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

looked up and scratched the back of his head. Initially, he was planning to climb the tree in the morning and explore higher than he had previously gone, looking

in the dark, after all. And this way, he would

to the trunk of the miraculous tree, Sunny began climbing. The first stretch was the most difficult since he had nothing to grab except

already accustomed to it. Moving his hands and feet almost on instinct, Sunny got higher and higher. Soon, he

and rested for some

dark before. Without the bright sunbeams falling through the leaves, it looked strangely different. The vibrant

tranquil anymore. In fact, it made Sunny shudder. It sounded like... thousands and thousands of trapped souls, all screaming in

fool! Good thing that the great tree can't hear me — otherwise,

his 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

How ungrateful.

to think about… huh… what exactly

to recall his train of

here to find a tasty fruit for Neph, not practice

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

if he went

amazing one, Nephis would have to change her mind and abandon her strange thoughts

Encouraged, Sunny continued climbing.

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

forward and looked from side to side. Searching for the fruits was not

would not be

the surroundings, Sunny moved 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 one to another, causing a