Shadow Slave

Sunny sat silently for a few moments, thinking.

'Sun God…'

So, the ruler of this land had angered the gods, and one of them struck down her kingdom. He could just imagine it — a vast pillar of incandescent white flame falling from the skies, piercing the ground and causing the whole region to fracture, its fragments falling into the searing inferno of the divine flame one after another.

Well… not all of them had fallen.

He glanced up, wondering if the Chained Isles were created to save the citizens of the destroyed kingdom from annihilation. If so… that prideful ruler must have been not so simple herself.

Who would be powerful enough to dare resist the wrath of the gods?

And what had that being done to provoke it?

But more importantly…

How the hell did the voice of the void knew so much about it?

A subtly suspicious expression appeared on his face.

"...Really? This is very interesting. And how exactly do you know all this?"

Sunny hesitated, and then cautiously added:

"Did you, perhaps, have something to do with that prideful ruler?"

The voice was silent for a moment, and then suddenly exploded with sincere laughter.

"Oh my! I wish! Wouldn't that be grand… but no, I am just an Awakened who had studied the Chained Isles, probably the same way that you have studied them in your travels. The ruins here are all but destroyed by the endless cycle of the Crushing, but if one knows where to look, there are still some answers left to find."

Sunny smiled.

"True. But I am actually a research assistant for the Wilderness Survival faculty of the Academy, and yet I have never seen any of the information you possess in the database. With the level of access that I have, that is very strange, isn't it?"

The voice chuckled.

"How am I supposed to report my findings to the Academy? I can't even leave the Dream Realm."

Sunny blinked.

That… actually made a lot of sense. Sort of. Lost or not, an Awakened still had to survive somehow in the Dream Realm, so they were bound to live in one of the Citadels. Probably. So, it wasn't like they had no contact at all with the real world, even if it was only through the other inhabitants of their Citadel.

owner of the voice was not a

a figment

He frowned.

in the Sanctuary. And I have spoken to most of the Awakened there at least

for

am not in the

mean? There was another Citadel on the Chained Isles, the Night Temple.

voice have something to do with the great clan Valor? Sunny raised an

from the Night

was no

seemed that the mysterious young man Sunny had been speaking with — if he was even real — had once again reached his limit, thus ending

Sunny sighed.

this is even more annoying than when Effie leaves me

irritating

"No manners! No decorum..."

***

necessary questions. He would have to be more strategic with his words in

fire…

felt that they had

to withstand the searing heat of the divine

flame

but felt that it would be at least

voice said that it would take Sunny a few weeks to reach the layer of the abyss containing the false stars, which meant that he was

Sunny had no idea what he was going to find on the other end of the golden String of Fate, but doubted that it would be

danger, and becoming starved and weak

stared down, at the

going to have to eat…

seemed

hey… food

'Right?'

a sigh, Sunny summoned the Covetous Coffer, took out his last meal out, and looked at it with

"Tonight… we feast!"

mourn. And barf.

***

stars were visibly brighter than they had been before. The sight of the black void littered with shimmering lights would have been beautiful

the center of the plummeting treasure chest with an extremely miserable expression on his face.

piece of raw devil meat to his mouth, he tore a

taste