Immersed In The Shadows

1

? Pov

There are many things I'm not well versed in. Things such as fighting, healing, and battle tactics, just to name a few. Death was also something I wasn't well versed in since I was pretty sure that once you died, you were supposed to stay dead. Alas, I was proven wrong when after my human death, I awoke as a 'Shadow Papryri', though I man as well be a 'Shadow Sans' with how short I am.

It was, stange, to say the least. It was confusing as well, especially when you believed to be dead. However, I adapted to my new situation pretty quickly. It was almost immediately obvious that I wasn't a good fighter, so I was stationed inside the castle to clean up around the place.

It wasn't hard to adapt, especially when I wasn't paid much attention to. I was told I would be stationed at the castle by Nightmare, and then that was the last time I was spoken to by him. After that, another Shadow Papyri ended up as my 'Boss' and would give me the tasks of the day. Once said tasks were done, we were done for the day unless called.

Most of the Shadow Papyri kept themselves busy with other chores. However, I was... different. Instead of finding more work to do, I played around with my shadow magic, getting better at using them. I never had magic in my last life, so I was curious, and I got better at using them every day.

For the longest time, that's how things went. Some Shadow Papyri came and went, some being transferred to the Battle Papyri section, or being killed off when Nightmare had a fit of sorts or being killed because of being 'traitors'. None of it envolving me at all since I stuck to myself and my shadows. So my life went on rather peacefully, undisturbed, so to say.

Then... then my little routine was disturbed. The whole mansion was. How? Well, one day, Nightmare went out and came back with someone new. The new guy, Killer, was... something. He had black liquid, liquid hatred, I think, dripping from his sockets and a target for a soul. He didn't have real emotions but pretended he did, which was... concerning.

I took a sort of... interest in the newbie. We were told to leave him alone and let him fend for himself, but I... I just didn't do that. I started to make him his meals, since he needed food and could go days without eating. I would clean up his room when he wasn't in it, and if he left something behind, he would find it back in his room. I also did his laundry for him as well.

Killer had been, understandably, confused. Especially since I made sure he never saw me doing the things I did for him. He had tried to find out before eventually giving up and just accepting it as something that happened around the castle. I also didn't get in trouble since I did all my work before the end of the day.

Killer also did missions for Nightmare as well or went out with Nightmare. He would come back injured, and would just... walk around injured unless Nightmare got annoyed and told him to patch himself up. So whenever he left on a mission, I would leave magic healing items and a med kit on his bedside table.

Things slowly went back to a new normal, with me adjusting my routine to also take into consideration of me having basically devising to take care of Killer. It was pretty easy to adjust to since Killer was pretty low maintenance, all things considered. Maybe he got bored easily and would do stupid things, like train until he passed out, but nothing too dangerous. He'd always wake up back in his bed every morning after after falling asleep.

Things remained peaceful for a while longer, and I was easing into the new routine. Then, it was interrupted again. Nightmare had brought another person into the mansion. His name? Well, it turned out to be Horror. He had a portion of his skull missing and always seemed to be hungry. He was also much bigger than Nightmare and Killer.

Horror was a sweetheart from what I observed, and constantly made sure Killer aye his meals I left him. Horror also started cooking and seemed to enjoy it as well. Though he couldn't make actual magic food, so when he wasn't in the kitchen, I would make heaps of magic food for him and Killer.

Horror would also do missions for Nightmare, I found out. Though he came back less injured than Killer, he usually brought back human bodies to eat. It was weird, but I wasn't gonna judge. Though it was a pain in the ass to get blood out of his clothes when I did his laundry.

I also ended up taking care of Horror the same way I take care of Killer. Doing his laundry, made sure he ate, left out magic food and a med kit on his bedside table for when he got home from missions, and brought things he forgot around the castle to his room. It took up more time out of my day, but I seriously didn't mind.

So, once again, my schedule was adjusted. This time, I adjusted to fit in the extra time of taking care of Horror. Which meant less time practicing with my shadows, though I honestly don't know how much better I could even become with them if I'm honest. However, I didn't wanna need to use my shadows but couldn't because I became complicit. So I still made time to practice with them! Though I can't help but wonder, how many more times will I need to adjust my schedule...?
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Hey! So here is the re-write of "Reborn as a Shadow Papayri!" What ate your thoughts? Better? Worse? Let me know in the comments!