Shadow Slave

She studied the waters and put her hand on the hilt of her sword.

The enchanted scabbard was the same, but the blade it sheathed was different. The longsword bestowed upon her by the great clan Valor had been destroyed in Twilight, and replaced by the silver blade, which was currently molded to a similar shape.

That weapon was a reward Nephis received for slaying Soul Stealer — a Defiled Saint who had once been a prince of the same clan. Whether there was some symbolism to one replacing the other, Sunny did not know.

Nephis turned slightly, looking at Cassie, and asked:

"How long before we reach Verge?"

The blind girl was the best at steering the Chain Breaker, the most familiar with the slate map created by the sybils, and the one who had spent the most time among the River People. So, she was their navigator.

Cassie lingered for a moment..

"No more than two days, if we sail at moderate speed. More if we want to be truly careful… less if we want to abandon caution."

Noting the answer, Nephis glanced at Mordret:

"Is there danger close to us?"

The Prince of Nothing had been a bit cagey about the particulars of how his Aspect worked, but by now, they knew many things about it.

For example, the distance at which Sunny could control his shadows as an Ascended Terror was somewhere around twenty-four kilometers. His perception was limited to what the shadows perceived, though. Mordret's Dormant Ability, on the contrary, allowed him to perceive the world through any reflection within a similar range — adjusted for the fact that he was merely a Beast at the moment.

allowed him to

the Prince of Nothing was nearly omniscient in a considerable area around

was what made him so terrifying — the Ability to enter a being's soul through their eyes and possess their body, wearing it as a costume. That Ability, too, would make him a priceless ally

silent for a few moments, then shook

current itself is a bit strange, though. It's… eerie. We'll see it soon, an area where the water is a little bit darker than usual. I would suggest avoiding that area completely, as well as any

looked ahead,

Then, we will anchor the Chain Breaker and scout the

added in a

brimming with the Defiled… if we meet one, we can't let it escape alive and alert the others.

personally, her words were not equal to an order. Still,

But she was right.

of this had been discussed over and over again already. The cohort was prepared as well as it could have been, considering the lack of information about the state of the Defiled city and its current

Torment…

Sunny frowned.

then? All of

And yet, nothing happened.

was the Last

the ship's sails. They were going to

the water, suffusing it with beautiful light. The impenetrable darkness devoured the sky — now that Sunny knew about the great swarm of monstrous butterflies hiding somewhere out there, in that darkness, the night seemed far more dreadful. Almost impossibly

hiding in the River,

abominations. Each of them was more powerful than the Nightmare Creatures they had usually fought upstream, and far more

finished off by Kai, who was the fastest of them all. His arrows could strike true from a startling distance, as well — armed with incredible sight

and unpredictable, often hiding fatal hazards. The Chain Breaker avoided the truly inescapable ones thanks to Cassie's intuition, and fought through the rest,