Shadow Slave

The Desecrated Grove was a large island, its surface overtaken almost entirely by a forest of twisted, charred, dead trees. The ground was covered by a thick layer of ash, which was often thrown into the air by the strong winds. Grey flakes rained down from the sky.

There were many Nightmare Creatures nesting in the dark forest, and although most of them were only of the Awakened Rank, one had to be careful to not get ambushed, surrounded, or stumble upon an especially ferocious abomination.

Sunny couldn't even begin to guess why Cassie would choose such a place to establish a camp.

However, he could already see the signs of human presence.

There were four chains connecting the Desecrated Grove to other islands, but the one he himself had used was the most convenient. Any sane leader would have chosen the same route, and even though the Crushing was capable of making anyone's path unpredictable, the other three were just too much of a risk.

That's why Sunny wasn't surprised to see human footprints leading toward the menacing wall of blackened dead trees, already mostly covered by a new layer of ash. There were also signs of a battle, with several misshapen carcasses laying on the ground and showing clear signs of their soul shards being removed.

Judging by the fact that they were only partially devoured by the scavenging Nightmare Creatures, Cassie's cohort must have passed through no more than a week ago.

Sighing, Sunny tied a piece of cloth around his mouth and nose, summoned the Cruel Sight, and started following the footprints.

Soon, he entered the ashen veil of the twisted forest. His ability to see through any shadow proved to be invaluable once again: if not for that gift, he would have been scared witless, expecting a sudden attack to come from the surrounding darkness at any moment.

With his sight, the Shadow Sense, and the ability to see all around himself with the help of one of the shadows, Sunny felt confident that nothing would be able to get close to him unnoticed… at least not on this comparatively tame island.

But that was the thing about the Dream Realm. Even creatures that were supposed to be easy to deal with could kill you in a second if you weren't careful enough. Tame or not, everywhere in this godforsaken world was a potential death trap.

As Sunny went deeper into the forest, he discovered more signs of Cassie's cohort passing through. There were marks left behind by violent skirmishes, as well as several abandoned campsites. It seemed as though the Fire Keepers had been taking their time, slowly exploring the path ahead and moving their camp further and further into the depth of the Desecrated Grove after clearing a long stretch of it.

'Why travel here all the way from the Night Temple? She had to cross the entire region, getting away from the Hollow Mountains, only to get stuck on an unexceptional island. I just don't get it.'

clearly missing

a slight frown, he turned into a shadow and glided through the darkness, covering much more distance with every minute than he had been on foot. He still preferred to be

so, he finally

around halfway to the heart of the island, dangerously far removed from the edge. If the Desecrated Grove entered the ascent phase, the time window for them to get back to the chain before the Crushing became deadly would be

was early morning, most of the members were asleep, with only two lookouts standing watch with torches in their hands. Sunny observed them for a few seconds from the shadows, and then sent his

lot of time together during the

had decided against pledging their allegiance to the Legacy clans that wanted the recruit them, as well as the government, and had not

were not a formal organization, but more of a loose

entered the circle of light created by one of the torches, glared at the

man stared at

"What the hell?!"

turned, summoning

"What is it?"

first one remained silent for a

"Ah, crap…"

his temple, as if

"...I think it's Sunny."

***

in Cassie's cohort,

all of the survivors of the Forgotten Shore, had fought with them back to

entrepreneurial ambitions — which they had been amply subjected to during the

islands, and

have you