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.

fight anything, let alone a creature capable of

what choice was

distance, then toward the center of the island. The choices, really, were simple: he could either jump

and then started limping away from the

danger was almost always worse than that which was familiar… but who knew,

horror was going to turn

why not? Sure. Statistically speaking, a thing like

***

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

subsided somewhat, but Sunny still felt weak and

boundary fortress, and studied his surroundings carefully in search of any sign of danger. If there was indeed a terrible threat somewhere

shimmering white light that danced some distance away, in the center of a small valley that

'What… what is this?'

commanded the gloomy shadow to slide off from his body and get closer

shadow

Sunny blinked.

down there! You can run

gloomy shadow gave him a long look, then shook its head resentfully, and

saw

entirely white. In front of it, a lone human figure sat. The human's 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

of him, a diamond sickle lay,

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 all, almost to the point

a while, the man let out a

in

it there, hiding in the shadows? Don't be so timid, friend… come out. Share the warmth of this fire with me, if you wish. The night is cold