Shadow Slave

'Roll, you creaky piece of shit!'

Sunny pressed himself against the wagon, pushing with all he had. Four powerful oxen that used to pull it were now dead, and instead of them, three tired slaves were trying to do the job. Even with the slope of the road helping them, the speed of the wagon was agonizingly slow. The tyrant, in comparison, was moving much faster.

Pushing Hero back with a deadly swipe of his lower arms, he raised the other two to its neck and tried to grab the chain that was wrapped around it like a noose. However, this time Mountain King's fearsome physique turned into a disadvantage: its long, terrifying bone claws were perfect for tearing flesh apart, but they weren't the best tool for precise manipulations. It took the tyrant some time to get a hold of the chain without slicing its own neck open.

By then, the wagon was nearly at the edge of the cliff.

'Come on! Just a little bit more!'

What followed happened very quickly. The wagon's rear wheels finally slid from the road, hanging over the dark, seemingly bottomless pit beneath. The creature turned, staring expressionlessly at the three slaves with its five milky, dead eyes. The wagon careened, throwing Shifty and Scholar off their feet, and then froze, balanced precariously on its middle axis.

Sunny was the only one left standing. He cast a last glance at the towering monster, and then slammed his shoulder into the front of the wagon, putting all of his weight behind it.

The wagon finally lost its balance and rolled over the edge, scraping its underside deafeningly against the jagged rocks. Sunny fell forward and landed on his knees, narrowly saving himself from tumbling down the cliff with it. Turning his head to the tyrant, he gave it a wicked smile.

Mountain King made a move to lunge at the scrawny slave, but it was already too late. A moment later, the chain on his neck drew tight, and he was yanked back with tremendous force, flying over the edge of the cliff like a rag doll. The creature fell into the darkness silently, as though refusing to believe that it was defeated by a tiny human.

'Go and die, bastard.' Sunny thought.

Then he took one deep, ragged breath and dropped to the ground, utterly exhausted.

'Is this it? Did I pass the trial?'

night sky, and waited for that faintly familiar, but elusive voice to announce his victory. But instead of that, wave

the bone spikes of a

'I guess not.'

were slow and

I supposed to

and scratches on his armor, but otherwise, the young soldier appeared to be fine. He extended one arm

You'll

Then he clenched his teeth and slowly rose to his feet, ignoring Hero's helping

the ground, horribly maimed or torn into pieces. Here and there, a repulsive carcass of a larva could be seen. Shadows cast by the bonfire were dancing happily across the stone platform, seemingly unperturbed

too tired

With or without shackles, they were still slaves,

all of you. We need to warm ourselves and discuss what to do

for their response, Hero turned around and walked away. After hesitating

close to each other, maintaining a safe distance from Hero. Sunny sat

had never tried to become close with someone, it's just that he seemed to lack the ability. Like there was an invisible wall between him and other people. If he had to put it in words, Sunny would say

it, however diligent, inevitably fell flat. This strangeness made others uncomfortable. In short, he was a bit different —

close to anyone and settled comfortably into his outcast role. This habit served him well, since it not only made

why he was not thrilled to share the rest of this Nightmare with three strangers.

few minutes, Hero's voice finally broke

the sun rises, we will gather whatever food and water we can find and go back down

him a defiant

we go back? To

The young soldier sighed.