Shadow Slave

With an empty stomach and a head full of thoughts, Sunny returned to the center of the platform and sat down. After a while, he beckoned to his shadow and said:

"Wake me up if anything happens."

Then, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. His consciousness quickly slid into the sweet embrace of darkness, giving Sunny some well-needed rest.

In the middle of the night, however, a sudden impulse stirred him awake. Sunny jumped to his feet, his groggy mind full of tense apprehension. He was afraid that the owner of the giant tentacle had come back to finish the job.

Or maybe some other horror from the depths had sensed him and decided to snack on human meat.

However, the sea was quiet and calm. He didn't hear any abnormalities around the knight's statue.

"What is it?" Sunny whispered, addressing the shadow.

The shadow silently pointed him in a particular direction.

Turning his head, Sunny squinted. He quickly understood why it was a good idea to wake up. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to see…

Out there in the distance, a few kilometers away, a small orange light was shimmering in the darkness. Its reflections were rising and falling with the movement of waves.

It was too far away to make out any details, so Sunny just stared at it for a while. Pretty soon, the light disappeared.

"Other Sleepers? Natural phenomenon? Or some monster laying a trap?"

Memories of nightmarish deepwater creatures immediately came to his mind.

Shaking his head, Sunny lay back down and attempted to return to his slumber. However, this time sleep was escaping him. Pangs of hunger were still not unbearable, but slowly becoming more and more intense. The thirst, however, was worse.

the sun rose again,

***

morning came, the pincer monsters crawled back from their hiding spots and rushed to the giant carcass to continue their

for some time and then walked to the opposite side of the platform to take a look in the

from the headless statue, five or six kilometers away, the ground rose naturally and formed something akin to a hill. On top

just high enough to stay above water in the

Sunny's head, but at the end of it, only

to find the way through the labyrinth and cover that distance during the day? And more importantly, should he even attempt to do it? After all, there was no indication that the source of the mysterious light was something

back to study the monsters. He did, however, send the shadow to investigate as far into the labyrinth as the range of Shadow Control allowed, hoping to chart at least the beginning of the path that

probably could be in this strange place. The only problem was, he was going

were present pretty much everywhere in the Dream Realm. He could also prepare traps and hunt a pincer monster to eat. With their massive size, just one of them would be enough to feed him

day, returning to the statue

but had no way of giving him hope. If he was destined to spend the rest of his life in the small area surrounding the

just jump

orange light. And if Sunny was really trying to attempt it, he had to do it before the pincer

surrounding segment of the labyrinth was going to be free of

in his choice, Sunny decided to leave the headless statue the next morning. He would spend

his eyes and concentrated his perception

***

sea. Sunny was stirred awake by the shadow in time

anything except for freshwater. Staying low so as to not be blown over the edge of the platform, Sunny cupped

were to see Sunny now, they would have

enduring its rage. More than once, a tall wave would crash into the headless knight's neck, threatening to

the storm finally dissipated, all of his

no time

stragglers quickly following behind, he slid over the edge of the

well. Teacher Julius was adamant about giving his student a crash course in all possible forms of traversal. Additionally, Sunny had already scouted the optimal way down and memorized the best holds and