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."

full waterskin left. As Awakened, they would also be able to last longer without water than mundane humans — especially Sunny, whose body was strengthened by three cores, Blood Weave, and his

would that be

no

his eyes and exhaled slowly, then tried to

outside world gone, it was impossible to tell what day it was. Sunny and Cassie

their water ran out. The

...Then, came the thirst.

that a few had passed — without drinking anything, he learned that there

as if it was being cut, his lips had dried and cracked, and so did his tongue.

all, however, was the fear. Fear that he was going to die in this cursed cage like a dog, forgotten and discarded. Maybe

tried everything he could think of to get out of the cage, but nothing he had done helped. The only result was that his condition worsened even

throat and mouth felt as though they were on fire, and his entire 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

Then, it disappeared, too.

even darker, with only the ghostly, dim glow of the runes illuminating

'...The oil ran out.'

Sunny closed his eyes.

Was it really hopeless?

give up…

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

endure the agony and the terror of not knowing whether they were going to live or die, the fear of the unknown, alone. But

didn't know how many days had passed since the flame of the oil lantern died out. Time lost its meaning a while ago. All he knew was the thirst, the pain, and the stubborn, spiteful will