Shadow Slave

The hospital complex and the administration of the Academy were in complete chaos today. Weeks following the winter solstice were always a busy time for all the people working on the periphery of the Awakened society, since most of the Sleepers who had ventured into the Dream Realm that year usually returned in a span of one to two weeks, very rarely a month.

…Those who had survived, of course.

The sudden Awakening of so many Sleepers who had been gone for years, counted as irrevocably lost, created a shockwave that spread through entire humanity. And people at the Academy were at the epicenter of that storm.

It was a joyous chaos, nevertheless.

In a small office at the surface level of the hospital, a young woman dressed in black slacks and a white blouse was sitting behind a desk, hastily compiling a short report. She had dark-brown hair, neatly tied into a high ponytail, and thick glasses that were constantly sliding down her nose, forcing her to push them back up.

The young woman was one of the administrative workers tasked with the initial debriefing of returning Sleepers. As such, she had seen a lot of incredible things, and heard a lot of incredible stories.

And, sadly, even more heartbreaking ones.

But today was like no other day in her career.

The Sleepers that she was debriefing today were all anomalous, each and every one of them. The things they told her made her blood run cold, and her imagination fail. She even had an urge to dismiss their reports as false, but knew that it was nearly impossible — the lie detection technology built into the walls of the office would make lying very hard to pull off.

'Incredible… they are incredible, every single one of them…'

To survive for that long in a region of the Dream Realm completely cut off from the rest of the human territory, one populated by Nightmare Creatures much more powerful than any Dreamer could ever become… the achievement of these brave young men and women was truly remarkable.

It filled her with a sense of compassion, pride, and hope.

Humanity received an unexpected, but wonderful gift today.

Finishing the report and sending it to her superior, the young woman pressed a button to let the next Sleeper know that it was their turn to come in.

The door of her office opened, and a pale young man with dark hair entered the office.

Because of the nature of her job, she was accustomed to interacting with incredibly attractive people — almost every Awakened was pleasant to look at, after all. The young man in front of her was far from being the most outstanding in terms of appearance among them, and yet, for some reason, she was unable to look away for a couple of moments, a natural smile somehow finding its way onto her face.

There was something elusive about the young man that attracted attention, almost demanded it.

He was of small height, with a delicate, slender build and perfect white skin. His dark eyes had a humorous, slightly mischievous spark in them. The young man wasn't exactly handsome, but due to his small stature, pale complexion, and dark hair, he looked like a beautiful porcelain doll.

And there was a… a subtle strangeness about him. The young woman couldn't quite put it into words, but it seemed as though his every move, every word was ever so slightly not exactly how they should have been. Not really wrong, but also not completely right.

This quality was equally as disturbing as it was magnetic. It was the reason why she couldn't stop paying him a bit more attention than to all the other Sleepers she had interviewed today.

The young man smiled and sat down opposite her. In response, her own smile widened a little.

"Good day. My name is Teddy, and I will be your interviewer today, Awakened… uh…"

Of course, she already knew his name. His file was opened on the screen in front of her, containing all the information the Academy had on the pleasant young man. But it was important to create a friendly environment to allow the Sleepers to relax. After their experiences in the Dream Realm, most were tense and on edge.

'Second to last place in the ranking… poor kid, I can't even imagine what horrors he had to survive…'

The young man answered in a pleasant tone:

"Sunless. But people usually call me Sunny. So, uh… Awakened Sunny, I guess? No, that sounds weird. Just call me Sunny."

Teddy nodded, then typed a few words on her pad.

"I will ask you a series of questions about your time in the Dream Realm. The purpose of this briefing is to enrich our base of knowledge about it, as well as let us know how to better assist you in the future. Any little bit of information you can provide might help future Dreamers in their own trials, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course."

Awakened Sunless… Sunny… nodded seriously.

"I understand. I promise to be honest and tell you only the truth. I am a very honest person, you see."

Teddy smiled and asked the first question:

"How long have you spent in the Dream Realm?"

Sunny sighed.

"A year and a few weeks. Although, uh... it felt much longer."

That matched the information in the file.

'This is so terrible. A whole year out there…'

She smiled with encouragement.

"I see. You did very well, Sunny. Very few Dreamers had managed to survive for that long, especially in a region such as the... the Forgotten Shore, right?"

He shivered slightly before answering:

"Yeah. That's what we called it."

Teddy typed a few more words.

"From the interviews with the other Dreamers, we have confirmed that the region of the Dream Realm you were sent to is populated with Nightmare Creatures of the Awakened Rank and above. Can you confirm that information?"

The young man grew a little paler and nodded again.

"Yeah. Awakened, Fallen… Corrupted, too, although those only appeared at night."

Teddy added a couple of lines to her report and asked:

"Have you participated in the battles against such Nightmare Creatures? If so, how many have you killed?"

Sunny was silent for a second, then raised his hand and began counting on his fingers with a thoughtful expression.

"Uh, three or four…"

She began to type and thought:

"Four Awakened creatures. That poor kid looks so weak, and yet he managed to defeat four abominations much more powerful than him, despite being in second to last place of the ranking. Good job, Sunny. You are truly admirable."

But Sunny didn't finish speaking.

"...hundreds."

Teddy froze, staring at the monitor.

"Excuse me?"

The young man thoughtfully scratched his chin and said:

"Yeah, I think that's right. Around four hundred."

After a long and awkward silence, he asked:

"I am sorry, Teddy, is everything alright?"

She nodded slowly, then forced out a smile.

"...Everything is fine, Sunny. I… I am sorry. We'll have to pause the interview now."

He looked at her with sincere surprise and blinked a couple of times.

"Really? Why?"

She cleared her throat, then answered in a small voice:

"I'm... afraid that I am not qualified to conduct this interview. My… my superior will be with you shortly, Sun… Awakened Sunless. Please wait for a few minutes."

Sunny sighed.

"Oh, well. Alright. It's been nice to meet you."

With that, he gave her a bright smile.