Shadow Slave

Sunny crawled onto the shore and lay on the cold stones of the pebble beach for a bit, breathing heavily. It was incredibly nice to lie on solid ground again, but at the same time, his body felt heavy and cumbersome. A part of it had to do with spending some time in the depths of the ocean, and a part of it was simply because he was still tired and low on essence.

'Curse it...'

He had enough sense left, at least, to let one shadow slide off his body and take a look around to make sure that there were no enemies in his immediate vicinity.

There were none, at least not close by. There was only Naeve, who seemed to be doing a little bit better than Sunny. The Nightwalker took a few deep breaths, then slowly sat up.

"We... we actually made it. Gods, I really did not expect to live through this one."

He glanced at Sunny, receiving a vague gesture of confirmation. Sunny shared the feeling.

Naeve grasped his shoulder for a moment, then asked with a hint of morbid curiosity in his voice:

"I low did you manage to kill that horror, anyway? Such a devastating mental attack... even Uncle failed to resist it."

Sunny remained motionless for a few seconds, pushed himself off the ground with a tired groan, and glanced at the scion of Night somberly.

Spitting out the Essence Pearl, he then grimaced and said: " I guess it was just fate... that fiend was fated to die by my hand, and so, fate helped me kill it."

Naeve smiled weakly, then looked away.

"Never took you for a fatalist."

That was when a third figure rose from the water. Bloodwave walked onto the shore, his eyes glinting with shades of deep blue and indigo. Drops of water were rolling down his smooth ebony skin, contours of steel muscles clearly visible under it.

moments, looking into the distance. Then, he sighed, and suddenly disappeared. A strong gale threw a scattering of pebbles into the air, making Sunny

is

looked in the direction where Bloodwave had dashed. Slowly, his face

"No..."

Naeve's voice sounded defeated.

them was empty. Here and there, a few dead Nightmare Creatures lay on the ground, their blood steaming in the cold. Snowflakes were dancing in the air as they fell from the empty sky.

All good signs.

illusion of peace was destroyed when one saw the port fortress that loomed some

was movement in the breach, silhouettes who looked like people walking between the rubble with unsteady

remaining abominations. The ships anchored near the fortress were intact,

dismissed the Essence Pearl and the Nimble Catch. Black threads surrounded his body, soon turning into the grey fabric of the Puppeteer‘s

crestfallen Nightwalker, he

"Lets go."

two of them slowly made their way to the

more details became

there had been protecting the Terror — thousands of them, all slain despite their dreadful power. it seemed that the defenders of the fort had not surrendered even a single meter

felled thralls, some of them large enough to make him shiver. There were. human bodies among them, as well — the former residents of LO49, who had finally found their final resting place thousands of kilometers away from the distant research base. Perhaps they would have been glad to lay on solid ground

closer to the breached wall of the fortress, they saw the bodies of the First Army soldiers among the dead

a bitter feeling grasp his

a part of

killing the hateful Corrupted Terror, happy to receive a powerful Memory. However, his victory was made possible because most of the creature's drowned guard had been drawn away by the defenders of the port. While Sunny was fighting the Sybil in the depths of the ocean, these men

accomplishment... however, it did put it

him once, years ago,

can survive in the