Shadow Slave

In the next couple of weeks, the Bright Castle had become a strange place.

Inside its magnificent halls, barricades were built and three makeshift fortresses appeared, each faction holding a specific territory. Beyond these protected areas, there was no man's land. Going outside of a faction's stronghold was often tantamount to death.

No one knew what they would encounter there. Corpses littered the floor, with an occasional marauder hiding in the darkness. With no more law, tyrannical as it had been, many people gave in to their darkest impulses. But these wretches were the least of the dangers that now populated the Castle.

A much worse fate was to stumble onto a patrol or a war party of another faction. The Guards especially were quick to slaughter anyone they met, sometimes in gruesome and inventive ways. The Hunters and the followers of Changing Star were equally as ruthless, but at least not without reason or provocation.

But the most terrifying change was that now, humans weren't the only ones populating the ancient citadel anymore.

After Gunlaug's death, too many people were killed, and the rest were too busy with their little war to keep defending the Castle. And just like that, after so many years, the Nightmare Creatures had returned under its roof.

Some were killed by the representatives of the factions, but some managed to hide themselves and create nests somewhere in the depths of the stronghold. No one knew how many there were, but the terror kept people awake at night.

There were also a lot of rumors going around, one more frightening than the other. The most persistent of them told of a horrible creature called Blood Lord, which apparently stalked the corridors of the Bright Castle and killed humans, tearing their throats open with sharp fangs and consuming all of their blood. Some even thought that it was Gunalug himself, who returned from the grave to bring vengeance to his killers.

Sunny was doubtful of these rumors up until the moment when he had found a bloodless corpse of a young Guard on one of his patrols. For a moment, he felt fear creep into his heart. He knew what the Blood Flowers were, after all. But then he calmed himself down, remembering that the Bright Lord's body had been destroyed during the massacre that followed his death.

If the corpse of Gunlaug wasn't walking around drinking people's blood, though… then what was?

There were a lot of disturbing things happening in the Castle these days.

Apart from the frequent but minor skirmishes between the factions, people kept dying in all manner of morbid ways. He didn't even want to think about it. There was no safe place anywhere now, except for maybe the three strongholds.

The outer settlement had been completely abandoned. At first, Nephis had tried to create a safe haven there for those who did not wish to participate in the war, but she was quickly taught a bloody lesson by her enemies — spreading her forces too thin was simply an invitation for an attack. After that, all of her followers, willing or unwilling, had relocated to the southern part of the Castle and joined the ranks of her fighting force.

yet, even two weeks later, nothing had changed. The three factions continued their bloody struggle, unable to break the

something had to

***

one of the halls of Changing Star's stronghold. In his hand was a bowl

couple of Neph's followers were doing the same while having a conversation. Out of boredom,

They found another dead Guard near the throne room. The

riddance. That thing really creeps me out,

But… do you know what

been paying a tribute to live

"What?"

were able to dream, I sure I would be having nightmares

"...Wait. You didn't hear?"

"What?"

"He's dead."

while Sunny turned away and tried

"No way!"

after the big battle in a hidden passage behind the throne. Someone had… had

few seconds, there was silence. Then, one

kill that

The slum dweller shivered.

thing. No one knows. All of the powerhouses were accounted for. You saw it yourself,

dreadful enough, but to think that there's a person in this Castle who is powerful enough to kill him so easily… while remaining completely unnoticed and unknown, for all

slum dweller gave him a