Shadow Slave

Out there in the empty darkness of the void… something even darker loomed, hidden from the radiant light of the ocean of flame above.

Sunny peered at the distant black silhouette and shivered.

'...What the hell? What is it doing here?'

Far below him, a small island cut from dark stone floated in the endless emptiness, surrounded by drifting slabs of shattered obsidian. A tall and magnificent pagoda stood in its center, built of a flawlessly black material that was neither wood nor stone. Its lusterless walls seemed to devour any light that touched them…

It was the perfect replica of the Ivory Tower... but at the same time its opposite. The two pagodas were so alike that for a moment, Sunny even thought that he had somehow found himself high up in the Sky Above.

But no.

The island that the Obsidian Tower stood upon was different. It was larger than the one every Awakened on the Chained Isles was used to observing in the skies, and had no broken chains hanging from its stone slopes. On its desolate surface, remains of mysterious structures could be seen, turned to ruin by the passage of time. Several obsidian pillars protruded horizontally from its edges, stretching into the empty void like strange wharves.

From high above, Sunny couldn't see much of the island in detail. But he was approaching it fast…

'...Crap!'

Too fast!

Sunny hesitated for a moment, then suppressed the desire to immediately summon the Dark Wing. The divine flames were still too close, and their heat could damage the fragile Memory. He had to wait for a bit… there was still time.

Even if it was going to run out pretty soon.

Sunny continued to fall, waiting. With every minute, the heat of the immolating stars dissipated a little. And with each minute, the dark island grew closer and closer.

Finally, knowing that there was no more time to waste, Sunny summoned the Dark Wing and commanded it to turn his fall into a glide. The dragonfly cloak turned into a blur behind his back… but it also began to produce thin wisps of smoke, threatening to catch aflame at any moment.

'Curses!'

started to slow down little by little. His speed, however, was too great to be nullified in a single

transparent cloak even going to endure for

he

'Here goes nothing! Damn!'

impact against the ground. At the last moment, however, Sunny turned into a shadow and dove into the deep darkness enveloping the island instead. Safely embraced by the shadows, he submerged himself into them, and finally

'Safe… I'm safe…'

…He was finally safe.

few seconds, at

***

a

essence was

what terrifying danger was waiting for him on the mysterious island that remained hidden in the deepest reaches of the Sky Below for thousands of years, nor

care. All he cared about was that he

is

for the first time in almost a month, he was… stationary. He finally had solid ground under his feet again! Metaphorically

it was such a beautiful

a bit, safely

and forced himself to turn his attention to the outside world. Moving closer to the surface of the deep darkness that embraced him, Sunny cautiously took a look

'...Huh?'

was complete and

terrifying beings to devour him whole. Not even a single unholy titan slumbered nearby, ready to wake up at the

The island seemed… empty.

was very fortunate, considering that Sunny was running very low on shadow essence and was going to have to assume his

for a few moments, then took