Shadow Slave

Sunny was instantly wide awake. Sitting up, he hurriedly rubbed his eyes and then glanced at the blind girl, ready to listen.

Nephis approached them and sat down, her face barely visible in the dim light of the early dawn.

"Past or future?"

Sunny blinked.

'Right. I should have asked myself.'

Cassie thought for a bit and then hesitantly answered:

"Past… I think."

After a short pause, her expression changed to that of certainty.

"No, I'm sure of it."

Changing Star slightly tilted her head.

"That's good. So… what did you see?"

Cassie deeply inhaled and fell silent for several seconds, remembering. Her face paled a little, but this time, she was ready to face her fear.

"I saw the Ashen Barrow deep at night, enveloped in a raging storm. The winds were bending the branches of the great tree, as if desperate to break them. The island was illuminated by the constant barrage of thundering lightning bolts, with rain falling from the skies like a flood."

She paused, catching her breath, and continued:

"The Carapace Demon was there, standing in the middle of the storm like an unshakable fortress made of polished steel. Arcs of electricity were dancing between the spikes on his armor, but the demon did not pay it any attention. He was just as Sunny described… prideful, sinister and terrifying."

Cassie closed her eyes.

"When I looked into his eyes, I felt… a sense of emptiness and corruption. He observed the storm until it began to dissipate. The winds weakened, the rain stopped. The great tree stood unbroken, just as magnificent as it was before. But then, the last bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck the ground beside it."

Sunny was listening to her tale with great attention, hopeful to hear a piece of useful information.

'So, that monstrosity is not afraid of lightning. Shame. With its metal carapace, I was almost tempted to try and lure it from under the tree during a storm.'

Apparently, that wouldn't work.

was ready

the miraculous tree. However, when it hit the ground, it ignited the fallen leaves that cover the Ashen Barrow's surface. Soon, a large part of

something. Back when the three of them first met at the beginning of their deadly adventure through the Dream Realm, the girls

monsters of the Forgotten Shore… including the terrifying creatures that lurked in the depths of the dark

in Cassie's vision, he waited for the blind girl to continue. Her voice

its body. It looked like a… like a mass of bones and rotten flesh connected by black seaweed, with thousands of horrible eyes staring at me hungrily from beneath,

feel nauseated, but she gritted her teeth and did not stop

seemed slow and clumsy, as though being ashore, outside of the black water, was weakening it. The Carapace Demon did not hesitate to lunge at the creature, completely ignoring the fact that it was at least ten times his size. It was like…

Nephis suddenly spoke:

did the

The blind girl hesitated.

end. At the break of dawn, the Carapace Demon crawled back into the shade of the great tee. He was severely wounded, with

paused for a moment and then said in a quiet

heart inside. Rivers of azure blood were flowing from the wound, mixing with the ashen

Cassie sighed.

his wounds. His scythes restored themselves, his legs grew

were silent for a

the first

it's not

at

plan coming

blinked, extricating himself from the swarm of thoughts. Glancing at his

an inkling of how we should proceed, but Cassie's

Nephis raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

gave her

might just work. Well… maybe. In any case, it's going to be risky. And we'll have to make some

Cassie and Nephis looked at him expectantly.

How are we

Sunny crossed his arms.

not very complicated. Actually, I got the idea from that ancient fellow Neph likes to talk

took a dramatic pause, and then

"... a trojan ass."

expected. Both girls blinked, then stared at him with complicated expressions. Well, Cassie did not stare, since she was blind, but her face was exactly the