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…"

and froze for a

northern wall of Falcon Scott, so nothing could escape the shore without being torn to shreds by the defensive armaments… granted, most of the First Army forces were currently concentrated on the southern side of the wall,

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 loading of the

dent in the defenses of the port. As

as that thought flashed through Sunny's mind, 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… were rising from

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

allowed to reach the port. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were currently there, with even more already on the ships. Thankfully, the

of the metropolis had also spotted the new threat. Powerful beams of light fell from above, illuminating the

But it didn't.

moved on, as if not noticing anything. Instead of an obliterating onslaught of heavy rounds, all

armaments on the wall of the port

a chill run down

'The hex…'

did not get a chance to finish

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…'

based on how powerful the thralls had been before falling prey to the Terror. Whatever the creature

are a neglectful fool, aren't

already known that the hexed residents were capable of showing unnatural strength.

Awakened, close to a thousand mundane soldiers, several hundreds of

seemingly blind to their

was not

for the first time in a long while, Sunny forced himself

'No, not everyone…'

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