Rain was not having a great day.
Naturally, waking up in an unfamiliar room was bad enough, but not that worrying. If she had been truly kidnapped while she slept, she was confident that her brother was already aware of the situation, and if the kidnapper was an awakened, for as long as the situation did not led to necessity of killing them, she would be fine.
However, learning that she had been kidnapped by a being known as The Mask, which was somehow capable of bringing people from both the waking world and the Dream Realm without their consent, regardless of their rank, was significantly scarier.
What was her brother supposed to do against a being like that? Was he even aware that she and several other members of the Shadow Clan had disappeared?
But things did not stop there, because of course they didn't.
Facing the other members of the Shadow Clan, she couldn't help but curse in her mind.
'Damnation.'
Apparently she was the only one that had received information about this place and the one behind this whole mess. That, mixed with the fact that she was the "princess" of the Shadow Domain, made her the de facto leader of the small group of awakened in here.
But something like this should be in the hands of her brother, their Sovereign, but due to his absence, then at least this responsibility should have fallen on the one that took care of most logistics, Aiko.
And yet, and yet.
'Why am I the leader?!!'
She looked with an exasperated look at the group of awakened in front of her. She could see her close friends Tamar, Ray, and Fleur, as well as other members that she knew, like Kim, Luster, Quentin, and June.
She sighed, mentally adding this headache as another piece of material to use to extort a memory from her brother.
"I suppose we should go to the room?"
She said awkwardly. Although she had fought alongside these people before, it still felt awkward to give them orders.
Following her words, the Shadow Clan members started to walk towards the door at the end of the corridor, trying their best to hold back a laugh.
"Am I that bad?"
"No. They are just finding it amusing how you are so awkward when giving orders."
Tamar, who was beside her, simply stated.
"I feel that work hierarchy should not go like that, should it?"
Tamar gave her a strange look.
"With a Boss like ours, you think that any workplace wouldn't be weird?"
Aiko, who was not that far away, commented.
Rain couldn't help but think that she did have a point. The way the Shadow Clan functioned was entirely different from the Human Domain.
Her eccentric brother, their Sovereign, acted more like a goofy colleague that was somehow above you rather than a boss or, as a sovereign ought to be seen, a king.
Although he sported titles like Dark Lord, no one really used it, merely calling him Boss, and for those familiar, even simply calling him Lord Sunless.
"Let's just go."
They walked silently, not saying another word.
The other members that had walked off first were waiting patiently at the door. Getting the message, Rain reached her hand and opened the door.
On the other side was a dark room, mostly decorated in black, with no lights to be seen.
However, that was not a problem for the Shadow Clan.
Even though they were no longer capable of using aspects and were essentially mundane, they were still connected to their domain and were still adorning the Mark of Shadows.
Seeing in the dark? Easy peasy.
The room reminded Rain of a cinema theater, which seemed to be meant for way more people than just those who were present.
In the last row, right at the center, was a black throne, and right beside it, an armored figure could be seen.
It was Saint.
She was standing still right beside the throne as if guarding it for her king.
Rain remembered Sunny calling her his most loyal Shadow, and every time she saw the silent knight, she believed it more and more.
She stood still beside the throne that was most likely meant for her brother, the image implanted itself in her head, reminding her of certain images of knights serving their kings that she sometimes saw in novels and movies.
Rain approached her and checked the throne.
The throne only had one occupant: it was Sunny's Shadow Serpent, much smaller than it would normally be, it was coiled around itself, seemingly in deep sleep.
As she approached, she felt a hand on her shoulders, it was Saint who had stopped her.
"Is something wrong, Saint?"
The silent knight merely guided her to the seat on the right of the throne and forced her to sit.
Seeing Rain sit, the other members of the Shadow Clan did not waste any more time and sat aswell.
Rain also spent more time looking around the movie theater room, where she found more of her brother's shadows.
Imp was at the very bottom of the room, chewing on one of the chairs.
Nightmare was actually near him, watching it with a vigilant gaze.
As for Slayer, she stood at a corner of the room, not bothering anyone.
After everyone sat, a masked figure appeared in the room to explain the rules and situation to them.
Rain was not that worried about the viewings themselves. Whoever the fateless one was, it would be pretty interesting to know who they were and what they had gone through.
However, the other rooms and challenges were more concerning. The other rooms did not only possess not one but two supremes, while the Shadow Room was lacking theirs, but who knew what was in the Nightmare Room or in the Alter Room?
And the games, if they were to face off against other rooms, what were they supposed to do but rely on the Shadows?
Rain breathed in and then out. She shouldn't think about that yet, right now her focus should be on today's viewings.
[Volume: Child of Shadows]
[Theme: Humble Beginnings]
["Unnecessary Blood"]
[Description: A to-be slave worked hard for a single goal. One could say it was the only time in it's life, past and future, that it would ever hold such conviction.
To save its blood.
But the poor slave could not see, not until it showed directly on its young face.
He was never needed.
]
[Actors: Promise of a Distant Sky | -Unknown-]
*-*-*-*
["Black Mountain"]
[Description: A nameless slave ascended the Black Mountain.
Both heroes and monsters fell by his hand.
Unbroken, he entered the ruined temple of a long-forgotten god and spilled his blood on the sacred altar.
The gods were dead, and yet they listened.]
[Actors: -Unknown-]
-*-*-*-
["Fated Encounters"]
[Description: A shadow woke up from a long nightmare.
As it awoke he encountered an undead, a nephilim and a seer.
Were those encounters mere encounters.
Or were they Fated to meet.]
[Actors: -Unkown- | Soul Reaper | Star of Ruin | Song of the Fallen]
As she stared at the text in the screen, Rain's mind went blank.
'It's blood. Never needed. Fateless One. Forgotten. He can't lie...'
In a sudden period of realization, Rain finally understood the real reason why Sunny was not here. Because the one The Mask wanted to expose was Sunny himself.
It all made sense really, he had once told her before, hadn't he? And he couldn't lie either.
'You used to be pretty famous, huh? Until a very nasty good for nothing bird stole your fate? I can't remember the exact words.'
As Rain's mind raced through her thoughs at great speeds, another room was welcoming it's guests.
***
In another room known as the Nightmare Room, dedicated to those who had appeared in -Unknown-'s Nightmare trials, the guests were being welcomed by one of The Mask's representatives.
The room was almost empty, after all, there was not that many of them.
On one side of the room, three people were sitting, two of them were sitting fairly far away from the third one.
They were Noctis, Elyas and Solvane.
"I'm telling you young Elyas, that guy, Sunless, to think he became Fateless! I mean, for someone who constantly called me mad, isn't he the one that is utterly mad? You think so too, right?"
"Well, Sir Demo- I mean Sir Sunless always had... creative ideas..."
Elyas looked away awkwardly before changing the subject.
"Anyway, Sir Noctis, aren't you really bothered about that Nightmare thing?"
"Why? The only thing insulting in that is that Weaver's Spell somehow was able to perfectly encapsulate my sense of fashion! Besides, I believe we are real, therefore, we are real. Otherwise, how would we have this exact conversation? Don't you think so, Solvane?"
The beautiful woman ignored the sorcerer, her eyes focused on the screen where the description for each viewing was displayed.
"How boring, as expected of you. What about you, from the other side?"
His words were directed to a group of three people. One was a Supreme, donning a crown and imposing figure, even with his aspect sealed, his posture and confidence gave him the aura of someone still capable of bending the world around him. He was Daeron of Twilight.
Beside him was his daughter, Wind Flower, and a priestess of the Nightmare Spell who came from Weave, she was Ananke.
"The fact does not bother me in the slightest, as someone whose plans already involved being part of Nightmare Trials, it is not that surprising. I'm more surprised that I was brought here to react to Sunless. What a peculiar name. After all, I have no memory of fighting him in my madness, I can't recall him in the same way you can. Still, I am curious what kind of person he is."
"Is that so? But it seems that we are off to a good start, no? Just look at those descriptions! The gods, dead! Who could believe that? And yet they answered to a sacrifice, how interesting, and I'm not even going to mention the Nephilim!"
As the sorcerer continued his excited ramblings, in another room various realities clashed.
***
Author's Note: Another Chapter! I feel a little dissatisfied on my character representation, what do you guys think?
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