Shadow Slave

Soon, the group left the ruin and ventured into the desert once again.

Their speed was much greater than the day before - not only because the weaker member of the group had received an opportunity to rest, but also because their wounds were healed by Nephis.

Nephis... did not look well. Physically, she was perfectly healthy, and anyone who did not know her as deeply as Sunny did would have assumed that everything was fine. But he could feel how drained and hurt she really was. Neph had not recovered from using her Aspect to destroy the vessels of the Gate Guardian yet...

He was worried that, perhaps, she never would.

Nevertheless, Nephis had insisted on treating everyone's injuries. Even Seishan's - only Beastmaster, whose wound had been delivered by Whispering Blade's sword, had turned out to be beyond her ability to mend flesh. The ugly cut on the diabolically beautiful face of the enchantress still continued to weep blood.

There was some logic to providing aid to the enemies of Clan Valor. As long as they were in the desert, they were on the same side - no one knew when the Gate Guardian would attack again, or what kind of monstrous abominations awaited them in the scorching expanse of the Nightmare Desert. So, the higher the strength of the group was, the higher Neph's chances to survive would be.

That was also the reason why Sunny did not stop her from treating his wounds. Usually, he was deeply reluctant to let Nephis torture herself on his behalf... but now, both of them were in dire danger. He had to be in the best state possible to ensure that they made it out of the Dream Realm alive.

The group walked across the white sands of the cursed desert like lost souls wandering the vast expanse of a scorching hell.

The Nightmare Desert was full of dangers that even two Saints would find difficult, or outright impossible, to survive. More than that, their chances of finding a spot where the pull of the Seeds was weak enough to escape were slim, at least in a short amount of time.

...Or it would have been, if not for the unique advantage the group possessed.

That advantage, of course, was Cassie. The blind oracle had long proved how irreplaceable she was in the Dream Realm. Now that she was a Master, her supernatural intuition had only grown stronger.

Guided by Cassie, they managed to avoid the most dreadful dangers and go deeper and deeper into the desert without losing a single member of the group to its horrors. Of course, the cursed sea of dunes was too dire of a land to make their journey easy.

There were still hazards, pitfalls, and abominable creatures of all kinds that they had to avoid, overcome, and fight. But with Summer Knight and Beastmaster protecting the Ascended, none of it managed to harvest their lives.

And, by the time the sun started to roll toward the horizon, they finally stumbled on what they had been hoping to find... some of them had been, at least.

The ruin in front of them was not very large, and looked like a spent candle. It was low and misshapen, as if furious flames had once melted the black stones into a searing liquid, which then cooled down and solidified in a chaotic pattern.

A vast expanse of sand around the ruin had been turned into a sea of uneven black glass.

That was not important, though. What was important was that the misshapen structure was distant enough from the surrounding Seeds to allow the Saints to leave the Dream Realm from inside it.

The group made its way into the ruin, stepping across obsidian glass. Inside, the floor was just the same - everything told the story of furious flames that had raged within the structure once, turning it into a scorched husk.

Beastmaster breathed in deeply, and then looked at

in dragging this out... Seishan and I will be leaving. It was nice knowing you all! Granted, I can take one more person with me - those of you who have fought against the great clan

smiled brightly, giving them a

underlying message of her offer was

I would own

tense silence settled in the chamber

it was Effie

mom told me not

the rambunctious huntress, but her tone was uncharacteristically somber. Effie seemed to be struggling with

Sunny silently shook

Beastmaster laughed.

Seishan,

and soon, without much fanfare, they disappeared without

two beautiful

'Just like that...'

where they had been standing a few

been his chance to save himself... and he let it slip from his

some regret, but at the same time, Sunny knew that he could not have made a different decision. There was no way in hell that he would

and those were some of the most

at least, no one insisted that

that moment, a heavy sigh

look at Nephis, then walked

Star... please accept these Memories. There is not much I can do to help you today, but these are some of the best weapons and tools I've been able to earn, receive, and collect. You must survive. I know you can, because you have already

smile appeared on Neph's

so bitterly ironic, for her to be thrown back into the

retracted her hand and looked

to have expected an answer, Nephis remained

lowered his hand, then took a step away and

Morgan... if you will. I am ready to take us back

Morgan smiled.

go. Now, we will have

...And shook her head.

Sunny blinked.