Shadow Slave

Sunny woke up from the insistent sense of alarm coming from his shadow. Groggy and disoriented, he opened his eyes and sat up.

'Wh—what's wrong?'

He looked down at the shadow and saw it repeatedly pointing up with a tense expression on its… well, it didn't have a face. He could just tell that it was nervous.

'Trouble?'

Sunny looked up and saw nothing but the scarlet leaves of the great tree. The sky was hidden, but he could easily tell that the sun was still up. It seemed that he was asleep for just a few hours.

There was no threat anywhere in sight. He frowned.

'What got you so spooked?'

The shadow just pointed up again, seemingly irritated by his stupidity. Sunny blinked a couple of times and addressed it again:

'High in the tree? Higher? In the sky?'

Finally satisfied, the shadow crossed its arms.

'Something dangerous is above the island… that creepy raven thing again?'

He had to check… but why did he feel as though he was forgetting something?

Sunny scowled, trying to understand where this feeling of missing something important had come from. What was there to miss? He was asleep, then woke up and conversed with the shadow.

Asleep…

Suddenly, he remembered bits and pieces of a strange dream. At least it seemed like a dream… was it? People weren't supposed to dream in the Dream Realm. It was just how things worked… from what he knew, only Cassie seemed to be an exception from this rule.

He didn't remember much about this supposed dream of his, with even the remaining fragments already fading from his memory. There was a… a woman grabbing him by the shoulders, an expression of horror and panic on her face. She was saying something, but he couldn't hear what.

No, not a woman. It was… Cassie? Yes, it was her. And the thing she was saying…

Sunny strained his memory, trying to catch the pieces of the dream before they completely disappeared.

'Yeah, I think she was saying… uh…'

Suddenly, he could clearly hear Cassie's frightened, tense voice as she was hurriedly telling him to remember something, repeating the same sentence over and over again in a begging tone:

"...you have to remember, Sunny! Five! It's five! Remember! You have to remember! It's five!"

'What a strange dream.'

Sunny cast a glance at Cassie, who was sleeping peacefully near Neph, and shook his head in bewilderment. He wasn't sure if this memory of his was really a dream or some strange scene he had imagined right before falling asleep. With how the Dream Realm worked, he was leaning toward the latter possibility.

'Still. I better tell the girls when…'

He was distracted from this thought by the shadow, which waved its hands impatiently.

a

of his

and unnatural, but since Sunny couldn't remember things that he had forgotten, he

have realized that this might not have been the first time he had forgotten something important since they

the Midnight Shard and glanced darkly at the blood-red leaves of the great tree. Feeling the

up by his quiet movements, Nephis opened her eyes and looked at him, her body tensing up. There was a

Sunny shook his head.

yet. Stay with Cassie

the girls behind, Sunny walked forward. He was planning to reach the edge of the island, where the branches of the colossal tree were not as thick and the sky could be seen through the openings in its

of going himself. But in situations like this, where the danger was unknown, Sunny usually preferred to keep the shadow close

the eastern slope of the Ashen Barrow, he carefully looked up, still hidden

sky, a small black dot was circling around

chest became heavy with wariness. Back when the terrible winged beast had first appeared, it looked exactly

keep watch on the black dot, he returned and briefly told Nephis and Cassie about

don't know if it's the same creature or not, and when it

Changing Star frowned.

prey. Perhaps it's mostly a carrion eater, and thus is only interested in the Carapace Demon's

her

and little to satiate it? After all, it never came for the corpses of the

Sunny shook his head.

before leaving. So it'll be

for a while, then gave him a

away from the Carapace Demon

up,

it to make sure that

to the spot where he had left his shadow. There, they sat on the ground and watched the black dot as

disturbed and unsure

discern that it was indeed the same terrible monstrosity that they had encountered a few weeks before, or at least a creature of the same type.

passed by, it was joined by two other abominations of the same breed, each as horrifying and repulsive as the first one was. Now, three black dots were circling in the skies above their heads, filling Sunny's heart with

of those creatures, with its corpselike white body and raven-black feathers, with an unnatural mess of powerful limbs protruding

of how easily the creature had broken through the adamantine shell of the carapace centurion with its massive beak was still fresh in his mind. He suspected that these abominations were at least as powerful as the

now there were

better hide well.' he thought, cold sweat running down his

flying monsters seemed to be reluctant to approach the Ashen Barrow for some reason. They just circled around it, sometimes hesitantly approaching, but then gaining height again. Their

some time, Cassie quietly

"Maybe they're not hungry?"

a Nightmare Creature might not

on the

albino chickens, but

of them had not eaten anything since yesterday. Sunny was afraid that if the abominations did decide to land on the island,

glanced and

eat

eyes wide and

think about

stared at him, then turned away with