Shadow Slave

The acid stored in the demon's stomach had melted the grass, but now, new blades were already rising from the ground, taller than before. It took Sunny some time to find the coins between them… the rain did not help, either. But in the end, he discovered all three.

The coins were identical to the first one: they were cast from gold and heavy, a beautiful wooden ship with a tree growing around its mast depicted on one side and the face of the mysterious stranger on the other.

Hiding the coins in his pack, Sunny wiped the rainwater off his face and looked at the remains of the winged demon. In a flash of lightning, he saw the whole creature, red grass growing through its white bones, darkness nesting in the empty eye sockets, terrifying fangs crowding the massive, powerful jaws.

Even in death, the creature looked frightening.

'Where have you come from, ugly?'

With a sigh, Sunny looked at the sky, allowing rain to pelt him in the face for a while. Whatever little chance he had of tracking the flying abomination by following the trail of its blood was now gone. What else could he do?

Closing his eyes for a moment, Sunny walked a few steps and retrieved a piece of gnawed wood from the mud. Just as he had remembered, it resembled a broken corner of a chest, with a strip of metal reinforcing the seem. Both the strip of metal and the wood itself had been violently torn from the rest of the chest, it seemed, by the bite of the dead demon.

Which meant one thing… there had to be at least one chest full of mysterious coins somewhere out there, probably.

But how was Sunny supposed to find it? The Chained Isles was a vast land, full of numerous dangers and hidden places. All he knew about the creature was that it had been mortally wounded by the dwellers of the Dark Side and then succumbed to the Crushing.

Speaking of the Crushing… the rattling of chains thundered in the distance, announcing that the Iron Hand Island was entering the ascent phase. Sunny had to leave this place quickly. The next time he returned, the bones of the demon would most likely already be turned to dust.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny walked over to the skull of the abomination and dislodged one of its fangs with a powerful kick. Picking up the jagged bone dagger, he studied it for a few moments, and then put it in his pack.

If all else failed, he would try to find an Awakened with affinity to revelations and convince them to perform a divination upon the fang.

There was one person capable of something like that on the Chained Isles, at least. But… Sunny wasn't really willing to request help from that particular seer. Not unless there was no other choice at all.

'We're not there yet.'

at the dead demon and the surrounding area, trying to see if

on his face, he dissipated into the shadows and hurried back to

***

returned to the Sanctuary, dawn was not that far away. Sunny snuck on the Altar Island and placed two of the three coins on the cold surface

Nothing happened.

'Huh.'

dark veil of clouds. After some time, the Sanctuary was finally illuminated

coin he held up in

moment later, the Spell whispered, its voice entwined with the rustle of the

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny smiled.

and the

altar, and soon heard the Spell repeat itself for

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

bring me to two hundred

had the obsidian dagger moved ever so

lift the damned knife, but just as before, nothing he did had

'Ugh, whatever!'

of a reward in and of itself. He had received four shadow fragments — the equivalent of killing a Fallen Monster — without having to risk his life one bit. On its own, this amount was not that considerable… but what if he

reached the treasury where the chest bitten into by the winged

change a

was, Sunny had no idea where to

for a

should probably find an expert

their behavior, and usual haunts… somebody who had spent long years