Shadow Slave

In the decommissioned underground factory, the ghostly fire had been extinguished. Dozens of Awakened were moving, preparing to depart. All of them had summoned luminous Memories, and the dancing lights made the shadows populating the vast production hall reluctantly retreat.

Ascended Morrow was standing in front of a sturdy wall, looking at it with a somber expression. Eventually, she nodded and glanced at one of her subordinates:

"This is the spot. Isolate it."

The Awakened nodded and raised his hands. Soon, a strange silence fell upon them. It was not the mundane kind of silence many Memories could create, though - instead, it was the manifestation of an Ability that could cut a stretch of space from the rest of the world, subduing all tremors and sounds that would escape it.

The city was constantly being monitored by countless seismic sensors on account of Nightmare Creatures often burrowing underground, so nothing less would do if they wanted to remain unnoticed.

Satisfied, Morrow raised a hand and clicked her fingers. A moment later, a violent sonic boom resounded, and a large portion of the wall in front of her shattered into dust. Behind it, an entrance to a tunnel was revealed, drowned in darkness.

Cold wind entered the production hall, making the Awakened shiver. Even Morrow herself suddenly felt uneasy, for whatever reason. With a frown, she lowered her hand and said evenly:

"Clear the debris. The entrance should be wide enough for the cage to fit. Second Cohort, scout out the tunnel and make sure that there are no blockages there."

Seven Awakened jumped down into the darkness, while the rest of her subordinates got busy preparing the hole she created for the creature's cage. The cohort in charge of keeping an eye on the abominations was going to bring it any minute now... lowering the massive containment device down would not be easy, but they had come prepared.

The man in the uniform of the Evacuation Army watched the process with a worried face. After a minute, he cleared his throat awkwardly:

"Well, I... I will be going, then. My job here... is done?"

Morrow glanced at him indifferently.

"Go."

The thrall was of no use anymore. Their escape from the city would be handled by a different sleeper cell. If it was up to her, she would have gotten rid of the man - and his people - to clean up loose ends, but they could become useful in the future.

Even mundanes could do a lot of harm if armed with the right tools. Although Morrow felt it was beneath her to use vulgar weapons of the bygone era, in the grand scheme of things, not even crude instruments like that could be neglected.

Others might not have known, but she understood what was at stake.

the entrance to the tunnel

underground factory was being dragged out, however, because the creature cage was slow

Morrow felt irritated.

is taking them

to fetch the guard cohort, then decided against it and took out a special Memory. Although using it required some essence to be spent, right now, time was

the [Reaching Hand], and consisted of a scattering of finger bones. Each of the four cohorts under Morrow's command was in possession of a phalanx, and she held the fifth one. People who touched the ancient phalanxes could

reach of the [Reaching Hand] was not large. However, it possessed the unique quality of being shielded from most divination Abilities, which was very valuable for the sort

and spoke, mentally connecting to the cohort that guarded the creature cage on

"Mont. Where are you?"

leader of the cohort responded, her voice resonating in

Morrow? We are guarding the creature. Has

felt a

you mean? Have you not received my

Awakened Mont lingered.

sorry, Sister. What

She gritted her teeth.

"I sent two..."

Morrow

had sent to relay the order... why were they not back yet? She

'Not good.'

for a split second,

the cage

happened? Had the enemy already discovered their location and silently infiltrated the factory? How could they, without disturbing any of the wards she had placed on all the

of Valor were

her subordinates

battle formation! Prepare

moment later, Morrow reached through the phalanx to the cohort

"Rikas, return immediately."

short span of silence, and then

Sister. We