Shadow Slave

Sunny stood on the shore of the ocean, shivering and considering if he should fall down and take a long, relaxing rest in the cold water. His reserves of essence were utterly spent, and with it came the sickening feeling of fragility and weakness.

Awakened experienced a form of backlash when burning through all of their essence, but it was only a little bit harmful. The weakness would pass, and there would be no long-term harm done... he just had to weather the immediate consequence.

The more concerning aspect of the situation was that he did not even have enough essence to summon a single Memory. Looking down at the threadbare rags of his once-pristine black bodysuit, Sunny sighed.

For now, that was all that separated him from the bitter cold and the chilling winds of Antarctica.

'I need to get back to the convoy.'

Trying to get his tired mind to work properly, Sunny hesitated for a moment.

'...But first, I need to check on Nightmare.'

The stallion was nowhere to be seen, so he was afraid of what had happened to his steed. The runes were still shimmering in the air in front of Sunny, so he turned his attention back to them.

...Death Charge: (0/1000].

The charge of the Dying Wish was completely spent, but it had done its job...

The Undying Chain was gone.

Turning away from the list of Memories with a sigh, he looked at the status of his Shadows. The runes describing Nightmare shone as always, so the black steed was not destroyed.

'Then where is he?'

Sunny frowned, then softly hit himself on the forehead, remembering that he could simply check his innate connection to the Shadow. Without wasting any time, he reached inward and tried to sense it within his soul.

Soon, Sunny felt Nightmare's presence. The connection was not really meant to share information, but he could still tell that the black steed was nearby, and in the middle of a battle... the battle did not seem dire or dangerous, though.

The stallion was most likely dealing with stray Nightmare Creatures that could have attacked Sunny while he was still healing.

then. We can get away from here as soon as

all staring at him with different expressions. The happy shadow was beside itself... but strangely, the other three were also showing

He grinned.

would be enough to get

up with the convoy, then took a

'That damned thing...'

closer his fingers got to the jade hilt, the more it seemed as

"Behind you."

Sunny scoffed.

would be

that moment, a swift shape shot

flying into the water. Hitting the dark surface with a pained scream, he scraped his hands on the cold stones beneath and rolled, jumping to his feet

direction of the unknown attacker, meant to slow whoever it was down. However, the creature was

Sunny staggered.

he saw that a sizable chunk of flesh was torn out of his side. Blood

the bastard who had bitten

its scrawny body like a suit of light armor. The damned goblin did not look too formidable, but it had a wide mouth

missing two fingers on its

a couple of times, remembering a tiny imp that he had once failed to finish off. The wretch had grown a lot since their last meeting... however, it was still

noticed a lump of bleeding flesh in the abomination's mouth. His face

to grin spitefully, and then swallowed the lump of flesh with a look of pure

Sunny's eyes widened.

wicked little

but the bastard did not know his

just kill

Sunny took a step forward, but then staggered. The world suddenly turned hazy, and his

'What the...'

with terrible pain.

strangely familiar black liquid flowing out of the gruesome wound. No... it was his blood, which was not stopping, for some reason. The blood had simply turned