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.

Cassie was ready to

cover the Ashen Barrow's surface. Soon, a

them first met at the beginning of their deadly adventure through the Dream Realm, the girls mentioned

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

a guess of what had happened next in Cassie's vision, he waited for the blind girl to continue.

it, covering almost the entire slope of the Ashen Barrow with 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, coiling tentacles seething as it pushed itself toward the great

made Cassie feel nauseated, but she gritted

it. The Carapace Demon did not hesitate to lunge at the creature, completely ignoring

Nephis suddenly spoke:

the

The blind girl hesitated.

the shade of the great tee. He was severely wounded, with several of his legs missing and his scythes covered by a spiderweb of cracks. The fire was gone, and there was no sign of the sea

for a moment and then said in a quiet

was fractured and split apart, revealing the beating heart inside. Rivers of azure blood were flowing from the wound, mixing with the ashen sand. The demon crawled to the base of the tree and laid

Cassie sighed.

I saw was the passage of time. I don't know how long it took, but eventually, the Carapace Demon was able to recover from his wounds. His scythes restored themselves, his legs grew back. The fracture on his chest was the last to

and Nephis were silent for a long

Star was the first to break the

it's not impenetrable

looked at

your plan

extricating himself from the swarm of thoughts.

inkling of how we

Nephis raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

gave her a confident

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

Cassie and Nephis looked at him expectantly. The blind girl cautiously

what's your plan? How are we going

Sunny crossed his arms.

I got the idea from that

pause, and then said with

"... a trojan ass."

complicated expressions. Well, Cassie did not stare, since she was blind, but her face was