Shadow Slave

With Nightmare guarding Sunny's dreams, his sleep was deep and peaceful.

...His awakening, however, was not.

'Wh... what?!'

Sunny woke from feeling the world tilt, and then quake with a violent shudder. He was thrown sideways and collided with the slope of the fissure, feeling the sharp rocks cutting into his skin. Groggy and disoriented, he tried to stand up, but got tangled in the sleeping bag instead.

'Damn it!'

The sleeping bag disintegrated as he tore through it, already summoning the Sin of Solace and the Moonlight Shard.

The world lurched once again, and the deafening roar of water reached his ear.

'What is going on?'

Assessing his surroundings through shadow sense, Sunny did not notice immediate danger. He did, however, notice Nephis - she had climbed out of the fissure and was now standing on its edge, her white tunic and silver hair fluttering in the wind.

Sunny could not see her face, but judging by the lack of weapons in her hands, the situation was not critical.

He let out a relieved sigh, then glanced at the destroyed sleeping bag with regret. Just a moment later, the dark island shuddered again, and a strange tremor ran through the black turtle's stone shell.

At that moment, an obnoxious voice resounded from his left:

"Good morning. Rise and shine!"

Throwing a contemptuous glance at the spirit of the Sin of Solace, Sunny grimaced and pushed himself off the ground. Soaring high into the air, he kicked the slope of the fissure and propelled himself even higher, landing noiselessly near Nephis a moment later.

The seven suns were already rising, and the world was suffused with the golden radiance of dawn.

"What is happening?"

There, the water was turbulent and foamy, rising in violent waves. The river had washed away most of the blood during the night, but now, it was painted red once again.

something large and swift moved beneath the surface of the red water, and the

'What the...'

Great River, there was a strange sound. Soon, the azure serpent's giant head rose from the

its harrowing jaws was a huge chunk of red, bleeding meat. Still staring at them with malice, the creature moved its

sight was more than

by Sunny's side, Nephis

"It's eating the turtle."

at her with a strange

"Yeah. I've noticed."

both of them fell

was watching them while devouring the meat

the abomination's enormous maw. The jade fangs were painted red as they effortlessly sliced through

possessed and no Attribute augmenting his body stood a chance of resisting the fangs of the Great Beast even for a split second.

at the feasting

long sigh

I'm... really damn

at him with

"Tired of what?"

pointed

me this and that about how the process of Awakening is supposed to happen. And, I swear to the dead gods... not a single thing they told me to expect ended up coming

expression appeared on his

There's a Fallen Terror blocking the only way out. The Second Nightmare? Here is a couple of immortal Saints I

Sunny rolled his eyes.

am a Master now, and instead of fighting Fallen Nightmare Creatures like Masters are supposed to do, there's this Great Beast staring me down. Let's not even mention all the Corrupted abominations I've already killed. Is this what they call suffering from success? If so, I really don't want to be such an overachiever anymore... can't something normal happen,

tilted her