Shadow Slave

Sunny remained silent for a while, thinking feverishly.

A bridge between the two towers…

That was his chance to escape this dismal place and return to the real world!

...The problem was, he had no clue what this connection Mordret had told him about was. However, he had an idea.

In the past several days, Sunny had explored the rest of the Obsidian… of the Ebony Tower. He had made a couple of fascinating discoveries, but most of it was now full of nothing except dust and rubble. Pretty much everything inside the pagoda disintegrated due to the onslaught of time after he had opened its gates.

The most promising and mysterious of his finds, though, was situated on the last level of the tower, in a small circular hall that housed nothing except for a graceful stone arch, which stood lonesomely in its center and looked like a misplaced, empty doorframe.

The most intriguing part about the arch was that it was surrounded by a circle of runes… almost like the Gateway in the Crimson Spire had been.

In fact, that was what Sunny assumed it to be — an inactive Gateway. For that reason, he had spent these days trying to find a way to activate it. He had poured shadow essence into the arch itself, as well as every corner of the hall. He had studied the unfamiliar runes, hoping to either find a way to translate them or maybe discover a place where they had been damaged, thus rendering the arch useless.

But nothing had worked… yet.

The information provided by Mordret instantly changed his perception of the arch, though. If what the lost prince had told him was true, then maybe it wasn't a Gateway to the real world. Maybe it was an entrance to the magical bridge connecting the Ebony Tower to its Ivory counterpart.

Still... how was he supposed to make the damn thing work?

With a deep scowl appeared on his face, Sunny asked:

"If this place is really connected to the Ivory Tower… then how would one go about using that connection? Do you have any ideas? There is something that looks like a portal here, but it doesn't work. I tried to open it a hundred times, to no avail."

Mordret thought for a bit, then said uncertainly:

"Have you tried saturating it with essence?"

Sunny grimaced.

course! What am I, a fool? That

a few moments, then voiced something that

it requires some sort

for a long time. Then,

don't

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Why?"

prince

require locks and keys. The master of

guess. He seems to know a lot about the Prince of the Underworld, though. I

Sunny sighed.

I activate

for a second or two, the said with

Ebony Tower was a builder of things. A genius artifex, but also of practical sort… from what little knowledge of him remains. He would have

Sunny considered his words.

'The simplest solution…'

of an idea

out

silent while Sunny ate. After a while, however, he suddenly

don't want to worry you, Sunless… but there seems to be a powerful

choked again. If not for the fact that he was looking both forward and back at the same time with the help of the shadows, he would have jumped and summoned the Cruel Sight immediately. But he

swallowed the foul meat, then

a Nightmare Creature. Can't you differentiate a

silent for a bit,

your Echo?

Sunny frowned:

fascinating

was gone once again, disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared. Usually, Sunny was irritated by this annoying habit of his,

time, he