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."

also be able to last longer without water than mundane humans — especially Sunny, whose body was strengthened by

would that

was no

his eyes and exhaled slowly, then

one came to bring them food. With their last connection to the outside world gone, it was impossible to tell what day it was. Sunny and Cassie remained in the barely illuminated darkness alone, waiting

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

...Then, came the thirst.

he knew what madness felt like, but after spending several days — at least he thought that a few had passed

dried and cracked, and so did his tongue. His head was full of pulsating pain, and

to die in this cursed cage like a dog, forgotten and discarded. Maybe one day someone

cage, but nothing he had done helped. The only result was that

body ached terribly. He felt weak and lethargic, and his vision was starting to blur. Sunny spent most of his time staring at the orange flame of the oil lamp, because it was more or less the

Then, it disappeared, too.

became even darker, with only the ghostly, dim

'...The oil ran out.'

Sunny closed his eyes.

Was it really hopeless?

couldn't give up…

kept him somewhat sane was the fact that Cassie was right there with him,

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

while