Shadow Slave

On a beautiful island of ancient trees and emerald grass, a lone figure suddenly appeared out of thin air. It was a young man with alabaster skin, wearing a simple tunic of fine black silk. He remained motionless for a few moments, then walked to the edge of the island and froze there, looking down. If not for the wind playing with the young man's black hair, he would have looked like an exquisite statue.

The Ivory Island had changed a bit in the past few months. The great pagoda itself was the same, of course, but the comely wooden buildings created by the Fire Keepers now resembled a small, peaceful village that blended harmoniously into the landscape. The ancient trees of the grove now had fruit hanging from their branches, each looking ripe and delicious.

The white bones of the ancient dragon were still bathed in sunlight, and a graceful ship was still swaying on the placid surface of the clear lake.

There was one big change that startled Sunny a lot, though, pulling him out of his reverie. 'What the hell...'

Looking down, he did not see the familiar abyssal darkness of the Sky Below. Instead, he saw a mosaic of flying islands, all connected by colossal chains, slowly floating by.

The Ivory Island was moving.

Although the movement was very slow, it had already left the empty expanse of the Tear behind, and was now drifting through the clouds toward the southern border of the Chained Isles.

Sunny blinked a couple of times. 'Since when can this thing move?'

He lingered for a while, studying the landscape below, then walked along the edge of the Ivory Island.

many things had changed while he was

glinted and shone with the reflected sunlight. There was a stone bench near the shore, and a familiar figure

vitality... Effie was relaxing in the

while. Eventually, he said: "There's actually fish in that

a taste for fish... and sea monsters... after being stuck on a ship for an entire

she suddenly froze, and slowly turned

eyes shone with glee.

"Who else would it... argh! Gods! Put me down,

hug, and considering their difference in height, Sunny felt his feet leaving the ground. lіghtnоvеlwоrld․соm. His voice was full of righteous indignation: "I said... gods, don't you have any modesty?!

thing, too. Sunny was this close to using the [Feather of

where the hell are you?! Neph told us that you are alive, but the news from the Antarctic Center... doofus, are you really

resigned look, then

now. East Antarctica. I guess.

of the ocean to fight a Corrupted Terror, killed that Terror, got blown up, then killed

then looked at Effie nonchalantly: "And what's new

at him for a moment, then grinned, wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and pulled him toward the

telling us what happened, though... we've been worried sick, you know! Kai almost had a heart attack right before we disembarked in East Antarctica, when the news of what happened in Falcon Scott reached us! Even Princess seemed a bit shaken... I swear to the dead gods, I almost saw her having a facial expression. Come, let's find the

then just relaxed and allowed himself to be led toward the Ivory Tower. That was why he had come here, after all, to speak with the other members of the cohort. He needed to share a lot of practical knowledge with Kai and Effie, as