Shadow Slave: Immortal Ice

From what Andromeda had told them, her Nightmare seemed something akin to a children's fairytale, though with its own gruesome twists, of course. Can't have anything from the Spell without that.

Her Trial had started off fairly normal. She found herself in the body of a village girl, seemingly ordinary on the surface, except for one thing. She possessed a beautiful silver mirror, engraved with ancient symbols, which transported her into a new world each night.

The village itself was pretty mundane, with no signs of Awakened or Nightmare Creatures. The people there were happy and nearly flawless. Not once did she see them argue or cause any kind of scene, always cheerful and kind.

Her focus went back to the Mirror. Andromeda shared with Eirwen and Gale that while inside the Mirror, she had to fight against hordes of Nightmare Creatures. They were all Dormant Beasts, but their sheer numbers -hundreds of them- made survival hard.

"The first time I fell asleep, I nearly died when a group of giant insects jumped on me," she whispered, her voice quiet. "I couldn't do anything… But then the strange silver mirror appeared beside me. It just... exploded, vaporizing all of them."

At that point, Gale's interest was piqued.

On her first night, the mirror had done everything for her, destroying all her enemies and protecting her. She only had to will it. Eirwen could tell by the way Gale's expression had shifted that he was already overanalyzing every single detail of her Nightmare, trying to piece together every little detail to create a bigger picture.

"When one night I couldn't finish off all the monsters, I noticed one of the villagers had died. I didn't think much of it at the time," she continued.

"But then, a few nights later, three Nightmare Creatures remained when the dream ended. When I woke up, three villagers were dead."

Before she could continue, Gale raised a finger. "Question—how many monsters were there?"

Andromeda answered briefly, "Around 270. There were always about 270, but the more Nightmare Creatures survived, the fewer there were the next night."

'How many Nightmare Creatures did she kill, goddamn?! Dormant Beasts or not, they were still Nightmare Creatures. One man, no matter how strong, couldn't defeat 270 weaker men on his own. That mirror helping her had to be insanely powerful.' Eirwen thought.

"I suppose it were the same Nightmare Creatures each night?" Gale asked further, but Andromeda only shook her head.

"How many villagers were there?"

"I don't know for sure, I never really went out of the house I lived in…" Andromeda whispered apologetically.

Gale chuckled and waved his hand, "Don't worry, just keep going."

She nodded and turned her focus back on recalling everything that happened.

"After each night, I noticed that the mirror that helped me in those dreams started to crack. But that didn't really matter because…" She paused, staring into space as if recalling something strange.

"Because last thing I remember before the Trial ended was a group of giant grey hounds running out from behind me and massacring every Nightmare Creature. It was so weird that I didn't even have time to be scared, haha," she chuckled awkwardly.

Gale's brow shot up while Eirwen understood exactly what had happened.

"They devoured them all while the forest -where I always battled them- started to burn and crumble. The space around me began to crack and shatter, like a mirror. After that, my Nightmare ended," she shrugged.

'I expected Leviathan to strike a deal with Andromeda,' Eirwen thought, 'Maybe they did and she just isn't telling us. It's not like I'll tell everything that happened with me either, I'm not stupid.'

Just as he thought that, Gale clapped his hands together and looked at Eirwen. "Now you, my friend"

Eirwen rolled his eyes at his teacher and leaned back leisurely. "I woke up in some weird castle, fought my way through, and stopped a weird ritual."

His teacher looked at him expressionlessly, as if saying, Stop messing around.

That only made Eirwen's brow twitch in annoyance, but he still listened.

Coughing into his hand, he began to share with Gale and Andromeda what happened, leaving out the things they weren't supposed to know, of course.

First things first, he described the castle and his surroundings, what his theories on it were, and how it was structured.

Gale nodded along, asking for details and adding to Eirwen's assumptions. He had to give it to his teacher, he was smart, even though he had strange ways of describing and explaining things.

Where Gale truly showed his intelligence was in analysis. From what he had told Eirwen, it was because his thoughts were so "loud and fast" that he could process many details in an instant. That's why he always spoke so loudly—his thoughts were too overwhelming and loud for him to understand himself. Yet, despite this, understanding others was never an issue for him.

'This idiot can't explain for shit,' was what Eirwen thought when he listened to him.

--

When Eirwen came to the point where he had defeated the infant Terror Bird, Gale was clearly surprised. "You defeated an Awakened Beast?! In your first Nightmare?!" he exclaimed. "Wow, I'm speechless," he added, even though it was clear he was anything but speechless.

For the next five minutes, Gale gave Eirwen pointers on what he could have done better, which only irritated him further.

Andromeda sighed quietly as he kept talking, clearly with no intention of stopping.

"When fighting a bigger enemy, it is always important to take their bigger reach into consid-"

He was suddenly cut off as a pillow hit him square in the face. It was launched by Andromeda, who was also starting to get annoyed with Gale.

Eirwen couldn't help but laugh before continuing, "Anyway, after that, I met this division of Knights, and they helped me throughout the Trial. That's when I also learned I was in the body of a prince, which partially explained why I was so strong."

When Gale opened his mouth to say something again, Eirwen stood up and walked towards the grand piano that stood alone in the middle of the gigantic room.

Most of the rooms here were too big, making half of them look fairly empty, like the one they were in right now. It had the grand piano in the centre, one long beige sofa, and three white, soft chairs.

A snowy-white, thick carpet covered the gold-colored floor underneath the furniture.

"After that, everything happened fast and chaotic," he said, sitting down on the piano bench. "We fought our way through, fighting both humans and Nightmare Creatures." His fingers pressed gently against the keys, playing a slow and calm melody.

"When I finally reached the throne room, all of the knights had already died, and I was left alone," he continued, his fingers pressing harder against the keys, the melody growing more intense.

"In the throne room, the cultists were holding a grand ritual, which I stopped by getting rid of all of them. That's it." He finished, his voice impatient as the final note rang out, he clearly was bored of this tale-telling. But he started playing another melody, one more chaotic and fast.

Gale rolled his eyes at his student's tone, knowing that he didn't want to talk about it any longer.

"You're so boring," he mumbled under his breath, and even that mumble was still loud enough for the room to hear.

Eirwen's brow twitched, but he kept on playing.

"Alright kids, up with you two. We are going out, I wanna see what you guys can do now. I'm not a villain, so I won't ask any further questions about your Trials," he said, before looking over at Andromeda and mumbling, "We can't have this dude explode again."

Andromeda chuckled quietly.

Eirwen slammed his right thumb onto a key, causing a sharp, loud note to echo through the room.

---

"Andromeda, you start again. I know I'll need more time with Eirwen, so let's be done with you quickly so I can concentrate on the brat," Gale said, standing next to Eirwen.

Eirwen scoffed and crossed his arms, "I can hear you."

Andromeda nodded and closed her eyes, focusing on something inside her soul.

Eirwen would be lying if he said he wasn't slightly excited. After all, Leviathan himself had said she would be a strong Dreamer, and that meant something.

His thoughts were interrupted when a silver mirror the size of her head manifested in the air next to her.

"You're supposed to show us your Aspect, not a Memory," Eirwen said, arching a brow.

Andromeda looked up at him, confused, her gaze drifting downward to the cut grass beneath her feet. "This is my Aspect though…"

"Eh…" Eirwen was startled for a moment. He cleared his throat and gestured for her to continue with the demonstration.

She nodded in response and willed the mirror to float around her, reflecting everything. "This is Aegis Mirror, the manifestation of my Aspect. It can absorb and redirect attacks. When I absorb enough energy, I have to let it out. Either in the form of a shield or a blast. Being able to control the mirror is my Aspect Ability…" She mumbled, her fingers rubbing together awkwardly.

Both Gale and Eirwen nodded, considering how well-rounded that Aspect actually was. "If we teach you how to use a weapon, you'll be the nightmare of any caster," Gale mused, nodding as he thought about how best to utilize the mirror. "How far can you send it?" He asked as he stepped forward and started to walk around her.

Andromeda shrugged, eyeing the Master.

Eirwen knew exactly what Gale was doing, he was building an encyclopaedia inside his head, one that would contain every single detail about her Aspect. For that, Gale needed to ask various questions and perform a few tests.

So when he was to her right, he blurred forward, utilizing his monstrous, almost instantaneous speed.

Andromeda couldn't even react in time as Gale's hand shot forward, aiming to tear through her neck.

Clang

The mirror appeared right in front of Gale's hand, absorbing every ounce of force and energy behind his attack, even the shockwave.

Andromeda was startled, stumbling back from horror and fear, her eyes wide as she looked up at Gale.

Eirwen looked at the whole scene unfolding expressionlessly, already used to Gale's psychopathic tests.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Gale rolled his eyes. "Do you seriously think I would kill you?"

Her eyes were still wide in fear as she tried to calm down and stand up weakly. Her one hand was clutching her neck.

Before Gale could offer an apology, the mirror vibrated and began to glow.

Eirwen's expression shifted to one of confusion and interest as his lips curled into a smile, knowing exactly what would happen next.

The space around the mirror seemed to collapse inward before erupting in a monstrous explosion right in front of Gale.

Eirwen could see his teacher's eyes widen in shock as he met the explosion head-on, while Andromeda's gaze clearly shifted to one of anger.