Shadow Slave

A while later, they were resting in the shadow of the giant statue. Every member of the cohort looked nothing short of terrible, however, beneath the bloodied сlothes and broken armor, their bodies were whole and sound.

Changing Star had healed them all, and now, she was the only one who was weak and exhausted. Using the white flame so much had taken a heavy toll on her.

Sitting in the mud, Sunny raised his head and looked at the giant statue of the faceless woman. She was just like the last time he had seen her, slender and graceful, with her light flowing robe rippling in the wind, as though made out of actual fabric and not hard stone.

The statue was tilted slightly to the side, with its one remaining hand reaching high into the sky. A long time ago, on the night of their harrowing escape from the Ashen Barrow, Sunny, Cassie and Nephis had taken shelter in her palm.

It was from its height that he had first seen the walls of the Dark City.

Looking down, Sunny stared at the other hand of the giant statue, which had broken off a long time ago and fell down, crushing through the dome of the underground chamber.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and thought:

'Thank you for saving us again.'

Then, his face darkened.

Remembering the events that had transpired in the catacombs, Sunny felt his good mood evaporating. Although he had found the answer to one of the mysteries that had been plaguing him for a while now, he wasn't happy about it.

The fate of the inhabitants of the ancient city had always been something that Sunny was very curious about. As an amateur explorer who spent most of his free time studying the ruins of the Dark City, he was familiar with subtle details of their culture more than most. Learning about the mundane facts of their lives was somewhat of a passion of his.

He had known that the history of this ancient civilization ended in tragedy, of course. A cataclysmic disaster had destroyed it, turning the once prosperous land into the desolate hell it was today. But against all logic, Sunny still hoped that these people had somehow managed to survive.

Perhaps they had migrated somewhere, leaving the ruins of their city behind.

knew that it wasn't so. All of them were right there below him, buried forever in a damp underground chamber, piled onto each other high enough to form a ghastly mountain of bones. More than that, their remains had been soaked in the cursed waters of the dark sea and turned into a vessel for the soul of

were a lot of questions about the fate of these people still lingering in his mind. How did they end up in that dark chamber? Had they died there, or had their bodies been brought there

know the answers anymore. He felt that learning them would only

distract himself from these depressing thoughts with something uplifting and summoned the

particular,

Shadow Fragments: [322/1000.]

four fragments for killing the Corpse Eater… even though the manner of its death was rather peculiar. Having now killed Nightmare Creatures of the Awakened, Fallen, and Great ranks, Sunny could surmise that

fragments for killing enemies of higher ranks, according to the number of soul cores they possessed.

which was equal to him in terms of rank, would

being that shadow fragments entered his core at the moment of the kill and without making a distinction between Nightmare Creatures and

at the list of his

[Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Midnight Shard], [Ordinary Rock], [Prowling Thorn], [Endless

one was new. Slightly intrigued, Sunny read

Memory: [Blood Arrow].

Memory Rank: Ascended.

Memory Tier: I.

Memory Type: Weapon.

Description: [A debt of blood must be paid in

[Rain

are created from the wielder's blood, and as such, can rain on the enemies for as long as the archer

Description: [If the arrow finds its mark, it will drink the blood of the prey and restore

'Huh. Creepy.'

to him. Which was a real shame, because it was

to the Stone Saint for