Shadow Slave Cinema (reaction fanfic)-Chapter 28: Snow-roach

All eyes, skulls and shadows remained trained on the screen as Sunny's blurry figure stumbled through the billowing snow towards noise in the distance. Mutilated corpses lay strewn about as the Mountain King's roars sounded in a terrible cacophony with the clangor of steel.

Despite Sunny's earlier display of cunning and will...

Aspirations were hollow in the face of cruel reality. And the reality was that there was no way an inexperienced slum child with a meaningless Aspect could triumph over a Tyrant—in such a frail body no less.

All the battle hardened warriors stood by this.

"He's courting death" Jest mumbled, a restrained mixture of rue in his tone that caused Gilead to silently glance at him.

"What choice does he have?" Saint Cor echoed.

Behind, Mordret shifted, tilting his head.

His face bore an expression of growing disappointment. Sunny had shown such promising spite a few moments ago...where had it all gone? The promise of mercilessly killing those that had wronged him? Instead now freeing the others? It was possibly a right choice to join, but did he have to, couldn't he instead hide and survive?

He had the famed Auro somewhere out there valiantly clashing with the beast against all odds—like a selfless protagonist without flaw.

Rubbing his temples he let out an exasperated sigh. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

"Show me something more entertaining dear Sunless..."

Down the row to his left and right different pairs of hands paused from reaching into their respective buckets, his words having not gone unheard. Telle and Windflower side-eyed Mordret, glancing at each other in confusion before being absorbed by the screening. On the other side Noctis stared at him wide-eyed, his glossy cheeks stuffed with popcorn as a piece fell out from his open mouth.

'More entertaining?'

He turned back to the screen, as the wonders of color and images continued to play before his eyes. Chewing on the popcorn, his brows furrowed as his muffled voice sounded.

"This is not entertaining? What kind of world do they exist in the future for such a performance to be considered mundane?"

Looking side-to-side he observed the expressions the others wore.

Both the second and third wore blank masks albeit a few outliers, though Noctis did glance hints of emotions momentarily in some of their eyes. The only row that seemed to not be devoid of emotion was the first which was unexplainable entertainment.

The giantess known as Effie beside the charming Kai and Rain gripped their handrests with stress, forcefully leaning back as their faces held a look of utter gloom. On both sides of the two Ananke and Jet held silent looks of encouragement. Eurys was of course silent through the whole ordeal...maybe he had fallen asleep, if a skull could.

Lastly there were the two girls.

Noctis struggled to read them the most.

Cassie's face was completely hidden, but on the leather handrests her hands clenched tightly into fists as she leaned forward slightly.

The hardest of the lot to read was the silver-haired warrior, Nephis. Despite Noctis's best attempts to catch reactions her entire being was devoid and scarily composed. Was it due to her emotionless nature or inexpressible feelings? He couldn't tell. Yet he caught the slightest detail as her shoulders rose slightly and the muscles around her neck tightened.

Was she...worried?

Noctis couldn't help but lightly smile as the image of the two from the Sunphis Lounge replayed in his mind.

'Ahh youth...'

Glancing briefly at Mordret, he pushed further back into his seat, the colors on the screen glowing brighter. A few kernels flying into his mouth as he grinned.

"Not entertaining? My...the show's just getting started!"

Sunny was off to face against a Nightmare Creature. And not any creature, at that, but one of the fifth category — a dreaded, fearsome tyrant. The odds of survival were so low that anyone would have laughed in his face if he were to ever suggest attempting to fight it. If they weren't an Awakened two or three ranks above the creature, of course. 

Which Sunny certainly wasn't. 

And yet, he had to deal with this Mountain King somehow to avoid an even more miserable death. The ridiculous degree to which the odds were stacked against him from the very beginning of this delayed execution had gotten old a long time ago, so he didn't have any more energy to think about it. What was there to fear, after all? He was already as good as dead. It's not like he could get any deader. 

So why worry? 

On the other side of the bonfire, things were turning from bad to worse. Most of the slaves were already dead. A few soldiers were still desperately trying to fight the monster, but it was clear that they weren't going to last long. Right in front of Sunny's eyes, the tyrant picked up a dead slave, dragging the chain up with him, and opened its terrifying maw wide. With one crushing bite, the slave's body was torn in half, leaving only bloodied stumps inside the shackles. 

Mountain King's five indifferent, milky eyes stared into the distance as he chewed, streams of blood flowing down its chin. 

Seeing that the creature's upper arms were busy, one of the soldiers screamed and lunged forward, brandishing his long spear. Without turning its head, the tyrant extended one of its shorter lower arms, caught the soldier's head in an iron grip and squeezed, crushing the poor man's skull like a soap bubble. A moment later, the headless body was tossed over the cliff and disappeared into the abyss below. 

Shifty doubled over, puking his guts out. Then he shakily rose to his feet and glared at Sunny. 

"Well? We've taken a look, now what?" 

Sunny did not answer, pensively observing the tyrant with his head slightly tilted to one side. Shifty stared at him some more, then turned to Scholar. 

"I'm telling you, old man, the boy is sick in the head. How the hell can he be so calm?!" 

"Shhhh! Lower your voice, fool!" 

Blood drained from Shifty's face as he slapped himself, covering his mouth with both hands. Then he cast a fearful look in the direction of the tyrant. 

Luckily, the abomination was too busy feasting on the slaves — lucky ones who were already dead and unlucky ones who were still alive — to pay them any attention. Shifty slowly exhaled. 

Sunny was preoccupied with thinking, measuring his chances of survival. 

'How do I get rid of that thing?' 

He didn't have any special powers, nor did he have an army ready to bury the tyrant under a mountain of bodies. He didn't even have a weapon to at least scratch the damn bastard. 

Sunny moved his gaze and looked past the creature, into the endless darkness of the moonless sky. As he was watching the night, a bright flash streaked in the air and collided with one of the tyrant's arms, bursting into a rain of sparks. The young soldier — Sunny's heroic liberator — had just tossed a burning piece of wood at the monster and was now defiantly raising his sword. 

"Face me, devil!"

Rain jumped in her seat as a maniacal cackle sounded from her lap. All attention shifted in her direction as Eurys's voice gurgled, somehow imitating a laugh despite lacking the anatomy to do so.

"Ahaha! Oh of course he would say it! That's so like him! Look at him, the epitome of childish purity. Ah...if only the others were here to see this, they would have never let him live down this moment!"

To Rain's left, Cassie shifted—tilting her head past Nephis—her tone inquisitive.

"The others?"

Shiting Eurys in her lap to face Cassie, a series of clicks echoed in the room, "The Nine of course."

All around the room grew quiet as eyes narrowed in the surrounding darkness of the ascending seats. Breaths became quick and quiet as the sound of leather creasing awkwardly echoed from above, people eager to hear more.

Adjusting his glasses Julius nervously coughed, "And why would they react so?"

In response, Eurys somehow managed to imitate a disappointed tsk, replying in a lopsided tone.

"These lips are tight"

A hand descended as Effie palmed Eury's entire scalp lifting him up, her eyes narrowing.

"You don't even have lips"

The skull vibrated in her hand as his annoying laughter filled the room.

"Oh, but I did one time. And let me tell you, they were much more appealing than yours!"

Everyone could only sit in awkward silence as Effie held the skull, her right eye slightly twitching. Beside her, Kai's face tensed in a panic. He hesitantly reached across, unsure whether the skull would be sent flying at the screen the next split-second. To his surprise however, Effie simply grumbled, dropping the skull as it bounced around in Rain's hands—her face grimacing at the social pain as the Saints quietly watched her clumsily catch him.

Shaking her head, Effie looked at Nephis who caught her gaze. Her lips drooped into an expression of pity. Nephis felt a weird pang of content from having received a rare moment of condolence from the usual banterful giant—but she dismissed it—turning to the crowd as her spoke loudly.

"As it seems, although the trial is harsh, it is likely that he will survive due to having Auro"

Heads subtly nodded across the rows as some hushed voices snaked in the air. The tangling words abruptly scattered however as a raspy cough sounded. Daeron shifted in his seat as his unreadable eyes looked at the image before him, colors intertwining off the reflections of his worn out armour.

Quietly he continued to watch, a mumble escaping.

"Even with such a highly regarded person, it is unjust to blur the collective contribution to this situation's development. A slave of shadow about to offer themselves to their God and yet he still strives to survive against what seems should be..."

He paused, the corners of his dry wrinkled lips cracking.

"...he is truly an admirable child."

The words settled in the quiet air as everyone listened. Suspended emotion was only disrupted as Daeron felt a light pinch on his right arm. Tilting his head he gazed at Windflower who held a flat but strangely envious face as she held his gaze with stillness.

If not for the mood in the room he would have laughed.

Instead he barely chuckled, his eyes dipping.

"Of course not as admirable as you" he whispered only for her to hear.

The others attention was pulled by Saint Cor and Jet at the front whose voices shortly chimed after.

"He's right. Getting this far alone from the slums is a proof of tenacity in itself." Jet voiced, crossing her arms.

Behind her Saint Cor shifted.

"The sheer innate talent in his ability to quickly assess and make choices in his dire situation is remarkable. Not even those who were trained from birth come near to such potential."

His words passed through the rows as some smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. Others remained unmoved but hid quiet feelings of agreement. Even the both heirs of War expressed something; Morgan's brows furrowing slightly in what one couldn't discern between surprise or contempt. Mordret instead raised a single brow which yielded not a single discernable emotion.

The only person who expressed something contrasting was Rain's shadow in silence.

It remained still on the floor, albeit a few barely visible spasms from the shoulders. Unable to speak it wondered if death had finally come to claim it. Such a thing was the only possible answer for the indescribable pain it was feeling. The cringe ravaging every bit of him, more potent than any soul attack. Hearing all the people he knew say such corny and soppy things in response to his actions.

'Kill them. I have to kill them all. It's the only way to keep this from getting out of this room."

Secretively the Prince of Madness glanced at the people above them. Pulling all concentration, he tried to dive into his Soul Sea, call upon his shadows, command the surrounding shadows, everything....anything! Yet it seemed he was just as restricted as the rest of the people brought here.

Although he was more unfairly so than the rest.

Why did the entity behind the room think it was necessary to throw him into and lock him inside Rain's shadow? Maybe he was a bit unhinged....but even Mordret had been allowed into the room with his body! And yet it regarded him as a rabid beast without manners and reason.

He would only kill a person....

...or two

But only the people that deserved it!

He paused, scanning all the rows.

'Ah...but that is a lot of people'

His silent contemplation was interrupted as his gaze fell on Nephis. Quietly he analyzed her still face, her gaze immovable as she saw him struggle on the screen. He watched as one of the most important people he had come to know now came to know about what he had been unable to share fully with anyone. For a moment the cringe raviging his being became dull as a new unknown pain flared with a mixture of something else he didn't recognise nor would be able to put into words.

All he could do was sit quietly next to her shadow.

For a moment, Nephis's concentration became broken as she briefly glanced at the floor.

She looked at the ground before realising and questioning why she had done so as the scene continued to shift before her. Momentarily, she glanced at the shadows cast before the first row, her eyes drifting over them before landing on Rain's

It was completely normal and devoid like the rest. Quiet, empty, hollow as a shadow was.

She felt nothing when looking at it.

But at the same time she possibly did?

Something that felt wrong but too small to realize. Taking one last glance she blinked before tilting her head back up.

Because there was no way for Sunny to kill the Mountain King with his own two hands, he had decided to enlist some help. A human wouldn't be up to the task, so instead, he was planning to use a force of nature. 

'Since I can't do the bastard in myself, let's make gravity do it for me.' 

He was in the middle of thinking over the details of the plan when the young hero's foolish bravado presented an opportunity. Now everything depended on how long the pompous idiot would manage to stay alive. 

"Come with me!" Sunny said as he started running toward the far end of the stone platform, where the heavy wagon was perched dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. 

Shifty and Scholar shared a dubious look, but then followed, perhaps confusing his calmness with confidence, or maybe divine inspiration. After all, it was a widely known fact that crazy people were often favored by the gods. 

Behind them, Hero nimbly ducked under the tyrant's claws, slashing it with the sword. The sharp edge slid ineffectively across the dirty fur, not leaving even a scratch on the creature's flesh. In the next second, the tyrant moved with frightening speed, throwing all four of his hands in the direction of its new, irritating foe. 

But Sunny had no way of knowing. He was running with all his speed, getting closer and closer to the wagon. Once there, he hurriedly looked around, checking if there were any larvae close by, and moved to its rear wheels. 

The wagon was left at the upper end of the stone platform, where it narrowed and turned back into the road. It was turned sideways to block the wind, with its front facing the mountain wall and its back facing the cliff. There were two large wooden wedges placed under the rear wheels to prevent the wagon from rolling backward. Sunny turned to his companions and pointed at the wedges. 

"When I tell you, remove both of them. Then push. Understand?" 

"What? Why?" 

Shifty stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Scholar just looked at the wedges, and then at the tyrant. 

Hero, miraculously, was still alive. He was weaving between the creature's limbs, always just half a second away from being completely eviscerated. From time to time, his sword flashed in the air, but to no avail: Mountain King's fur was too thick, and his skin too tough to be harmed by mundane weapons. There was a hint of apprehension on the young warrior's face. 

All the other soldiers, as far as Sunny could see, were already dead. So he really needed that one to live a little bit longer. 

'Don't die yet!' he thought. 

To Shifty, he simply said: 

"You'll see." 

The next moment, Sunny was running again, trying to follow the chain from the brace where it was affixed to the wagon. The thing he was searching for was hard to notice due to all the bodies, blood and viscera littering the stone platform, but for once, luck was on his side. A short amount of time later, he had found what he needed — the torn end of the chain. 

Finding the nearest set of shackles, complete with a horribly disfigured body of a slave locked in them, Sunny plopped down on his knees and started to fumble with the key. 

There was a muffled scream, and with a sideways glance, he noticed Hero flying through the air, finally caught by one of the tyrant's strikes. Incredibly, the young soldier managed to land on his feet, sliding several meters across the stones. All of his limbs were still in place; there were no terrible wounds on his body, either. Without skipping a beat, Hero rolled forward, picking up his sword from where it fell on the ground, and then rolled once more, this time sideways, narrowly avoiding a heavy stomp from the creature's foot. 

"Rolling?! Who the hell rolls around in this situation?!" 

Without any more time to waste, Sunny finally managed to unlock the shackles. Shaking the dead slave out of them, he then promptly locked them once again, this time around the chain itself — ending up with a makeshift slipknot and a loop. 

Now everything depended on his resolve, hand-to-eye coordination... and luck. 

Turning to Shifty and Scholar, who were still waiting by the wagon, he screamed: 

"Now!" 

Then, picking up a sizable length of chain, Sunny stood up and faced the tyrant. 

Hero spared him half a glance. His eyes lingered on the chain for a moment and then quickly followed it to the wagon. Then, without showing a hint of emotion, the young warrior doubled his efforts, drawing the creature's attention away from Sunny. 

'So he's smart, too? What a scam!' 

Clearing his head of all unnecessary thoughts, Sunny concentrated on the weight of the chain in his hands, the distance between him and the tyrant, and his target. 

Time seemed to slow down a bit. 

'Please, don't miss!' 

Gathering all of his strength, Sunny spun and threw the chain in the air, as though a fisherman casting his net. The loop opened as it flew, closing in on the position of the fight between Hero and the tyrant. 

Sunny's plan was to place the loop on the ground close enough to them that, once one of the tyrant's feet landed in the trap, he could pull on the chain and tighten it around the monster's ankle. 

But his plan... failed spectacularly. 

Which is to say, it was literally a spectacle. 

In the last moment, Mountain King suddenly flinched back, and instead of falling on the ground, the chain loop landed perfectly around its neck. A second later it tightened, acting as an iron noose. 

Sunny froze for a moment, not believing his eyes. And then clenched his fists, holding himself back from triumphantly shaking them in the air. 

'YES!' he screamed inwardly. 

Moments later, the wagon would roll off the cliff, pulling the tyrant down with it. Sunny looked back to make sure, and instantly turned even paler than he usually was. 

Shifty and Scholar did manage to remove the wedges from under the wagon's wheels and were now desperately pushing it to the edge of the road. However, the wagon was rolling slowly... very slowly. Much slower than Sunny had anticipated. 

He turned to the tyrant, panicking. The creature, surprised by the sudden weight pressing down on its neck, was already raising its hands to tear the chain apart. 

Sunny's eyes widened. 

In the next second, Hero crashed into one of the tyrant's legs, throwing it off balance — and buying them some time. Sunny was already running to the wagon, cursing loudly in his mind. Reaching it, he threw himself onto the damp wood alongside Shifty and Scholar, pushing with all the strength left in his rather small, but terribly beaten and enormously exhausted body. 

'Roll! Roll, you creaky piece of shit!' 

The wagon sped up a little, but was still rather slow in reaching the cliff's edge. 

At the same time, the tyrant finally managed to get a hold of the chain tied around its neck, ready to free itself. 

Quick breaths sounded across the rows like ice cracking. Eyes widened in anticipation as other more callous nodded in admiration. Everyone silently cheered, spurring him on as the scene pulled at them, like a starved reader waiting for a Chapter.

"Please brother..." Rain whispered as Ananke mumbled an unspoken prayer beside her. Further down the row, the comrades of his cohort each made their voices known.

"You got this!" Effie yelled

Ling cheering in her lap as he encouragingly pumped his fists in the air. Down the row Jet and Morgan smiled in unceremonious unison while Cassie and Nephis sat rooted to their seats, one of the two's palms gripping the handrests.

Drowned in the encouraging cries of the others, their mouth moved in sync, unconscious of their actions.

"Sunny." they both whispered.

More and more figures began to rise in the back including Beastmaster and Deathsinger without restriction from their sisters. Noctis jumped up without hesitation from below, spinning his popcorn bucket wildly as the kernels flew all over the room.

Even Mordret rose, saying something that drowned in the sea of voices.

It mattered not. As all concentration was on the screen. The colors became their own world as his screams of will and determination filled their heads.

'Come on! Just a little bit more!' 

What followed happened very quickly. The wagon's rear wheels finally slid from the road, hanging over the dark, seemingly bottomless pit beneath. The creature turned, staring expressionlessly at the three slaves with its five milky, dead eyes. The wagon careened, throwing Shifty and Scholar off their feet, and then froze, balanced precariously on its middle axis. 

Sunny was the only one left standing. He cast a last glance at the towering monster, and then slammed his shoulder into the front of the wagon, putting all of his weight behind it. 

The wagon finally lost its balance and rolled over the edge, scraping its underside deafeningly against the jagged rocks. Sunny fell forward and landed on his knees, narrowly saving himself from tumbling down the cliff with it. Turning his head to the tyrant, he gave it a wicked smile. 

Mountain King made a move to lunge at the scrawny slave, but it was already too late. A moment later, the chain on his neck drew tight, and he was yanked back with tremendous force, flying over the edge of the cliff like a rag doll. The creature fell into the darkness silently, as though refusing to believe that it was defeated by a tiny human. 

'Go and die, bastard.' Sunny thought. 

Then he took one deep, ragged breath and dropped to the ground, utterly exhausted. 

'Is this it? Did I pass the trial?' 

He rested on the cold stones, staring at the night sky, and waited for that faintly familiar, but elusive voice to announce his victory. But instead of that, wave after wave of pain that he had earlier chosen to ignore finally started to catch up with his abused body. 

Sunny groaned, feeling hurt all over. The skin on his back, slashed by a slaver's whip and pierced by the bone spikes of a newborn larva, especially, was in agony. He was also starting to shiver, once again consumed by the dreadful cold. 

'I guess not.'

Mouths dropped in confusion, some figures slumping back into their seats. Effie spoke for all of them as her voice reverberated through the room.

"HOW THE HELL IS THAT NOT IT!?"

"I have to agree" Saint Tyris flatly voiced from behind, straightening her hair, "Unfair this trial is, but with every unsurpassable obstacle there should be some development or boon of relative gain."

Down the row Julius nodded.

"This really has to be the most impossible since the Nightmare Spell descended." he echoed in a grave voice. He paused, stroking his beard as his eyes became unreadable.

A moment later he continued in a quieter, confused tone.

"Which is all the more confusing. If he was my student it doesn't make sense how such events weren't recorded somehow, even if we may have forgotten, books don't lie."

"It should be the least of our concerns," a grave voice replied.

Daeron rose. He looked at the screen, his trained mind having already delved into an even more harrowing issue at hand. The other Saints shortly caught on as their gazes also equally darkened.

"We don't know if the beast will return. But the cold is an even more unforgiving predator."

As if answering to his statement the scene shifted with the billowing snow. Sunny's figure shakily grouped up with the remaining survivors including the scholar, the shifty thief and of course....Auro. Fortunately it was clear his pure nature far succeeded the skull's claims as the War zealot extended a hand to the slave, guiding him to the fire with the rest.

They sat, warming their hollow bodies as if their toes and fingers weren't already becoming black from frostbite. It didn't matter.

Such a fleeting grace of warmth was more than enough compared to the terrible rain of muddied blood from the mangled bodies. The scholar and Auro conversed, trying to form a course of action. But Sunny beat them to it as he cut in on their conversation.

"We can't go down." 

All three of them turned to Sunny, surprised to hear his voice. 

Shifty barked a laugh and glanced at the soldier. 

"Don't listen to him, your lordship. This boy is, uh, touched by the gods. He's crazy, is what I'm trying to say." 

Hero frowned, looking at the slaves. 

"The two of you are only alive thanks to this child's bravery. Aren't you ashamed to badmouth him so?" 

Shifty shrugged, showing that he wasn't ashamed at all. The young soldier shook his head. 

"I for one would like to hear his reasoning. Tell me, why can't we go down?" 

Sunny shifted, uncomfortable in the center of everyone's attention. 

"Because the monster isn't dead." 

Those words cut both the participants and the spectators. All they could do was murmur, watching with empty eyes as the figures salvaged what they could and began to ascend the forlorn mountain.

Sunny had survived. This entire being in itself was proof. Yet the more they watched they couldn't help but reject the supposed truth.

Some opened their mouths to say something, only to pause and close them.

Sounds of savoring coffee and popcorn disappeared as all the figures lowered themselves into the seats. Absolute silence overtook the room as the eerily white color of the biting snow seemingly leaked through the screen; creeping across the contrastingly velvet curtains towards them.

All of them could only watch in silence as Sunny's figure continued to ascend, the snow swirling around his battered body.

Only a single ominous peak remained ahead, looming before them all.

The silence was shattered as Cassie, who had been quiet, finally spoke. Her voice echoed in the room, an omen of what was to come.

What they were to witness.

"The Gods and Daemons were both dead. And yet they listened."

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First Chapter of the marathon

Wrap up First Nightmare next Chapter and get onto viewings I am motivated to write

Locked in fr fr

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