Shadow Slave

"No... I'm definitely not imagining it. These people are weird!"

The citizens of Fallen Grace were indeed looking at Sunny funny. The frail old man in front of him was smiling with an odd mix of joy and terror, just like the rest of the elderly folks that had met them on the pier. They were simultaneously far too excited and far too scared, like a bunch of teenagers who met an idol for the first time.

He could vaguely understand why they would be delighted - it seemed that Dusk had already been waiting for Sunny and Nephis, after all. Which was potentially a piece of good news... But where had the awe and terror come from?

'Uh... maybe I shouldn't have shown up as a serpent?'

Sunny had thought that the River People would be accustomed to seeing creatures of all kinds, but maybe he was wrong. Still... there was a strange incongruity between the age of these people and how animated their reactions were.

This whole city was strange.

When Sunny and Nephis had first seen it, both were tense and wary. They had not known what kind of welcome to expect, and kept their guard up.

Fallen Grace looked a lot like Weave, but also different. Painted by the crimson radiance of dusk, it floated on the waves, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was much larger than the forlorn city of the followers of Weaver, and also more developed, feeling like a place with much deeper roots.

There were more island-ships, most paved neatly with cobblestones and carrying graceful, picturesque buildings. The islands were connected by rope bridges, with wide canals below. Slender gondolas with intricate patterns carved into their pale wood moved through them.

Unlike Weave, there were no windcatchers here. Instead, there were sails of vibrant scarlet fabric stretched between the taller buildings, making the city look like a grandiose flotilla. The buildings themselves were built from white stone and pale wood, with crimson accents added here and there to liven up their scenic facades.

Fallen Grace was like a flower of pure, immaculate white drifting between the ominous crimson sky and the blood-red waters of the Great River.

it was a wilting

The rope bridges were frayed and poorly maintained. The scarlet sails might have looked magnificent once, but now their fabric had faded, its surface covered

From what Sunny could tell, half of the buildings had no inhabitants, standing abandoned and empty. That felt

surrounded by defensive barriers, space was deeply precious... and since there was not enough of it to go around, people like him were condemned

were these old men and women... where were the

allowed to approach

the situation

they

was why he had dove into the water as

stared at the old man, trying to understand why the local seemed to be growing paler and paler with each passing moment. Then, mentally shaking his head, he sighed

anticipating meeting Lady Dusk a

would finally receive some answers from

hesitated for a moment, then asked

seem awfully lacking. Where are the warriors? Why hasn't anyone prevented our ship from

old man let

have warned us if there was danger. Since she didn't, there must

awkwardly and

will arrive shortly to escort you, esteemed guests. I am sure of

stared at

'Huh.'