Shadow Slave

As the last spark of light disappeared, Nephis tilted her head to the side and remained silent for a few moments. Then, she lowered her gaze and said, addressing the First Lord:

"Thank you."

She hesitated, as though wishing to say more, but eventually just took a step back.

Kai, however, wasn't that reserved. Bowing deeply, he remained with his head down for a while, then straightened his back, looked at the skeleton, and voiced something that a few of them must have been thinking:

"Thank you. We will… we will finish what you started."

His words echoed above the cold water, eventually disappearing into the darkness. A heavy silence settled above the shore of the underground river.

A few seconds later, the charming archer turned to the rest of them and asked with uncertainty:

"I think… should we bury him?"

The members of the cohort looked at each other. Before anyone could voice their opinion, though, Sunny suddenly spoke:

"No. Just leave him as he is. He wanted to be closer to his friends when he died, so… just don't touch him."

With that, he turned his head and looked away.

Since the First Lord died outside of the terrible maze, his shadow was gone, too. Now it was just dumb and empty, like most shadows cast by inanimate objects. He had not shared in the harrowing fate of his companions, which meant that Sunny couldn't help him reunite with them… even slightly.

Neither could they bring the remains of the First Lord back outside, to bury him near the girl who had died in the quarry.

It was better to just leave him be.

'Forget about it. Think of something else.'

Sunny had other matters to consider, anyway.

That strange Memory that Nephis had absorbed… he had never even heard of a Memory that could exist outside of someone's soul. Had the First Lord somehow relinquished the ownership of it, or was this a quality that all Shard Memories possessed?

like Effie's spear and his own stalwart blade. That Memory was the reason why Changing Star had ventured on this expedition, to begin with.

stared at Nephis, then

headband… what is it called? No, actually, let me guess. Dawn

looked at him and didn't answer. Her

Sunny grinned.

secrets, are

in her

this cohort? You chose to

silent for a bit, then

did, and you have no good reason to

Suddenly, Nephis smiled.

know. If you do, I'll naturally tell

stared at her for a while, then

though. How exactly is that thing supposed to

lingered for a bit, then simply

"See for yourself."

itself from sparks of light

then, something about the world

'W—what…'

then slowly lowered his gaze and looked

rather, on the spellweave

he saw

embers that served as nexuses for the complicated pattern of ethereal strings permeating the Memory suddenly shone

Much, much brighter.

as intense as of those inside the black onyx armor he had purchased at the Memory Market.

An Ascended Memory.

'What the hell?'

around his neck, Sunny fished out the Blood Blossom from under his armor and stared at it, perplexed. The two embers inside the intricate pendant had become

peer into the inner weave

The area of effect of the enchantment is very large… but the enhancement

'...You don't say!'

Sunny felt as though he was on the verge of being dumbstruck. Singular was the right word to describe the effect of the Dawn Shard. He had never heard of a Memory being capable of rising the power of another one by almost an