Shadow Slave

Sunny was on his feet even before fully waking up. Somehow, Azure Blade was already in his hand. His shadow was hovering beside him, ready to either wrap itself around the sword in case he needed to attack or around his body, in case it was already too late for that.

He tried to understand what was going on. Nephis was nearby, her longsword raised in a defensive stance. Cassie…

'Where's Cassie?'

Fearing what he might see — giant tentacles reaching for them from the darkness — he looked around. The eastern horizon was just beginning to show the first hints of dawn, adding a tiny shade of grey to the blackness of the world. In that blackness, there were no signs of danger.

Finally, he saw Cassie.

The blind girl was stumbling at the edge of the platform with a horrified expression on her face. With her blond hair in a mess, she was stretching her hands out, clearly lost in space. Of course, there were no walls for her to find. The platform was opened to the elements, and the only thing waiting for Cassie was a plunge into the dark, tumultuous waters…

Before Sunny knew what he was doing, he was already running. That wasn't a very smart thing to do — after all, he did not know what had caused Cassia to scream and if there was some hidden danger nearby. Plus, it was still too dark for Nephis to see. His sudden lunge could have caused her to lash out with the sword before asking questions…

All of these were good reasons to wait and observe first, but in an uncharacteristic and completely irrational manner, Sunny acted before thinking.

He caught Cassie moments before she took a step off the platform and, holding her tightly in his arms, dragged the blind girl back.

"I got her!" Sunny yelled, letting Changing Star know that there was no need to stab him with a sword.

And then, in a quiet voice, he said to Cassie:

"I got you. It's alright. Everything is fine. Calm down…"

He felt the girl's body trembling and looked around again, trying to understand what had scared her so much. But there was nothing.

Nephis was listening to the sea for the same reason. After a few seconds, she asked:

"Do you see anything?"

Sunny helplessly shook his head.

"No."

He helped Cassie sit down in the center of the platform. While Nephis stood guard above them, he looked the blind girl over to make sure that there were no wounds on her body. Everything seemed to be fine.

"She's not hurt anywhere."

Changing Star looked down. Although her face remained indifferent, he could tell that she was a bit flustered. After a second or two, she asked in something that might have been her version of a calming tone. It sounded pretty much exactly the same as usual:

"Cassie? What happened?"

Magically, that did seem to calm the blind girl down a little. At least enough for her to speak in a quivering voice.

one hand

head… I saw…

and looked

see a vision? The

was silent

It

turned to Cassie,

down. However, after that one sentence, she fell quiet and refused to speak again. Nothing seemed

a while, Nephis

leave her be, for now. Maybe she needs

didn't have any ideas either. In the end, he just

I'll keep an eye on

however, had other

***

chose to give Cassie some space and led Sunny to the

her knees. Her eyes were closed, but small tremors that periodically

Sunny's eye twitched.

sure it's okay

him a

"Yes."

after some

"Cassie is strong."

be strong, then they most likely were. However, "strong" was the last word that came to his mind when he thought about

kinds of strength. Cassia was still alive and sane despite her debilitating Flaw. How many people could have done the

"If you say so."

Blade. After studying it for a while, she nodded and took her longsword out of the

sharp, symmetrical tip. The whole blade, as well as the simple cross-shaped guard and

side by

when held in both. It is created primarily for cutting and severing, hence the higher

she gestured

sword is a bit more versatile. It is created for both cutting and thrusting, and it has a double edge. However, the principle of wielding these two swords is effectively

near the guard and another near the pommel. Then, she

one hand pushes," she pushed the sword down with the hand near

simultaneously pulled the handle up, giving the blade

is how you generate force and perform powerful strikes.

raised it and slashed down, making

Changing Star observed him.

strike doesn't come from the hands. It comes from your whole body. Power comes from your feet, your hips, your core, your shoulders, and is only

overall stance and movements of every part of Changing Star's body, as opposed

there wasn't a lot of strength in his body.

performed the simple downward slash a few more times. After each time, Nephis gave him pointers and corrected his mistakes. Some time later, she was