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 split second, thinking

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 armaments… granted, most of the First Army forces were currently concentrated on the southern side

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

were not going to put a dent in the defenses of

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 the waves, all

steeled himself and raised

even more already on the ships. Thankfully, the elevator platforms leading to Falcon Scott were

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

But it didn't.

of an obliterating onslaught of heavy rounds, all

of the port fortress were

a chill

'The hex…'

not get a chance to finish the

disappeared, moving 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.

'Curse it…'

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

are a neglectful fool,

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

thousand mundane soldiers, several hundreds of

blind

situation was not

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

'No, not everyone…'

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