Shadow Slave

There was a squad of soldiers on the pier, as well, all wearing white armor tied at the waist with red sashes. Unlike the last time Sunny had seen them, the warriors filled their armor well, brimming with vigor and vitality.

Their captain was a tall, beautiful woman with fiery red hair. Sunny only recognized her because of an open helmet with a scarlet plume she was holding on the bend of her right arm... she was the captain that had escorted him and Nephis to the temple the last time around.

She had seemed ancient then. Now, she looked not much older than they were. Everyone here did, really, or even younger. The startling change was still making him feel a little dizzy.

Sunny had known, of course, that killing the Defiled sybil would allow Fallen Grace to migrate downstream and return these people their youth. Knowing and seeing were two different things, however.

Seeing them like this was a bit... bittersweet. Sweet because it was nice to witness his actions doing some good, bitter because it reminded him of Ananke.

As Sunny was pondering the strange reality of living on the Great River, the soldiers created a passage through the crowd and surrounded the members of the cohort, helping them leave the pier.

They were escorted along the familiar streets once again, moving toward the temple of Dusk. There had been a lot of people on the pier, but there were even more here, crowding the sidewalks and the roofs of the buildings, all staring at the returned Outsiders with excitement and awe.

The crowd followed the small procession, constantly growing. Some people were calling out to Cassie, some simply cheered from a distance. After the relative tranquility of months spent at sea, Sunny was having trouble adjusting to the boisterous atmosphere of Falling Grace.

«Lord Sunless! Lord Sunless!»

He turned his head, hearing his own name.

The voice was unfamiliar, and the face of the scrawny teenager calling out to him was unfamiliar, too. But Sunny recognized those curious, intelligent eyes almost immediately.

He frowned slightly, but was actually amused.

that

teenager, who had been kept away by the captain of

me. Lord Sunless,

alright to let the young man approach. A few moments later, Cronos joined the procession and looked at the other members of the

Sunless... are these Outsiders,

Sunny nodded.

Oh, and that one is a monster

those descriptions, the members of the cohort gave him sour looks. Effie shook

come Cassie's introductions are so much

with a curious gaze.

You can be a hundred years

The teenager chuckled awkwardly.

Sorry, I didn't mean

«Eighteen...»

Cronos, he had been seventeen. So they had not spent that much time away — much less than he feared, at

meanwhile, blushed in

and I, we were thinking of going to the House of Youth ourselves... since it was rebuilt

Sunny

do you

Cronos laughed again.

you don't know! Well... we knew each other for a while. But since we were both old and decrepit, there was no point in anything except for quiet friendship between two elderly folk. Once the city

scratched the back