Shadow Slave

As the Dreamer Army was drowning in the rising waters of the cursed sea and the insatiable tide of monsters, Sunny approached the crimson tower.

Far away from the rest of them, completely alone, submerged in roaring darkness, he struggled against the seething mass of black waves and the hurricane winds to cross the last few meters that separated him from the shining star sigil engraved into its gates.

Finally, his hand touched the cold surface of the ancient stone. Wiping the rainwater off his pale face, Sunny stared at the radiant shapes of the seven stars.

'This better work…'

Summoning the first of the Oauth Keys, he lingered for a moment, and then carefully inserted it into the black chasm of the keyhole.

***

Separated from him by the vast expanse of the swelling sea of darkness, the surviving Sleepers desperately fought the advancing horde of monsters. The black water had already reached their waists, making it hard to move. The army was trying to retreat up the slope of the crimson coral, but the pursuing sea was much faster than them.

Changing Star was still slaying one monster after another, her radiance only growing brighter in the tenebrous hell of the furious storm. Raindrops were evaporating as they touched her brilliant skin, its incandescence making even arching bolts of lightning seem pale and bleak.

…Suddenly, an almost imperceptible ripple ran across the surface of the black water. A gust of cold wind blew over the Forgotten Shore, sending a shiver running through the hearts of countless creatures.

***

Moving on to the next star, Sunny summoned the second key and put it into the lock. Nothing terrible happened, so he struggled through the water to reach the third one.

'Terrible… what would that even look like? What can be more terrible than my current situation?'

As if to answer his question, somewhere behind him, a black tentacle suddenly rose out of the seething waves and blindly whipped through the air. Crashing into a mount of coral, it easily shattered it. A rain of debris fell into the water.

Just a moment later, countless others followed the first one.

through the eyes of his shadow, Sunny

my big

the remains of the seven golems he had slain. But as the sea rose, they started slowly moving in his

inserting the third key, Sunny dashed to the fourth star. Another

gust of

the fifth key into the keyhole, the tentacles

'Curse it all!'

Oath Key into the lock and dove into the black water, swimming toward

descended on him, he found the last shining star and drove the seventh key

Suddenly, the world shuddered.

***

Forgotten Shore

for a second, startled by the sudden

wind died down. The torrential flood of rain stopped. The continuous, deafening roar of the thunderstrikes

terrible storm seemed to have ended as suddenly as it had

Creatures attacking them stumbled and paused

of clouds was broken by a blindingly bright ray of

it happened, the restless black water stopped rising,

cursed sea was

***

"Crap!"

shuddered. An indescribable sound came from its depths,

The giant slabs of ancient stone

problem was, the gates opened outward, slamming into Sunny and dragging him through the mass of black water with terrible speed. The unexpected blow threw him off

him away from

slope of a tall coral mound. Coughing a few times, he tiredly crawled a