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 turn to

Why would

him a dubious look and shook her

look a little different,

Sunny grinned.

naturally have the complexion of a marble statue, no makeup

sigh and mumbled under

Awakened... how is this

into the shadows and appeared on top

that cold. His passive resistance to the elements

made himself heavier for better stability, summoned the Memory of Ice, and wrapped the shadow he kept with himself around his body, simultaneously circulating essence

a slight chill, but it was in no way bothersome. Additionally, the winds were powerless against him. It was as if Sunny had turned

Huh.

Warbow, he sat down on the

can get

Scott continued. Traversing the abomination-infested expanse of the Antarctic Center was still hard and dangerous, but with Naeve assisting Sunny in defending the caravan, things became

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

met face-to-face during the rare stops and when an especially dire threat demanded both of them to fight side by side to vanquish it. Going

'Ah. Finally, a professional...'

extremely skilled warrior, using a long bone harpoon and a net woven out of unnaturally durable threads

his Aspect powers seemed to be under severe restriction, though, so the scion of the House of Night mostly

was more than

was also more cautious than 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 one

perspective was a bit new to Sunny, and made him think about

was secretly starting to thank the gods that Naeve's ship had suffered catastrophic damage. Without the additional supplies looted

was, though, he had enough to feed everyone and arm those

only other person other than Beth who showed any reaction