The Noble Queen-A Shadow Slave Fanfic

The Exploration Report on the Tomb of Ariel. By: Nobody. 

Freshly cleaned, Noble positioned herself at her desk. She called forth her storage Memory and pulled out the parcel inside. 

She looked at the cover on the bound pages with a dubious expression, afraid to open the pages and peer inside. The title alone was enough to make her heart beat wildly.

Would the contents live up to what was promised?

Noble wasn't sure what to hope for. 

"What is that?" Bee Two regarded the brown paper still obscuring the package's contents. 

"The reason I came back to the Waking World today. I needed the security of my classroom." Noble double-checked to make sure the system was activated. 

"Shall I analyze it and synthesize any information I can glean?" The assistant offered with an outstretched hand.

"No!" Noble felt panic rise within her. 

Unable to read the emotion, the android moved closer. "You said I could see it."

"I did say that...but I realized that I can't right now." The Professor bit her lip. Like it or not, Bee Two was integrated into the government system. 

Noble needed to know what was in the report before she allowed the possibility that it might be uploaded to a database over which she had no control. 

"I'm sorry," the professor felt guilty about changing her mind. 

"Curious." The android titled its perfectly formed head. "Where did you get it from?" 

Covering the book, Noble looked up at Bee Two. 

"I found it," she did not elaborate. "I need you to watch the door while I look through this." 

"Fine. Keep your secrets. I hold many more than you do anyway," Bee Two flipped synthetic hair toward Noble before moving to obey. 

With her assistant guarding her classroom and her security measures active, the professor could put her full attention on the gift she had received. 

Opening the report, Noble was flooded with information. 

'A river civilization?... They never set foot on solid ground! They sound like my kind of people.' 

The professor imagined not being inhibited by her flaw. Aside from the harrowing dangers in the deep and the air, it sounded like an ideal place for her to live out her days and feel normal. 

Of course, if Noble had been born among the river people, she never would have received the flaw that she did, so the point in the end was moot. She continued her journey through the report.

'Weave sounds like a fascinating place.' Noble mused. 

If she understood correctly, the people of this strange civilization grew older or younger by moving up and down the river of time. Imagine always getting to choose one's age!

'Who knew the fountain of youth was actually a river,' Noble smiled to herself. 

While she came back looking younger from her second nightmare, she would not be able to outrun the passage of time forever. 

There was more contained within the report. So much more! 

The civilization in the Tomb of Ariel was so well described that Noble felt like she was there. 

How had the words transported her so easily into another world? The author had done his job most admirably.

Toward the end of the report, Noble found a part that made her heart skip a beat. 

'That is the origin of the Nightmare Spell? Surely not!' 

Noble could not wrap her head around the nefarious thing that took the world's youth into terrible Nightmares as once being meant for humanity's good. It was too much to process. 

'They must be mistaken on that point. Can any of this even be true?'

Closing the report, Noble pondered her question. 

Changing Star and her cohort were well known for their conquering of the Tomb of Ariel. Each member had come out as a top-tier Saint. 

But there was no mention of Sunny in any of the propaganda. Had he found a different way into the tomb? Or had he gone into the Nightmare with them as well? 

The power Rain's brother exuded was equal to, if not greater than Saint Kai. By that measure, Sunny certainly could have challenged in the Third Nightmare alongside the adopted princess of Valor. 

But then why had Noble not heard about him?

There was always the chance that he had entered the same seed and not crossed paths with the rest of the cohort, though that seemed highly unlikely. 

There was a far more likely reason.

'His participation in the Nightmare is being suppressed.' 

But then why wouldn't Sunny call out his oppressors? 

If he wanted to prove his place, this report was enough to establish that he had visited the tomb.

'Is he..hiding from them?'

Even though Rain was his sister, something hadn't added up about why a man as seemingly omnipotent as Sunny spent his evenings outside of Noble's house and his days following around a teen. 

He had told Noble that no one could know about him for both their sakes. 

Knowledge was power, and the amount of information in the report would change the way the people understood the history of the Dream Realm. 

How much more did he know that wasn't included? 

A lot, Noble assumed.

'That would get the attention of some very powerful people, including the Sovereigns. Is that why he wasn't concerned about Rain making enemies? Has he already gone against them?' 

This report had the potential to illuminate but also aggravate the powers that ruled over humanity. 

Noble looked back at the note that accompanied the package. 

You know what to do, it said.

A smart person who valued their own well-being would get rid of the file and pretend they never saw it. For whatever reason, Sunny didn't want to come into the Waking World and submit it himself. 

Why should she stick out her neck when he wouldn't? 

On the other hand, a social climber might try to use the information to their advantage. Plenty of people would be interested in having this knowledge for themselves.

But at heart, Noble was an academic. A report like the one in her possession shouldn't be hoarded. It needed to be shared, studied, and added to the compendium of human knowledge. It needed to be used for the betterment of humanity. 

So Sunny was right, Noble knew what to do. She needed to get the paper published. 

There was only one problem. This report needed to not be linked to her as the originator of the work. 

The longer she had it in her possession, the more likely someone would be to trace it back to her. If they did, Noble would face a lot of questions that she wouldn't be able to answer. It was good that she had installed protection in her classroom against prying eyes.

She had had enough problems with Seers in the past to know how troublesome their visions could be. 

With that in mind, Noble began to form her plan.

Unwrapping the paper that was addressed to her, Noble stuffed it and the note back into her small storage Memory before dismissing it. She would burn both papers later. 

Before that, she needed to get The Exploration Report on the Tomb of Ariel into the right hands. 

And those hands were about to head to lunch.