Shadow Slave

The full moon came faster than Sunny had expected. His life in Bastion had been peaceful in the meantime - the Brilliant Emporium Café enjoyed a steady stream of guests, while the Memory Boutique continued to stagnate with no customers. Sunny attended to the kitchen and minded his business.

He was supposed to make a trip to the waking world to stock up on ingredients, but postponed it for now - partially out of laziness, and partially because there was a lot on his place.

His life in Godgrave, meanwhile, had undergone an earth-shattering transformation. Nephis was there, and so, he had no time for boredom.

But that was the third avatar's problem.

On the day of the full moon, Sunny let Aiko go home a bit earlier and closed the Brilliant Emporium. Then, he walked through the crowded streets of Bastion and bought a ticket to a theater play. A troupe of Awakened actors was performing a rendition of A Song of Light and Darkness... sadly, Sunny only noticed the name of the play after being seated in the parterre.

He covered his face with a palm and winced as if suffering from a toothache, but remained in his seat, Soon, excited members of the audience surrounded him from all sides. The lights were dimmed, the curtain was lifted, and the play began...

No one noticed that a pale young man sitting in one of the first rows did not seem to have a shadow.

At the same time, a different incarnation of Sunny was hiding in the darkness near the shore of the lake. It was already dark, and the pale moon was traveling across the starlit sky. The sight of it-the moon, the velvet sky, the silhouette of the magnificent castle, and the vast lake - was beautiful beyond words.

In fact, it seemed as if there were two moons, one lost in the distant heavens, the other drowning in the silent water.

Making sure that no one was nearby, Sunny rose from the shadows and walked toward the shore.

theater was wearing the Nebulous Mantle, so he was only dressed in a mundane military bodysuit. The Quintessence Pearl was already summoned, resting in his

waste any time and dove into the water without making

him

as a stone, sinking to the bottom. Once there, he extended his senses, turned into a shadow,

lake surrounding Bastion did not seem special from the shore, but it was immensely deep. By the time the slope lost most of its steepness, Sunny was already several kilometers below the surface. A mundane human would not have been able to withstand the pressure of

easy part stopped there, though.

Nightmare Creatures patrolling the lake. As if that was not enough, there were also swords thrust into mud here and there - each of them serving

castle unnoticed

lake, studying its guardians and mapping out the locations of Anvil's swords. By

was not

the reflection of the moon traveling

in the shadows and waited for a vast creature that looked like a giant silver eel to swim past him, then cautiously advanced forward. Changing direction, Sunny moved like a thief, effortlessly avoiding

the play his avatar was watching reached Intermission. The other Sunny rose from his seat and went to the theater's cafe, making sure to be seen by as many people as possible. Of course, he kept to the dark corners to make the

of the lake without moving. Preceding further would be... problematic. So, he was letting the reflection of the moon come to

such a statement, considering that, scientifically speaking, the position of the moon's reflection was supposed