Shadow Slave

After an eventful night, Sunny left the dormitory in a much improved mood. The air outside was frigid with bone-chilling cold, hilt it actually felt pleasant against his bruises. Sunny headed in the direction of the barracks, whistling a simple tune under his nose. As he walked, one of his shadows flew toward the distant ramparts to check if everything was alright there.

Apart from the fact that soldiers were miserable because of the heinous cold, even more so than usual, the situation seemed to be under control. Disparate groups of Nightmare Creatures were throwing themselves against the ramparts, some larger than the others, but it was nothing that the army could not handle.

‘Everything seems fine, for now...’

Sunny was still hurting all over, but at least he was capable of walking without a limp now. The barracks were a considerable distance away, but there was no rush. He. enjoyed this rare moment of peace a great deal, studying the city as he traversed it.

Falcon Scott... was much emptier now. miraculously, the First Army had actually managed to evacuate most of the two hundred million refugees. Now, less than two tenths of that number remained, not nearly enough to make the city feel crowded. Even though countless people fought and sacrificed to make it happen, Sunny couldn’t help but feel that this emptiness was the direct result of his actions.

It was nice to see his labor bear fruit.

Among the ancient heroes Nephis sometimes liked to talk about, there was one named Heracles, who had apparently accomplished twelve labors. Sunny wondered what that guy would think about defending this damn city.

Well, from the descriptions, Heracles seemed like no more than an Awakened with a moderately powerful physical Aspect... maybe a rather average Ascended. He would probably think that Falcon Scott was a hellish nightmare, and die in the first few days of the siege.

‘Huh...’

As Sunny walked, a swift shadow fell from the sky, and a black crow suddenly landed on his shoulder. The crow stared at him for a moment, and then cawed:

“Sah-nee! Sah-nee!”

Sunny spared him a somber glance.

“What?”

The Echo waved its wings.

“Come! Come!”

shoulder and disappeared in the direction of

dove into the shadows. seemed that his good mood was not

all. Emerging from the darkness near the guarded gates, he waited a few seconds for the security officers to confirm his identity a useless formality, considering that pretty much everyone knew what he looked like by now entered

the conference room where the Irregulars usually gathered. As he was approaching, however, there. was suddenly a loud hang, and the walls shook

‘What the...’

entered the room and saw Master Jet standing with her back to him. The wall in front of her was deformed, a net

Her usually calm face was ‘5’ contorted by an expression

He had

she closed her eyes for a moment, then

are

glanced at the destroyed wall, then at her. Feeling a chill run down his

“What happened?”

long sigh. When she spoke, her voice was cold

She finally lost a

***

was taking

lost a fight? Is

Jet grit her teeth.

just half an hour ago. Roan sent me a message personally right before you came... but he didn’t

meant that Army Command had

Reaper... things

Feather compound, Sunny shivered again and noticed that it had gotten even colder outside. Before, he had not paid the cold any attention, but now, the fall in temperature

curse it,

and almost immediately after Sunny and let arrived, a familiar young woman appeared to guide them inside. l-le briefly felt

Sunny was... shaken.

same time, he had to think about what her fall would mean for the evacuation... with no one

two worries competed against each other, pressing down on his heart with terrible

stepped aside, gesturing for them to come in. Inside, they saw an empty hall with some medical equipment and a lonely operating table standing in its center. The table, and the floor around it, were marred with blood. On it... Saint