Shadow Slave

Sunny had a nightmare again. Waking up in cold sweat, he couldn't remember what he had dreamt about, but was momentarily paralyzed by an overwhelming feeling of a... dark, dreadful, devouring obsession.

His mental state must have suffered a greater blow than he had thought, for him to keep suffering from repeated nightmares. Well... that was not an unreasonable result, considering what had happened during the Battle of the Black Skull and after.

'I should summon Nightmare and let him guard my sleep. He can subjugate a few of these dreams, too.'

As soon as Sunny thought that, he felt that something was wrong.

'Wh...'

In the next moment, the raft beneath him lurched, and then, the calming murmur of the flowing water suddenly turned into a deafening roar.

Sunny was thrown off the cool wooden surface and tossed into the depths. Feeling water surge into his mouth and nose, he cursed, swiftly sensed the surrounding space, and tried to find the familiar piece of flotsam... it was his only refuge in the mist, after all.

The raft was a few meters above him. Struggling against the current, Sunny swam upward. There was something strange, though... the previously dark expanse of water around him was now suffused with light, and the higher he reached, the brighter it became.

Finally, Sunny breached the surface and shut his eyes tightly, blinded by sunlight.

The ever-present mist... was gone.

Pushing his body against the current, Sunny swam toward his reliable raft, climbed onto the slick wood, and coughed out a mouthful of water. Then, he brushed his wet hair back and tentatively opened his eyes.

After days spent in the twilight of the ghostly mist, it took them a few seconds to adjust to the brightness of the day. Slowly, a breathtaking vista revealed itself from white radiance.

Sunny gasped slightly.

clear, sparkling water. Gentle sunlight reflected from its surface,

firmament of the blue sky, seven suns were shining with

his right, painting the sky and the flowing water with a thousand shades of soft lilac. The colors of dawn slowly brightened as they gradually turned into a vast expanse of vibrant blue right above Sunny. Far to his left, another sun was drowning in the bloodred water, turning the world into a

western horizon was at dusk. However, it

a while, awed, then shifted slightly and looked

there was nothing but water.

or at least in the direction he chose to call north, considering that the only rising of the seven suns was to

the

reminds me of

lingered for a few moments, wondering. Then, he took

of clear water... it reminded him of a Soul Sea. His own would have been similar, if he had radiant soul cores instead of the lightless

the dark waters of his soul were still and unmoving. His Soul

front of him seemed too eerily beautiful to be a

Which posed a question...

hell

the seven strange suns. It was a known fact that the sky, including the celestial bodies populating it, was not uniform across the different regions of the Dream Realm... still, he was pretty sure that he had never been anywhere near a place like

was definitely nothing like

sent him into a past so distant that the desert was still the

of Seed did we

atop the wooden raft again. He was perfectly dry and unbothered by the sudden change of scenery. There was a slight smile on his porcelain

sight, isn't

silently, then suddenly looked intently at the spot where the