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:

are keeping an eye on them. In

particularly care about the accommodations at that moment, so he simply nodded. The first point of Quentin's short report was the

'No Nightmare Creatures, yet..."

change at

Rhino, even if one of his shadows had stayed back to observe the surroundings and be a potential

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

stumbled on the cohort's camp at

was a thing of

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 danger. It was all about

such calculations were more or less

He was too tired and numb to care right now.

nap, then. Wake me up if

occupied by Professor Obel, Sunny climbed into one of

it to fall asleep right

into the comfortable embrace of darkness, he

was all Sunny

***

never ended, and morning never came. When Sunny woke up, the world was exactly the same 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

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 standard pods

not smile,

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

Samara -

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

much better than they had yesterday. Even though one night of rest was not

who had only slept a few hours, felt utterly broken instead of rested

"So?"