Shadow Slave

Standing around the cairn, the members of the cohort looked at it with somber expressions — except for Cassie, who turned away and faced the mountainside, as though trying to hide her emotions.

Now that they knew what they were looking at, their mood suddenly became forlorn and solemn. People stranded on the Forgotten Shore were well acquainted with death and tragedy, but finding this lonely grave so far away from any place where another human could find it, lost under the alien grey sky of the Dream Realm, was still a poignant revelation.

None of them had ever met the Dreamers of the first cohort, but after living in the shadow of their legendary achievements and hearing stories of their deeds for so long, it felt as though this grave belonged to one of their own.

Because of how bleak and tense the reality of the Bright Castle was, it was easy to forget that in this cursed world, all of them were fellow humans. But in front of the quiet grave, the truth was stark and cutting: it was them alone against the endless tide of Nightmare Creatures, and every human life lost diminished them all.

Sunny sighed and noticed that there were words carved into one of the stones placed on top of the cairn. It took him a while to make sense of the inscription, because it wasn't written with the runes he had grown accustomed to. Instead, it was written in simple letters of the human language, which looked strange and alien in this forsaken land.

Cut into the stone by unknown means, a single sentence was left behind on the otherwise unmarked grave.

"Her nightmare is over"

With a heavy heart, Sunny silently repeated it several times. It was strange how much meaning could be expressed with so few words. They echoed in his mind and lingered there, leaving a deep and mournful mark.

'...Rest in peace, whoever you are. I... I hope that your dreams are sweet and serene now.'

With that, he turned away and gritted his teeth.

When would their own nightmares be over?

The other members of the cohort were slowly coming back from their sudden reverie. Kai sighed and looked at Changing Star, his face full of sadness.

guess this is what we've been looking for. The First Lord and his expedition definitely

the grave and turned to face the charming

be an entrance to an old mine somewhere nearby. From what Cassie had

what she said made him uneasy.

his head, he looked at Cassie, who was still silently standing a few steps away from them, her head turned to the mountains. It

awfully quiet

Sunny gestured to Nephis to draw her attention. Changing Star frowned, then followed his gaze and

hand on the blind girl's shoulder. Instantly,

you

was an expression of terror written on the blind girl's face. For a few moments, she

mist... we must get underground before the mist comes.

time questioning Cassie further. Turning around,

the entrance to the mine,

Kai rose into the air and dashed toward the giant amphitheater on the opposite side of

urgency of the situation,

there is a reason why we haven't met a single

Mountains. Even before learning about how dangerous these peaks were, he had already known that no land that

to move as soon

mist that was already starting to seep into the valley, Nephis lingered for a moment, then summoned

into a blur behind

Stone Saint. His mind was preoccupied with perceiving