Shadow Slave

Caged in the darkness, Sunny had a lot of time to think. All around him, a horde of Nightmare Creatures waited for their turn to be slaughtered in the bloodsoaked arena, a few unfortunate human slaves among them. Here in the nightmarish dungeon, both abominations and people were the same, equal in the face of inevitable death.

His thoughts returned to the very start of the trial, to the announcement the Spell made. Five brave ones… someone else had entered the Nightmare with them, and Sunny had a good idea who.

Mordret… the Prince of Nothing still lived, against all odds, and had found a way to reach his goal. Perhaps his reflection had hidden in the eyes of Saint Cormac, and then slid unnoticed into either Effie's or Kai's.

Was one of his friends dead?

No… no, that didn't make sense. If Mordret had devoured one of the souls aboard the ancient flying ship, then someone would have noticed. The Fire Keepers were a close group, and knew each other too well to miss a sudden change in the demeanor of one of them.

As for Effie and Kai, if they had fallen victim to Mordret's terrifying Ability, then there would have been only four souls entering the Nightmare.

But who was to say that the Prince of Nothing had to invade a soul once his reflection jumped into the person's eyes? Maybe he could just hide in the reflections, biding his time and waiting for an opportunity to find a better vessel.

And speaking of vessels…

Sunny studied his monstrous body, his black eyes full of a somber apprehension.

Why had he been sent into a body of a demon? The Spell was supposed to find suitable vessels for the challengers… had he been made into a hideous abomination because of his three shadow cores? After all, it was hard to find a human with a soul worthy of a Divine Aspect.

If so… was Mordret in the body of a Terror right now?

Hidden in the darkness, Sunny shivered.

This fact had the potential

same goal — to resolve the conflict of the Nightmare and Ascend. So, having a Terror fight on their side would be a boon, no matter how much resentment Sunny had for the bastard. He also suspected that Mordret wielded the ivory knife, increasing their

also remembered what Master Jet had told them… not all of the Awakened trying to conquer the trial of the Spell had to pursue the same goal.

insurmountable hell scared him. The Prince of Nothing… was maybe the most dangerous opponent he had

was impossible to tell. He was not cruel for the sake of cruelty, and was not nearly as insane as everyone seemed to think. His hatred was directed toward Valor, and not them. But at the same time, Sunny could not say that the banished prince was completely

him… when Sunny looked Mordret in the eyes, it felt as though something was missing in

whose

now. Unless I find a way to escape this morbid place alive, all that awaits me is death,

as pain radiated through his body, originating

back to his

was

of his powers were gone, but others remained. His Aspect seemed to be unaffected, by his

Aspect was not a part of

an unbreakable enchanted cage,

when he had passed the First Nightmare and received his Aspect… it had felt as though the power was coming from somewhere deep within him, as opposed to from

awakening inherent powers that were locked inside human souls, and not

'Wait a minute…'

it… Auro of the Nine had claimed to be an Awakened, and while the youth sitting silently in the nearby cage had not said it, he was an Awakened, too.

yet, and Weaver had not disappeared to create something that would spell doom for both the six gods and the six daemons… to create

the Nightmare Spell had not even

But Awakened did.

well as Nightmare Creatures… or the Corrupted, as

Sunny's vertical pupils narrowed.