Shadow Slave

Nephis continued to struggle against the storm, guiding them through the towering waves, but Sunny and Ananke received a moment of respite. If it could even be called that... they were still inside the ketch, which was tossed around like a toy boat by the raging current. Sunny was using one hand and all of his tyrannical strength to keep himself in place while holding Ananke with the other.

But without the need to feverishly scoop out water, they at least could catch their breaths and remain motionless for a while - for as long as his essence lasted, that was. Sunny leaned against the wet wood tiredly, consumed by bitter exhaustion. His chest was rising heavily.

'Not good...'

Being a Supreme Memory, the Crown of Twilight was a very powerful tool. But correspondingly, it consumed a lot of essence. It was going to take a few minutes for his tentative authority over water to drain the entire boat... after that, it would be unwise to keep sustaining the effect of the [Royal Promise].

He sighed.

What was even a minute? In this godforsaken storm, it was impossible to tell.

The effects of time being broken were still ravaging them. Sunny had already grown accustomed to seeing ghastly hallucinations impose themselves on the bodies of Nephis, Ananke, and himself. There were vague, harrowing shapes sometimes appearing from the mist, as well.

He could never discern their nature, but the glimpses of unknown figures and events filled him with a deep sense of terror. Were they twisted fragments of the past? Of the future? Or something else entirely, that had crawled into the world through the rifts in the broken framework of the absolute law?

He did not know, and did not wish to know.

'Perhaps this is how Cassie feels...'

There were shadows, as well. They were just as twisted and perverse as the rest of things within the time storm. He had already limited the range of his shadow sense as much as it was possible, but he could still feel them... the chilling wrongness of them... and couldn't help but shudder.

Sunny felt grim and hopeless.

...At that moment, a childish voice distracted him from his dark thoughts.

"M-my Lord?"

He stirred and looked down, at the small figure of the child priestess. Ananke had grown even younger. Now, she looked like a girl of maybe seven years of age, tired and afraid. Her mind must have regressed further, too. She was still maintaining the bubble of stability around the ketch, but... it felt weaker.

She looked more like an actual child than a wise Saint trapped in the body of one, as well. Sunny forced out a weak smile and asked, trying to keep his tone soft:

"What is it?"

a while, seemingly embarrassed. Eventually, though, she whispered in

"I'm... scared."

he knew would have never allowed herself to say something like that to a person she considered her ward. The fact that she

of anger and regret, Sunny struggled to keep his bitter emotions away

afraid, Ananke. We will escape this storm, the

the ketch on its own. What he had said to the child priestess was not a

That was the easiest thing in the world. Ananke grew quiet, seemingly calmed a

"My Lord?"

her closer to him, struggling against the sudden movements

"Yes?"

She hesitated a little.

you... tell me

request. It was natural for a distressed child to want to hear a fairy tale... probably. 'Right?' The problem was, Sunny couldn't remember any. The only one that he could think of was the strange tale of the wooden boy that Nephis had told him about. But considering its macabre ending, he didn't think it was

shifted slightly, then said

I don't think I know any

priestess lowered her

"Oh..."

for a

tell me one,

surprise, her large azure eyes

"Me?"

nodded with an encouraging

one

slowly igniting in her eyes. She seemed to have forgotten about the terrifying fury of the storm, at

It is... it is about the Well

as if he was paying rapt

Well of Wishes,

Ananke nodded seriously.

of the River... because it

strange logic of the fairy tale - both by how odd