Shadow Slave

For a moment or two, Sunny's mind was empty. He crawled back, looking up at the familiar figure towering above him.

Verne… it was Verne. There was no mistake.

…Or something wearing Verne's corpse, at least.

His shadow was much more vast and dreadful than a human's shadow was supposed to be.

The hollow gaze of the dead Master pursued Sunny, his face still and unmoving like a mask. Behind him, the dark waves stirred, and more figures rose from the water. Men, women… dozens of them, hundreds even. They marched forward like an army of the dead, silent and emotionless, their eyes drowning in darkness.

All their shadows were wrong.

The people of LO49 that Sunny had left to die. He recognized all of them, staring at the undulating surface of the ocean in horror.

'The… the Terror…'

Strangely, it was the contemptuous laugh of the cursed sword that shattered his paralysis.

"Look, Lost from Light… your sins have come to haunt you!"

Sunny shuddered, coming to his senses.

'What sins, you bastard? I did everything I could to save them!'

The insidious voice laughed again, then whispered, its hissing words falling like drops of poison:

"Weakness is also a sin, you pitiful worm… it is the greatest sin of them all…"

to his feet and froze for a split second, thinking

the shore without being torn to shreds by the defensive armaments… granted, most of the First Army forces were currently

though, and defended by its own garrison. Bloodwave and the Awakened of the House of Night were also there, protecting the anchored ships and overseeing the

not going to put a dent

advancing figures of the drowned residents of LO49, the black water seethed and boiled, releasing even more

steeled himself and

Terror's thralls could not be allowed to reach the port. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were currently there, with even more already on the ships. Thankfully, the elevator platforms leading to

fell from above, illuminating

But it didn't.

if not noticing anything. Instead of an obliterating onslaught of heavy rounds, all that came were a few sporadic streams of

the wall of the port

chill

'The hex…'

get a chance to

with much more speed than he had been capable of as a human. Sunny shifted, trying to deflect the incoming attack, but his reaction was too slow. A devastating blow sent him flying backwards,

'Curse it…'

prey to the Terror. Whatever the creature had done to them… had made them into… was much more

are a neglectful fool, aren't

he had already known that the hexed residents were capable of showing unnatural strength. Why would the slaves be different? If anything, their change

or so Awakened, close to a thousand mundane soldiers, several hundreds of civilians… and thousands upon thousands

blind to their

was

Sunny forced himself to

'No, not everyone…'

the defenders seemed to be ignoring the Terror's thralls, some were still firing their rifles. That meant that the creature's hex was not