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

the northern wall of Falcon Scott, so nothing could escape the shore without

the House of Night were also there, protecting the anchored ships

a dent in the defenses of the port. As for the

of the drowned residents of LO49, the black water seethed and boiled, releasing even more thralls. Nightmare Creatures… thousands of them… were rising from the waves, all moving with

step back, then steeled himself and raised the

already on the ships. Thankfully, the elevator platforms leading to Falcon Scott were empty, the evacuation stopped briefly on account

from above, illuminating the quiet horde. A instant later, a hail of bullets was supposed to

But it didn't.

an obliterating onslaught of heavy rounds, all

the wall of

chill run down

'The hex…'

a chance to finish

human. Sunny shifted, trying to deflect the incoming attack, but his reaction was too

'Curse it…'

enemy's power based on how powerful the thralls had been before falling prey to the Terror. Whatever the creature had done to them… had made them into… was much more dangerous than their

neglectful fool, aren't

gritted his teeth. Indeed, he was… he had already known that the hexed residents were

mundane soldiers, several hundreds of civilians… and thousands

blind to

situation was

while, Sunny forced himself

'No, not everyone…'

some were still firing their rifles. That meant that the