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 case one or both have

the accommodations at that moment, so he

'No Nightmare Creatures, yet..."

could change at any

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 Shadow

Nightmare Creature country now. Hordes

transient swarm could have stumbled on the cohort's camp at any moment, so it

was a thing of

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 danger. It was all about calculating

with his [Fated] Attribute, such calculations

face with a hand and then rubbed it. He

I am going to take a nap, then. Wake

by Professor Obel, Sunny climbed into one

to fall asleep right

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

all Sunny

***

the same as it had been before. The raging blizzard enveloped the world, obscuring the cold dark sky. He

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 standard pods were a little bit too

did not

and Saint did not perceive any threat, he left

Samara - you

did not even linger to listen to the report that

looked much better than they had yesterday. Even though one night of rest was not enough to remove

felt utterly broken

"So?"