Shadow Slave

Everyone was more than a little stunned by the sight of the massive landmass in front of them. They had seen Verge from far away, while traversing the empty void — however, the ice and the pale soil covering it were indistinguishable from the flowing water at that distance. Nothing in the records left behind by the sybils indicated that the foundation of the city was so monumental, either.

All that was mentioned on the slates, as well as passed by word of mouth between the citizens of Fallen Grace, was that the Seekers of Truth had established a city at the farthest reaches of the past, as close to the inception of time as they could, to serve as a staging ground for their attempts at reaching the Estuary.

So, they had expected something similar to the fleet-cities of the sybils, or perhaps a settlement built on a massive carapace of an enormous abomination, like Twilight. Maybe a levitating island like the one Aletheia had created, or even a network of them.

What they had not expected was an entire land of ice surrounding Verge. Sunny was both troubled and impressed.

There was a whole day of sailing on the Chain Breaker left between them and the Defiled City. That was a vast distance to cover on foot, at least for a mundane human. Which meant that the mass of ice forming the foundation of Verge was truly immense.

...Which posed a problem.

Sunny studied the lifeless landscape of the frozen land in front of them, then glanced at Nephis.

"So, what are we supposed to do?"

Now that they couldn't sail further, there was a decision to be made. Namely, they had three possible paths, each offering its own pitfalls and benefits.

air and proceed forward, flying above the vast sheet of ice. This, of

not to

they would alert the Defiled of their approach long

much easier for seven humans to infiltrate the landmass

attack later. This was the most passive approach, but not the safest — the longer they spent in these dangerous waters, the higher the chance

for a while, thinking. "What

split. Some were in favor of leaving the ship behind and using stealth to

himself was undecided,

that Verge lay deep inland. However, there were plenty of other shells he could create, by now, including the giant version of his human body... and even though most of them were not as detailed and powerful as the great

good thing. He was sick and tired of fighting while surrounded by water, away from their natural

to everyone, then turned to Cassie, who had remained silent

"What do you think?"

hurry to speak.

to the city stealthily, anyway... all that changed is that we can do it on

moved slightly when she spoke. He threw a long look at the

place quickly, in your opinion?" Cassie hesitated for a moment, then said

will move slightly inland and then move along the western and

slightly. Nephis, meanwhile,