"What the f*** does this guy want from me now?"
Sunless had just entered the office he'd been asked to go to. Before him, stood none other than William, Nephis's brother. For some reason it seemed he had asked to meet him in person.
William blinked, slightly shooking his head in confusion by what Sunny had just said.
"Well! It's nice to meet you too, Sleeper Sunless!" He said.
"Oh!" Sunny, embarassed, hissed while clenching his teeth. "I said it out aloud, aren't I?"
"Yep!" William Nodded.
Sunny turned his head to the left, avoiding his gaze.
'That's was awkward!'
"That wasn't very polite of you Sleeper Sunless. Anyway!" William said clapping his hands to get back Sunny's attention who was now avoiding his gaze. "I'm not here to waste your time or mine, so let's avoid the pleasantries and get straight to the point! My name is William and i am here to ask you: are you friends with my sister Nephis, by any chance?"
Sunless turned to him, "Yes."
William nodded, "Good! Can I ask you to pass to her some Memories for me? Clearly didn't mention my name to her; that stubborn girl and I haven't been getting along very well lately."
"Yes, you can. But why me? Actually! How do you know that Nephis and I are friends?"
William ran a hand over the back of his neck, thinking to his answer.
"I stopped by last night to try again to convince her to skip the Solstice with the help of a Saint I know, but then I saw her at dinner at the cafeteria with you and two other girls. I could have asked one of them to help me, but..."
William fell silent; Sunny could sense a hint of fear from his shadow.
"Let's just say that you were more approachable."
Sunny blinked twice, confused. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Does it matter?" Said William, "Besides, make me this favor and I will pass over your unpoliteness from before."
Sunny nodded, not interested to pry any further.
Without thinking twice, he took William's hand to receive the Memories to pass to Nephis.
[You have received a Memory]
[You have received a Memory]
...
Received the Memories, Sunny retreated his hand, but before he could do that, William suddenly tightened the grip, pulling him closer enough to whisper in his ear.
"I'll let you know, Sleeper Sunless! I just used an ability of mine on you to make sure that you will not have the silly idea to keep the Memories for yourself." He said to him right in his ear with a threatening tone.
Hearing this, Sunny instantly paled and following his instinct looked at his runes.
***
Name: Sunless
True Name: Lost from Light
Attributes: [Foreign], [Shadow Weave], [essence of divinity], [Shadowspawn], [the Heart], [the Death], [Oath of the Fire].
[Oath of the Fire] attribute description: "You are under the Oath of First Order, keep your word or you'll burn with the flames of your sins."
***
'DAMNATION! When did he pull out this crap!?'
Seeing that he understood, William finally released his hand.
Sunny's blood ran cold, when had William putting him under his oath? When had he shaken his hand?
And what were the conditions?
Just give Nephis the Memories or also hide her brother's name?
If both, how in the Spell name should he do with his flaw ?
He had been too reckless.
'Crap! Crap! Crap!'
Fearing the consequences, without thinking about it, he asked him: "It's too late to tell you that my flaw will not allow me to hide your request from her?"
William waved and hand to him, "Just give her the Memories, don't think about it! The Oath will be gone once you have done this. Knowing her, she'll first be offended, then end up accepting them. Eventually! Tell her that I forced you, so she won't take it out on you."
Sunny let out a breath of relief.
Then he trembled.
Because in that moment, driven by fear, he had just made a mistake no awakened should ever have made, especially him.
He had just openly revel him his flaw.
How could he make such a reckless mistake? It's not like him!
William smiled, now that he knows his flaw, he decided to ask him: "So! You are compelled to speak, eh? While we're at it, tell me: what did Neph said to you?"
'DAMN ME!'
Hearing William's question, Sunny ran away toward the door before his flaw forced him to answer.
But before he could move away, William grabbed his shoulder to stop him, he had the smile of an hunter who had just caught a prey.
Sunny turned to him, unable to resist the pain caused by his flaw anymore, he answered: "SHE TELL ME ABOUT HER GOAL!"
Free from the pain, he could finally breath again.
'Damn it all! Why did I reveal my flaw to him? Now, What am I supposed to do!?'
Clearly it wasn't intentional, but Sunny, seeing the Oath among his Attributes, had to make sure that he didn't break it by revealing William's name to his sister.
Burning alive wasn't on his to-do list before die.
Again!
Sunny remembered the recommendations Jet had given him earlier before schedule him in the Academy.
'I'm sorry darling! I promise you, i will be a better husband from now on.'
He really wanted to cry!
Again, how in the Spell could he make such a mistake!?
Fortunately, his flaw did not risk making him a slave to anyone who passes by like the original.
William, hearing his response, let go of Sunny and rubbed a hand over his face, exhaling in exasperation.
Then he spoke to Sunny again.
"I'm sorry!"
Sunny looked at him, surprised; he didn't expect an excuse. William continued:
"I'm sorry for just taking advantage of your flaw and forcing you to do this other thing for me. I feel guilty now, but please, try to understand me! My sister is a real hot head, I love her, that's sure! She is always my little sister after all. But...
Often she lack of the sense of self-preservation. And then, I wanted to make sure that she wasn't involving you or others in her crazy "crusade", she is not very good at making friends, you know? Especially with her poor social skills.
Well! Apparently my concerns were well founded."
Sunny was really surprised, William wasn't feign his displeasure towards him, he could sense that from his shadow.
William wasn't lying.
"No, don't worry! I can overlook it. I can understand not trusting a stranger, and besides... as long as I keep my word, nothing should happen me, right?" Asked Sunny.
"Yes, my Oaths can only have one condition each, and I can only set one for person. Once that condition is met, the Oath will disappear. On yours, I made it a condition that you deliver the Memories to my sister before the Solstice. I'm sorry for troubling you." William lowered his head slightly and placed a hand on the chest in a chivalrous manner to apologize.
Then, unexpectedly to Sunny, he added: "My flaw is called Hands of Ruin, and it says: 'your hands cannot create'."
"What?"
As if he had not hear him, William continued: "Basically, everything I make with my hands, whether it be a man-made work, cooking or even just a simple drawing, will be ruined as soon as I have done it."
"Why are you tell me your flaw?" Asked him Sunny.
William raised his head and looked at him, "Because you just told me yours, so we are even now!"
Sunny blinked, then smiled slightly. His sincerity had touched him, Sunny had formed a completely different opinion about William from eavesdropping his conversation with Nephis.
"At this point, I should apologize too. After all, I am not be very polite before."
This time William waved at him, "No! No! Even your reaction from before was understandable."
Then he smiled at him smugly.
"Although you had been an asshole, but understanable."
"Hey!"
Saying this, the two of them could not help but start laughing.
"So! What do you want to do?" Asked then William to him.
"Are you referring to Nephis's dream?" Said Sunnny.
William nodded.
"I think that I want to help her, as the gentleman that I am, I can't help but rush to the aid of any girl who needs a hand." Said Sunny
William raised an eyebrow to him, he didn't expect such answer.
"Are you sure? She won't make your life easy."
"I'm sure." Sunny nodded.
William just accepted his answer, even if a little sad for him, he didn't want to force him to renounce.
Sunless stopped to chat with William for a while and the two immediately become friends. During the chat, it turns out that when William was a child, he wished to become an artist; bring joy to the people with his works.
Unfortunately, his dreams broke after he received his flaw.
Despite the apparences, he was not a very passionate for battles, although he wasn't weak either. A Master is always a Master.
Mmh!
A liar who couldn't lie.
An artist whose wings were clipped before he could even take flight.
An extroverted girl who became antisocial.
The flaws really sucks!
In a matter of minutes, they went from strangers to close friends.
William was really a Chill guy.
Why did his sister have to treat him so bad?
"Wait! Let me get this straight! You two met, the princess of Valor took your hand and you fell to the ground just like this?" Asked Sunny at some point looking at him.
"Yeah! That was her flaw. From that moment on I was scared to death from her. I don't know what was thinking my father when he tried to betrothe me with that damned monster." Answered William while taking a sip from his coffee.
Since their chat was taking a while, they took some drinks.
They were still in the office's room, now sit on a table next to each other.
"Well! Damn! So if Morgan is out of the question for you, do you mind if I try with her?" Said Sunny with a hint of sarcasm, even if he was actually being serious.
William turned to him, chocking on his drink, impressed even. "Cough! Cough! Go ahead! But I'll have you know that her last five suitors, are said to have walked away just by meeting her gaze, suit yourself!"
He paused for a moment, then added:
"Although that wasn't the reason I got dumped."
Sunny didn't hide the fact that Nephis told the three of them about their childhood. Fortunately, William was not offended about it.
"If you don't mind, can you please tell me how it gone really?" Asked Sunny carefully.
William took another sip from his drink, without moving his gaze.
"She didn't tell you the whole truth, didn't she?"
Sunny shook his head, finally he have the confirmation that Nephis hadn't tell them the truth, or at least not the whole story.
"She said the Valor Clan elders didn't want their princess to marry the scion of a declining Clan. Am I wrong?" Asked Sunny.
William put down his cup and crossed his fingers.
"Partly! As for what Neph told you... Yes, our father is a real asshole and our elders never accepted him because he wasn't of noble blood. Yes, he went away and left us to raise ourselves without telling us anything. But no, there are other reasons why my engagement was dissolved and our Clan fell into disrepair."
'I knew it!'
Sunny clenched his fist triumphantly, hiding it from William.
Nothing is unseen from the Shadows!
"One of the reason why my engagement was broken off is because after we shake hands and Morgan sent me falling cring to the ground with a broken hand, her father judge me weak and unworty of her. So, he demanded to broke our engagement on the spot, claiming that only someone strong enough to withstand her flaw is worth of her."
'One of the reason, eh? I wonder what the others are.'
"As for my Clan...
A ringing interrupted him.
William pulled a communicator out of his pocket; a class-three Gate was about to open a few kilometers away from the Academy.
As a Master, he couldn't refuse the call.
"Well! I suppose that's a conversation for another time my friend." Said William as he stood up and finished his drink in one gulp.
"No, Wait! If you're really my friend, you can't do this to me! You can't leave me hanging up like this!"
He was sooo close to the truth!
Why did the answers have to be taken away from him like this?
William laughed a bit, "Sorry Sunny, work's calling!"
Sunny stood up and shook William's hand while he patted him affectionately on the shoulder.
"I don't think I'll be able to return to the Academy before the Winter Solstice, so let's do that! I'll tell you everything once you're back from the Dream Realm." William said holding his shoulder.
He makes it easy! It'll take at least one year before Sunny can get out of that hellhole.
Sunny sighed: "Argh! Fine! But don't you dare go back on your word!!!"
He would have preferred the gate issue to solve by itself to get his answers, but nothing is so easy.
"Don't worry, my friend! Even if I don't have an Oath binding me, I'll do it anyway. In the meantime, don't you dare go hollow!"
Sunny laughed.
"Sure! There are too many pretty girls in this world to die just like this."
William raised a eyebrow to him, suspicious. "Tell me! Do you perhaps have an idea about my sister too?"
Sunny smiled at him like an idiot.
"Mmm! Why not? In exchange, you can have an idea about the mine."
With this final exchange, the two finally said goodbye, no longer as strangers but as friends.