Shadow Slave

In the vast empty darkness, myriads of distant stars were shimmering with ethereal light. The vista of the night sky was boundless and stark, full of promise and mystery.

Above it was another sky. This one blue and bright, full of sunlight and gentle winds. White clouds flowed across it, telling enchanting stories with their movement and shapes.

Between the bright sky and the dark sky, an island floated in the air. It was surrounded by freely levitating pieces of rock and ancient masonry, its surface awash in the soft radiance of the sun, its underbelly veiled by impenetrable darkness.

Several gargantuan chains stretched away from the island, cracking thunderously as it slowly rose and fell.

The clangor of iron was almost loud enough to drown Sunny's voice… almost.

"...Argh! Drop dead, bastard! Damn you! Crap!"

Sunny had a good reason to be screaming bloody murder, because he was seconds away from being eaten alive.

Near the edge of the flying island, where the forest covering its surface made way for a narrow expanse of patchy grass, a massive wolf-like beast was currently trying to swallow him whole.

The Nightmare Creature was the size of a small truck, with fur as tough as steel wire and a long, terrifying muzzle. Its jaws were wide enough to bite a human in half, and strong enough to crush both bones and armor into dust.

Currently, those jaws were trying to close on Sunny, and the only thing preventing them from doing so were his hands — he held the upper jaw of the beast with one, and the lower jaw with another, trying with all his strength to keep them open.

His muscles felt as though they were about to explode.

The abomination was also trying to bite down on the hateful human with all of its tremendous might, but for the moment, neither of them could overpower the other.

was just a

burning through his essence to augment his physical strength, and those reserves were not endless. When the well of power ran dry,

'Not good…'

to this place, and

Bastion? He would be safe and sound behind its walls right now. Maybe even

doubling its efforts to devour him. Sunny felt a putrid wind brush past his face

'Just... don't feint...'

centimeters closer to sinking into his flesh. Sunny gritted his teeth,

A little help here,

be seen. She was a good

and tried to push the jaws of the abomination away, but it was useless. The damn creature was just

though, something hissed past his shoulders, and two menacing black arrows sunk into the feral

'Thanks!'

that ran through the wolf's body, Sunny pushed the jaws sideways, allowed them to close with a loud crack, and poured as much essence as

into a trunk of an

knees and drew in a shaky breath. Then,

the bright sky. Saint held a powerful Memory bow in her hands, its limbs made out of horn and polished black wood. Two ruby eyes burned behind the visor of her helmet, and

'Nice shots…'

able to help him any further, though, at least not for a dozen seconds. Sunny was pretty sure that the Shadow had spent all of her arrows while they were fighting with the pack, and now, she had to dismiss and

wolves was now blind… probably. Not that it was going to stop the

was already rising from the ground,

'Curse you…'

Sunny crawled a few steps and picked up the Midnight Shard. The austere tachi was as sharp and deadly as