Shadow Slave

"Hey, doofus. You're okay?"

Sunny reacted after a second or two, raising his head and staring at Effie with empty eyes.

"...Y—yeah. I'm fine. Just… thinking about stuff."

Effie gave him a strange look, then shrugged and turned away. Everyone was too busy to pay him any attention. Not that anyone ever did.

Left alone, Sunny staggered and slowly lowered himself to the ground. In his mind, one phrase was repeating itself, over and over, growing louder and louder with each second.

"A woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monster… a woman with a bronze spear..."

This was a part of the vision that Cassie had seen back at the beginning of their journey, on the night they had spent atop the giant statue of a headless knight.

The one that was so harrowing that she had almost jumped into the dark waters of the cursed sea just to run away from her terror.

It was also the key that connected every little piece of information that Sunny knew into one cohesive picture and let him understand the true meaning of that terrifying vision.

He shuddered, remembering what Cassie had told them on that dark night in stark detail:

'I saw the human castle again. Only this time, it was at night. There was a lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing down its halls. I saw a corpse in a golden armor sitting on a throne; a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer trying to pierce the falling sky with his arrows…'

All that time, Sunny was sure, for some reason, that Cassie saw the cataclysm that had devoured this land and turned it into a desolate hell, creating the Forgotten Shore. The first part of the vision was certainly referring to how the curse of the all-consuming darkness had broken free from its seven seals. So he had just assumed that the other parts of the vision spoke about the past, too.

But Effie's spear gave him an epiphany, a terrible revelation that he had been wrong all this time. That the apocalyptic images Cassie had described were not of the past, but of the future.

Their future.

Trembling, Sunny raised his head and glanced at Nephis, who was using her powers to heal the wounded hunters, her ivory face contorted in a painful grimace. His eyes were wide and full of disbelief.

It was all so clear!

She… she was the lonely star that burned in the dark skies above the Bright Castle, bringing with it fire and rivers of blood. After all, her name was Changing Star.

depending on the runes used to

The Star of Ruin.

much time fearing what Gunlaug was going to do with Nephis, but he should have been scared of what she was going to do to him, instead. A corpse in a golden armor sitting

of monsters. The archer…Sunny didn't know

only to die

by some mysterious, overwhelming goal. He didn't know what that goal was, but it was certainly not here,

she had always been so unwavering and relentless in her ambition to move forward, overcome any obstacle, endure any pain. At times, it even seemed as though her conviction was more akin to an obsession. Nephis was willing to do anything to fulfill

on their first day in the Dark City suddenly resounded in his mind. Only now, there was another, colder, and much

No matter what

has to

in one piece. They would need an army to even try. Maybe

Nephis didn't

…Yet.

Gunlaug, usurp his power and eliminate all opposition, drowning the Bright Castle in blood. Only then would she be able to rally every single Sleeper left in the Dark City and lure them into following her on a suicidal crusade. Knowing all too well that most of

sane person would follow

'They won't. Right?'

and women that had become part of their group in the last few weeks. The strange light of hope, or maybe faith, burning in their eyes. The almost religious reverence they felt toward Nephis… no, not Nephis. Toward Changing Star of the

Their personal angel.

Were they sane, still?

every part

young woman with silver hair, Sunny

then… there was the

***

a feverish dream. The magnitude of the revelation was too… too much for him. His mind felt weak, unsteady, and on the verge of breaking

was as though the very core of his being was violently shaken. He wasn't equipped with the

if he was on the verge of

Sunny was truly horrified.

your emotions. This is not the right time for feelings. You need to… to figure out how all

what was there to be scared of? That many people would

the end, this whole thing might actually turn out to be beneficial. Hadn't he spent the last weeks being afraid of what Gunalug was going to do to them? Well, now he knew that

he crushed by the news that he would spend the rest of his life in this odious hell? Well, now that wasn't a certainty anymore.

well. Better