Shadow Slave

Visible only to Sunny, the diamond weave beneath the surface of the gate ignited with ghostly light. Almost immediately, a thin vertical crack appeared in the ancient stone.

Then, the gates silently opened, and a gust of wind hit Sunny in the back.

He took a few steps away, hiding behind Saint, and cautiously looked over her shoulder at the dark entrance.

Nothing was moving in the darkness. From what he could see, the interior of the Obsidian Tower seemed quite mundane. As soon as the gate opened, his Shadows Sense could finally penetrate the invisible barrier surrounding the graceful pagoda — it didn't detect any danger, as well.

It really did seem safe.

He waited for a few moments, then coughed and waved a hand in front of his face, trying to get the soot that had flown into the air away from it.

"Ah, well. Nothing to worry about, then. Let's go!"

Sunny glanced at Saint, lingered for a second, and added in a polite tone:

"...Oh, ladies first."

The taciturn demon turned her head slightly, stared at him with one ruby eye, then simply walked forward and stepped over the threshold of the ancient tower. Sunny waited for a few moments, and followed.

Tightly gripping the handle of the Moonlight Shard, he dove into the darkness that reigned behind the tall frame of the entrance, made a dozen steps forward, and found himself in a wide corridor that seemed to encircle the entire first level of the pagoda.

The corridor stretched both far to the left and to the right. Here and there, Sunny could see large doors leading to differently sized rooms that were situated in the direction of the tower's outer wall, all the way to the bends of the corridor. And right in front of him was an intricate wooden gate decorated with beautiful engravings.

central hall of the

pushed the wooden gate, which opened easily and revealed

'That smell…'

His eyes widened.

was a large hall with a very tall ceiling. As soon as the gate opened, glass lanterns ignited on its walls, filling the interior of

crystals on its black surface. A stone wall with mysterious schematics cut into it, the cuts themselves so smooth and deep that he couldn't even begin to imagine what had left them behind, let

astronomical instruments, but also very mundane things, like chairs, tables, and

was perfectly preserved and immaculate, with not a speck of dust anywhere, cleaner than even his own house in the real world

all felt slightly… wrong. The sizes of everything were almost fit to be used by a human, but slightly different. The shapes of the handles of all the tools were slightly strange. The way the pieces of furniture and equipment were arranged

too long. Neither did his gaze linger on any of these items. His attention was pulled toward

table. And on it… was all kinds of

grapes, glass jars of exquisite wine, beautiful pots full of steaming tea, all of it waited for him, as if

Sunny's mouth watered.

possible? This has to be an illusion…

destination, Sunny reached out and grabbed a piece of bread with his dirty hand and greedily devoured it,

the goblets clattered to the floor, thrown off

paying it any attention, Sunny gulped down the sweet wine

this is

something without alcohol, but then again, this wine

wide grin on Sunny's face, but

really hits the