Shadow Slave

Sunny was riding north through the bitter cold of the polar night, shivering in his raggedy, tattered bodysuit. The coastal highway stretched forward, strangely silent and empty. From time to time, he encountered bleeding carcasses of slain Nightmare Creatures that lay on the concrete, staring into the darkness with glassy eyes.

Those were the only signs left behind by the passing of the convoy. The rest of the abominations must have been pulled away by it, rushing in pursuit of the small column of vehicles. That gave Sunny a chance to catch his breath.

'Ah... I am tired...'

Now that the thrill of the battle was gone, he found himself in a somber mood. The cold, dark, and desolate landscape of the Antarctic Center was only adding to the gloom. Looking ahead, Sunny winced as he rocked in Nightmare's saddle. His wounds were hurting, and the lethal toxin was still trying to kill him from the inside.

Most people would have been dead already, but Blood Weave was slowly overcoming the black venom. Sunny was still bleeding from the torn bite wounds on his side and his forearm, though. His thumb was also a mess.

Since he had not encountered anything capable of making him bleed in a long while, that was a bit disconcerting. However, there was very little that Sunny could do. He had a mundane medkit stored inside the Covetous Coffer, but lacked the essence to summon it.

He could not summon an armor to protect himself from the cold for the same reason, as well. After being completely exhausted, essence was slow to return to the vast reservoirs of his cores.

What little he had received from dismissing the Sin of Solace was almost instantly absorbed by his essence-starved body. Until his flesh w'as saturated at least to a small degree, he was not going to be able to summon any Memory.

It was not too bad, though. The more of the rejuvenating essence returned to his body, the better he was able to resist the cold, and the stronger Blood Weave became.

the feeling of sickening weakness permeating his whole being

a small trickle of essence flowed

'...Finally.'

steadily breathing in and out and thinking about what Memory he should summon first. He was cold and required armor to protect him from

Eventually, he sighed.

my

and awkwardly applied the clotting agent to his wounds, then plastered the sealing patches on top of them. After that,

the brass buttons on the coat for a few minutes, then put it on and raised the collar, hoping to save himself

should do it for

went slowly at first, so as not to

enough essence to summon another Memory, choosing the Cruel Sight this time. He had considered calling upon the Sin of Solace, but then decided against it. His mood was already dark, and listening to the damned sword was not going

been. Sunny scowled when he remembered the loss of

Sunny with some luck. He had not encountered a single Nightmare Creature while traversing a long

was

kilometer further north... the concrete was littered with corpses,

the morbid feast, his