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?"

time, it was

Why would you think

woman gave him a dubious look and shook her

a little different, that's

Sunny grinned.

naturally have the complexion of a

away with a sigh and mumbled under

Awakened... how

chuckle, Sunny dissipated into the shadows and appeared on top of the

though... he was not that cold. His passive resistance

the shadow he kept with himself around his body, simultaneously circulating essence to

chill, but it was in no way

Huh.

down on the roof and

get used to

was still hard and dangerous, but with Naeve assisting Sunny in

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

face-to-face during the rare stops and when an especially dire threat demanded both of them to fight

'Ah. Finally, a professional...'

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

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

more than

for Sunny to notice the difference between the two of them.

a bit new to Sunny, and made him think about

Field survivors joining it. By then, Sunny was secretly starting to thank the gods that Naeve's ship had suffered catastrophic damage. Without the additional supplies looted

he had enough to feed everyone and arm those who could and knew

if anyone else would notice his subtle change, but in the end, the only other person other than Beth who showed any reaction was Kim. At