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…"

rose to his feet and froze

was now behind the city. There were tall cliffs between the ocean and the northern wall of Falcon Scott, so nothing could escape the shore without being torn to shreds by the defensive

Bloodwave and the Awakened of the House of Night were also there, protecting the anchored ships and overseeing the loading of the

not going to put a dent in the defenses of the port.

he saw something that made his blood run cold. There, behind the slowly advancing figures of the drowned residents of LO49, the

took an involuntary step back, then steeled himself and raised the Sin of

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

beams of light fell from above, illuminating the quiet horde. A

But it didn't.

on, as if not noticing anything. Instead of an obliterating onslaught of

armaments on the wall of the port fortress were silent,

felt a chill run

'The hex…'

not get a

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, the breath knocked out of him entirely. He crashed to the ground and rolled,

'Curse it…'

falling prey to the Terror. Whatever

a neglectful fool, aren't

that the hexed residents were capable

hundred or so Awakened, close to a thousand mundane soldiers, several hundreds of civilians… and thousands upon thousands of Nightmare Creatures, all controlled and

everyone seemingly blind to

was

while, Sunny forced himself

'No, not everyone…'

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