Shadow Slave

"What the hell?"

Instantly tense, Sunny looked away from the Quiet Dancer and outstretched his hand, ready to summon the Sin of Solace.

His first thought was to Shadow Step into the hidden chamber below the floor of the tower. The tower was shaking, and Cassie was there, at the heart of Aletheia's sorcery. Cassie had also been rather mysterious lately... unpredictable...

However, a moment later, he shook his head, feeling slightly ashamed. Why was he suspecting the blind girl? It was his first reaction, even.

Instead, Sunny concentrated on his shadows and took a closer look outside. What he saw made his expression darken.

"What is happening?"

Jet had woken up from her nap and was now looking at him, a deep scowl on her face. Effie had almost lost her balance when the tower shook, and was now holding her belly, alert. Nephis had jumped down from where she had been carving more meat from the corpse of the Great Tyrant, white sparks igniting in her striking grey eyes.

Sunny hesitated for a moment.

Outside the tower... the ancient pines were swaying. Which meant that it was not just Aletheia's Tower that had shaken. It was the entire island.

'Damnation.'

Sunny noticed Cassie appearing from the stairs to the hidden chamber and answered:

"I'm not sure. But... I think something happened in the port."

Apart from the deadly circle of black obelisks, there was only one place built by Aletheia they had never visited on the island - the port, which was enveloped by green vines and turned into a nest by an especially dreadful Nightmare Creature.

The ancient building was not included in the plan Sunny and Cassie had made, because there was nothing they needed there. In truth, the port had nothing to do with the time loop, the protective enchantments of the tower, or their way to freedom.

It did serve an important role, though. It was there that the mechanism keeping Aletheia's Island in the air was located.

So, unless Sunny wanted to drop the entire island into the vortex, there was no need to fight the current master of the port and enter there.

island. It had remained intact for countless centuries and was never damaged in any of the revolutions. What kind of terrible might an abomination had to possess to breach the

horror

Beast... it

Sunny was filled

the island was not plummeting into

the levitation mechanism is

then, the tower trembled again. This time, the tremor was not

Neph's expression grew bleak.

not good news

was to say

Sunny sighed.

probably

cohort looked at each

simple. Sunny was telling them that the inevitable battle with the Plagues, which they had all been dreading and preparing for during this short period of peace, was now

Cassie sighed.

feel like we have at least a couple more days. Staying on the island for longer... might

Sunny nodded.

we'll make our move in

companions all he knew about the two Defiled Saints. They had already discussed every possible strategy. Now, all they had to do was prepare themselves mentally and venture out into the mist one last

and walked over to the

saving those

stay in the tower for as long as possible. Now, however, there was a clear limit to how much time they had. She still had a few of the golden fruits to spare, so absorbing as much essence as possible in preparation for the fight was more important than buying

preparations. Sunny, meanwhile, continued to monitor the

two days. The

And what Sunny saw...

Was truly stunning.

lost the obscuring

ancient pines was almost completely gone. Most of the trees had been shattered or toppled, carpeting the ground like brambles. Here and there, gargantuan corpses lay, surrounded by vast pools of blood. Some of them were terribly torn apart and partially devoured,