Shadow Slave

As Sunny's shadows climbed the cliffs, he and his companions cautiously advanced up the beach. Even the crow, who had been anxious and impatient to find its master all this time, seemed wary and subdued. The black bird was sitting on Sunny's shoulder, its feathers raised, and kept silent.

The mist swirled silently around them. Saint and Fiend were in the rear, both ready to defend against an unexpected attack at any moment. Sunny and Nephis were in the middle. Cassie rode Nightmare at the front of the group, her back straight. The radiance of the Guiding Light that she held up illuminated the way.

At some point, the shadow steed suddenly stopped. Sunny gripped the hilt of the Sin of Solace tighter and said in a low voice:

"What is it?"

Cassie remained motionless for a moment, then pointed the sacred staff down, at the ground. When Sunny and Nephis approached, they immediately understood why.

Out there in the white sand, hidden in the mist, was a line of lonesome footprints. Sunny kneeled to study them, a frown appearing on his face.

"Those were left by a human."

Neph's voice echoed in the fog.

He nodded slightly.

Indeed, the shallow prints left in the sand belonged to a human. From the look of it, someone had walked across the beach, barefoot... it was hard to tell the gender of the person just from these traces, but they could not have been of a very large stature - both the size and the depths of the footprints proved otherwise.

The traces also looked fresh. They could not have been left more than a few hours ago.

Sunny felt a cold chill creeping up his spine.

...Who was taking barefoot walks in this harrowing place?

There was another strange detail about the footprints. Contrary to what Sunny would have expected, the line of them came from the direction of the cliffs and disappeared in the mist, heading toward the edge of the island.

And yet, they had not met or heard anyone on their way here.

He hesitated for a few moments, then looked at Nephis and said:

"Wait here."

step out of it should the need arise, Sunny stood up and followed the footprints

I don't

could still see them through the shadow,

minutes later, he reached the end of the beach. The edge of the island opened into an abyssal chasm, the view of the colossal whirlpool and the darkness hiding below obscured by the fog. Sunny felt something he had not felt for

a bird. Is it really

and shook his

lonesome line of them disappeared, as if the person who

was suddenly overcome

you try

was standing at the very edge, looking

"No thanks."

The sword wraith smiled.

it yourself, you can turn into a bird. Hey, maybe this person knew how

Sunny sighed and nodded.

well, watch the fog above. Aerial attacks are some of the

Cassie, Sunny was thinking about the footprints in the sand. Who had left them behind?

like... such

at Wind Flower a few hours earlier, they could have met this person. How bitter would it be, to arrive

really had soared into the sky and escaped this forlorn place... he

to Effie or Jet. Effie was too tall to have left them behind, while Jet... Jet would have never chosen to end her life, after everything she had done to preserve it. She had literally climbed out of a grave and endured being dead, all to

doubt that she would

dark forest of tall pine trees, mist swirling between the ancient trunks. One shadow cautiously glided to the left, another to the right, while the

Isles were - so exploring it was going to take a lot of time.

going to take days... weeks,

was no sign of Effie

the edge of the island. I didn't find anything else, so... let's trace them

Guiding Light again, and they moved along the line of footprints toward the cliffs. They advanced slowly and cautiously, never letting their guard down. Although nothing had attacked them yet, the quiet feeling of

footprints disappeared once again, this time in front of narrow stairs cut into the cliffside. The steps led all the way to the forest, by the looks

and Nephis glanced at each other. The stone stairs were too narrow to maintain their formation... if something attacked them while

"Fiend, take the lead."

of them, so he was going to serve as the shield of the cohort. The Shadow did not seem too concerned with his task, either - with dark flames burning in his eyes, he moved to the front of the formation

behind Nephis. At some point, he noticed that she was paying a