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."

had one full waterskin left. As Awakened, they would also be able to last longer without water than mundane humans — especially Sunny,

that be

was no

and exhaled slowly, then tried to

it was impossible to tell what day it was. Sunny and Cassie remained in the barely illuminated darkness alone, waiting for something to

water ran out. The waterskin wasn't that large, to

...Then, came the thirst.

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

feeling of thirst was absolutely maddening, torturous, and suffocating. His throat hurt as if it was being cut, his lips had dried and cracked, and so did his tongue. His head was

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

out of the cage, but nothing he had done helped. The

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

Then, it disappeared, too.

dim glow of the runes illuminating the iron bars of the

'...The oil ran out.'

Sunny closed his eyes.

Was it really hopeless?

give up… he refused

all this suffering and despair, the only thing that kept him somewhat sane was the fact that

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

of the oil lantern died out. Time lost its meaning a while ago. All he knew was the thirst, the pain,