Shadow Slave

Sunny climbed to the roof of the APC and looked at the ravaged plain of East Antarctica, which stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see.

He could have sent his shadows instead, but on a day like today, Sunny wanted to see it all with his own eyes.

The ground was grey, and the stormy sky was grey, too. The ribbons of shallow brooks and the distant lakes were dark, resembling lead. The world seemed to have grown deathly silent, like a predator preparing to lunge at its prey. The air was brimming with suffocating tension.

In front of him, at some distance, an abandoned outpost could be seen, tilted and with its alloy walls ripped open. There was an ugly black rift of a Nightmare Gate shimmering with darkness in front of the desolate fortress, and near it, indifferent to the maddening whispers of the Call, a small figure could be seen, sitting on the ground.

It was hard to tell anything about the figure from that distance, except for the fact that it was a human.

...Surrounding the outpost from three directions, three armies were preparing to advance.

The great clan Valor, the great clan Song, and the hastily assembled government force that was supposed to mediate a compromise... through effort and a bit of luck - or misfortune, depending on how one looked at it - all of them had reached the Nightmare Gate on the same day.

Then again, maybe it was part of some insane calculation. The Gate was situated at the very border between the territories of the two clans, and at that point, Sunny wouldn't be surprised by anything.

He was still with the war party of Clan Valor. The Awakened warriors had already disembarked from the transports, and were now silently assembling into a battle formation. Those that would be fighting on foot were positioned at the center, and those that rode Echo mounts were assembled at the flanks. Five people stood in front of the loose phalanx - Morgan, Madoc, Nephis, Saint Tyris, and the Summer Knight.

Opposite them was a much larger force. Sunny could not really see, but he knew that Beastmaster, Silent Stalker, Dire Fang, and Seishan were leading it. Behind them were the Awakened warriors of Song... and, surrounding the Awakened, was a sea of enthralled Nightmare Creatures. Countless thralls were standing motionlessly, as if frozen in place.

It was eerie and deeply disturbing to see the abominable monsters acting so subdued and obedient.

The government force was by far the smallest of the three, numbering just a hundred Awakened or so. Even though they were too far away to make out details, Sunny felt an overpowering sense of unease radiating from their small formation.

right

front of it - were deep within the hunting grounds of a Corrupted Titan. The creature was nowhere in sight, for now, but there was no guarantee that it would

'What a disaster.'

great clans... his contempt was justly earned, too. He had personally killed many members of Song and Valor, be it through sabotage or with his own hands. And yet, he was not happy to

sad,

for useless emotions right now. Sunny had to steel himself and prepare to do what

and the lonely figure in front of the Nightmare Gate remained motionless,

if it were a signal, Morgan took a step forward. The rest of the

flanked by two Knights of Valor. The blind girl seemed calm, but he could see her

and the rest. Nephis and Tyris looked at him with inscrutable expressions, but the princess herself seemed amused by his decision to

of you to join

at her darkly

my boss is over there. What else am

the fact that she - and all

fact, she

And what does a government agent like yourself think about

Sunny frowned.

just volunteered my services to the Evacuation Army, for the duration of the Antarctica

but it all boiled down to the fact that he still did not clearly understand the motives of the great clans. From his

a lot, coming

their Domains, many things still didn't make any sense. The timing of the conflict, the wasteful strategies, the

be something wrong with