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.

just a

strength, and those reserves were not endless.

'Not good…'

had chosen to come to this place, and now, Sunny was starting to seriously doubt his

just go to Bastion? He would be safe and sound behind its

insult to injury, the Nightmare Creature interrupted his thought by leting out a deafening growl and doubling its efforts to devour him. Sunny felt a putrid wind brush past his face and grimaced miserably. The stench coming out of the beast's maw

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

hands trembled, and the terrible fangs of the beast came a few centimeters closer to

A little

was

tried to push the jaws of the abomination away, but it was useless.

hissed past his shoulders, and two menacing black arrows sunk into

'Thanks!'

pushed the jaws sideways, allowed them to close with a loud crack, and poured as much essence as he

meters and crashed into a trunk of an ancient oak, plowing straight through and turning it

in a shaky breath. Then, he quickly glanced

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 a crimson coral gem was set into the center of her

'Nice shots…'

be 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

now blind… probably. Not

Creature was already rising from the

'Curse you…'

Midnight Shard. The austere tachi