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?"

it was his turn to

would

a dubious look and

a little different, that's

Sunny grinned.

have the complexion of a

sigh and mumbled under

Awakened... how is this

into the shadows and appeared on top of the Rhino, sighing as the bone-chilling

that cold. His passive resistance

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

slight chill, but it was in no way bothersome. Additionally, the

Huh.

down on the roof

can get used to

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

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

stops and when an especially dire threat demanded both of them to fight side by side to vanquish it. Going into

'Ah. Finally, a professional...'

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

severe restriction, though, so the scion of the House of Night mostly supported Sunny

was more than

the two of them. It was understandable... after all, the Nightwalker had

perspective was a bit new to Sunny, and made him think about things that he had never

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 gods

feed everyone and arm those who could

would notice his subtle change, but in the end, the only other person other than Beth who showed any reaction was Kim. At some point, she gave him a very weird look and hastily turned away without