Shadow Slave

The Sanctuary was slowly waking up. Now that the sun had risen, groups of Awakened were preparing to venture outside, while those who had stuff to do in the Citadel itself were going about their business. A few of them greeted Sunny as he walked toward the Altar Island.

By now, he should have been able to return to the real world. After everything he had discovered during the night, there was a flame burning inside his chest that demanded action. His eyes gleamed when he thought about the mysterious treasure hidden somewhere out there, in the darkness.

But although Sunny was a very rapacious person, he knew how to keep his avarice in check… well, most of the time.

'Shipwreck Island…'

Sunny had never been that far away from the Sanctuary, but he had heard about that deadly place.

The Shipwreck Island was situated almost at the center of the Chained Isles, far removed from both human CItadels. The Nightmare Creatures there were especially ferocious, and the islands themselves were far more bizarre and dangerous than those closer to the edges of the region.

If one could somehow survive the Crushing and look upon the Chained Isles from above, they would see that there was a vast empty space at the very heart of this shattered land. Some people assumed that this was where the Ivory Tower had once been chained, before all seven of its anchors were broken. After that, the islands bordering the Tear slowly fell into the Sky Below one after another, making it grow wider and wider.

The hole at the heart of the Chained Isles was slowly expanding, and one day, thousands of years from now, it was probably going to devour the whole region.

…But Sunny had no interest in that remote future.

What concerned him right now was that the Shipwreck Island was on the very edge of the Tear, and as such, presented a lot of danger for a young Awakened like him. If Sunny wanted to venture out that far, he would have to study and thoroughly prepare for a long and perilous expedition.

And in the meantime, he had to hurry to the real world.

Even though he felt the call of treasure with every fiber of his being, desperate to reduce the gap between himself and Nephis, the things he had to do back in reality were… crucial.

down. It's nothing

at the obsidian dagger suspiciously, then placed his hand on the

no reason to worry,

***

opened, letting out beams of light and clouds of cool mist. Sunny yawned and climbed out of the sleeping pod, then stretched with a satisfied smile

felt refreshed and energized, as if he just had a long, perfectly comfortable sleep — not at all

that… is what I

the luxurious machine might have been the best purchase he had ever made.

Sunny walked over to the kitchen, glanced at the broken remains of his

morning. He sent the happy shadow

him just a few minutes to cook himself a breakfast that would have been considered the epitome of a lavish

to a dining table that was too large for one person, he placed his

Usually, people of his age would have an active presence on the network and feeds breaking with all kinds of news, events, and videos, but

had once been the stuff of his dreams: the unlimited amount of games, books, shows, and entertainment of all sorts was on the tip of his

that Sunny had free access to all these alluring things, he had no time to dive into any of

'Maybe one day…'

the communicator to quickly sketch and describe the coin

The sun was rising

a hidden spot on the porch of his new home and observed the quiet street from its shelter. It saw a few PTVs drive by, humming slowly as they rolled or levitated toward the exit from

the students in school uniforms to

children through the shadow,