Shadow Slave

Sunny felt that he was at the end of his rope. He had put himself through too much abuse during these last few days. Now, it was hard to even remember when was the last time he had slept.

A day before climbing the Soul Devouring Tree in search of a special fruit, perhaps.

Since then, he had lived through the harrowing torture of the Blood Weave transformation, spent countless hours on the verge of mental collapse to resist the effects of the enthrallment, mangled his hands to stay lucid, guided the boat through the terrors of the dark sea in absolute darkness, saw it being destroyed by the horrid dweller of the deep, and gave battle to that monster in the cold black depths, almost drowning as the result.

His body and mind were on the brink of shutting off.

Despite that, Sunny stubbornly continued to swim, bringing himself and Cassie closer and closer to the giant stone hand that was rising from the water, as though trying to embrace the skies.

The dark sea was surging around him, still reeling from the effects of the light explosion that had rocked it sometime earlier. Tall waves were threatening to drown the two Sleepers, throwing them around like toys. Struggling against them was a hard task.

And still, he persisted.

The dawn was drawing close, but for now, there was still nothing but cold, darkness and danger all around them. Any second, something could rise from the depths of the abyss and put an end to their desperate attempt to save themselves.

At least the tentacles were gone, perhaps scared away by the pain of being exposed to the searing light.

By some miracle, Sunny eventually managed to reach the stone hand.

Hoisting Cassie up, he helped her climb on the dark rocks and followed closely behind. Soon, they reached the open palm of the hand and crawled to its center, then fell down, utterly spent and exhausted.

For a long time, neither of them was able to talk. All Sunny could do was lay motionless, draw in raspy breaths, and try to stay awake.

His mind was empty of thoughts. That was fine, because he didn't want to think. If he did, he would be forced to remember… remember what had happened to…

'Shut up!'

What was the point of remembering? He couldn't change anything.

The sound of the black water crashing against the base of the giant hand reminded him that the night was still not over.

Opening his eyes, Sunny tried to understand their current circumstances.

Their shelter was slightly raised above the waves, the base of the giant thumb almost touching the surface of the dark sea. The palm was not very spacious, roughly half the size of the circular platform that had saved his life on his first day on the Forgotten Shore. It was angled upward, creating a slight slope.

The fingers were higher above waves and wide enough to accommodate a person, but they were bent upward toward the sky, making them less suitable to serve as a refuge.

'We need to get further away from the water.'

With that thought, Sunny tiredly stood up and bent down to touch Cassie's shoulder.

"Cassie. Stand up. We have to move higher."

His voice sounded hollow and brittle.

The blind girl flinched and raised her head, her skin deathly pale.

"...Sunny?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. It's me."

Cassie's mind was not all there yet, so he gently pulled her

It's just a

She lingered.

I heard a… a sound… and then something was

and tried to keep

were attacked by a sea monster. The boat was destroyed. I dove down and managed to find you, then swam to this pile of

Cassie wavered.

"Where's… where's…"

to interrupt her, unwilling to

follow me. We can rest when

climbed to the base of the giant hand's index finger, which was the highest point they could reach without climbing the fingers themselves. Sitting down on the cold stone, he rested his back against the giant phalanx and stared at the restless surface of the dark

were cold and

silent by his side. Her pale face was contorted, as though she simultaneously wanted to ask the question and

gathering her courage, the blind girl whispered, her trembling voice barely

"Sunny. Where is Neph?"

to speak the words

he spoke them, they would become the truth. But if

'I'm not answering.'

the familiar pressure appeared in his mind. The pressure grew and grew, making his head

'I'm not!'

than he had ever done before, keeping

still forced

"She's… she's g…"

a subtle sound attracted his attention. It came from below, from the edges

heart skipped a

its stone surface, a pale white hand appeared from the black water and grabbed onto

onto the opened palm of the stone

His eyes widened.

Cassie turned her

"Sunny? What is it?"

and whispered,

"It's Nephis."

uncertain smile appeared on

"Neph?! She is alright?!"

found himself unable to

Nephis was

he didn't know how

There was a horrifying gaping wound on Changing Star's torso, looking as though almost half of her right side was missing. Sunny could see the sharp shards of broken ribs, the rivers of blood streaming down her legs, and the mangled mess of viscera

wanted to close his

Her right arm was severely damaged, too. In fact, it was almost torn off, hanging only by a narrow strip of skin and a

Neph's eyes was gone, its socket crushed and shattered, the skin of her cheek was

of her was harrowing and

apparent that Changing

are you

suppress the answer that was fighting its way out. Something sharp and hot was stabbing at his heart,

and blindly stepped forward. Her legs buckled, and she heavily fell to her knees, splattering blood all other the cold surface of the stone. A terrible moan escaped from her lips as her cracked femur finally shattered, bone