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

hurt the Carapace Demon, let alone 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 the island was engulfed in fire. In the absolute darkness of the night, it shone like

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

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

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

looked like a… like a mass of bones and rotten flesh connected by black seaweed, with thousands of horrible eyes staring

turned slightly green. Just remembering the abomination made Cassie feel nauseated, but she gritted her teeth and

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

Nephis suddenly spoke:

the

The blind girl hesitated.

of dawn, the Carapace Demon crawled back into the shade of the great tee. He was severely

a moment and then said

the demon 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 his

Cassie sighed.

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

Sunny and Nephis were silent

Star was the first to

not

she looked at

your plan

himself from the swarm of thoughts. Glancing at

well. I already had an inkling of how we should proceed, but Cassie's

Nephis raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

gave her a confident

any case, it's going to be risky. And we'll

and Nephis looked at him expectantly. The

are we going

Sunny crossed his arms.

idea from that ancient

and then said with a mysterious

"... a trojan ass."

Both girls blinked, then stared at him with complicated expressions.