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

his elegant eyebrows,

of course. It

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

sent it down in advance to scout out the landing zone and make sure that nothing

there, looking like a tiny black dot from the height of the ancient

in prolonging

commanded the Dark Wing to raise him above ground… and stepped into

a moment, he was consumed by primal fear. But then Sunny felt that instead of

was still losing altitude, but at a safe and pleasant pace. Two transparent wings had turned into

this feeling was…

appearing on his face, Sunny reminded himself

Wing. Soon, Sunny was gliding down in a wide

that others

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

already close

to enjoy this pleasant feeling of weightlessness

were

be better than I gave it credit for. Still

in

later, the colossus trembled. Slowly, it turned around and took