Shadow Slave

Somewhat surprised, Sunny struggled to open his eyes. As his vision slowly focused, he saw Neph's pale face looming above him. Her short silver hair was wet, sticking close to her skin.

She was standing on her knees beside his broken body, caressing his face with her hands. In her eyes, there was a strange expression.

It was as though she was frightened, but resigned to something.

Her pupils were wide and dark.

'Wh—what?'

Greeting her teeth, Nephis moved her hands to his collapsed chest and pressed them lightly against it, causing a pulse of pain to radiate through Sunny's body.

Then, a soft, radiant brilliance suddenly ignited beneath the skin of her palms, reflecting in her grey eyes like two dancing white sparks.

Almost immediately, Changing Star's face contorted in a grimace of excruciating agony, and she let out a terrible, muffled scream.

Her skin became white as a sheet of paper, and as she bit her lower lip, drops of blood soon rolled to her chin.

As the radiance grew in intensity, Nephis shut her eyes tightly, tears streaming down her tortured, bloodless face.

Sunny, on the contrary, felt like he was in heaven. All pain disappeared from his body, replaced by gentle, all-encompassing warmth. He felt as though he was being cleansed by something pure and sacred.

By a white, pristine, purifying flame.

Under the influence of the flame, his dying body began to repair itself. His shattered bones were reassembled from the shards. His torn flesh regenerated and became whole again. His collapsed lungs and damaged heart were brought back to life and rejuvenated, instantly turning strong and healthy.

Suddenly, he could breathe again.

As his chest moved, drawing in a new breath, Nephis flinched away with a harrowing moan. The white radiance beneath her skin dimmed and disappeared, letting the darkness return to its rightful place.

Crawling away a few steps, Changing Star stopped, standing on her knees and hands, and violently vomited. Her whole body was shivering uncontrollably, as though on the verge of a seizure.

As the shivers died down, she slowly lowered herself to the ground and lay there motionlessly, catching the raindrops with her mouth.

Sunny, meanwhile, raised his hands and carefully explored his body.

To his surprise, nothing really hurt. It was as though he was never wounded in the first place, let alone almost died.

With the help of Nephis and her mysterious Aspect Ability, he was completely healed.

It was a miracle.

***

the night. Sunny, Nephis and Cassie huddled together

the shadow would

so be it. They

rest of the night went without

from the dead carapace centurion and the scavengers, collected the two soul shards and moved to the opposite side of the small island, afraid that the remains would

right. Not long after the group left the place of the battle, a dark spot appeared in the sky. Soon,

a corpse and muscular,

of the flying monstrosity was covered in long black feathers, as well as its enormous wings. Its head resembled that

feasted on the dead centurion, easily breaking its carapace apart with its talons and beak. Then, satisfied, it grabbed

the cliffs and flew back the

It was moving west.

black dot as it disappeared into the distance, Sunny

you think that thing

the sky. After a

"I have no idea."

nodded and went about his business. He still had to perform

roasted the centurion's meat and had a delicious,

the middle of a storm and battling an awakened monster — all done in a single day — they deserved some

out. Truth be told,

for this was not his traumatic near-death experience, although it had a lot to do with it. The thing was that,

the clarity he gained

still here, at the center of his being. He felt as though his very way of thinking and perceiving the world was now completely different.

had become calmer. He was now able to think much faster and act without hesitation.

order to the world that wasn't there before. That

he had made a big leap in his combat ability and overall power, even though it wasn't tied to the number of consumed shadow fragments or unlocked

sky, Sunny wondered if this was how Nephis always

the body, mastery of the mind.

master. But it

***

the western edge of

the

her gaze, trying to guess what she was thinking

like always, he failed. Changing Star

incredibly embarrassed. Finally, he gathered

saved my life twice

glanced at him and

"I did."

correct words. In the end, he couldn't come up with anything