Shadow Slave

For a moment, Sunny was afraid that they had been walking in circles all this time and now returned exactly to where they had started. But then, he calmed himself down and noted that this river, while as eerie as the one they had crossed on a wooden boat, was rather different.

He couldn't exactly explain it, but it didn't feel the same. Plus, there was no pier with two boats tied to stone pillars anywhere in sight… or rather, sense.

Instead, there was a bridge.

Sunny could feel its shadow falling on the cold water, solid and firm as the stone it was built from. The bridge arched over the river, leading far into the distance.

Not wishing to spend another minute in the terrible maze that no living thing could see if it hoped to remain alive, Sunny led the cohort toward the bridge.

If Cassie was correct, they would be safe after crossing the second river. Sunny surely hoped that it was true, because the long journey where he had to play the role of a guide for five blind people had been nothing short of exhausting.

After spending seven… or was it eight by now?... months on the Forgotten Shore, Sunny had thought that he possessed a high tolerance for terror. But this last ordeal tested the limits of his mental endurance.

Walking through that dark place with his sight taken away…

It was a miracle that Cassie had somehow managed to remain sane at all.

He tensed up when they entered the bridge, expecting for something dreadful to happen at the last moment. But the silence was not broken by anything except for the sound of rushing water, their steps, and laborious breathing.

The cohort walked on the bridge, leaving the dark maze behind. Soon, they could feel the mist surrounding them grow thinner.

at some point,

any trouble and returned to solid ground

steps, Sunny stopped and finally allowed himself to tremble. Then, he opened his mouth and said

"Are we through?"

avoided speaking ever since entering the mist. Because of that, the sound of his

moments later, Cassie answered

"I… I think so?"

time, Sunny untied the cloth that covered his eyes and removed

the underground river was flowing unobstructed. Some distance away from them, the wall of the cave came down, with a mouth of a

removing the strips of cloth. Sunny could hear the sighs of relief coming from

Nephis, who had already opened her calm

followed her

of the dark river, he saw a human skeleton. It was sitting on the cold stones, its back

City, this one was tranquil and untouched by the corruption of

where the First Lord of the Bright

***

few meters away from the bridge that he had used to escape the terrible place which, according to Cassie, no living being

that anyone entering the mist had to keep their eyes closed at all times. But in the end,

safe place for the humans sent to the Forgotten Shore to live, and lead an expedition to find a way out of this cursed place — sat down and looked in the

his friends and companions had died, leaving him