Shadow Slave

Sitting on the cold stone floor, Sunny inhaled deeply and looked at the people that surrounded him.

All of them were exhausted, wounded, covered in blood, dirt, barely staying conscious. Their armor was broken and torn, and their faces were deathly pale. They sat on the ground, too tired to move or talk, breathing heavily, and stared down with empty eyes.

There were so few of them left…

But also much more than he had expected.

Around a hundred Sleepers had survived the battle of the Crimson Spire. They were the strongest, the bravest… but mostly, the luckiest warriors of the Dreamer Army. Four-fifths of it had been eviscerated in the slaughter.

Not to mention another five hundred or so that had died during the bloody struggle for the throne of the Bright Castle.

This hundred was all that remained of more than a thousand humans that had been surviving on the Forgotten Shore before Changing Star had arrived in the Dark City like a brilliant omen of disaster. Like a herald of ruinous change.

But Sunny was appalled and horrified as much as he was surprised and elated. He had honestly thought that the number of people who would make it this far was going to be in the single digits.

...Looking around, he searched for familiar faces.

Nephis and Cassie were there, of course. So was Kai. Effie was slumped against a wall, dressed only in her white chiton, which was now torn and painted completely red with blood. Her armor seemed to have been completely destroyed.

Caster was also there, bandaging a shallow wound on his shoulder. Compared to other survivors, he seemed strangely clean. However, his armor was seriously damaged, too. It seemed that even incredible speed had not been enough to avoid the fury of the nightmare horde.

Seishan stood slightly apart from the rest of them, surrounded by a dozen surviving Handmaidens. The beautiful woman was heavily injured, the luster of her skin and sparkling eyes growing bleak and dim. From what Sunny could see, she was barely alive.

Aiko, who was sitting on the floor, wiping tears off her

there were also many people whom he did

after their long expedition was dead. So was Park, his nonchalant friend who had been

had asked Sunny about his opinion on who could have killed Harus were now dead, too. So was the young man who had thought that talking to Sunny was a

during Gunlaug's reign, did not make. Perhaps this was why Aiko,

but suspected that his last hunt had been a truly terrifying sight to behold. Most of the people Gemma had brought to Changing Star's faction with him were now dead,

so many

down on survivors

survived had no time for sorrow, at least

fact, there had just entered the very belly of the

***

Sleepers, Sunny looked into the depths

growths of coral everywhere inside. They resembled frozen waterfalls of blood, as if rivers of it had once streamed from the top of the Spire and then suddenly turned solid. Because of that, it was hard to see what hid in the depths of the cyclopic construct. Further away, the interior of

few moments, Sunny decided not to send his shadow to explore. The Crimson Terror had already proven its ability to hurt the it, so he was unwilling to risk the well-being of his invaluable

he glanced

now, the light of day outside

her head,

and then faced the surviving humans. Her calm voice echoed in the darkness of

your strength. We

to their feet. Those who were relatively fine supported those who were seriously wounded. Those who had lost consciousness were being carried by their friends or

the front, holding Cassie