Shadow Slave

Sunny looked at the stream of blood that was getting closer and closer to the cage, then glanced back at the door and waited, wondering if someone… or something… would burst through it and enter the cell.

But nothing did. After that first loud bang, everything stayed eerily quiet. Seconds passed, then minutes. Finally, he slowly turned away from the door and looked at Cassie.

"Do you smell it?"

She lingered for a moment, then nodded.

"...Blood."

Sunny remained motionless for a bit, then walked back to his usual place and sat down. His face was grim. After a while, he said in a dark tone:

"We are going to need to start rationing water."

Humans could survive for a long time without food, but water… water was much more precious. Without it, a healthy human could die in a matter of days.

And there were very few more agonizing ways to go.

Cassie turned her head, then asked somberly:

"Why? Do you think that they are going to just leave us here?"

Sunny opened his mouth to retorn that she was the one who could see the future. But in the end, he held his tongue.

"...Just in case."

last longer without water than mundane humans — especially Sunny, whose body was strengthened by three cores, Blood Weave, and his

would that

was no

eyes and exhaled slowly,

outside world gone, it was impossible to tell what day it was. Sunny and Cassie remained in the barely illuminated darkness alone, waiting for something to happen, or slept while shivering from

wasn't long before their water ran out. The waterskin wasn't that large,

...Then, came the thirst.

spending several days — at least he thought that a few had passed — without drinking anything, he learned that there was a completely different

was being cut, his lips had dried and cracked, and so did his

to die in this cursed cage like a dog, forgotten and discarded. Maybe one day someone would open the heavy door, and find

of to get out of the cage, but

felt weak and lethargic, and his vision was starting to blur. Sunny spent most of

Then, it disappeared, too.

only the ghostly, dim

'...The oil ran out.'

Sunny closed his eyes.

Was it really hopeless?

give up… he

that Cassie was right there with him, going through the same hell. At least… at

complicated emotions and the heavy burden of past sins, sharing his pain with someone had made if not bearable, then at least a little easier. Neither of them would have been able to endure the agony and the terror of not knowing whether they were going to live or die, the fear of the unknown, alone. But together, the two of them managed to persevere, somehow. Maybe just

Time lost its meaning a while ago. All he knew was the thirst, the pain, and the stubborn, spiteful will to hold on just