Shadow Slave

Soon, another map was spread on the table. This one was drawn on a piece of crude parchment made out of monster hide, and much less detailed than the one hanging on the wall.

Well, that was understandable. Because the second map did not depict the Dark City, but the Forgotten Shore itself. Sunny stared at it in stunned silence.

…Yeah. Nephis had not wasted any time during these three months.

He had no idea how she had gathered all this information, but there was a lot more on the map than he could have ever imagined.

At the center of it, a straight black like depicted the Crimson Spire. The Labyrinth flowed from it, devouring the parchment like an ocean of blood. To the east, a small circle of black ink with a symbol of a white tower inside of it marked the Dark City.

The city was perched on the edge of another, much larger circle. It didn't take too much effort to recognize the cyclopean crater — after all, Sunny had traversed it on a rickety boat once, a lifetime ago. However, only now, looking at it in scale, did he finally realize just how giant the crater was, and how vast the Forgotten Shore itself appeared.

Back on Earth, it would have been as large as a continent.

The Dream Realm was indeed much bigger than their own planet, considering that just one of its numerous regions was this enormous.

There were other symbols on the map that he didn't recognize. However, several of them attracted his attention especially.

On the other side of the crater, almost exactly opposite the Dark City, a symbol of a tree depicted the Ashen Barrow. Some distance to the east of it, on a straight line, there was a mark in the shape of a red cross.

Another red cross was drawn inside the crater just outside the eastern side of the Dark City. The third one was about a week's worth of traveling time to the north, near a symbol that looked like a grotesque, misshapen skull. The fourth one was halfway between the ruins and the Crimson Spire. The fifth one lay to the south, about the same distance as the third, drawn atop the symbol of an arching bridge.

The last red cross was at the very edge of the parchment, far away to the south, beyond the Labyrinth. Near it, two symbols were drawn: one was a crown, and the other one was a question mark.

Sunny quickly realized what these crosses represented.

They were the giant statues of the seven forgotten heroes who had given the terrible oath to vanquish the darkness and created the Starlight Legion.

The one to the east of the Soul Devourer was the statue of the knight that he had used as a shelter on his first night in the Dream Realm. The one near the walls of the city belonged to the woman whose hand had saved them from drowning in the dark sea on the night of their escape.

The other four crosses, most likely, marked four more headless statues.

But where was the seventh?

Frowning, Sunny glanced at the map and said:

"So let me get this straight. You want to leave the Dark City, cross the Labyrinth, reach the edges of the Forgotten Shore… and then return?"

Nephis smiled.

"Pretty much, yes."

He sighed.

through the Labyrinth and actually manage to escape it, why the hell would we

for a few moments, then pointed to the three symbols at the lower edge of

of the castle led an expedition to find the way out of the Forgotten Shore. This is where their trace disappeared. From what we were able to learn, an unassailable mountain chain blocks the path to the south. They ventured into the mountains… and never returned. Nothing but death awaits us

back of

remains of

Neph nodded.

If we find it… we'll have a chance in the fight against

everything. Maybe what little trust remained between them was not enough to share those secrets. Maybe she didn't want someone else in the room to hear

Star's business was her own. Sunny was just here as a potential mercenary. As long as the reward

was not going to

hesitation,

as you think. There is… a method we can use to reach them comparatively safely. But once we're there... that's

looked at her

know all this? It's not like there's anyone in the Dark

Nephis shrugged.

stories. Some written evidence. However, most of this

gave the blind girl a

helped us a

Of course, there would be danger. Nothing on the Forgotten

City, Nightmare Creatures were generally of a lower rank than those inside. The efficiency of his hunting would be much higher, which would land him more shadow

more importantly, if Cassie was there to

times her affinity to mysteries and revelations had saved their lives in the past.

Labyrinth — the cursed black waters — were not as

more so

else that he had to

the people gathered in

to talk

just stared at him without moving. Caster, especially, did

is it about him and

gave them a look, they reluctantly stood up and left the room

***