Shadow Slave

Sunny dreamt of a titanic gate that stood wide open, something boundless and entirely alien hiding in the darkness of its colossal maw. He was a spider with a severed leg, crawling away as broken chains fell to the ground all around him. His mind was consumed by terror, while his heart... His heart was full of a cold, bitter feeling of betrayal and regret.

'Escape... I must escape...'

Sunny pushed his small body across the stone floor. There were beautiful webs veiling the vast hall of the temple, their silk threads weaved into a grandiose tapestry. A spark flew, and a moment later, the webs were engulfed in fire. They disappeared in a flash, leaving behind only clouds of acrid smoke that obscured the entire world. At least he couldn't see the harrowing gate anymore.

Suffocating, he crawled through the smoke, and slowly, torturously, the terror devouring his soul dissipated. Sunny felt as if he had escaped the immediate danger... however, he was hopelessly lost. There was nothing except for searing heat and the dark glow of spreading flame around him. His body was already starting to grow unbearably hot.

He froze for a moment, resting and trying to find the way out of the smoldering inferno. Then, for a moment... he felt a breeze caressing his singed carapace from somewhere ahead.

'There...'

Sunny rose to his seven feet and limped forward as fast as he could. Soon, he left the smoke and the fire behind.

There was a silent expanse of still water around him now. The smoke was gone, but a thick mist took its place. It swirled and moved, flowing slowly past the shivering figure of the small spider.

'Where am I?'

Sunny took a step and discovered that he could somehow walk on the surface of the water - just like he could within the Soul Sea. Advancing hesitantly, he ventured deeper into the fog. Some time passed - perhaps only a few minutes, perhaps an eternity - and he had lost all sense of direction.

There was nothing but mist in the world.

...Until something else appeared in the grey void.

Sunny trembled.

There, ahead of him, someone... something... was sitting on the calm surface of the water, staring down. The figure was dressed in tattered rags, its gaunt body hidden from view. It seemed like a human, or was at least human-shaped. The man's dirty hair was hanging like seaweeds, and his face was hidden from view. A jagged band of dark metal rested on his head like a tarnished crown.

Suddenly, Sunny felt cold.

'The... the Mad Prince?'

Heralds of the

Luckily, the Defiled abomination did not seem to notice the small spider... Mad Prince was sitting motionlessly, staring at his own reflection with an absent expression. It was as though he existed in an entirely different

felt profound relief. A simple

It's

the middle of a boundless sea, lost in the mist. The Corrupted Titan in front of him was not real, and the danger the creature represented was not

'Thank the gods...'

not himself - instead, Sunny was tall and nebulous. He had eight nimble arms, one

pitiful creature in front of him. The Mad Prince

Sunny with dread.

shifted and slowly raised his head. A dreadful face that seemed like a ghastly mask of countless scars and two dark eyes burning with

was like broken

The Mad Prince whispered:

dares dream about

the relief Sunny

a dream? No, that is not possible.

the unbearable weight of harrowing insanity hidden in their dark depths,

dream, it's a

lips, meanwhile, twisted in a wicked

it's you. Which one

groaned and struck his head with a

can't, can't... can't remember. Ah, but it is also an

face rippled, as if trying to assume a

neither. You are an