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

my big damn

some distance away, somewhere near the remains of the seven golems he

inserting the third key, Sunny dashed to the

gust of wind hit Sunny in the back,

he put the fifth key into the keyhole,

'Curse it all!'

lock and dove into the black water, swimming

a few moments before the mass of twisting tentacles descended on him, he

Suddenly, the world shuddered.

***

Forgotten

surviving humans froze for a second, startled by the

down. The torrential flood of rain stopped. The continuous, deafening roar of

ended as suddenly as it

and paused for a moment,

then, the dark veil of clouds was broken by

soon as it happened, the restless black water stopped rising, and

sea was

***

"Crap!"

Sunny put the last Oath Key into the seventh lock, the whole Crimson Spire shuddered. An indescribable sound came from its depths, echoing through the darkness of the storm like

gates opened. The giant slabs of ancient stone moved for the first time in thousands of

of black water with terrible speed. The unexpected blow threw him off his feet and almost caused him to drown. Not to mention

brought him away from the damned tentacles,

was thrown onto the slope of a tall coral mound. Coughing a few times, he tiredly crawled a few meters up, then fell on the rough surface