Shadow Slave

It was already dark when Sunny returned to the great tree. Cassie was asleep, snuggled comfortably under her cloak. There was a peaceful smile on her face.

'Sweet dreams.'

She wasn't bothered by her terrible visions in a long time. Everything became better since they decided to stay on the tranquil island.

…Everything except for Neph's mood. She didn't even bother to return to camp today, staying at the western edge of the barrow. Sunny didn't like that she was so close to the black water.

He sighed.

'I need to get some tasty fruits for her as soon as possible.'

She definitely would not be able to stay sad after eating the magical fruits. They were so sweet and delicious! Sunny began salivating just from thinking about them.

'...Maybe I'll find one for myself, too.'

In the beginning, they took turns climbing to the lower branches of the Soul Tree to gather fruits. Lately, though, Nephis seemed to be distracted by her strange melancholy. As the result, the group relied on him to bring down fruits for everyone.

He had already picked the lowest branches clean, choosing the ripest fruits first. Later ones were smaller and not as heavenly, although they still tasted amazing. Since each fruit was big enough to satiate a person for a long time, they rarely ate more than one in a day. The ripest fruits provided Sunny with one or two shadow fragments, while the smaller ones gave one or even none at all.

'I wonder how many shadow fragments I accumulated. Should be more than a hundred, right? Maybe even one hundred and ten… no, no way. We've been here just for a few days, a week at most.'

He could just summon the runes and check, but somehow that thought didn't even occur to him.

he

Initially, he was planning to climb the tree in the morning and explore higher than he had previously gone, looking for the best, most delicious fruit possible to give to Neph. But after thinking about it, he decided to not wait until the night was

And this way, he

most difficult since he had nothing to grab except for small cracks

instinct, Sunny got higher and higher. Soon,

He sat down and rested for some time, enjoying the coolness of the night

climbed the Soul Tree in the dark before. Without the bright sunbeams falling

In fact, it made Sunny shudder. It

Good thing that the great tree can't hear me — otherwise, I'd be

head, Sunny stood up and continued climbing. He was very disappointed in himself. After all the good things that the tree had given them, he had stupidly doubted its benevolence… its greatness… its desire to

How ungrateful.

begin to think about… huh… what

frowned, failing to recall his train

find a tasty fruit for Neph, not practice

had explored before. The crown of the great tree was vast enough to form a maze of its own. The large branches grew chaotically in all directions, twisting and crossing each other, with thick foliage

to continue. He figured that if he went really high, where sunlight was denser, the fruits

could find a really amazing one, Nephis would have to change her mind and

Encouraged, Sunny continued climbing.

slowly passed. After a long while, Sunny finally decided that he had climbed high enough. He wasn't sure how many hours ago he had started the ascent, but judging by the soreness of his muscles and the visibly diminished width of the branches, he was somewhere in the

of the branches, he slowly walked forward and looked from side to side. Searching for the fruits was not easy. It required good perception and

course! Falling from this height would not be

The branches were softly swaying under his feet. A few times, he jumped from one to another, causing