Shadow Slave

1542: Last Journey.

And there it was.

They had left on the last journey of this tumultuous, dreadful Nightmare.

For Sunny and Nephis, it was especially poignant, because they had come from the far reaches of the future — and were now on their way to the furthest reaches of the past, where Verge stood.

It must have been especially emotional for Cassie, as well, because she was leaving the city she had spent a whole year ruling and trying to preserve. Now, its fate depended on whether they would be successful in their battle against the First Seeker.

In any case, she would never see Fallen Grace again.

None of them knew if it would even exist, in any kind of way, should they prevail. However, it was inevitable for Fallen Grace to be destroyed should they fail.

The blind girl did not look back. Instead, she stood at the bow of the flying ship, facing the setting suns. The others gave her some space, knowing that there had to be a storm of complicated emotions weighing on her heart.

Only Sunny could see her face, visible to the shadow that was hiding close by.

Cassie's face was not wistful or sad. Instead, it was full of resolve and determination… impatience, even. It was as though she had been waiting for this moment for a long, long time.

Which was true, of course. Apart from Mordret, she had spent by far the longest in this Nightmare. Sunny knew that he was sick and tired of the Tomb of Ariel. The blind girl had to be feeling the same, but much more intensely.

«We've been here for so long.»

come to care for and then lost Ananke, traveled to Fallen Grace and got to know the culture of the River People there, fought against all kinds of underwater horrors on the way to Aletheia's Island, withstood the insidious hell

believe, but he had spent more time in the Tomb of Ariel than in Antarctica, not to

she had been here longer than

even counting the unknown number of cycles the seven of them had lived through before arriving at this one… hopefully,

soared above the waves, flying toward

view of the blazing river, then rubbed his face and retreated to his cabin. There, he concentrated on preparing for the alteration of

he felt a sense of

day passed in

the third day, they reached the duskward edge

The powerful current that threatened to destroy

burning with an intense crimson glow, almost like it was on fire. 𝐥ìg𝚝𝔫օ𝑣𝓮𝓵w𝓸𝓻𝐥𝓭~𝙘օ𝕞. The inconceivable waterfall that stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see was painted vibrant red,

of blood

The distant whispers of

So, they remained silent.

crested the breaking point of the waterfall and flew

in the howling of the wind. They had returned to the dark abyss of

boundless darkness. That was because, unlike the first time, the Chain Breaker would be crossing the space within the loop of

there was no threat of the terrifying swarm of the Dark Butterflies becoming aware of their presence — since they would not be coming anywhere near the walls of the

looping river would take. The last time, they had arrived back to the surface

much faster than simply sailing all the way to the dawn of

If nothing unforeseen happened.

the darkness for some time, feeling both wary