Shadow Slave

Sunny was on the deck of the Chain Breaker once again. He straightened and looked into the mist, his eyes sunken.

"Doesn't work... that doesn't work. Should we abandon the caverns route?"

His bleak voice was quiet enough to not be heard by Nephis and Cassie. Although Sunny had been careful not to overwork himself too much again, the strain of surviving... and failing to survive... on Wind Flower was slowly getting to him.

It was hard, to keep himself from succumbing to hopelessness and numbness. Sunny had known many bitter defeats, but being crushed over and over again still burdened him. More than that, his mindset was slowly deteriorating into not caring about whether he lived or died at all...

Why would he care if all that waited after death was another revolution, and then another, and another, endlessly and without reprieve?

If there was one thing that kept him grounded and served as an anchor for his sanity, it was the fact that watching his companions die was always an agony. Even knowing that they would be reborn in the loop did not ease the pain and desperation Sunny felt each time he miscalculated and led them to their deaths.

If he was by himself, he probably would not have given up... but his focus and determination would have deteriorated much faster.

He had to take the members of the cohort away from Wind Flower, though... Jet, Cassie. Effie and her baby. Nephis...

That thought kept him motivated.

He was the only one who could. Due to a random twist of fate, Sunny possessed a cursed sword which made him able to remember the previous revolutions. That alone placed him ahead of everyone else on the island... in fact, simply knowing that they had to escape was already half of the victory.

It was just that the other half had turned out to be insurmountable.

And it was hard, to carry all that burden all by himself.

"No, the cavern route is the safest, which makes it the fastest."

Sunny remained silent for a few moments.

is the answer. I should make it reflect more Nightmare Creatures... ah, but not Beasts, and Monsters, and Demons. Only Devils and those

going over the collection of

Flowers that both fit the criteria and could be caught in the reflection of the Mirror of Truth without getting him killed.

were Undying Slaughter and Devouring Beast, as well.

Sunny frowned and tried to discover

to realize that Cassie and Nephis, who were supposed to

staff to determine where Effie was located. Nephis was

His frown deepened.

'It... changed? Why?'

else to affect the usual flow of

think I

his face. Perhaps his posture or

"Sunny?"

confusion and

I need to do. Stay

shadow once again. Sunny mounted Nightmare and left the Chain Breaker once

Flame and heal her right away, though. Although it was a little cruel to Jet, Sunny could not

when he returned to the Chain Breaker, the strangeness continued. The conversations seemed to be the same, but something

only when they reached the bone orchard and started rending the Hollow Butterfly that he finally figured out what was wrong. Jet and Nephis were resting while he and Cassie were busy splitting

blind girl seemed strangely distracted, moving slower

she failed to make her usual remarks about

because she usually kept quiet while the others talked. Her subtle reactions, however, had been different from the familiar

'What is going on?'

he was doing and stared at Cassie with a slight frown. Eventually, he

Is everything