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.

need to... succumb to

mind almost constantly assaulted by the insidious whispers of the Call. Sometimes, they were loud, and sometimes they

to deal with the maddening pressure at first, but slowly, he developed a sort of resistance to the Call. He had learned how to fight

had to surrender to it. It was a frightening and uncomfortable

There.

distorted, it was still there - in fact, it was much stronger than before. The whispers of the Call grew even more deafening, screaming, demanding for him to make use of

an immense sense of relief flood

it had been like an impregnable wall, but now, it was more akin to fog. And he was

something was pulling him from the

him from

And that was it.

all

to hold on to that feeling and hope that he would leave the waking world before

festering 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

harrowing destruction. They did not try to

nowhere to run, anyway, and no shelter to be found. The spot where they had fought Dire

tentacles that were getting closer and closer, they looked

tremors growing stronger and stronger. It was as though something

to see what was appearing from

just looked at

was pale and weakened, but

calm, even when

mouth, which was suddenly excruciatingly

on the other

something grotesque and lumbering

She nodded.

"Yes."

she hesitated for a second, and took a