Shadow Slave

There were still a lot of questions Sunny wanted to ask Ananke, and a lot he needed to learn. But, surrounded by the silent darkness of the night, he simply listened to the gentle sound of water splashing against the hull of the swift ketch and stared at the glowing expanse of the Great River without saying a word.

A lot had happened yesterday... gods. Was it really just a day ago that he had fought the Azure Serpent? The fearsome battle, the frantic escape from the dark island - there had not been a single moment of peace for him to settle himself and contemplate these matters yet.

'It feels like a dream.'

He had really done it... he had killed a Great Beast.

Of course, it was partly due to the blessing of Neph's soul flame, as well as the fact that the Azure Serpent had been severely weakened. And yet... was there another Master in the world who could boast the same feat? Surely not.

Had there ever been?

Sunny shifted uncomfortably, afraid that the incredible achievement would go to his head. He almost wished to hear the biting remarks of the Sin of Solace, who never missed a chance to bring him down... the bastard was somewhere nearby, but kept out of sight. He could feel the faint presence of the hateful wraith at the edges of his consciousness.

Nevertheless, it was a fact - Sunny had indeed slain the Azure Serpent... Daeron of the Twilight Sea.

'What an unusual name for a Nightmare Creature.'

After observing the mad beast for so long and even assuming its form, Sunny was certain that there was something special about the ferocious abomination. Now, after learning its name, he came to strongly suspect... that the Azure Serpent was not an abomination at all.

Or at least had not always been one.

'Was the old snake actually a human once?'

Humans were all considered to be Beasts by the Spell, after all. A Sovereign, for example, could be called a Supreme Beast.

would happen if a Sovereign succumbed

of the Great

a simple

he dove into

it had been before, with five black suns looming above the still water. Only now, after learning the truth of how the world of the Great River had been created, he perceived

stood motionless in

lifeless shadows with one hand, but there were so many of

really killed

course, he had. From the Forgotten Shore to the Tomb of Ariel, Sunny had lived a life of slaughter... even if it had not been of his own volition. The numbers had especially swelled during the Southern Campaign,

the Mountain King, the formless shadow of the unborn Spawn of the Vile Thieving Bird, the Forsaken Knight, the Mordant

too. The nameless old slaver, Harper, Harus, Caster, Pierce, the Red Priest, the War Maidens, the soldiers of the Ivory City, Knight Amiran and the many

the Chained Island, and the

looking for

that his suspicion was right after noticing that there was no gargantuan shape of a great serpent among the shadows. And then,

Serpent had, indeed, been

shadow of a handsome man with strong facial features and fierce, downturned eyebrows. He was tall and imposing, with broad shoulders and a strong-willed, angular face. His hair was

Serpent... he really

froze, looking at the silent shadow.

a proud and mighty Sovereign, an exalted being of the

to the Tomb of Ariel? How had he ended up losing himself in the madness and turning

up the same,

appeared on his

'Corruption...'

only the result of Corruption - those frenzied fiends humans of the waking world called Nightmare Creatures. However, he felt that if his power continued to