Shadow Slave

A few days went by in a flash. Nothing serious seemed to have happened, but grand and dire events were being set in motion in the shadows.

Saint Madoc had transported several cohorts of Valor retainers into the Dream Realm and then disappeared. Of course, no one was told about his absence - in fact, Clan Valor made a good show of pretending that he was still around, supporting the Awakened in the Dream Realm.

It was a believable lie.

Awakened, Ascended, and Saints were affected by the Call all the same - if they traveled to the Dream Realm near a Nightmare Gate, they would be brought to the area surrounding the Seed instead of to where their anchor was. However, there was a big difference when a Transcendent was actually involved.

That difference was that Saints could return to the waking world by just using their innate powers, while Awakened and Masters needed to find a Gateway to come back.

Another, no less important distinction was that the pull of the Call was not precise. If an Awakened fell asleep near a Gate, they could be transported right to where the Seed was, but just as easily to a spot dozens of kilometers away. They could even be dropped right into the middle of a horde of hungry Nightmare Creatures.

So, if a cohort of Awakened wanted to use a Nightmare Gate as a pathway to the Dream Realm, they would be scattered over a large area and risk finding their doom long before reuniting with their fellow warriors. A Saint could follow the Call first, establish an anchor in a safe place, and then transport the members of the cohort there one by one.

A Saint could even clear the way to the Seed, if the cohort was truly planning to challenge it. That was how the Nightmare Gates that opened inside the human cities were usually dealt with, unless there was no one to challenge them - in that case, they were simply contained, surrounded by a fortified exclusion zone, and guarded day and night.

So, everyone had been led to believe that that was exactly what Whispering Blade was doing - guiding the Awakened warriors of Clan Valor to the Seeds of Nightmare in order to conquer them.

Sunny, however, knew better.

He knew that Madoc actually left to infiltrate Song's territory and secretly take out Mordret. The Awakened cohorts the fearsome Saint had transported to the Dream Realm had been left to their own devices, presumably supporting Knight Shtad in pursuing a mysterious objective.

The war between the great clans was starting in earnest. Blood had already been spilled, and much more of it was going to flow very soon.

newfound ability. He was in a real rush of excitement about it, simply because the potential of the corporeal shadow form was all but

In theory.

still conditions to what he could

the shadow fiend without the help of the Shadow Shell, relying solely on his own form - that was more or less the extent of how large he could make himself, though. For now. It was also an inferior solution to calling upon the ambient shadows to become the outer layer of the spawn, since he was vulnerable without

although not without its limitations either. The smallest he managed to become was

things, like staying more or less his natural size, but changing various aspects of his appearance. Facial features were easy to shift around, as were other

have been a great subterfuge tool... if not for the fact that all these permutations were still of a

masquerading as other people any

Sunny started by adding two more

shapeshift was limited by his knowledge and experience. Sunny did well with smaller alterations, like adding sharp claws to his fingers or turning his teeth

when he tried to grow wings, the result was borderline disastrous - he had never lived with wings on his back, did not know their anatomy and how it engaged with the rest of the body, and had the vaguest understanding of the principles of

no hope of soaring in the sky

truly shapeless and formless. He

he did, however, was fulfill his old

it too

body seemed a bit off. When he elongated his limbs,

manage to achieve an acceptable result, though, and was currently looking at himself

it's such a pity Effie can't see me right now. The look on her face would be priceless! Especially since she would be looking up at me... oh gods, I

tall version of Sunny was really weird. He wasn't sure that he liked its lanky silhouette that much... it was really amusing to see, though. Especially because

had summoned the Autumn Leaf to see if it worked on him in

probably explore purchasing more cosmetic Memories in the future... they seem to be working on this form, which can be