Shadow Slave

Swamps had a natural inclination to produce methane, which often remained trapped beneath the surface, forming voluminous bubbles of putrid gas. And those were only the swamps of the waking world, which were much safer than the marshes of the Dream Realm… well, at least they had been before the Dark Times.

In times of war, humanity had unleashed all kinds of weaponized horrors upon itself. So, today, there was no telling what kind of buried plagues could be released into the world if someone went around digging in the swamps of Europe or the Northern Quadrant.

The Dream Realm might have actually been safer, in that regard.

None of it mattered to Rain, though. What mattered for her was that methane was highly flammable.

And so, when the Huntsman shattered the liquor bottle, it ignited.

«Crap…»

Diving behind the tree, Rain pressed her body into the ground and covered her ears. In the next moment, she was momentarily blinded by a violent flash.

Then, she was assaulted by unbearable heat.

And then, the entire world shuddered.

«Ah?»

Rain was tossed into the air as the tree she had been hiding behind was obliterated.

That… was not supposed to happen. Marsh gas could ignite and burn, but not explode, and especially not so fiercely — at least not under an open sky.

Perhaps the flames somehow reached a huge pocket of trapped methane, or perhaps it had something to do with the pockets of gas sticking to the surface of the ice. Perhaps the entire swamp was anomalous, and the gas she had set aflame itself was unnatural.

In any case, the result of tossing the liquor bottle surpassed Rain's expectations.

By a lot.

her and let out a suffocated groan. Rolling in a mess of limbs, Rain fell into shallow water and

«That… hurt.»

hurt and

no time for such frivolous

eyes, Rain pushed air into her lungs,

around her had transformed, It had been a plain of pure white snow once. Then, It turned into a chaotic mess of broken ice and surging black

was a

surface of the glistening black water, and the air was full of smoke. The snow had melted, and the shards of ice were swiftly disappearing in the scorching heat. Everywhere Rain looked, darkness was intertwined with a

at the same time, which was a terrible combination. The ash she had smeared on herself to mask her scent had been washed

side was pulsing with pain. That wound would have to be disinfected…

«Ah…»

let out a long

same time, her sword hissed as it

black hilt with both hands, Rain took a step forward and left the shallow

no fire where she had stood, and close to no flames where the twisted tree — nor a smoldering stump — had been. However, a fiery

flame parted, and a lumbering figure emerged from,

Huntsman looked a little haggard. The moss covering his armor had turned to ash, and one of the deer antlers crowning his helmet was broken. There were cinders glowing in the cracks of

abomination had lost his tattered cloak, but the dreadful battleaxe was still

a grim reaper. The darkness nestled in the crack of his

but notice that the Huntsman was hunching slightly,

lips twisted into a dark smile against

retreat until the flames die…

answering, the Huntsman

Rain's dark eyes glistened.

just have to

split second later, she was already

Huntsman was moving