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 them were dark and scary.

Cassie fell silent, remembering.

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 armor

up, her face

saw a colossal, terrifying crimson spire. At its base, seven severed heads were guarding 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 words

Her voice became quieter.

felt so much sorrow, pain and rage that what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear. That was when I woke

told them. Even if Nephis had an idea, she didn't show it. Sunny, however, was totally lost. He couldn't even begin to decipher the hidden meaning

It showed her a human fortress and even the direction in which it was situated. This time, however, her dream was disjointed, full of weird symbolism and vague, uncertain images, much more like a charlatan's prophecy than

Finally, he sighed.

actually was just a nightmare. Your previous visions

silently shook

back

people don't usually dream in the Dream Realm, but you do. Perhaps seeing a random nightmare once in a while

to him, a faint relief written

"You really think so?"

trying to

not? It's

however, he felt

stay away from

finally ready to welcome

***

the stone platform, looking at the

always that

glanced at Nephis and

to be almost done with the carcass. I doubt it will

it hard for the three Sleepers to make any progress. It would be best to leave today

was a chance of not making it to safety in time. Both options were

frowned, seemingly thinking the

a while,

Cassie to spend another night near this statue.

to offer his own opinion. However, a sudden commotion below prevented him from

amidst mounds of broken coral, the carcass of the giant shark-like monster — the remaining half of it, to be precise — was almost stripped of meat. And between its white bones, something was shimmering in the

large, luminescent

Sunny's eyes widened.

"Are those…"

two transcendent

Transcendent… two of them…

and precious transcendent soul shards were; fear because the

destroy an entire city. Sunny belatedly realized

"Should we…"