Shadow Slave

Sunny and Nephis stood side by side as they watched utter devastation being unleashed by creatures crawling out of the colossal Nightmare Gates. The gargantuan black tentacles were still far away, but they were getting closer with every moment.

Numerous Awakened had already been killed, and more were going to die soon.

It was... too sudden, too much.

There were a lot of things that Sunny needed to comprehend, accept, and think about... the future... Cassie, Effie, and Kai... Jet...

But there was no time to think. It was almost impossible, anyway - the Call was roaring in his mind, making any kind of thought difficult. All he could do right now was concentrate on his own survival.

One thing Sunny did do, however, was dismiss his Shadows. They would be of no help against the Great being, but losing them to this catastrophe was just too easy.

Ruined... it's all ruined...

Sunny tried to sense his connection to the Dream Realm.

As a Master, he could leave the waking world at will. It took some time to activate the connection, and usually, he would be transported to his anchor Citadel in a matter of minutes.

That was not going to happen today, of course. Being in close proximity to a Nightmare Gate disturbed the anchor, so entering the Dream Realm near them meant being pulled by the Call and entering the area surrounding the Seed instead.

Currently, Sunny was in the area of effect of four different Nightmare Gates. He didn't even know which Seed he would be pulled to, but anything was better than remaining on the desolate plain that was going to be flooded with indescribably powerful abominations very soon.

Hurry, hurry, hurry...

In front of him, a scene out of a nightmare was playing out. No one on the battlefield was strong enough to resist the being unleashed by the Nightmare Gate - all they could do was try to run, fail, and die.

Those who succumbed to the Call could not even run.

Scores of Awakened, Echoes, and enthralled abominations were all being torn apart and pulverized. The seething mass of dark flesh, meanwhile, continued to squeeze itself through the Gate.

The black fingers continued to hold the rift apart, but there was also a gargantuan hand that had emerged from the abyssal nothingness entirely, plunging down to grab a fistful of screaming humans.

to the

by now... the last eight months having his mind almost constantly assaulted by the insidious whispers of the Call. Sometimes, they were loud, and sometimes they were

with the maddening pressure at first, but slowly, he developed a sort

of events, he had to surrender to it. It was

There.

connection to the Dream Realm. Strange and distorted, it was still there - in fact, it was much stronger than before. The whispers of the Call grew even more

ecstasy and an immense sense of relief flood

pulled on the connection, and felt the border between the two worlds becoming weaker and more ethereal. Before, it had been like an impregnable

was as though something was

maybe expelling him from this

And that was it.

all he

and hope that he would leave the

wounds. The dark tentacles were rampaging on the battlefield - some whipped around, obliterating the armies of the great clans, some plunged into the soil and grew taut, pulling more and more of the Great abomination into the waking

Nephis stood motionless amidst the harrowing destruction. They did not try to

found. The spot where they had fought Dire Fang was as good as any other. It

away from the black tentacles that were getting closer and closer, they looked at

tremors growing stronger and stronger. It was as

to see what was appearing from the other

just looked at

was pale and weakened,

calm, even when

mouth, which was suddenly excruciatingly dry,

see you on the other

back at him, something grotesque and lumbering reflecting in her striking grey

She nodded.

"Yes."

hesitated for a second,