Shadow Slave

After the food was finished, a tense silence settled inside the ancient ruin. Everyone was tired beyond words, but no one dared to fall asleep... not only out of fear of the Gate Guardian finding them, but also because of the two Saints.

Beastmaster and Summer Knight sat on opposite sides of the fire, staring at each other tensely. Neither could lower their guard, knowing that the opponent would, perhaps, use that moment to launch an attack.

"I guess their alliance was doomed to be a short-lived one."

Sunny tiredly closed his eyes, then yawned.

"No offense... but why don't you just leave? Then those of us who have to stay will get some rest, at least."

Both Saints looked at him with a hint of surprise. After a few short moments, Sir Gilead shook his head slightly.

"I must admit, I admire your composure, Master Sunless."

Summer Knight must have been under the impression that the people he couldn't save would be terrified, perhaps even begging him to take them back to the waking world instead of Morgan.

Well, Sunny did not consider begging to be beneath him - if there was a point to it. But he knew that the Saint of Clan Valor was never going to abandon the daughter of his Sovereign.

Sunny shrugged.

"I'm too tired to be worried."

Beastmaster chuckled, then said in a raspy voice:

"The reason why we haven't left is very simple. You are not a Saint, so you wouldn't know... but there are conditions that have to be met in order to return to the waking world. Namely, our anchors in the waking world are affected by the Call the same way your anchors in the Dream Realm are affected by it. Every Seed exerts a pulling force, and since there are so many of them in the Nightmare Desert, that force is quite ubiquitous. We need to find a spot where it is relatively weak first, and this ruin is not one of these spots."

She paused for a moment, and then added:

"They are not too hard to find, though. I am willing to bet that we'll encounter at least one tomorrow."

Sunny tilted his head a little.

that's how

influenced by the Call even in the Dream Realm. In fact, the influence they had to endure would be much greater than what the rest of them suffered through - Sunny knew it because of his own experiences as

said

could leave the ruin - and

Sunny nodded.

stand guard,

he carefully lowered himself to the ground, making sure to lay on the uninjured

by his nonchalant attitude, but Sunny didn't care. He just wanted to

risky, but so was staying awake and refusing his body and mind the much-needed

bit of silence in the dark

the

surprised to come back to his senses alive. Of course, his shadows would have warned him if anything truly dangerous happened while he slept - still, being in the company of

anything,

was still in a terrible state and covered in wounds. However, his condition was much better than it had been before. Due to the blessings of the Graceless Dusk and the tenacity of his unique physique, he felt... somewhat

the cracks in the roof of the ruin. The air still felt chilly,

was going to be replaced with appalling

stood up with a grimace and stretched

the first to wake up, and everyone else was still asleep - except for Summer Knight and Beastmaster, who

staring at each other the entire

nodded at them and forced out

"Good morning."

Gilead greeted him calmly,

look less like a corpse, little

a few moments, then

the

a sudden? First

face was still shedding drops

to not be enchanted