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.

was in no condition to fight anything, let alone a

choice was

the island. The choices, really, were simple: he could either

a bit… and then started limping away from

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

the unseen horror was going to turn out friendly

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

***

of the island, the night had already descended upon the world, 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 was a little bit of shadow essence,

subsided somewhat, but Sunny still

a look at the current status of the boundary fortress, and studied his surroundings carefully in search of any sign of danger. If there was indeed

a shimmering white light that danced some

'What… what is this?'

hesitated for a moment, then commanded the gloomy shadow to slide off from his body and get closer

shadow hesitated,

Sunny blinked.

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

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

Sunny saw

fire burned, its color 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

a stone in front of him, a diamond sickle

bloodied man, half of his body illuminated by the 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,

the man let out

in a

so timid, friend… come out. Share the warmth of this fire with me, if you wish. The