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…"

froze for a split second, thinking feverishly about

Falcon Scott, so nothing could escape the shore without being torn to shreds by the defensive armaments… granted, most

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

going to put a dent in the defenses of the port. As for

he saw something that made his blood run cold. There, behind the slowly advancing figures of the drowned residents of LO49, the black water seethed and boiled, releasing even more thralls. Nightmare Creatures… thousands of them…

involuntary step back, then steeled himself

of thousands of refugees were currently there, with even more already on the ships. Thankfully, the elevator platforms leading to Falcon Scott were empty,

new threat. Powerful beams of light fell from above, illuminating the quiet horde. A instant later, a hail

But it didn't.

noticing anything. Instead of an obliterating onslaught of heavy rounds, all that came were a few

of

chill

'The hex…'

did not get a chance

capable of as a human. Sunny shifted, trying to deflect the incoming attack, but his reaction was too slow. A devastating

'Curse it…'

the 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…

a neglectful fool, aren't

residents were capable of showing unnatural strength. Why would the slaves be

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

everyone seemingly blind to

situation was not

for the first time in a long while, Sunny forced himself to rise once again

'No, not everyone…'

ignoring the Terror's thralls, some were still firing their rifles. That meant that