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.

did, he would

his head. Initially, he was planning to climb the tree in the morning and explore higher than he had previously gone, looking for

in the dark, after all. And this way, he would be able to give

miraculous tree, Sunny began climbing. The first stretch was the most difficult since he had nothing to grab except for small cracks and bumps on the smooth, obsidian bark. Reaching the branches required

his hands and feet almost on instinct, Sunny got higher and higher. Soon, he was already pulling himself on top of an enormous, wide

as roads. He sat down and rested for some time, enjoying

sunbeams falling through the leaves, it looked

rustling of scarlet leaves did not seem calming and tranquil anymore. In fact, it made Sunny shudder. It sounded like... thousands and thousands of trapped souls, all screaming in

even think of such things? What a fool! Good thing that the great tree can't hear me — otherwise, I'd be so ashamed. Please forgive me,

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 devour… always

How ungrateful.

did he even begin to think about…

frowned, failing to recall his

a tasty fruit

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

He figured that if he went really high, where

branches. If he could find a really amazing one, Nephis would have to change her mind and abandon her strange thoughts of leaving the island. After all, these fruits were magical.

Encouraged, Sunny continued climbing.

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

looked from side to side. Searching for

would not be

further and further away from the trunk of the great tree. The branches were softly swaying under his feet. A few times, he jumped from