Shadow Slave

The black, opaque water suddenly surged and seethed, as though a living creature desperately trying to avoid the pale light of the coming dawn. Sunny slowly rose and, after some thought, carefully approached the edge of the stone platform.

Looking down, he blinked and then kneeled to make sure that what he saw wasn't an illusion.

The sea seemed to be receding.

Slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the water level was dropping. The circular stone formation he had been taking shelter on used to barely protrude out of the waves, but now there were meters and meters of wet rock between him and the restless surface of the sea.

As the sun climbed up, the monstrous ebb tide continued. Soon, Sunny found himself standing on the edge of a tall cliff, with a hundred-meter drop separating him from the churning waters. Beneath him, the rock formation broadened and changed shape. However, from his vantage point, it was hard to determine what that shape was, exactly.

At that time, the dark surface of the water began to be punctured here and there by sharp crimson blades. As it dropped even further, it was as though a crimson forest was slowly rising from the black depths. The "trees" were made of something resembling coral, growing chaotically into each other and stretching toward the sky.

They were colossal in size, with irregular protrusions entwining and merging together, looking monumental and eerie in the black and red reality of the sunlit void. The labyrinth formed by this strange reef stretched as far as Sunny could see, broken here and there by protruding cliffs, sudden chasms, and distant natural features.

Half an hour later, utterly shocked, Sunny stared down and realized that the sea was completely gone. If not for the black seaweed left hanging on wet rocks and scarlet pillars of coral, he would even doubt if it was ever there.

His small circular island had turned into the peak of a strange, towering, irregularly shaped cliff. Looking down, he felt his head spinning.

By then, the night had already fully retreated, letting morning finally take its place.

'I'm not seeing things, am I?' Sunny thought, pinching himself.

What the Spell was that?

***

stone platform. Firstly, he felt that if the sea was able

Perhaps there was something even scarier than the

not mean that he wasn't going to

Sunny sat down and commanded his shadow to separate itself from

another, he began the descent. At this moment, Sunny was glad that shadows had no weight and were not affected by

the shadow was busy climbing

you think that

the fact that it could did not mean that it would.

its temper

Also no? Hm, what about something simpler, like… What? Well, do you have suggestions then? Alright, alright! We'll shelve

the time he was done with this short monologue, the shadow had already reached the bottom of the cliff.

the labyrinth, Sunny found it to be extremely disorienting and convoluted. The paths between coral pillars were sometimes broad, sometimes narrow. They twisted and turned without any logic, often leading to dead ends or even back to where he started. More than that, some paths entered inside the "coral" mounds, turning

attempts to memorize the layout of the nearest pathways. In the end, he sent the shadow up, forcing it to climb on top of the crimson forest and start jumping from one sharp coral blade to another — knowing

by the sight of

previous night was laying on the ground, the pillars of

precisely, half of it was there, with grotesque innards spilling out of the terrible wound and

bit. Each of them was about two and a half meters tall, looking like a weird mix of a demonic crab, a centaur, and

front, a human-like torso was protruding from the carapace, also clad in thick chitinous armor. The head, if it was even the appropriate word, was situated directly on top of the torso, with

corpse and stuff them into their mouths. From time to time, a fight for an especially juicy piece of meat would

Sunny swallowed.

nervous and because

trouble. And there

luck, like always,

don't have to wonder why the labyrinth feels so empty. All the inhabitants are

little bit comprehensive about turning his shadow's back to the monsters, Sunny commanded it to look back and study the cliff he was taking shelter atop of. Something about it was making him feel