Shadow Slave

"Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is…"

"Shut the hell up!"

Trying to remain in the blissful embrace of sleep, Sunny hissed through his teeth and stubbornly closed his eyes tighter. He was warm and comfortable under the blanket, on his own bed, where all the problems of the world seemed less serious and dire.

For a moment, there was silence.

'That's better…'

"Wake up, Sunless! Your…"

'Goddammit!'

Thrusting one arm from under the blanket, Sunny summoned one of his Memories. Immediately, a triangular leaf-shaped throwing dagger appeared in his hand, only to be thrown blindly at the source of the irritating voice. Missing its mark, the kunai clinked against the stone wall and fell to the floor.

However, the voice did fall silent.

Sunny sighed. It was already too late. He was awake.

Far in the distance, the waves were starting to crash against the city wall. The night was coming, so it was time to get up.

Opening his eyes, Sunny sat up and looked around.

His room was beautiful and spacious. The stone walls were engraved with intricate patterns, creating an atmosphere of sanctity and elegance. The furniture was made out of pale polished wood, with several mismatched pieces that Sunny had scavenged from different places himself.

here and there. Sadly, the ingenious system of mirrors that was supposed to bathe the

In fact, this was one of the features of his secret lair that he enjoyed the

was his best

to chase away the last remnants of sleep. His

'Let's make some breakfast.'

But first things first…

hand, pulling on the invisible string that connected his wrist to the ring-shaped pommel of the kunai. The throwing dagger jumped into the air and landed on his palm. This was a trick that had taken Sunny quite some time to master: in the

empty of engravings, he used the kunai to scratch a small line into the

since Sunny came to this loathsome, godforsaken

happened during that

***

vision turned out to be true. Far in the west, they indeed found a vast, ruined city surrounded by tall walls, with monsters wandering its narrow streets. And in

three of them had hoped. Instead, they

were no

survive the lethal hellscape of the Forgotten Shore due to their strength or luck — were stuck there with no hope of ever returning

Oh, what a fool he had been.

he bent over and slapped his

Sunny. What do

staring at him with reproach. Its silence only made Sunny laugh

alone in the city. He was more or

had almost disemboweled him, leaving Sunny no choice but to crawl away while using his own two hands to stop his intestines from falling out. After finding

'Good times…'

Anyway, he survived.

kunai, Sunny walked over to a table that he had scavenged from the ruins of a library and glanced at