Shadow Slave

Eventually, Sunny returned to the altitude where the dark undersides of the floating islands could be seen. He tiredly approached one, sensed something moving in the deep shadows, and glided past without coming too close.

The next one didn't seem to harbor any horrors. He flew toward the rough stone surface and sunk his claws and talons into it, clinging to the bottom of the island like a bat. Strangely, Sunny did not need to exert any conscious effort to remain in that position, and simply lay upside down on the cold stones for a while, struggling against exhaustion.

He was in much worse shape than it had seemed before. Two months of ruthless battles in the Red Colosseum had taken a toll on his body, and the terrible wound in his chest was still there, sapping him of strength and vitality.

With the help of Blood Weave, the body of the four-armed demon managed to survive having one of its two hearts violently torn out. But that didn't mean that it was going to fully recover from that vicious injury… with only one heart left to pump blood through his veins, Sunny felt lethargic and weak. That weakness would probably never go away, not unless he somehow managed to find or grow a new heart.

He was tired to the bone, overwhelmed by pain, and numb. Terribly, utterly numb. After the harrowing intensity of the past two months and the crushing strain of their disastrous attempt to escape, Sunny finally reached safety, and found himself drained of all thoughts and emotions.

He couldn't muster enough energy to feel joy or relief, grief or sorrow… even anger or hatred.

Tired… he was just too tired.

The island under which Sunny hid was separated from the Red Colosseum by four or five heavenly chains, far to the south. He was still deep within the territory of the followers of War, but no one was going to discover him, not unless they had wings… and even then, finding the Child of Shadows in the cold embrace of darkness was not going to be easy.

However, no one was looking. After all, he was considered to be dead.

Sunny looked at the shattered breastplate of the Undying Chain, and then dismissed the damaged armor to give it a chance to repair itself. Then, he summoned the Mantle of Underworld and gasped when its onyx metal wrapped itself around his mangled chest.

The intricate black armor embraced his tortured body, soothing its aches. Sunny doubted that anyone from the real world would be able to spy on him here, in the depths of a Nightmare… but even if they could, he didn't care anymore. He just wanted to be safe and protected.

As soon as the fearsome Mantle hid his wounds, Sunny tiredly closed his eyes… and plunged into the nothingness of a deep, dreamless sleep.

***

Thirst… and pain.

the first things Sunny felt before slowly remembering who

in hell.

'I fell asleep…'

was still clinging to the underside of the island, his claws buried deep into it and holding

of pain, but it was much milder than before. Judging by the state of his wounds, he had slept

wonder he was so

freed one of his four hands, then summoned the Endless Spring and drank a few gulps of water.

healing, but his mind was still empty and numb, exhausted of its ability to feel anything. All that remained was cold rationality, but

or anyone, right now. The mere

a while,

'...What should I do?'

had to traverse the whole Kingdom of Hope and reach the Iron Hand island to regroup with the cohort. Once they were together… if the others were still

had to. It was a simple enough objective, at least… in his current state, he felt reluctant to think about anything arduous,

north. Maybe his condition would improve

road, however, was not going

region, and then retrace the path he had taken to welcome Effie and Kai almost all the way back

if they were wild and overrun by

for a while, and

into the Sky Below, Sunny freed one more hand and took a handful of synthpaste tubes out of the Coffer, then dismissed it. Consuming

Name: Sunless.

Lost