Shadow Slave: Arcadius of the Forgotten

After leaving the dojo, Sunny and Cade went to the Wilderness Survival classroom to say their goodbyes to Teacher Julius. The old man got pretty emotional while sending the two of them off. They both thanked him for his time and patience with shallow bows. 

When the sun was close to setting, Instructor Rock gathered all the Sleepers in the foyer of the Sleeper center and led them outside. Their destination was the Academy's medical center. 

However, Instructor Rock didn't take them directly to the hospital. Instead, he took them to see the Hollow. Cade obviously knew that they would first be visiting the Hollow, but he still felt a tinge of unease when he laid eyes on them.

Their... emptiness gave him chills. But he didn't show any reaction. Other Sleepers weren't as composed though. Cade's eyes found Nephis. He wanted to see her reaction. After all, her mother was also Hollow.

Nephis had an unreadable expression on her face. She was looking directly at the Hollow with something akin to grim determination flashing in her eyes. 

Cade thought about wishing Cassie good luck and seeing her one last time before he dove into the Dream Realm, but eventually decided against it. He felt that their farewell had been emotional enough already. He'd already said everything that needed to be said, and there was no point in confronting the blind girl about it again.

So, sometime after they left the Hollow, Cade found himself in his personal room, preparing to enter his sleeping pod. "I'm really doing this, huh?" he said to himself. "As if my life wasn't crazy enough as it is..." Shaking his head, he climbed into the pod. 

In the vast echoing darkness, he heard the soft voice of the Nightmare Spell: 

[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Arcadius!] 

Cade had read about how the Awakened entered the Dream Realm, but it was still a novel experience. Immediately after hearing the greetings of the Spell, Cade found himself on solid ground.

He had expected to be plunged into water, like Sunny had been, during his first visit to the Dream Realm. However, he found himself on a stone platform of roughly twelve meters in diameter. It was clearly an artificial structure, rather than a natural formation. 

He looked around and found himself smiling darkly. "Well, I'll be damned..." he muttered, "I actually did end up here, after all." 

The platform he was standing on wasn't connected to anything, existing as a lone island in a sea of harrowing blackness. It was the Dark Sea, of course; the Great Titan which terrorized the nights of the Crimson Labyrinth. 

Cade took another glance around himself, shivering. Well, of course he was shivering. He was naked, after all. So, without wasting any time, he summoned the Ebonveil Plate and as the armor weaved itself into place around his body, he relaxed a little.

However, his moment of relief was short-lived. Glancing around in the night, he heard the sounds of a commotion. They were growing louder with each second. 

Cade's expression darkened as he seemed to recognize his surroundings. "Goddamn it!" he said, frustration creeping into his voice. "Of all the places in here that it could've sent me to... fuck [Fated]." 

He had come to recognize the strange platform. It was the stump of the neck of the Knight's statue where Sunny had spent his first couple of nights in the Dream Realm. Cade grimaced, his gaze turning in the direction of the sounds of rippling water.

Then, he steeled himself and reluctantly jumped off the platform into the black embrace of the Dark Sea. 

He had already decided how he would do things in the Dream Realm, if he ended up in the Crimson Labyrinth with the trio.

During his time at the Academy, and particularly during the last few days, he had been tempted to simply join the three Sleepers; the more, the merrier. However, in the end, he had come to the decision that he would do no such thing. There were several reasons behind his decision to avoid the cohort. 

Firstly, his only advantage in this world was that he knew how things would unfold. He knew that Sunny would encounter Changing Star and Cassie and together, they would brave the horrors of the Crimson Labyrinth, growing close to each other in the process. 

However, his presence would only complicate things.

After all, Sunny was, for all intents and purposes, his friend. So, naturally, he would find it easier to trust him than Changing Star or Cassie. 

And then, there was Cassie herself. He had spent a lot of time getting close to the blind girl and gaining her trust, to the point where they both cared about each other deeply. If he were to just find her in the Dream Realm, she would be more inclined to rely on him than on the other two. 

Changing Star herself had witnessed his power and capability mere hours ago. She would definitely be wary of him. Adding to that was the fact that she was convinced the Sovereigns were actively trying to assassinate her. And someone who claimed to be from the outskirts, but had beaten one of the most capable Legacies in a one-on-one duel? That person fit the description of an undercover assassin almost too well.

This particular outcome had slipped Cade's mind when he'd agreed to face Changing Star. He'd just been too excited to test himself against the prodigy of Immortal Flame. He'd cursed himself later on, but the damage had already been done. This had just given him another reason to follow through with his original plan.

Cade concluded that a lot of peculiar situations would arise as a direct result of him revealing himself to the cohort. For all he knew, he would essentially be replacing Nephis as the key figure of their team, creating a rift between the three.

And that was not something he wanted to do. He wanted to make sure that the story progressed along its original path, while making things easier for the cohort. That was the only way he could fully exploit and also retain his advantage. 

Not to mention that there was the problem of his Flaw as well. Even if he decided to join the trio, he wouldn't be able to use his abilities and powers to their full extent. Because if he did, he would most probably attack the three of them and being as lethal as he was, he would likely claim their lives without even meaning to. 

Of course, he could be plenty useful even without the use of his Aspect, too. After all, his Aspect wasn't his only source of power. His [Battle Master] Attribute made him quite deadly, maybe even more so than Changing Star herself, who also avoided using her Aspect if she could help it.

But he wasn't sure that he wanted to limit the usage of his Aspect. After all, it was his most important tool in the Dream Realm— hell, in this entire world. He wanted to refine his understanding of it. 

So, after a lot of thinking, he had decided that he wouldn't show himself to the cohort. He would observe them from a distance— a distance that was just outside the range of Sunny's Shadow Control, of course.

That way, he would avoid getting in the way of their relationship while also maintaining a connection with them at the same time. If he saw something that was not supposed to have been there or if he thought something was out of sorts, he would deal with it. And he would make sure that his presence didn't disturb the progression of the original plot. 

That was his plan but... 

But the damnable Spell had a strange sense of humor. More so in the case of a [Fated] like him. It had sent him directly to the place that Sunny would be arriving at minutes later. His plans had been almost completely destroyed before he even had the chance of putting them into motion.

But Cade had no intentions of letting his plans be flushed down the drain so easily. That's why he'd chosen to leave the Knight's neck platform to find himself a different place to settle until the Dark Sea retreated. 

But looking ahead, Cade questioned his choice... 

The Dark Sea stretched endlessly before Cade, an abyssal void lapping against itself, its surface like molten ink rippling under an invisible force. Above him loomed a sky as dark as death, a formless void without stars, moons or even a glimmer of distant light.

He felt the weight of the sky's emptiness pressing down on him, suffocating and cold. Every breath he took felt heavy; the air was tainted by a salty dampness that seemed to seep into his very soul. 

He swam through the water in silence, his muscles aching slightly as his limbs fought to keep him afloat. His black armor clung to his body like a second skin, glinting faintly with a sheen that matched the endless ocean.

Though the armor was light and buoyant, it did little to ease the dread pooling in his chest. However, the dread dissipated quickly enough. He calmed down a little. His Innate Ability was taking effect.

But even though he wasn't afraid, every stroke and every kick felt like a gamble, a challenge to the horrors that he knew lurked beneath. 

The sea was silent, oppressively so, save for the occasional distant gurgle or faint hiss that made Cade's ears strain. He didn't try to convince himself that it was the sound of the water itself shifting, for he knew the truth— he knew that the Dark Sea was full of harrowing dwellers of the depths... watching, waiting.

His carefree attitude, his humor, his shield against the horrors of this world, failed him in the face of such unrelenting bleakness. 

Then, a sound.

Faint at first— a low, keening whistle rising from the abyss below. Cade froze, his body locking up as if the sound had reached inside him and squeezed his lungs. His heart hammered in his chest. He wasn't afraid; he simply couldn't be. But he was wary— wary of the ancient horrors that could tear him to shreds in mere seconds.

The whistle shifted, twisting, like something enormous moving swiftly through the water. His breath caught as he scanned the surface, but the sea offered no hints. Its blackness was perfect, impenetrable. 

A splash— gentle, almost imperceptible— followed by a ripple brushing past his leg. Cade's body jolted. Instinct screamed at him to swim, to flee, but his limbs felt weighted, useless against the icy grip of fear. But he quickly grew calm as the fear was forced to flee.

And then...

And then, it came.