Shadow Slave

Morrow stared at the severed head for a split moment, feeling cold terror creep into her heart. The clean cut, the hollow emptiness of his dead eyes, the dark entrance into the tunnel behind...

Were... were they all dead? A whole cohort of experienced, battle-hardened Awakened warriors of the great clan Song, wiped out in such a short span of time without making even a single sound? Had a human done that? No, that was impossible. Only Whispering Blade would have been capable of slaughtering them in such a manner. But then, Madoc would never lower himself to play with his prey...

What kind of abomination was it, then? How had the dogs of Valor allowed a monster like that to live freely under their city?!

Then, Morrow scowled. Why was she scared? What was there to be scared of? Neither death nor Nightmare Creatures had ever frightened her before. Her people seemed to be shaken, too, so unbecoming of the elites of a great clan.

'A mental attack.' The creature must have been employing some kind of beguilement. She growled: "Activate the mental resistance enchantments!"

At the same time, she raised her hand and clicked her fingers, sending a devastating sonic shockwave into the tunnel. A deafening boom rolled through the production hall, and a fountain of stone dust and debris shot out of the dark entrance.

The Awakened of Song poured essence into the protective charms they carried. Instantly, it was as if they could breathe again... the memory of terror still lingered, though, gnawing at their willpower. There were twenty of them left, gathered in a circular defensive formation that had no blind zones, with the massive cage placed in the center. Morrow stared in the direction of the tunnel tensely, wondering whether her attack caught the creature or not.

she lingered for a moment, then gave the order to dismiss luminous memories. Trapped in a circle of light, they were too vulnerable. Instead

within its dark expanse

her thumb and middle finger together, and then

a moment of silence. And then a moment more. And then, the severed head laying in

spoke in Morrow's own voice. The Awakened threw unsettled glances at the head of Rikas, which stared back at them with hollow eyes. 'What kind of a

snarled, then looked away from the morbid visage of the speaking severed head and concentrated on the production hall, trying to predict where the attack would come

example, too. ...Except for one. The man who had been the furthest from the entrance to the tunnel swayed slightly. Then, his head slid from his shoulders and fell to the floor, rolling through the dust as the body toppled behind it. In that short instant, when everyone had gotten distracted by the creature mimicking

her hands together, unleashing the full force of her Aspect. A destructive sonic shockwave spread like a ring from the formation of the Awakened, obliterating a large swath of the production hall. The concrete floor cracked, the old machines were torn apart, the still conveyor belts were ripped, and shreds of alloy flew away like jagged bullets. Nothing within

head of Rikas spoke again, unperturbed: "Pay... pay...

Morrow gritted her teeth, calmly analyzing the situation. Where was the enemy? What were its capabilities? There was something else beneath

things happened. First, a loud metallic click came from somewhere within the defensive formation... from the massive cage that contained the enthralled abomination. Second, a section of the production hall's ceiling suddenly collapsed,

the underground factory, Knight Amiran was standing in the middle of a wide corridor. He was surrounded by Awakened of Valor, who were stealthily