Shadow Slave

When they started their expedition, the last vestiges of summer warmth were leaving the Chained Isles. Not every region of the Dream Realm had seasons that were the same as those of the waking world, but this one was somewhat similar. By the time they were supposed to reach Night Temple, autumn would be in full swing.

If everything went well, the journey was going to take two or three weeks. Sunny wanted to reach the mysterious Citadel and retrieve the ivory knife by the middle of October, then rendezvous with Effie, Kai, and the Fire Keepers at the Shipwreck Island in the first days of November. That would give them almost a full month to reach the Ebony Tower and enter the Seed before winter.

Of course, in the Dream Realm, one could never put too much faith in any plan.

Sunny felt reasonably confident in his ability to travel across Chained Isles, but he knew not to get arrogant. This was a wild and deadly land, one full of fearsome creatures and insidious threats.

He had explored many islands and hunted down many abominations here, but even after nine months of fighting and traveling across the region, Sunny was only well-acquainted with the southeastern part of it, where the Sanctuary of Noctis was located. He had never ventured west or north of the Tear.

The situation was only made worse by the fact that the closer one got to the vast emptiness at the heart of the Chained Isles, the more dire dangers they would face. To reach Night Temple quickly, Sunny and Cassie had to reach the Tear and skirt around its edge, which meant that they would be moving through the most perilous area of the entire region.

Not all was bad, though. Cassie had some of the knowledge that Sunny lacked, since the Fire Keepers had spent a lot of time in the northern reaches of the Chained Isles. He also had all the information copied from Mordret's map, which contained a detailed description of many places they were going to have to travel through.

was strong enough to face the dangers that awaited them there, and Cassie wasn't defenseless anymore. The two of them were enough... most

his decision. Their journey was surprisingly smooth. The traversal itself provided no problems — Cassie was more than capable of moving from island to island without his help, which was

Dancer, the blind girl was able to move through space with an adequate measure of accuracy. As it turned out, she also had an Ascended charm that provided a

help, the Dancer could carry her weight for a short distance, which allowed Cassie to get to and off the chains with ease. The only drawback of the charm was that it ate through her soul

least of their problems. As they traveled further into the heart of the Chained Isles, more and more Nightmare Creatures picked up their scent. That

when needed, the Soul Serpent, he was able to deal with anything that dared to attack them. Cassie helped, too, but there was rarely anything for her to do —

contrary, her presence was perhaps the single most important factor of why they were able to move toward their

great affinity to revelations, keen senses, and supernatural intuition complimented Sunny's battle prowess perfectly. It was almost disturbing how well they worked together — him scouting ahead and obliterating monsters, her guiding them through the maze of shifting isles in a way that took them past the

level of understanding. Most of the journey was spent in silence, with both of them preferring not to speak to

and Saint like he was already used to, which made the silence almost suffocating. It was indeed a bit awkward in the beginning… but then, he got used to it. He actually

burdened with emotions and other troublesome complications. An alliance of pure