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.

her knees and tried not to cry. Abandoned and forgotten, she waited

of death, a cold and indifferent

"...What are you doing?"

met Nephis, who saved and protected her ever since. Without even asking anything in return, not before, and not after learning of what

because she wanted

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

who pretended to be callous and

had to make a

now, she had to live with that

Or die with it...

listening to the sounds of slaughter, a

turned to

face paled,

'No!'

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

there

***

Army became much smaller, but still held on. In fact, it

the line of archers ran out of arrows and ammunition, those who had no suitable Memories to replace them summoned their melee weapons and joined the vanguard, reinforcing its dwindling numbers. The Artisans had done the same, abandoning their siege engines and throwing

of fresh bodies. With no more abominations crossing the bridges of crimson coral and lunging

unassailable core of the 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 in their defense lines, for a few minutes, the flow

forces seemed

taken for the humans to turn that balance in their

"Come on! Hold strong!"

"Lit yourself on fire!"

"Follow the Immortal Flame!"

people yelled, feeling that the fate of this battle was about to be decided,

The light dimmed slightly.

for a few moments. Their

Crimson Spire, an impenetrable wall of darkness was slowly devouring the world. It was approaching the battlefield with

A storm was coming.

and closer, the surface of the black water that swirled around the island

it began to crawl

and moved forward, swallowing the crimson coral meter after a

was coming to

the Crimson Spire, however, did not react in the same way

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