Shadow Slave

'Damnation!'

Sunny scrambled to his feet, hastily dismissing the Midnight Shard and grabbing his bow. On the screen of the communicator, Jet's face disappeared, replaced by an incoming message that named the section of the wall he and his cohort were supposed to go to.

'South...'

This time, they were meant to fight right above the main gates of the city, on the part of the defensive barrier that faced inland - and where the battle was going to be the fiercest. It seemed that Army Command was finally done holding the Irregulars in reserve.

Sunny glanced at the clock. It was just past the earliest time the members of his cohort could return from the Dream Realm, if they had chosen to sleep tonight.

'That's good.'

He dashed to the pilot's cabin of the Rhino and ran the vehicle through the startup procedure. The APC sluggishly came to life, making many sounds that were probably not a excellent sign.

As Sunny waited, he mentally went over each member of his cohort, thinking about what task he would assign them and whether their Flaws would be detrimental in this particular battle. The chances of that were low, but he still needed to check.

No one with an especially crippling Flaw would have made it through years of service, and soldiers were not required to disclose them - sharing something that personal and potentially dangerous could only be done voluntarily. There was nothing about the Flaws in the dossiers Sunny had read, but after spending months fighting side by side with his people, he deduced most of them.

The Flaws of the Irregulars were indeed not too dire, and most of his people were mature Awakened who had had at least a decade to learn how to deal with them. Quentin, for example, seemed to be unable to break a promise. Kim was naturally unassuming. Samara had a leisurely rate of soul essence regeneration. Belle had to work especially hard on his impulse control. Luster... well, that one was beautiful apparent.

Dorn's Flaw was the cruelest, but it would only become detrimental years from now. His body was slowly, but constantly growing... and would most likely collapse under its own weight one day, some time in the future.

Nothing that would play a role in today's battle, though.

'All good.'

wailing of the sirens much louder. The members of his cohort rushed in, summoning their armor and

"Captain! Everyone's here!"

to get to the cabin, Sunny lowered himself into the driver's seat and sent the Rhino forward. His driving skills were not really top-notch... or any good, really... but he could get the APC to

ready. You all remember the

against the Devouring Cloud, the Irregulars had come up with a few strategies in

"Yes, sir!"

Sunny nodded.

go rub Luster's lucky charm. Gods know

crossed his arms. "Hey! That

five most deadly Nightmare Creatures in the region... you

survived meeting every

Sunny concentrated on controlling

through the streets

by now - the air raid sirens had sent the refugees scrambling to get inside. He could see a lot of frightened people still hurrying to reach their assigned

about the man who had gifted him a sandwich. Hopefully, his family had a room below ground... if not, surviving the Devouring Cloud

'Concentrate.'

area under the wall. Not bothering to park it properly, Sunny picked up Morgan's Warbow and headed for the exit hatch. His

- more so today than it had been before. A tense, anxious mood hung in the air. Everyone had a

thought that he could already hear the distant, low hum

"Look alive!"

sure to put on the most calm