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.

him to travel physically between these

River was one giant reflective surface, the Prince of Nothing was nearly omniscient in a considerable area around

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

few moments, then shook

the water

ahead,

at a moderate pace, then, for one day. Then, we will anchor the Chain Breaker and scout the

hesitated, and then added

Defiled… if we meet one, we can't let it escape alive and alert the others. We can't allow anything to see us

felt a little troubled. Since Nephis was addressing a group, and not him personally, her words were not equal to an order. Still, he felt a bit of a chill while hearing

But she was right.

do. All of this had been discussed over and over again already. The cohort was prepared as well as it could have been, considering the

Torment…

Sunny frowned.

had to know that they were coming. Why wasn't anyone here to welcome them to Verge, then? All of them had expected to be ambushed by the Defiled abominations the moment the

And yet, nothing happened.

the

he went about raising the ship's sails. They were going to

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.

there were monsters hiding

of them was more powerful than the Nightmare Creatures they had usually fought upstream, and far more cunning. ?ìg??օ???w????~?օ?. Thankfully, the might of

who was the fastest of them all. His arrows could strike true from a startling distance, as well — armed with incredible sight and a powerful bow, the archer was

waters themselves. Here near the Source, they were turbulent and unpredictable, often hiding fatal hazards. The Chain Breaker avoided the truly inescapable ones thanks to Cassie's intuition, and fought through the rest, protected by its enchantments and