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:

In case

care about the accommodations at that moment, so he simply nodded. The

'No Nightmare Creatures, yet..."

change at

leaving the Rhino, even if one of his shadows had

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

cohort's camp at any moment, so it

a thing

had had choices that were safe, and choices that were dangerous. But after leaving the protection of LO49 and its thick

then, with his [Fated] Attribute, such

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

nap, then. Wake me up if there's movement

currently occupied by Professor Obel, Sunny climbed into one of the free sleeping nooks and closed his

it to fall asleep

comfortable embrace of darkness, he

all Sunny could

***

raging blizzard enveloped the world, obscuring the cold dark sky. He had been pulled out of his dreamless slumber by the wholesome

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 small for his prodigious body. Watching him climbing out of one

not smile,

any threat, he left his niche. Soon, Luster and Kim woke up,

Belle, Samara - you

not wait to get some long-awaited rest. Their exhaustion and desire 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 were

Dorn. They looked much better than they had yesterday. Even though one night of rest was not enough to remove all the accumulated fatigue, Awakened

had only slept a few hours, felt utterly broken

"So?"