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:

keeping an eye on them. In

at that moment, so he simply nodded.

'No Nightmare Creatures, yet..."

change

even if one of his shadows had stayed back

wild expanse of the Antarctic Center, it was Nightmare Creature country now. Hordes of them moved through the mountains, many spilling down onto the

stumbled on the cohort's camp at any moment, so it was not

thing

he had had choices that 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

his [Fated] Attribute, such calculations

a hand and then rubbed it. He was too tired and numb to care right now. He needed

am going to take a nap, then.

by Professor Obel, Sunny climbed into one of the free sleeping nooks

was it to fall asleep

letting his consciousness plunge into the comfortable embrace of darkness, he

all

***

same as it had been before. The raging blizzard

him, a panel on the wall of the Rhino slid away, revealing a sleeping niche hidden behind it. Dorn's massive figure could be seen inside. The giant man had drawn a short straw when they were assigned the transport vehicle, since

did not

any threat, he left his niche. Soon, Luster

Belle, Samara -

and desire to sleep were so overwhelming that they did not even linger to listen

though one night of rest was not enough to remove all

only slept a few hours, felt utterly broken instead of

"So?"