Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Seele’s(?) eyes opened. Gazing at the lines that spoke of death, she questioned her identity.

Was she Seele? Or was she Veliona?

She wasn’t sure... but there was something she needed to do.

Rising from the floor, she noticed Sunny’s Shadow standing protectively over her. Ignoring it, she walked through the halls as the stone knight followed her, the Moonlight Shard clenched within her hands.

At some point, she saw a mass of dancing flames. Near it was Sunny and Bronya.

As she looked closer at the stumbling ball of fire, she saw crimson lines that intersected with each other in a web of misfortune. She saw a glowing point where they coagulated, her eyes naturally drawn to it.

Without hesitation, she used her Aspect to instantly appear atop the mass of fire, the flames not burning her whatsoever. She stabbed down, penetrating the point. A surge of energy exited her soul, her body starting to feel drastically weaker.

[You have recieved an Aspect Legacy, Nexus of Causation.]

***

There were a maelstrom of oddities that were left behind after defeating the Ascended... Fallen Terror.

Unless Sunny saw it wrong, Seele should have gotten the last hit on the Architect of Lost Preservation. As such, he shouldn’t have gained any Shadow Fragments, nor should he have recieved a Memory for it’s death. The only possible reasons he could think of would be if it had burned to death before Seele attacked it, or if the dagger didn’t pierce deep enough. In the second scenario, it would mean that Seele had attacked it too early, as it’s death would still be the result of burning. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

However, that shouldn’t have applied to her attacks. Seele’s Aspect made her attacks absolute, which should have overwritten the incineration of the wraith.

Sunny couldn’t tell who was in control of her body, as her eyes were currently a pair of purple and red. Narrowing his eyes, he wondered:

’Are they sharing control?’

That... would make some sense. After all, the illusory butterflies were both violet and crimson as well, which wouldn’t be possible if only one of them was in control.

She suddenly let go of his hand, clutching her head as she groaned.

Sunny took a step away, watching for a few moments. Her head rose, revealing a pair of violet eyes.

’So it is Seele...’

At least it was now. Who knew who or what she was a few seconds ago?

She blinked, looking at the cautious expressions of Sunny and Bronya in confusion. She then turned to where the Architect of Lost Preservation had been.

"...Is it dead?"

Frowning, Sunny simply nodded.

"Yeah, it is. Oh, but it wasn’t an Ascended Terror, but a Fallen Terror instead."

That was something else he found strange. The creature was different from the rest of the Fargmentum’s spawn, having the Rank of a Nightmare Creature rather than a human.

Physically speaking, the Fallen Terror was much more horrific than any Fragmentum monster had any right to be. Even the Doomsday Beast — an Ascended Titan — was majestic in design. Sunny almost thought a Nightmare Gate had opened, bringing abominations from the Dream Realm to the Waking World.

Of course, if that was really the case, then there would be hordes of atrocious horrors instead of a singular Fallen Terror.

Nightmare Gates were rifts in space that correlated to a Seed of the same name. When the Nightmare Gate opens, abominations from the Dream Realm would enter the world, wreaking havoc as they attempted to consume human souls — especially the souls of Awakened, Masters, and Saints.

There was no physical way to enter the rift. If an Awakened were to fall asleep near the Gate, then they would find themselves in an unexplored corner of the Dream Realm. From there, they would need to find a Citadel or a Seed of Nightmare in order to escape.

The strength of the creatures within the Gate was related to the Nightmare Seed it was connected to. For example, a Seed containing a Second Nightmare would open a Category Two Gate. A Category One Gate would appear when an Aspirant fails their First Nightmare, as they would transform into the singular Nightmare Creature within it — bringing the abomination into the real world.

If Sunny had died within his First Nightmare, the Mountain King would have incarnated into his body. An Awakened Terror would suddenly appear in the middle of a park in the outskirts, which would probably bring the death of everyone within a few miles. In fact, since there wasn’t any Awakened on Earth — at least, none that he knew of — then the planet might have been overrun by the Mountain King’s Larva.

Sunny resisted the urge to laugh. Who would have thought that the fate of an entire planet hinged on the survival of a malnourished thirteen-year-old boy as he faced a nigh-impossible trial?

Anyways, If a Seed of Nightmare isn’t found and destroyed before it matures, a Gate from the Dream Realm is opened and a horde of Nightmare Creatures is unleased into the real world. To destroy the Seed, any number of Awakened can enter the Nightmare and attempt to conquer it.

Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that the duty of all Awakened is to enter the Dream Realm, seek out maturing Nightmares, and close them before any harm befalls the real world.

Not that Sunny had any sense of duty.

The real benefit in challenging the Nightmares was an increase in Rank, more information on the Dream Realm’s history, and the obtainment of Memories, Echoes, and plenty of secrets that would be impossible to obtain during the modern era.

Nightmare Gates were the only way that Nightmare Creatures should be able to enter the Waking World. As such, there should have been an onslaught of abominations flooding Belobog — enough that it would be extremely difficult for the Awakened present to contain them.

Not only that, but Sunny would have felt the Call of the Nightmare by now, urging him to sleep so he could enter the Dream Realm. Although he was very tired, he didn’t feel any sort of supernatural compulsion.

Which meant that the Architect of Lost Preservation hadn’t gotten here through conventional means.

Seele tilted her head, a look of understanding appearing on her face.

"I guess that makes sense. It didn’t look like this the last time I saw it..."

He blinked at her words. It seemed like she had very vital information when it came to the truth behind the Architect. Unfortunately, he was starting to run out of Essence. Constantly circulating it wasn’t very conservative after all.

Sighing, Sunny said:

"You can tell me all about it when I wake up. Right now though..."

Sunny walked over to Bronya, an awkward smile on his face.

"Could you catch me? I don’t really want to fall asleep in rubble..."

He fell forward, his eyes closing as he passed out.

***

Seele watched in confusion as Bronya clumsily caught the falling Sunny. It seemed that he had fallen asleep, if the way he was drooling on Bronya’s shoulder was any indication.

The Overworlder sighed.

"The battle must have put plenty of strain on him. We’re lucky he didn’t pass out until after we defeated it... otherwise, we might not have been able to beat it."

Seele scoffed.

"Please, you don’t think I could do it? I could have killed it in my sleep!"

Bronya stared at her for a moment, before coughing into her fist.

"...Yes, of course you could."

Convinced that Bronya genuinely believed her, Seele crossed her arms as she turned to the entrance.

"Should be all clear now. Let’s poke around. The kids at the orphanage were always getting into scraps when we played out here. There should be some stuff for cuts and bruises around here... I just hope the monster didn’t get to them."

Seele and Bronya exited the orphanage, the latter awkwardly dragging the unconscious Sunny along with her.

The area was back to it’s usual size, the fog having disappeared at some point. Bronya looked around, her eyes staring at her surroundings in confusion.

"...It wasn’t my imagination."

Seele turned to her in confusion.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Bronya explained:

"This building, this playground equipment... I’ve seen it all before."

Seele furrowed her brows, wondering if she had lost her mind.

"What? Come on, the overground and underground have been sealed off from each other for over ten years. It would’ve been news if a Silvermane Guard had come down here, let alone an Overworld princess."

Seele paused.

"Wait, unless, before that..."

Bronya nodded.

"...Yes, it’s a possibility. That would explain why my memory of it is so blurry. Come on, I need to look around a bit more before I can be sure..."

And so, despite the fact that there were injured people who needed their assistance, the three of them — well, two of them — indulged in the peace that was left behind after facing the wraith.

***

"What’s up here? Some kind of toy?"

At Bronya’s question, Seele simply nodded.

"Yep. You pick, red or blue?"

"Hm... blue."

With that, Seele leaped onto the top of the toy slide, grabbing a blue figurine before dropping back down.

Getting a closer look at the figurine, Bronya found that the design of it resembled a kid-friendly Nightmare Creature. It looked more silly than horrific.

Seele turned it around, her eyes locking onto a strange mark where the creature’s neck was.

"Ha! Look at this. After over ten years, the teeth marks are still here."

...Did she really want to know?

"Teeth marks?"

Maybe she did.

"Alright, well... this one time, a big kid was trying to steal this toy from me. I couldn’t outwrestle him for it, so I just bit down hard and hung on for dear life."

Seele shared her story with a smug expression on her face, as if she had said something someone should be proud of.

Bronya looked at her with pity, before mumbling towards the unconscious Sunny.

"...How boorish."

***

"This swing is covered in dust... Hey, don’t sit on it! It’s filthy!"

Ignoring her very reasonable concerns, Seele sat down on the swing.

"Ah, it sure brings back memories... I still remember one time I swung super high, and everyone was scared I would fly off."

A blank expression appeared on Bronya’s face, as she mentally lampooned:

’...Who knew swinging could be so intense?’

Seele stared upwards towards the plates that held up the Overworld.

"At the time, I wanted to swing myself into the sky and fly up to the Overworld."

Bronya shook her head in disbelief.

"So reckless... You’re lucky to have lived till now."

Seele shrugged in response.

"Hmph, aren’t we all, though?"

...This was one of the rare moments where Bronya found herself agreeing with the Underworlder.

***

Having left Sunny to lay down on the slide, Bronya watched as Seele dug into a crate, pulling out medical equipment out of it.

"Great, and it’s barely damaged! Nat wouldn’t have expected her old supplies from years ago to have stayed in such good condition."

Looking through them with her, Bronya added:

"You should still check the expiration date for things like rubbing alcohol. If it’s expired, it won’t be effective."

Seele nodded.

"Hm, true. Let me check a few bottles."

She suddenly paused, pulling out a strange object.

"...Huh? What’s this?"

Curiously looking at the object in Seele’s grasp, Bronya froze.

It was a simple snow glove, one that showed a hawk chasing a white rabbit.

However, something about it scratched the back of Bronya’s mind.

"This is... something from when I was a child."

Seele looked at the snow globe skeptically.

"Are you sure...?"

Bronya looked back at the orphanage, her breath hitching as she saw faint, overlapping images.

"I—I used to live here... B—Before the Architects took me away, before Madam Cocolia adopted me... I used to live here! I’m... an undergrounder."

A perplexed look appeared on Seele’s face as she walked up to her.

"You’re... an undergrounder? Wait a minute... you’re saying that Cocolia, the Supreme Guardian, adopted you?"

Bronya nodded, her body shaking somewhat.

"Yes. I’m the successor chosen by the Architects. In the future, I will become the guardian who leads Belobog. Why... Why didn’t I remember this until now? My childhood memories are so blurry..."

Seele went silent, still befuddled by everything.

"Wait, I really don’t get it. Could you... you know, explain everything?"