On the last day they would spend in the Dark City, Nephis led a small group of her most powerful warriors on one last hunt.
The members of her cohort were all following behind her. Sunny, who stubbornly refused to accept his status as one of them, walked apart from the group, idly looking around and observing the ruins.
Gemma and Seishan were also with them, as well as ten or so of the most experienced hunters — some of them formerly from the Host, some formerly from the outer settlement. There was no difference between the two anymore.
All of them were simply Changing Star's people now.
As they were walking, Gemma approached Sunny and glanced at him with curiosity.
After Tessai had fallen to Neph's blade, the tall man seemed to have found some measure of peace. Somewhere deep in his eyes, however, there always was a hint of sorrow.
Sunny stared at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
The hunter smiled slightly and asked in a friendly tone:
"You're Sunless, right?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Yeah, that's me."
Gemma silently measured him and then asked with interest:
"I've heard that you lived for months alone in the city. Is that true?"
'Ah, makes sense.'
The tall man was perhaps the most experienced hunter on the Forgotten Shore. He had survived countless battles on the streets of the cursed city. It was natural for him to be curious about this matter…
Sunny gave him a nod.
"Sure. A little over three months, I guess."
Gemma rubbed his chin, then asked bluntly:
"How did you survive?"
Sunny grinned.
How had he managed that, indeed?
of hiding, lots of killing. A modicum of madness, and a little bit of
for a bit, then
about right, I
a while, he glanced forward at Changing Star and asked in a curious
know what we are going to hunt
at
"She didn't tell you?"
tall man hesitated, then shook
I'm just not sure that I believe
smiled and
guess. Your first thought was that she had lost her mind.
a few moments of
can we kill
'Poor guy…'
for a
know more about it than I
just like that, their
the middle of the day, they reached the eastern edges of the city and climbed the imposing monolith of the great wall. Standing on top of it, they saw the colossal crater and the headless statue that stood not too far away, its one
a
going to hunt the Lord of
***
mud. Thousands of years ago, it had broken off and fell, crashing through the dome of the underground chamber. Now, there was a chasm in
and the rest had used that breach to escape from the catacombs. Now, they were going
really surprised that Nephis had chosen to return to this place. After all, the mountainous abomination was most likely guarding
really curious about how exactly she was planning to kill
everyone gathered around the hole in the mud, Changing Star glanced
a
the mud and entered the dark hole, then hid in the palm of
bones was still there, in the
looked very different from how it
body. They weren't growing just between the ancient remains: the vines
the Dead seemed… weaker. More brittle. As though it was sick, sapped of its strength and infected by a
look closer, and finally noticed the thing that he
box lay on the floor of the underground chamber, open and empty. The exact same box Nephis had mysteriously entrusted to Caster as soon as they were back in the Dark
on his pillow with a small note. That note had been written by Changing Star's spy — Seishan. And the contents
the Artisans. Her Aspect
it turned out, was her
and then spoke,
is heavily infected by Kido's vine. It
for a few moments. Then,
reduced, and with the help of the Dawn Shard, we should be able to survive the onslaught. We should also be able
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