Shadow Slave

Nightmare flew through the battlefield where the servants of dead deities fought against each other, unable to resolve their ancient grudge even after thousands of years had passed. All around the galloping steed, giants made of black bones clashed with murderous fury.

Each strike of a rusted blade, each blow of a vicious claw, each snap of crushing jaws produced powerful shockwaves that stirred the white sand and made it seem as if the world was on the verge of collapsing. Angry sparks flew into the air, and a cacophonous clangor filled the dark sky.

'Crazy, crazy... this is crazy!'

Sunny was in the form of a shadow, gliding across the sand in front of Nightmare. He was serving as a guide, and the black stallion followed, carrying Jet and Seishan.

Sunny's mind was in overdrive, absorbing every minute detail of what was happening around them. He had to find a way to avoid the ancient wraiths and slip between them, somehow, while not being destroyed by their destructive wrath.

It was not easy... no, it was almost impossible. His only saving grace was that the dead did not seem to pay them any attention.

Still, just the aftershocks of their dreadful attacks were enough to obliterate a puny Ascended like Sunny.

'Damn it all!'

As they moved away from the ruin, Sunny saw...

A black skeleton easily parting the night sky with its obsidian sword. The abominable bone behemoth that had been attacking the dead swordsman shuddered and collapsed, making the whole desert shake. Its mountain-like skeleton, almost a kilometer long, was cleanly cut in half along the spine.

A phalanx of ancient warriors marching forward to meet the charge of monstrous skeletal cavalry. The moment the two tides of black bones met, millions of stars were suddenly extinguished in the sky.

Two giants colliding above the dunes. One wielded a sword, while the other had iron shackles fastened around its wrists and ankles. The heavy chains rang as a gargantuan shackled hand shot forward, grabbing the colossal sword and flinging it away.

in the direction

'Curse...'

giant sword fell down just a few meters ahead of Sunny. However, it did not hit the sand - instead, the ancient weapon plunged into the shadows, disappearing into their bottomless embrace.

won't survive here

Desert had been before, but it was known that one of the last - or at least one of the fiercest - battles in

had already existed back then, or maybe this land had

ferocious clash, either. Why did the continue to

knew was that this was no place for the living. It was barely a place suited

Nephis had

could be more horrific than the catastrophic clash happening around them, but he understood

the dead was, it was only a matter of time - minutes, or maybe even seconds - before someone or

a distant strike was enough

planning to reach some other ruin. The location of the nearest structures was burned into his memory, but once they entered the battlefield, Sunny realized that it was of no use - the white dunes had shifted, and he had no marks to orient himself in the

the moment the three of them escaped the ruin, they were utterly

its fangs, the black steed soared into a high jump, landed on the spine of a lumbering monster, galloped across it and landed on

and Seishan held on for

thrown out of the shadows and rolled on the sand, then jumped to the side, barely avoiding

him stumbling back, and he

into the shadows and flew

need to hide... we need

Sunny saw a flash of light somewhere far

really perceive colors while in the form of a shadow, but from the purity of the light, he knew

skeletons, a white