Shadow Slave

As soon as they left the familiar confines of the labyrinth and stepped into the vast expanse of the ashen wasteland, Sunny felt strangely uncomfortable. It was as though he had unknowingly turned slightly agoraphobic while traveling through the complicated madness of the crimson maze.

He had grown accustomed to being surrounded by tall walls of coral, with endless tangled paths stretching in all directions for as far as he could see. Despite the fact that the labyrinth was hiding numerous dangers, it also offered a strange sort of safety.

At least in the case of Sunny, who had the advantage of being able to see beyond its twists and turns thanks to his stealthy Shadow Scout.

Now, with grey sand beneath and nothing to break the line of sight, he had lost that advantage. The idea of not being able to hide from the enemy made him feel naked.

'Keep cool. There's no one here.'

That thought, which was supposed to calm him down, had the opposite effect instead. Indeed, there were no Nightmare Creatures anywhere in the desolate wasteland… but why was that?

What made them so eager to avoid this place?

Nephis was walking in the front of the group, with Sunny right behind her. The Echo was in the rear, moving at a slow pace. He looked around and, after a bit of hesitation, said in a low voice:

"I don't like this."

Nephis glanced at him with her usual indifferent expression. Turning away, she simply said:

"Stay alert."

They continued forward in silence, sand squeaking under their feet. A dozen or so minutes later, Changing Star raised her hand, gesturing them to stop. Turning to Sunny, she asked:

"Has your shadow noticed anything?"

He shook his head.

"No. There are some irregularities here and there, like small knolls or shallow pits, but nothing is moving. Mostly, it just seems flat and lifeless."

He turned to Cassie and asked hesitantly:

"Do you hear anything?"

In some cases, her keen hearing was more effective than his shadow sense. When they were caught by the strom, Cassie had been able to sense that something was wrong long before her seeing companions noticed anything.

However, this time it was of no use. She simply shook her head, indicating that there were no unusual sounds around them.

Nephis sighed and lowered her head, thinking. Then she cast a gaze at the distant Ashen Barrow.

"Let's continue."

direction of the group slightly, aiming to approach one of the knolls that

time they approached it, it was already noon. The sun was right above their heads, making their shadows small and shapeless. Sunny's own shadow had returned and was now hiding beneath his feet, looking like

of day

determine its nature. There was nothing remarkable about it except for the fact that everything around was flat, and it was not. The knoll was about as tall as Sunny, somewhat oblong and covered in the same grey sand as the rest of the

in checking… well, most likely. Maybe it could provide

knoll, Sunny's shadow suddenly noticed something moving in the distance, back at the edges of the labyrinth where

toward the Echo and

"Hide!"

hands up and fell. Catching her in the princess carry, Sunny darted toward the knoll and lowered himself to

Cassie's shoulder and looked at him with

"Danger?"

His shadow was already peeking

from the grey sand. Suddenly, one of them collapsed, knocked over by a massive figure. Surrounded by the cloud of ashen sand, the figure moved forward, stepping onto the flat surface of

that looked like

Sunny silently cursed.

and won both times. However, that was because each battlefield had been carefully prepared to stack

they would be able to kill one in a direct confrontation, at

Nephis, Sunny

just walked out of the

Cassie, meanwhile, lightly touched his hand and

"Where is it heading?"

then concentrated on the shadow's vision. Soon, he

stay hidden behind this knoll and it doesn't change course, there's

a second and

tell me

the knoll. There wasn't a lot of space to hide, so they had to endure being cramped against each

right word. Sunny might have even enjoyed the situation in

are you thinking about, fool?! Concentrate on the dealy monster!' he thought angrily, berating

it was so hard to concentrate with Cassie's soft body pressed

'DEADLY! MONSTER!'

his mind out of the

wasteland, slowly drawing closer. Soon, he was able to see every

gleaming with hypnotic inner

A transcendent soul shard.

when a pair of centurions were retrieving two of such crystals from the remains of the

that was

at the magnificent tree standing atop the Ashen Barrow. With its onyx branches and vibrant scarlet leaves, it looked