Shadow Slave

Sunny and Nephis had learned a few things about navigating the endlessly flowing waters of the Great River, but they were still unsure what distance separated each of the Seven Houses from each other. Nevertheless, they quickly understood that something was wrong by looking at Ananke's face.

The young priestess was almost always either calm or smiling. At some point, however, a deep frown twisted her soft adolescent face, and a dark shadow was cast onto her vibrant azure eyes.

Sunny was the first to notice. He studied the teenage girl in front of them, then asked:

"What's wrong?"

Ananke lingered for a few moments.

"We should have reached the Third House by now, my Lord."

There were seven artificial islands where the children of Weave spent their childhood, and although the swift ketch was supposed to reach the fifth one, they were actually numbered in reverse order - starting with the House of Birth far downstream and ending with the House of Youth. So, the Third House would have been the fifth they saw. However...

It seemed to have disappeared.

The young priestess studied the vast expanse of the Great River, then mumbled with uncertainty:

"I guess... the mechanisms of the island could have broken down, sending it adrift. I haven't visited here in a long while. Still, the deterioration shouldn't have reached that stage already..."

Sunny and Nephis exchanged glances. Rising to her feet, Nephis looked north.

"Could it have been destroyed by an abomination?"

Ananke did not answer for a while. Eventually, she sighed.

"It's unlikely, but not impossible. Maybe that is what happened, indeed."

powerful Nightmare Creature stalking the waters somewhere nearby, but the disappearance of one of the islands also meant that the rest of

'Damnation...'

about

was intending to gift them her ketch, so she needed another vessel in order to return to Weave. There were supposed to be other boats moored at the House of Parting, but if the island had been destroyed... they were going to have a

'It's not too bad...'

the form of the river serpent again, continuing to travel downstream without the ketch. With the Crown of Twilight, he would be able to

he and Nephis would be able to come up with a method

reach the House of

the Great River, suffusing it with a soft glow, when Sunny suddenly stirred and peered into

later, he pointed forward

"I see something. There."

oar, guiding the ketch in that

in the iridescent glow of the flowing water. It was massive and strangely

anything, Nephis and Sunny summoned their weapons. Ananke called

they weren't

the ominous shape, they saw it for what it

out of the water, tilted and half-drowned. They first saw one of its sides, overgrown by seaweed and barnacles. It took Sunny some time

around the edge of the

them that remained above the water, had mostly collapsed into piles of rubble. The gardens had been destroyed, and the tidy streets had turned into a labyrinth of ruins. The tall windcatchers had been shattered, their blades sticking out of the

what remained of the Third

of violent devastation, Sunny felt a cold shiver run

have destroyed

seemed as though a frenzied titan had been

her sword tighter. Her face was motionless, but white

"An abomination?"

studying the ruins with a