Shadow Slave: Rainy Days

The stone chamber Rain sat in was fully silent, except for the occasional sobs that came out of her own mouth. Blood was smeared all over her body and clothes- but it wasn't hers. Three corpses, there were three corpses around here- and all she had killed herself.

She thought that she was strong enough to not let this get to her, but oh was she wrong. A hour had passed since their deaths, but she was still struggling internally, somehow trying to justify her having killed them.

"They were just illusions.", she whispered quietly to herself, her tears and their blood mixing on her face. And yet, her hands trembled, her heart pounded and her brain burned with guilt. This wasn't the first time she had killed someone, but it was definitely the first time she had felt bad about it.

If it were her emotions, or Marias's, she didn't know. But what she knew was that things could've gone differently, that she could've acted in a different way.

"But I was only saving myself, right ? Iris attacked me", she mumbled, her voice trembling slightly.

"And John jumped into my attack. It's not my fault that he died … but Mark, he didn't do anything, just crawled backwards… and yet, I killed him."

***

It took a while, but in the end, Rain had calmed down a little bit, making her able to think normally again. And pretty much instantly she noticed something she hadn't before.

While killing her teammates, her mind was completely overloaded with emotions and dark thoughts, having made her ignore what the spell had whispered into her ear. And that was the reason why she just now had noticed the thing she had obtained.

Rain had gotten a memory. A memory was something the spell rarely gave out to people for killing Nightmare Creatures, or also humans. They could range from being weapons to enchanted items and they could be summoned out of nothingness with just a simple thought. So they were something incredibly useful- every Awakened wanted Memories.

Rain hoped that she would obtain a weapon, but sadly she didn't.

[Hunter's Lure: A professionally crafted lure in the form of a small fish. It once belonged to a young woman, who explored the mysteries of the ocean.]

'Oh wow … I always called Iris useless, but now she's the reason that I got a Memory. How ironic.'

Her first Memory turned out to actually be pretty useful. A lure had multiple ways of being used after all. She could theoretically use it to either distract a monster and attack it from behind, or distract it and quietly go somewhere without it noticing.

'This will certainly be useful against that bastard'

Rain dismissed the runes and stood up, turning towards the passage which lead towards the temple and the Nightmare Creature.

'I don't know how but I will kill that bastard. I can't afford to die now."

Rain's determination burned up as she walked away from the blood reeking stone chambers, making her way to what would be her death or awakening. The silence and darkness seemed oppressive, but maybe that was also just the momentary reprieve she needed with her mental state being like how it was right now.

***

She walked a few hours through the long tunnel, making up plans on what to so against the creature and coping with her actions while doing so.

And then, she had finally seen the temple and beast again. To her surprise, the Beast hadn't moved much, still continuing to stare at the large building.

'Yeah, something is definitely wrong with the temple. Why didn't that bastard even move an inch ?'

Rain took a few steps forward, already having summoned the Memory she obtained from killing Iris.

'Just because it didn't move doesn't mean that I should get careless.'

She quickly stepped inside the chamber and hid behind a rock, the creature thankfully not having noticed her. She then exhaled, trying to calm her thoughts and heart down. Even though she really tried, her pulse still quickened, as the weight of her situation settled down onto her. One wrong move and she would be dead.

The [Hunter's Lure], already starting to release some stench, didn't allow her to wait any moment longer, so Rain decided to throw it far away.

A minute passed, then another, before the Creature finally noticed. This was Rain's plan, she wanted to distract the Creature to then do two things. She remembered, that one of its eyes was already damaged, so Rain had the idea to ram the knife deeper and maybe hit its brain. If it worked, and the creature died, she would've conquered the Nightmare. If it didn't, she would run into the temple and gamble that there was something, anything that could help her.

As the grotesque Creature made its way towards the lure, Rain couldn't contain her grin out of nervousness and primal fear. She watched carefully, not daring to make a singular sound. And when the creature finally leaned down to close the distance between it and the lure, Rain ran as quickly as she could.

Her legs felt heavy and her vision blurred, her mind focused on only one thing and one thing alone- killing that bastard. The creature's massive form shifted because of the sounds Rain created, but it wasn't fast enough.

Rain jumped onto one rock, before instantly jumping off of it and landing on the large head of the Creature. She then pulled the same knife out she killed her teammates with, before thrusting it inside the damaged eye of the creature.

The sea monster's scream tore through the chamber like a thunderstorm, but Rain continued by pulling the knife out and ramming it inside once more, this time deeper than before, but sadly the creature did not die.

It roared once more and stood up, making Rain fall off.

'Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. Why is it so sturdy !?'

Her stabs weren't completely for nothing though, since the pain in its eye made it not focus on Rain for a while, giving her the time to act on her second plan.

'Please .. if there is anyone, please let there be something in the Temple. I can't die- I need to live.'

Rain stumbled a few times, the creature thankfully still stunned because of the agonizing pain. She had only a few second- no, just a singular one, before the Creature would turn its attention back onto her.

Her heart pounded faster than it ever did before, Rain never having been this close to death in any time of her life. She ran, she sprinted and she dashed, just to reach one building, the temple in front of her.

As she entered, her eyes instantly and rapidly scanned the insides, seeing only and every rock, every broken lamp and every wall, but nothing that could help her.

And in the next second her heart dropped, as she felt something, something large, hit het back. It was the creature, who had run into her back, throwing her forward. She got smashed against the wall, feeling every bone in her body break. She spat out blood and felt how one of her eyes got pierced by a stone because of the impact.

But she wasn't the only one who took damage from the impact, the temple's walls did too. They were already old, making them easily breakable., which in the end made the whole building crumble, before crashing down onto the monster, but also her.

A large part of the ceiling landed on top of them, burying both of them under it. Thankfully, the creature took most of it, meaning that Rain just barely survived, but she also already felt her consciousness wearing thin.

'Someone … ple-please … Help me. I don't want to die yet.'

And after her thoughts, everything suddenly turned into a mix of weird gleamy and light colors.

[You have reached a forgotten and sealed temple.]

[The remnant powers of the forgotten God hear your prayers.]

[Your soul bears the mark of divinity.]

[Dream God stirs in his eternal slumber.]

[He sends a blessing to you from his deep sleep.]

[You have received an Attribute.]

[The Dream God is disgusted by your connection with the Strom God.]

[Your Attribute Terranaut has been destroyed.]

In front of her widened eyes, the light colors suddenly transformed into every kind of shape she could imagine. Hammers, cannonballs, swords, pencils and everything there was. And all the shapes had one target, the Nightmare beast.

They descended onto it like a god's judgement, destroying its body till not even an atom was left. The Nightmare Creature just had no way to resist the power of a god.

While looking at the spectacle, her head started to throb more, blood was flowing out of it after all. But before she could die, everything went dark, and she heard the voice of the spell once more.

[You have slain an awakened Devil, Snark.]

[Wake up, Rain! Your Nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal…]