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

young woman gave him a

a little different,

Sunny grinned.

have the complexion of a marble statue, no makeup involved. Didn't you

turned away with a sigh and mumbled under her

how

dissipated into the shadows and appeared on top of the Rhino, sighing as

His passive resistance to the

time, Sunny 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 to

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

Huh.

he sat down on

can get

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

vehicles. Sunny was stationed at the

rare stops and when an especially dire threat demanded both of them to fight side by side to vanquish it. Going into battle with the Nightwalker was both comfortable and

'Ah. Finally, a professional...'

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

he was not entirely comfortable fighting on land, and his Aspect powers seemed to be under severe restriction, though, so the

was more

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.

bit new to Sunny, and made him think about things that

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 from its holds, he would have

it was, though, he had enough to feed everyone and arm those who could and knew how to

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