Shadow Slave

By the middle of their second day of traveling through the Labyrinth atop the ancient colossus, an ominous dark line appeared on the horizon. With every minute, it slowly grew closer. Pretty soon, Sunny was able to tell that they were headed toward a vast mountain chain.

The mountains seemed to serve as a border between the Forgotten Shore and the rest of the Dream Realm. They were tall and jagged, piercing the skies like the fangs of a giant dragon. Their distant peaks were covered in pristine white snow and wrapped in a veil of mist that streamed into the ravines and onto the ridges below.

This was the place where the first lord of the Castle had disappeared all those years ago, as well as the goal of their own perilous journey.

As the stone giant came closer to the mountains, Sunny finally understood just how tall, magnificent, and imposing they were. Even the colossus himself looked like a tiny ant in front of these towering peaks. It was hard not to feel small and insignificant in their oppressive shadow.

Slowly, the terrain of the Labyrinth began to rise. The mounds of coral grew smaller, the distance between them increased, until finally there were as much black soil and stone outcroppings visible beneath as there were islands of vivid crimson. Finally, the blades of coral became scarce.

It was as though the Labyrinth was reluctant to approach the foothills of the misty mountains... or simply unable to.

As the gargantuan statue approached the border of the crimson forest, its steps slowed. The colossus seemed to be struggling to move any further. His body was slightly bent, as if he was fighting against strong wind or some invisible force that was relentlessly pulling him back into the Labyrinth.

Even his prodigious might was not enough to defeat the pull of the ancient curse.

Finally, the stone giant staggered and stopped.

This was the moment they were waiting for.

Caster, Effie and Nephis were already climbing down, while Sunny, Cassie and Kai stood at the edge of the circular platform.

Looking down, Sunny sighed and glanced at the charming archer.

you're going to

elegant eyebrows, then smile at

It would

twitched. Shaking his head, he summoned the Dark Wing and turned away. Immediately, a cloak

was already on the ground. He had sent it down in advance to scout out the landing zone and make sure that nothing was waiting for the members

now standing there, looking like a tiny black dot from the

sense in

his teeth, Sunny commanded the Dark Wing to raise him above

felt that instead of plummeting down to shatter on the

was still losing altitude, but at a safe and pleasant pace. Two transparent

this feeling

a wide smile from appearing on his face, Sunny reminded himself how brittle his wings were and tried to control

was a slight shift of his posture and a mental command to the Dark Wing. Soon, Sunny was gliding down in a wide spiral, enjoying the feeling of wind whistling in

that others can't experience

he was planning to take Effie on the ride of her life. With Kai and Cassie carrying the other two members of the cohort, reaching the ground would have been really easy. However, after a little bit of experimentation, they had found out that Memories left behind

was already close

this pleasant feeling of weightlessness

and looked up. Kai and Cassie were right behind him, and slightly above, already reaching the knees of the

credit for. Still not usable

they were all reunited in the shadow of the

moments later, the colossus trembled. Slowly, it turned around and took a giant step. The ground