked at him.
"....But if it's you, Brother. I won't mind." Sunny said.
"If it's you, I wouldn't mind turning into that pathetic slave."
"Because I know... If I'm shackled, then you will feel the pain too."
Sunny smiled.
"Didn't you just said that we are connected? That you feel what I feel? That helping me makes yourself happy?.."
Raine listened.
"That's why I'm willing to trust you. ...That's why I'm willing to trust you with this...."
"You know, after spending some time together, people can easily trust each other with there life, and that's easy to do too, ....because even if they were wrong, the worst thing that could happen would be a quick end..." Sunny continued.
"But I trust you more then that. So that's why I'm willing to hand over my will to you."
"If I had to choose someone, then I choose you, brother." Sunny said.
....
"You understand right?" Sunny asked.
"Yeah, I do. ...I understand." Raine said.
"But you know,.. this will change things, right?" Raine asked.
"We won't be able to work like before. ...You will be forced to obey my every word. We won't even be able to curse each other."
"Like if I say 'go fuck yourself', then you'll have to do that, you know. ....I don't know how you'll do it.... maybe you'll have to ask for someone else help, ..because I won't be able to help you with that, you know. ... I'm not that kind of person, you know." Raine said seriously thinking ahead for the future.
Sunny eye twitched.
"Or ...you can simply take back that command,... you know, you can just say 'don't do that anymore', or 'forget what I said' etc." Sunny said his eye still twitching.
"Oh, I didn't thought about that. We can do that too. ...but what if I'm talking in my sleep, and I say something stupid like 'go bring me the moon' then you'll be forced to go in the space, and I won't even notice because you will be already in space when I wake up. ....Or what if-"
"OK, ENOUGH." Sunny shouted.
"If you told me to do anything ridiculous, don't think I won't have hundred ways prepared to silence you forever. ...So be careful what you say, it will be good for both of us." Sunny threatened.
Raine nodded obediently.
"So.... How are we going to do this? Should we wait to meet in the walking world? ...Are you going to kill Karl as our aggreement? ...he did show us his face technically... but still..." Raine said.
"We don't need to kill him." Sunny said.
"...?" Raine gave him a confused look.
"We can do this even if he's alive." Sunny said.
"What? ...How? ...I don't think that's how it works? ...You think you can change your master just like this?... No, ...you never had a choice in this?" Raine said confused.
"Who said I didn't had a choice?..." Sunny said.
"Do you think just by knowing my true name, anyone can enslave me for forever? ...I'm a divine shadow, for spell sake... Someone who was meant to serve divine gods, not any random sucker who heard my name from somewhere..." Sunny said with a bit of anger but he also sounded a bit proud.
Raine still didn't get it.
Sunny explained.
"You know, what my aspect runes says...?"
"It says 'Find a worthy master, and let them know your true name', you told me that spell have a way with words, right?.."
"If I interpret it, it's telling me that I have to find the person worthy too, and If I tell them my True name myself, only then the magic will happen."
"The one I currently have, It's also a bond, but it's forced on me, And if I desire, if I do it willingly, I can overwrite it."
"If I tell you my true name myself, a true bond will be created..." Sunny said.
Raine was still in disbelieve.
It sounded logical.
And it sounded possible.
'Well, it's worth a shot, I guess.' Raine thought.
"Ok, then. We'll go with this. Let's do it, Sunny." Raine said.
"Yeah. Let's do this."
Sunny moved forward and held out his hand for a handshake.
"This is a late introduction but I'm Sunless, also know as Treacherous Lost from Light." Sunny said with a smile.
Raine shook his hand.
"Well,... It was nice meeting you, ....Lost From Light."
....
....
[End of the Volume One, Forgotten Shore.]