Shadow Slave

Eventually, Sunny climbed out of the sleeping niche and went about the business of managing the caravan. They had made it far into the mountains and were already moving north, toward their true goal.

The blizzard was still raging, reducing visibility to almost zero. The landscape was as grim and foreboding as ever.

Surrounding areas needed to be scouted, maps needed to be updated, reports needed to be received, and a hundred other things demanded his attention.

Before getting down to it, Sunny spared a few moments to stare at the grey fabric and lusterless black leather of the Puppeteer's Shroud.

Who could have thought that he would be reduced to seriously using it again, after all that time?

'It sure is much more comfortable than walking around in a full plate of steel armor. Ah, the old me had it good...'

Actually, not really.

Sunny was ready to climb to the roof of the Rhino when he noticed Beth staring at him with a strange expression. He lingered for a moment.

"What?"

She blinked a couple of times, then pulled her gaze away.

"No, no... nothing..."

Sunny frowned.

"Just say it, will you?"

Beth remained silent for a second, then asked hesitantly:

"Are you... uh... are you wearing makeup?"

was his

would you

a dubious look and

a little

Sunny grinned.

naturally have the complexion of a marble

sigh and

Awakened... how is

chuckle, Sunny dissipated into the shadows and appeared on top of the Rhino, sighing as the bone-chilling wind smashed into

was not that cold. His passive resistance to the elements was

wasting any time, Sunny made himself heavier for better stability, summoned the Memory of Ice, and wrapped the shadow he kept with himself around his

later, he felt even more comfortable. Sunny still sensed a slight chill, but it was in no way bothersome. Additionally, the winds were powerless against him. It was as if

Huh.

Warbow, he sat down on the

can get used to

still hard and dangerous,

chain of relays in the military vehicles. Sunny was stationed at the

when an especially dire threat demanded both of them to

'Ah. Finally, a professional...'

using a long bone harpoon and a net woven out of unnaturally durable threads to herd and

comfortable fighting on land, and his Aspect powers seemed to be under severe restriction, though,

more

most Masters tended to be. Not overly so, but enough for Sunny to notice the difference between the two of them. It was understandable... after all, the Nightwalker had a family to come back to. He carried more than

made him think about things that

going... as expected. The caravan continued to grow, several more groups of Erebus Field survivors joining it. By then, Sunny was secretly starting to thank the

was, though, he had enough to feed everyone and

if anyone else would notice his subtle change, but in the end, the only other person other than Beth who