Shadow Slave

The great hall of the Ivory Tower made Sunny shiver, just like the last time he had seen it. It was bathed in bright sunlight that poured through tall and narrow windows. A circle of chains lay in the middle of the hall that was the Gateway.

There was no one here, but Effie pulled Sunny to a staircase that led to the underground level of the tower. Its roots were deep, seemingly reaching into the very heart of the island. That stairwell spiraled along the outer wall of the pagoda, and there was a tapestry of beautiful carvings on the ivory stone. The carvings told the stories of the golden age of the Kingdom of Hope, long before it had been destroyed by the Lord of Light.

'Wait... I don't think there was a way down before? Was it hidden?'

Confused, Sunny silently followed Effie.

Eventually, the two of them reached a vast circular chamber at the bottom of the stairwell. Sunny had never been here before, but expected it to be similar to the lowest level of the Ebony Tower... and indeed, it was. However, it was also entirely different.

The duplicate tower created by Nether was full of darkness, and there was a ghastly mountain of discarded mannequins occupying the center of its underground level. This chamber, however, was suffused with light- There was a vast and inconceivably complicated runic circle carved into the floor of the chamber, and within it...

Sunny stared, not even noticing the two people studying the circle. His body shivered slightly.

"...Is that?"

Floating in the air at the center of the chamber was a rough, radiant crystal. It was larger than Sunny, and gave him a feeling of sublime, awesome, indescribable power. The crystal was like a miniature sun, flooding the underground hall with soft light. Reality itself seemed to ripple and shine around it.

It was like nothing Sunny had ever seen.

A familiar voice answered, pulling him out of his astonishment:

"Yes. From what we can tell... this is a Divine soul shard."

Sunny slowly turned his head and looked at Cassie, who was sitting in front of the runic circle, surrounded by notebooks, etchings, and writing implements. lіghtnоvеlсаvе.c͏o͏m. She was wearing simple jeans and a white t-shirt, her pale gold hair gathered in a messy knot bun.

Sunny lingered for a moment, not knowing what to say-

"A Divine..."

moment, however, a different voice

"Sunny!"

now noticing Kai, who was hovering high above the runic circle, near the tall ceiling of the

'Oh, no...'

react, he was subjected to another

had us

his friend's blinding smile with a pale one of his

I only died once in the

the startled archer, stared at

explain to me what is going

sighed, and massaged her knees. Then, she gave him

that you are

she took a few steps back and gestured to

a look at

down, only now paying attention to the runic circle carved into the white stone. The weave of runes

that

size and tilted his head a little. The runes... were very similar in style and shape to those of the Red Colosseum. Just looking at them reminded him of the harrowing months he had spent in the cage below

'Hope's sorcery?' Cassie nodded.

explore the Tower after you left, and eventually unlocked the

Cassie shook her head.

on an expedition to the western edges of the Chained Isles. The Red Colosseum has long turned into a ruin, and was teeming with all kinds of dreadful Nightmare Creatures. It took some effort to eradicate them and clear

'A ruin? Good...'

Kai nodded.

because we were tied up settling into our roles in the Second Army. However, since Cassie returned, I've been helping her study the runic circle from time to time... a high vantage point helps see it in its entirety, and so on. We've made a little

She nodded.

after months of study and comparisons, we managed to decipher a tiny portion of the circle. It is not much, but it did allow us

at her silently

Then, he said: