"Should they all die or fail to find the Seed before it matures, a Gate will open in the real world, letting through countless monsters. You all know the consequences. Other Awakened will be forced to withstand the onslaught on this side, but then there can be massive destruction or losses among the civilian population."
The awakened on stage lowered his head somberly.
"Many of you should know, seven years ago the worst gate in history opened within North America, and now an entire continent of our world is lost. "
Sunny snapped into focus again, hearing something unfamiliar. Reality was finally beginning to truly set in.
'I really am in the past… That gate only opened recently…'
"Many of you should also know… About the recent death of one of humanity's shining stars. Broken Sword."
"This disaster is the fault of no one, so do not resent your elders for failing to protect our world. A disaster of this magnitude could've never been predicted, let alone stopped with our current strength."
The Sleepers fell into a deep silence, the disaster felt unreal in their minds, the Awakened of humanity were all so strong... How could they lose?
"So it is not wrong to say that the purpose of the Awakened is to enter the Dream Realm, seek out maturing Nightmares and close them before any harm could befall the real world. From this, you can see that the Dream Realm and the Nightmares are connected, but are not one and the same. If Nightmares are the destination, then the Dream Realm is the road. But it is also so much more."
The sleepers felt invigorated once again, they would never allow such a disaster to fall the world ever again.
'If only they knew'
Sunny kept his thoughts to himself.
'But… I know. I know what the future holds, and I can prepare for it… Prepare the world for it… Perhaps this time Antarctica won't be completely overrun.'
Sunny thought some more.
'Maybe this is an opportunity.'
He had just over a decade to grow his strength in preparation of the disaster, and of the other disasters to come.
For the first time since he had returned, he felt hope.
'Perhaps I can be the change I always hoped for.'
Sunny's eyes burned with determination. His will invigorated, as he planned for the future more thoroughly.
"That is all for today. Next, follow the instructions sent to your communicators to find your assigned dormitory. Once settled, you may proceed to the cafeteria for some late supper. There will be a round of interviews after that, to prepare your suggested curriculums. Get a good night's rest. Your training starts tomorrow."
Sunny looked up again. The induction ceremony had ended. The sleepers started shuffling out of the rooms as they were shown where their living quarters would be.
***
Sunny stood in a familiar looking room. It wasn't the exact same room he got before, but it was the same type of room that was situated on the lower levels, so most of them didn't differ too much.
Sunny looked down at his shadow, sighed, and immediately made his way to his bed where he proceeded to lie down and stare at the ceiling, once again lost in thought.
He wanted to close his eyes and sleep again, but then he would miss supper. No matter how bad he felt, missing a meal was not going to happen.
As he stared at the ceiling, a feeling of melancholy came over him.
'I'm here. Again.'
'But the ones who share the memory…'
No. They were still out there, they weren't truly gone.
Desperately trying anyway to ease the darkness creeping up on his mind, Sunny tried to look at the bright side.
'It'll just be like… taking an extended break from each other… only ten years… that's not that bad! It might even be less, who knows?'
The only people who were actually his age within his cohort were Cassie and Nephis after all.
The people he knew and loved would emerge again someday, he simply had to wait.
Sunny sent the gloomy shadow to scout around the academy out of curiosity. The shadow glided along the ground, glancing at the familiar scenery.
Sunny sighed again.
Only a few days ago, he had still been with his cohort, still within his Third Nightmare, preparing to raid the verge.
And now he was a teenager in the Awakened Academy once more.
'Just what kind of life am I living?'
The world was so frustrating.
***
Sunny entered the cafeteria, the first time he had been here it had seemed so extravagant, so decadent, but now it felt dull and dark as if he was living a nightmare.
'Maybe I am…'
Sunny made a sour face.
As he looked over the selection of foods, he immediately got himself a coffee and some delicious meat. He proceeded to make a small mountain of food, his appetite unable to be swayed no matter what problems were facing him.
Sunny habitually brought his food into the corner he normally ate at in the past, and spotted something that moved his heart.
'I'll… I'll be damned.'
Although she looked much more naive and subdued, the cold-looking girl sitting at the table… was unmistakably Jet. Although her chilling presence and cold blue eyes were gone, replaced with dull dark blue eyes and a dispirited presence. Sitting next to her stuffing their face with food was another familiar face, it was a man that he had killed in the past: Shadow Blade Kurt.
Sunny immediately made his way to their table and sat down.
The pair looked up at him awkwardly.
"Uhh… Hey"
Kurt greeted him, confused as to why anyone would want to sit with them.
"Hello. I can sit here right?"
"...Sure."
Sunny said no more and began to stuff his face while thinking of what to say to them.
'This is some unfortunate timing.'
They seemed to have already been in the Academy for at least a month. If Jet had finished her First Nightmare at the same time as him, he would've been able to help her out with her flaw. But seeing her sullen disposition, it seemed her fate within the government had already been sealed.
Sunny was grateful to her and wanted to help her out, but there wasn't much he could do at the moment, and Jet had already given away her Flaw to the government.
'I'll think of something once I'm back here.'
But after taking a closer look, Sunny realised…
She was an Awakened, not a Dormant. Both of them were.
She was a government employee sneaking into the academy to eat free food…
"So um… Is there something I can help you with?"
Kurt smiled politely as he looked at Sunny. Jet still hadn't said a word.
"Nope. I just wanted to sit here."
Sunny responded in between bites of food.
"Oh… Well then, what's your name?"
"Sunny."
"Ok, Sunny, are you with the new batch of Sleepers? I've never seen you before."
'This guy used to be so polite! Damn shame how he ended up.'
"Yep, just finished my Nightmare this morning."
"Hmm, was it hard?"
"No shit."
Kurt immediately shut up after hearing his response. Jet even glanced at him with a strange look.
Seeing Jet look at him, Sunny met eyes with her.
"You… are you from the outskirts?"
He decided to introduce himself in a way that felt natural. After all, their first meeting also kind of went like this before, minus the first part…
"Y-Yeah."
Jet responded quietly.
Sunny put on a big smile, the first one he'd managed to muster since his return.
"Me too! Haaa… life's not easy for people like us is it?"
Jet's eyes seemed to grow a little brighter, as Kurt looked at him with surprise.
"You're from the outskirts?"
Kurt then looked him up and down, and saw how he was scoffing down food like a starved hog.
"Nevermind… I see it now."
Jet seemed a little curious about him now, and began to speak a little more.
"What was your life like? In the outskirts I mean…"
Sunny looked at her.
"Terrible. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
'Hmm. Maybe I would.'
Jet nodded in understanding.
Sunny leaned back, having finished his food in less than a minute and spoke some more.
"So, what are you twos names?"
"Jet"
"Kurt"
Sunny nodded.
"Sunny."
'...'
"Wait, I already said that, didn't I?"
Damn teenagers! Why was it so difficult just speaking with them?!
Kurt looked at him like he was an idiot, while Jet snickered and looked away.
"Well, nice meeting you two. Hope I'll see you around!"
Sunny stood up and left for his appointment with the Academy personnel.
As Sunny walked away, Jet and Kurt looked at each other.
"He didn't even put his plate away…"
***
Sunny found himself in an unfamiliar small office in front of a worker. He had already denied psychological counseling so it was straight to the interview.
The worker smiled at him.
"Hello Sleeper Sunless. Let us begin"
Sunny nodded.
"Would you mind telling us how your Nightmare went?"
"I would mind."
The worker continued unperturbed.
"Well alright then… What sort of aspect abilities did you receive?"
'Hm? This…'
This personnel seemed to be a lot more forceful in asking questions… Normally there would be more "If you're willing to share" or "if you mind telling me", why was this one so rude?
Sunny did his best to come up with something.
"Well… they seem quite useless. My aspects innate ability doesn't do anything, and my primary ability doesn't have much use, aside from a couple tricks of the light."
This was technically true, as Shadow Bond was basically gone without his true name, and Shadow Control couldn't do much without his shadow helpers and Shadow Manifestation.
The personnel noted something down and continued.
"Hm, alright, can any of them deal direct damage?"
"Nope. Tried to attack a towel, and nothing happened."
The personnel continued to note things down.
"Well, can you at least tell me what rating you got in your Nightmare?"
"Nope. When the nightmare ended there was no appraisal. I immediately woke up."
The personnel finished writing on the paper, then picked it up and folded it while nodding.
"Now then, that will be all. Thank you for your time Sleeper Sunless."
Sunny nodded absent mindedly.
He was a little annoyed… Unable to contain his curiosity he had sent his shadow to read what the personnel was writing during the interview… And all they wrote was that he was below average, and of little use. Towards the end, they had even began drawing random doodles instead of taking notes.
The nerve!
'At least I'm off their radar.'
Despite his answers and interviewer being different, the result was still the same.
He had decided to go incognito this time around as well, now that he knew more about the world, keeping his power hidden should most certainly be his highest priority.
Having finished his interview, Sunny immediately returned to his room and went to sleep, having been yearning for sweet oblivion the entire day.
***
Sunny woke up with a scream.
"Ahhh!"
He had a nightmare.
"Ha… Ha… Ha…"
Sunny clutched his chest while catching his breath.
'D-damn…'
He looked around, remembering his predicament. His mood worsened further as he clutched his blanket and threw it in a rage.
Despite still being awake, his nightmare had not ended.
Sunny buried his face in his hands. The reality of his situation set in once again. He looked down at his hands as beads of sweat and tears fell onto it. The hands appeared unfamiliar, they were too frail, and too smooth for his liking. If he could he would distract himself by practicing his swordsmanship… but there weren't any weapons nearby just yet.
Sunny sighed in frustration as he stood up, preparing himself for the day.
***
Sunny entered the cafeteria and immediately glanced at the Sleepers surrounding a certain board with a list of names.
Sunny curiously walked up, wondering if he was going to be at the bottom again. He looked at the list from top to bottom, nobody here had a true name, and he did not recognize a single name.
'Hah."
Until he reached the bottom.
Name: Sunless.
This time there was no blind girl below him. He was truly dead last.
He turned away to go get food, looking for the table Jet and Kurt were sitting at yesterday, but he couldn't find them.
And so, Sunny sat alone.
Not one person approached him this time, his gloomy disposition discouraging even the bleeding hearts who hated seeing people sitting alone from approaching him.
Sunny quivered slightly, this time there was no blind girl sitting with him.
He continued to eat his food in silence.
***
Sunny entered the class he had chosen, as he wanted to keep a low profile, he had once again picked wilderness survival as his only elective.
Walking in, he spotted around ten other people in the class.
'Hm? There are others this time…'
"Welcome, students! Come in, come in."
A slightly less grey haired Julius welcomed them in.
"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. Sit down, sit down! No need for introductions, let's get right into it!"
Sunny sat down and paid little attention to the lesson, he would rather look around the academy through his shadow.
With this many people in the class, it felt a lot less personal than it did in the past. Sunny wasn't too upset at the matter, as this class had little to offer him after all.
The class hours flew by, and Sunny left with a blank stare on his face. He had pretended to be somewhat confused on the matters of Wilderness Survival, so Julius wouldn't get suspicious of why he selected the class. He had still participated as much as he needed to.
But now the moment he'd been waiting for had arrived.
Sunny looked down at his shadow.
'Go.'
Ignoring all the other places in the academy, the shadow made its way to a large dojo, hiding itself in a dark corner, and waited.
Sunny casually walked around the academy, and while no one was looking he sneakily stole a practice sword from the academy's armory and returned to his room.
Not a single soul paid him any attention.
Sunny smiled darkly.
He observed the world through his shadow as a group of sleepers made their way into the large dojo.
Sunny watched impatiently as all the sleepers lined up to test their strength on the punching machine. Not a single person got over twenty. Most of them barely got fifteen.
But that was not what he was here for.
'Finally!'
The students were lining up to face each other in a small ring.
Sunny sent his shadow next to the ring, as it stealthily attached itself to the feet of a random person. The shadow silently dissolved into their shadow, and not a single person noticed its existence.
The fighting immediately began, Sunny stood up and stretched as he prepared to shadow their movements.
In the first fight, Sunny mimicked the faster one, punching in the same wild manner as them.
In the second fight, Sunny mimicked a slender young man, moving around gracefully with a series of jumps and kicks.
In the fifth fight, Sunny mimicked a bulky young woman, who constantly delivered powerful haymakers that knocked anyone it hit outside the ring.
In the twentieth fight, Sunny was starting to tire.
After the twenty-first fight, he suddenly heard the voice of the spell.
[You have received an Aspect Legacy, Shadow Dance.]
'Yes!'
Although it had taken a bit of time, he had done it. He continued to immerse himself in the dance, unwilling to let this moment fade.
As he gracefully moved around his room, he kicked the practice sword resting on the side of his bed up into the air and immediately caught it precision. Sunny began to immerse himself into the combat styles he had ingrained deep into his memories.
Sunny took a deep breath.
He began to perform the movements of the stone saints. Their powerful swings and immovable stance made itself known.
He then began to perform the movements of Broken Sword's battle art, its supremely adaptable and ferocious moves had left an extremely deep impression on him, ingrained upon his mind forever.
He then began to perform his own moves, the true heart of the Shadow dance. Sunny felt like he was drifting away… He continued to dance silently in his room, until he began to feel everything click back into place in his mind, the movements that he could never forget began to engrave itself again on his frail body and muscles.
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery has increased.]
[You have…]
'More!'
He continued to swing his blade. He submerged himself extremely deep into the dance, envisioning an enemy in front of him.
He saw Harus, and his blade crossing his fist.
He saw Nephis, their blades clashing together ferociously as sparks flew everywhere.
'Come on!'
He saw Morgan, and he felt himself fighting her once more, as if he was reliving his desperate clash with her.
Sunny took a deep breath.
And swung his sword, obliterating the vision with a single obliterating swing.
[You Aspect Legacy mastery has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
'Haaaaaa…'
Sunny let out a long breath, as he collapsed. His body still wasn't used to the exertion as he had only just begun his journey at this point.
He rolled around gracelessly as he grimaced in pain at the massive aching of his muscles.
In between pants, he spoke to himself.
"This… ha… is… ha… the first step."
Sunny rested his head on the ground as he stared at the ceiling.
He summoned the runes, somewhat excitedly. Even though he had gotten these rewards before, receiving rewards was always something he loved.
Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].
Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [2/7].
First Relic: [Claim].
Second Relic: [Claim].
Third Relic: Unearned…
Sunny smiled slightly.
"Claim."
[You have received an Aspect Legacy Relic.]
[You have received a Shadow: Soul Serpent.]
'At least I have you again buddy…'
Shadow: [Soul Serpent]
Shadow Rank: Awakened.
Shadow Class: Beast.
Sunny dismissed the runes, satisfied. He proceeded to summon the Serpent, looking proudly at the tattoo that immediately began to appear, coiling around his torso. Sunny already felt his essence quite clearly as his awareness of it had never disappeared. But as a Dormant, [Soul Guide] wasn't much help.
'Who knows… Maybe I'll awaken early using this…'
Despite being able to feel his essence, it didn't respond to his will, instead laying dormant within his soul core.
Sunny then stood up and summoned the Soul Serpent fully, it revealed itself in front of him, as it was still a mere beast, it was about as wide as an adult man's arm, but it was easily long enough to coil around his entire body several times over.
The Serpent uncoiled itself from the ground in front of him, and raised its head to Sunny's face, hissing ferociously as it bared its fangs, greeting its master.
Sunny patted Serpent on the head.
"Good to have you back, buddy!"
Serpent froze, as it awkwardly stared at Sunny, having no idea what he was talking about.
Sunny focused back at Serpents runes.
Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Beast].
Shadow Abilities: [Soul Reaver]
'Hm?'
[Soul Weapon] was missing… As was [Serpentine Steel]
'Right, I'm still only a beast currently… I was a monster when I first got Serpent."
"Come to think of it… I didn't even know before what Serpent's abilities were as a Dormant Beast.'"
Sunny looked at his shadow and nodded lightly.
Sunny then returned Serpent to its tattoo form, and looked back at his runes.
There was still another relic to claim!
He looked at his runes in anticipation.
Second Relic: [Claim].
'Last time, Blood Weave destroyed you…'
Would it happen again?
Would there even be another Lineage Memory? After all… Blood, Bone, and Soul Weave remained within Sunny, would the destroyed Shadow Lineage… stay destroyed?
Sunny didn't have much hope. But that didn't stop him at all.
"Claim."