Shadow Slave

Well, actually, it was black. Shrouded in the darkness of the long night, Sunny rode north through the wailing hurricane of snow. To his eyes, which could see through any shadows, the snow appeared as light-grey, bordering on white.

The way back was not long enough to deal with thoughts and emotions raging in his heart, but luckily, Sunny had too many worries about the future to drown in the regrets of the past.

'...Doesn't matter, anyway.'

Verne was dead, and everyone else was also dead. None of the people Sunny had come to know in the past weeks survived. Now, all he could do was make sure that his soldiers, Professor Obel, and Beth did not share their fate.

That was not going to be an easy task.

Soon, the wreckage of the old war machine appeared in view. Sunny dismissed Nightmare, walked into the rusted metal frame and lingered for a few moments in front of the Rhino.

Then, he opened the hatch and climbed inside.

Quentin, Samara, and Belle were keeping watch, each of them tense and ready for battle. Noticing him, the Irregulars sighed with relief.

"Captain. You're back."

Sunny nodded.

"Did anything happen in my absence?"

Quentin shook his head.

"There were no Nightmare Creatures yet. Professor Obel and Miss Beth were both exhausted, so they're sleeping. We settled the Professor in your quarters. I hope you do not mind."

He remained silent for a moment, then added with a hint of melancholy in his voice:

on them. In case one or both have become carriers of the

so he simply nodded.

'No Nightmare Creatures, yet..."

could change at any

risk by allowing his soldiers to sleep and leaving the Rhino, even if one of his shadows had stayed back to observe the surroundings and be a potential exit point of

Antarctic Center, it was Nightmare Creature country

could have stumbled on the cohort's camp

a thing of the past

were safe, and choices that were dangerous. But after leaving the protection of LO49 and its thick walls, he could only choose between different degrees of

such calculations were more or

then rubbed it. He was too tired and numb to

nap,

climbed into one of the free

to fall

into the comfortable embrace of darkness, he summoned Saint and ordered her to guard the

was all Sunny

***

as it had been before. The raging blizzard enveloped the world, obscuring the cold dark sky. He had been pulled out of his dreamless slumber by the wholesome of a sleeping pod

a sleeping niche hidden behind it. Dorn's massive figure could be seen inside. The giant man had drawn a short straw when they

not

shadows and Saint did not perceive any threat, he left his niche. Soon, Luster

Belle, Samara -

to sleep were so overwhelming that they did not even linger to listen to the report that their colleagues had brought from the Dream Realm. A minute later, all three

Kim, Luster, and Dorn. They looked much better than they had yesterday. Even though one night of rest was not enough to remove all

slept a few hours, felt utterly broken instead

"So?"