Shadow Slave

Sunny glided through the dark sky above the luminous expanse of softly shining water. The wind was caressing his skin, and tranquil silence ruled the world. If not for the need to pierce himself with the sharp needle over and over again, he would have found the situation relaxing.

Of course, there was also the monstrous sea serpent that patiently pursued him, staring at the perfectly black canvas of the night sky with cloudy eyes.

He also had to constantly remain on high alert - there was no telling what else could attack him from above.

After a while, Sunny let out a sigh.

'How tiresome.'

He was starting to miss the days of plummeting into the Sky Below. At least he had the dead mimic to sit on back then. Now, there was nowhere for him to rest - Sunny continued to fly forward, surrounded by nothing except empty air.

He had the Sin of Solace with him instead of Mordret, too. It was really hard to tell which one of them was worse company.

"What? Have you lost... I strongly protest against this comparison!"

The apparition glanced at him with contempt, then looked away.

Sunny sighed again.

"Yeah, yeah... you are way more handsome than that guy. Sorry. I went too far."

The Sin of Solace scoffed, and they continued forward in silence.

After a long while, the faint radiance of the flowing water grew a little dimmer. The eastern horizon brightened, and then, the first of the suns appeared from below in a crown of lilac hues.

new day

water one after another. Soon, the western horizon was once again

it

at the Great Beast below him with resentment. He was tempted to summon Morgan's Warbow and start turning the ancient serpent into a pincushion. Even if the might of his arrows was not enough to pierce the azure scales of the creature, he was sure that they would

be the only one

consume his essence. He wasn't willing to waste

will and continued

went by. Then,

suns shining above the Great River were too bizarre and unreliable to use them for measuring the time. He just guessed how much of it had passed based on intuition, but he could

Sunny who was flowing through time? Questions like

really

at a certain spot on the Great

had finally appeared atop the sparkling water. His

'Land?'

below him. Then, he changed the direction of his flight slightly

to land would save him from the

the current of the

able to see a few details

of him, still some distance away, was a dark island. The island was not very large - no more than a kilometer across - and consisted entirely of black, weathered rock. It had steep slopes, with deep grooves and twisting fissures

patches of green moss scattered across the surface of the island, as well as towering outcroppings of something that resembled tarnished silver. The glistening edges were

a bit

large, but it was large enough to pose an obstacle for the sea monster. If the abomination wanted to follow Sunny to the surface, it would have to leave the water entirely - and

not climb out of the river at

Imp, and the five shadows... maybe they stood a chance of driving

must have grown much stronger, as well. After all, the [Hideous Truth] enchantment of the jade blade promised immense power to those who succumbed to its madness... and, judging by how real the sword wraith seemed, Sunny had met quite a