Shadow Slave

Left on the top of the tall mound of crimson coral, Cassie stood alone in the darkness.

Now that the Quiet Dancer had left her side, she was back to her previous self.

Lost.

Weak.

Frightened.

Utterly helpless.

The oppressive nothingness surrounded her from all sides.

But that nothingness was full of sound.

It swelled with the deafening cacophony of the nightmare horde's onslaught. Cassie heard howls, growling, inhuman screams, shrieks, and the scraping of chitin.

She heard the clangor of steel and the sound of flesh being ripped apart.

She also heard countless human voices calling out to any kind of deity that could save them. Full of fury, agony, bravery, fear, resolve, sorrow, strength, helplessness, hope, faith, despair, disbelief.

She heard them dying.

Standing above it all, Cassie shivered. She wanted to press her hands against her ears, but didn't.

…Her terrible vision was coming true.

And she was back to being lost in the darkness.

Just like before. Worse than before. Almost like on that first day in this cursed, forsaken, lightless land.

In this forgotten hell.

Back then, she had found herself stranded on a similar mound of coral. Only what surrounded her was the dark sea and not a horde of Nightmare Creatures.

But Cassie didn't know that. She didn't know where she was, and what was hiding in the boundless darkness. She only knew that she was alone, and helpless.

That she was going to die in that lonesome, cold nothingness.

she hugged her knees and tried not to cry. Abandoned and

cold and indifferent voice

"...What are you doing?"

even asking anything in return, not before, and not after

she

out of the darkness and destroyed the bitter, all-encompassing prison of her loneliness. How was Cassie supposed

Sweet Sunny, who pretended to be callous and cruel, but

had

had to

Or die with it...

of slaughter, a

flinched, and slowly turned to face the

her face paled, and her lips moved

'No!'

from the battle and anyone who could have heard her, Cassie closed her eyes and whispered

there is

***

Army became much smaller, but still held on. In fact, it was slowly pushing the horde of the

them summoned their melee weapons and joined the

its seemingly endless reserve of fresh bodies. With no more abominations crossing

human formation and rallying fighters around her, with Effie stalling the entire horde to give the rest of the humans time to mend the breaches

seemed to finally

the humans to turn that balance in their favor was

"Come on! Hold strong!"

"Lit yourself on fire!"

"Follow the Immortal Flame!"

feeling that the fate of this battle was about to be decided, a gust of wind suddenly blew over the battlefield, bringing with it

The light dimmed slightly.

and froze for a few moments. Their faces became as

darkness was slowly devouring the world. It was approaching the battlefield with terrifying speed, numerous

A storm was coming.

water that swirled around

then, it began to crawl

and faster, the black whirlpool swelled and moved forward, swallowing the crimson coral meter after a meter, its dark vastness

sea was coming

monsters that guarded the Crimson Spire, however, did not react in the same way as the usual Nightmare Creatures

find shelter, they howled and shrieked in eerie triumph, and then crashed into the Dreamer Army with renewed