Shadow Slave

With pretty much every muscle in his body sore, Sunny walked over to the girls and fell on the ground. After catching his breath, he looked at Cassia.

"Cassie? Do you feel better?"

Several seconds later, the blind girl slowly nodded.

'That's a relief.'

He shifted and hesitated for a bit. Cassia didn't look too well. Her face was still very pale, with a distant, dazed expression on it. Her body at least was no longer trembling. Sunny wasn't very good at talking to people, let alone placating them. He wasn't sure what to say.

He cast a gaze at Nephis and sighed inwardly. Who knew that one day he would turn out to be the most sociable person for as far as the eye could see? What a joke…

"Can I have some water?"

Cassie turned to him and scowled, as though confused by the question. Then, she suddenly gasped and opened her eyes wide.

"Oh! Oh, sorry. Yes, of course…"

She summoned the limitless water bottle and offered it to Sunny. He took it with a grateful smile and greedily drank a few gulps before giving the bottle to Nephis. Eventually, it returned to Cassie.

"You drink some too."

After she did, he awkwardly patted the blind girl on the shoulder.

"Everything seems to be fine now. Uh… did you dream of another vision? You can tell us. If you want."

Cassie hesitated for a bit before saying:

"I… don't know. Maybe it was just a nightmare."

Sunny and Nephis exchanged glances. They both doubted that what Cassie saw was a simple nightmare. After all, people usually did not dream in the Dream Realm. The blind girl, meanwhile, continued:

"I don't really remember. It's all in fragments."

Sunny carefully considered his words, not wanting to pressure Cassie too much.

"You can just tell us what you remember. Maybe we'll be able to make sense of it together."

Cassia sighed and tentatively nodded. After a long pause, she finally found the courage to speak:

"At first, I saw a… a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something vast was churning in the darkness. I felt like if I directly saw it, I would lose my mind. As I watched, terrified, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained. And then that seal broke, too."

She trembled a little.

It was as though my mind shattered into a thousand shards, each shard reflecting its own image. Most of

Cassie fell silent, remembering.

lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden

up, her face full of

seven locks. And at the top, a… a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel bleed, I suddenly felt as though… as though something so precious that it can't be described with

Her voice became quieter.

rage that what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear.

silent for a while, trying to make sense of what Cassie had told them. Even if Nephis had an idea, she didn't show it. Sunny, however, was totally lost. He couldn't

time, however, her dream was disjointed, full of weird symbolism and vague, uncertain images, much more like a charlatan's prophecy than a vision gained through

Finally, he sighed.

it actually was just a nightmare. Your previous

silently shook

scratched the back of

don't usually dream in the Dream Realm, but you do. Perhaps seeing a

girl turned to him, a faint relief written on her

"You really think so?"

hesitated, trying to find the right

not? It's a

he

away from angels in the future. Gee, what has become of my life. A sentence like that doesn't even

finally ready

***

looking at the scavengers below. Sunny's shadow was busy scouting a path to the next high

always that

Nephis

done with the carcass. I doubt it will last

to make any progress. It would be best to leave today

a chance of not making it to safety

seemingly thinking

while,

want Cassie to spend another night near this

to offer his own opinion.

mounds of broken coral, the carcass of the giant shark-like monster — the remaining half of it, to be precise —

extremely large,

Sunny's eyes widened.

"Are those…"

two

Transcendent… two of them…

Greed because of how rare and precious transcendent soul shards were; fear because the giant shark turned

destroy an entire

"Should we…"