Shadow Slave

Sunny felt a soft breeze lightly caress his cheeks, and then something moved in the darkness of the well.

Gripping the hilt of the Midnight Shard tightly, he prepared for the worst. On the other side of the dark fissure, Shadow Saint slowly raised her shield and rested the blade of her sword on its rim.

…However, they had nothing to fear.

A few moments later, a graceful figure appeared in the air, rose above the well, and then gently landed on the stones in front of it.

The corner of Sunny's mouth twitched. The owner of the charming voice was, indeed, human. It was a young man wearing a light lamellar armor, with luscious dark auburn hair and mesmerizing green eyes. His well-fitted armor was made out of burnished brown leather, with deep blue embroidered garments beneath.

However, for a moment, he wished that Kai actually turned out to be a demon.

Because the damn guy not only possessed the most charming voice he had ever heard, but was also drop-dead gorgeous.

Honestly, it was simply unfair!

Kai was tall, slender, and incredibly handsome. His face was small, perfectly shaped and beautiful, with high cheekbones and flawless ivory skin. His green eyes were nothing short of electric, and his lips were soft and full like… uh…

'W—what am I thinking?'

What's more, he seemed to possess that special type of warm charm that made some people almost irresistibly attractive. Sunny wouldn't be surprised to find out that droves of girls simply fell to Kai's feet every time he happened to casually walk by. Perhaps a few guys, too.

Even worse still, the bastard looked like a genuinely nice person, without the smallest trace of arrogance or entitlement on his pretty face. There were playful sparks of humor hiding deep within his eyes, and one could be absolutely sure that when Kai smiled, cute dimples would appear on his cheeks.

You couldn't even hate the damn guy!

Two weeks spent in the deep dark pit did nothing to lessen his glamour, too.

In short, Kai was the most beautiful person Sunny had ever seen, even compared to other Awakened. He looked like one of those screen idols that people loved to obsess over, only somehow even more attractive in person.

Sunny glanced at himself, feeling a strong desire to grind his teeth in outrage.

'Well, this is just… a cruel injustice, simple as that.'

Meanwhile, Kai noticed the Shadow Saint's burning ruby eyes, which were the only source of light in the absolute darkness of the night, and flinched back with a paled expression on his face.

"Oh no! It's a demon after all!"

Sunny got distracted from his self-pity and blinked. Then, feeling somewhat spiteful, he said:

"I'm behind you, idiot."

Kai froze, then slowly turned around to face him. Sunny didn't fail to notice that the young man held one of his hands out, obviously ready to summon whatever Memory he used as a weapon.

Blinded by darkness, Kai couldn't see him, of course.

'Well, good. Let's not let this fellow know that I'm not as, uh... good-looking as he is for a few more moments.'

Pretending to be perfectly composed, Sunny asked in a calm voice:

"Haven't I told you that I had an Echo? It's her over there. Well, sort of. That is to say, those aren't my eyes."

The handsome Sleeper hesitated for a few seconds, then said:

"Sunless? You really are a human?"

Up until that moment, both of them were just disembodied voices to each other. But now, while Sunny had already made sure that Kai was not some ancient horror… or at least didn't look like one… the former prisoner of the well was still in the dark, both literally and figuratively.

"Last time I checked, I was still human, yes. If you have a Memory to produce light, you can summon it and see for yourself."

Kai lingered.

"Won't the Nightmare Creatures be attracted by the light?"

'Smart and cautious. I like him.'

Sunny shook his head.

"Usually, they would, by this courtyard is really secluded. Plus, there are not a lot of monsters in this area. I guess that's why those thugs chose this particular place to keep you imprisoned."

With a sigh of relief, Kai summoned a paper lantern that glowed with soft yellow light. Sunny hissed.

"Argh! Damn!"

Relying on Shadow Sense to keep track of the young man's movements, he raised a hand and covered his eyes. Accustomed to the darkness, they weren't ready for such a sudden appearance of light.

Of course, Sunny knew that this would happen. He allowed himself to be momentarily blinded to give Kai some sense of safety and better convince him of his human nature.

"Oh! Sorry."

The beautiful young man lowered the lantern a little and looked up, trying to finally lay eyes on his mysterious liberator.

Then, with a bit of surprise, he slightly lowered his head and looked down.

'Great, that is not humiliating at all!'

Kai stared at Sunny for a few seconds and, after realizing that he was indeed a human, offered him a dazzling smile.

His smile was as charming as the rest of him. Even the cute dimples that Sunny had imagined would inevitably appear on his cheeks were, indeed, there in all their glory.

It was nothing short of obnoxious.

"Well... what a surprise! I was almost certain that you will turn out to be a terrible monster. But you aren't. You really are a human, and such a cutie too!"

Sunny coughed.

'Wha… did he just call me a "cutie"? How dare he! Uh, I mean… thanks? What is happening?'

Meanwhile, Kai frowned.

"But, Sunless…"

"What?!"

The beautiful Sleeper blinked a couple of times.

"Can I ask something? If you really don't live in the castle or in the outer settlement, then where do you live?"

Sunny shrugged.

"I mean, are there many options left? I live in the city."

Kai hesitated for a bit, but then, suddenly, a light of realization ignited in his mesmerizing green eyes.

"Oh! I think I've heard of you! Aren't you that crazy kid that lives alone in the ruins?"

Sunny stared at him with murder in his eyes.

'Why does everyone keeps calling me "kid"? Why does everyone keep calling me "crazy"?! I'm not crazy!'

With a deep sigh, he answered:

"Indeed, that's me. You can call me Sunny, by the way. Once you get to know me better, you'll realize that I am not, in fact, that crazy."

Kai looked at him with doubt. Noticing that, Sunny grinned. He decided to tease the obnoxiously gorgeous young man a little.

Of course, with the limitations of his Flaw, that was going to require a bit of finesse.

Putting too much enthusiasm in his voice, Sunny said:

"And I don't actually live alone! I have plenty of creatures to keep me company, you might even call them my friends. There's a talking rock that sometimes tells me to do stuff. There's also my shadow, it has a lot of interesting opinions!"

He stared at Kai with a sincere smile. When the young man's handsome face became a little pale, Sunny laughed.

"Gee, relax, man. I am just joking around with you."

Then he looked down at the shadow and added in a dark, angry tone:

"They're not really my friends. I actually can't stand that rock, and the shadow and I barely talk these days..."