Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the terrifying fiend for a few moments, then suddenly grimaced, clutched his chest, and fell to one knee.

A bestial growl escaped through his sharp fangs.

'Argh!'

His heart was beating wildly, sending waves of pain rolling through his exhausted body. He felt weak and light-headed, beads of sweat glistening on his obsidian skin. This condition was only worsened by the usual sense of frailty that came from utterly depleting reserves of essence.

Sunny felt… infirm.

'God… damn it! Am I… am I having a heart attack?'

He groaned, remained motionless for a bit, and then slowly stood up. Still clutching his chest, he hunched awkwardly and looked around, trying to determine which island he had found himself on, and what wicked creature might have kept the Corrupted monstrosity at bay.

His pupils widened slightly.

'No way…'

The night was slowly advancing, and the island was drowned by the dimming resplendence of a beautiful crimson sunset. Despite only having been here once, Sunny recognized the place… the vastness of the island, the emerald grass that veiled its surface like a soft carpet, the rolling hills, the moss-covered ruins…

He had reached the Southern island, where the crumbling fortress lay at the estuary of the Great Chain, one of the anchors which connected the Isles to the mainland of the Dream Realm far below.

Well… the fortress had been ruined in the future. Currently, it might have been still standing.

'...Such luck.'

Sunny was glad to learn that he had arrived at the southernmost point of the Chained Isles during his mad escape from the Black Tar fiend. However, he was still uneasy about the fact that the abomination refused to approach it.

no condition to fight anything, let alone a creature capable of scaring a

choice was

of the island. The choices, really, were simple: he could either jump back on the heavenly chain and try his

for a bit… and then started limping away

was almost always worse than that which was familiar… but who

unseen horror was going to turn

why not? Sure. Statistically speaking, a thing like that is bound to

***

and a full moon was climbing up the velvet surface of the starlit sky. The hills became shrouded in darkness, which hid and protected him, and there

pain in his chest had subsided somewhat, but Sunny still

edge of the island to take a look at the current status of the boundary fortress, and studied his surroundings carefully in search of any sign of danger. If there

crouched down. Safely veiled by the shadows, he looked at a shimmering white light that danced some distance away, in the center of a small valley that

'What… what is this?'

slide off from his body and get closer

the shadow hesitated,

Sunny blinked.

hell are you waiting for?! Get down there! You can run away if things

then shook its head resentfully, and timidly

saw a strange

head was hung low, his face obscured by the falling hair. He was naked above the waist, his pale skin covered with dry blood. However, there seemed to be no wounds on the stranger's body… in fact,

stone in front of him, a diamond sickle

warm light of the dancing flame, half washed in the cold pale moonlight, was eerie and strangely beautiful. Sunny found himself slightly hypnotized by the solemn mystery of it

the man let

then, suddenly, spoke in a bright and melodious

Don't be so timid, friend… come out. Share the warmth of this fire with me, if you wish. The