Shadow Slave

The mournful ruins of the once-great city sprawled around them like a desolate stone maze. With grey skies above and nothing but dead silence surrounding the cohort of four tense Sleepers, it seemed as though they were walking through a vast, cyclopean graveyard.

Sunny had to constantly remind himself that there were countless horrors hiding in the ominous shadows of the Dark City. One wrong turn could land them in dire peril. In this ancient ruin, they had no choice but to entrust their lives to the hands of their guide.

Luckily, the guide in question was not a morose dead poet, but a tall, extremely attractive young woman clad in a pleasantly revealing archaic armor. In their current circumstances, Sunny much preferred the company of a warrior to that of a useless scribbler.

In fact, circumstances had nothing to do with it. He was having trouble imagining any situation where a writer would be helpful to have around. From what he knew, all writers were lazy, talentless hacks whose only real skill was finagling money out of honest people while getting off on torturing them with sadistic cliffhangers.

Not to mention that none of them had a backside like Effie… uh… wait, what?

Getting his mind out of the gutter, Sunny frowned and reminded himself to keep his emotions in check.

In a sense, this harsh necessity was a blessing. The perilous reality of the ruined city prevented them from concentrating on the bitter despair that had taken a stranglehold on their hearts after the grim revelation of the previous day.

They just had to put one foot in front of the other and not think too much about anything.

One step at a time. That was how he was going to survive.

Sunny

The huntress lead them through the complex maze of wide and narrow streets

some time crawling through the piles of rubble inside. Other times, Effie was able to lead them straight

forward by walking on precariously rickety tiles or bared support beams, jumping across vast chasms and balancing on half-rotten planks of wood that had been placed there by

just left a few days ago, as opposed to the thousands of years that had passed in reality. Because of that, he was able

a strange and

signs of her previous visits and preparations. From the planks placed across the gaps between roofs to the heavy slabs of stone used to hide improvised passages, it was apparent that she had spent years of meticulous effort turning

respect for the seemingly carefree young woman. She almost made traveling through the cursed ruins look safe and

he knew that this couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, he suspected that death was constantly breathing down their necks, only barely held at bay by Effie's knowledge and timely judgment. Several freshly eviscerated carcasses that they had stumbled on served as a clear sign that Dark City was

terrifying Nightmare Creatures were not safe

once, they heard the distant sounds of claws scraping against stone, sensed the ground trembling under heavy footsteps, or noticed swift shadows falling through the clouds. In those moments, Effie would change their course

had indeed been a rare stroke

hour that passed, Sunny grew increasingly somber. No matter what kind of future awaited them in this cursed place, he had no doubt that they would have to hunt for food as well. That meant that he was going to have to learn all the same things that Effie had learned, and maybe even more.

to do it by himself. There was Changing Star to partner with, and Cassie. Their presence calmed him

and if not, at

think about something that is never