Shadow Slave

Rain collected her things and holsted the backpack onto her shoulders. The axe blade was terribly heavy, which messed with her balance a little… but she could handle it. The frightful black sword her teacher had given her was already gone, and her tachi regained its shadow. She studied the familiar sword for a few moments, then sighed and sheathed it smoothly.

Rain was ready to leave.

…But she didn't.

«Uh, teacher. We might have a problem.« He turned to her and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

«A problem? What's the matter?»

She hesitated for a moment, then awkwardly scratched the tip of her nose.

«Well, you see. That explosion was much more powerful than I had expected. So… all the ice is broken. How am I supposed to get back to shore?»

He stared at her for a bit, then glanced at the ravaged landscape of the vast swamp.

Indeed, the little island was surrounded by nothing except mud and black water, with not a single Intact plece of ice in sight. The deadly expanse of treacherous sludge stretched all the way to the distant shore.

Her teacher lingered for a bit, then sighed and approached her.

Crouching, he pointed to his back:

«Climb on, brat.»

Rain didn't make him ask twice. There were ways to traverse a swamp, but none that were both safe and timely. Not to mention that she had just disinfected her wound and didn't want to get it wet and dirty again.

Plus, her battered body was exhausted. Why would she refuse a piggyback ride offered by a powerful deity?

Climbing onto her teacher's back, Rain wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled.

He lifted her like a feather, not showing any strain at all despite how thin his body looked, and headed for the swamp.

«Ah… how humiliating… a divine shadow like me being reduced to carrying ungrateful mundane girls… gods are truly dead…»

Ignoring his grumbling, Rain rested her head on his shoulder and allowed her consciousness to drift into a relaxed state. The familiar sound of her teacher's voice was almost like a lullaby.

Walking to the edge of the island, he didn't even try to slow down and stepped directly into the muddy water. However, his foot never plunged into the murky sludge — instead, the shadows moved and coalesced into a glossy black plate under it. Then, another plate appeared as he took a step.

Like that, her teacher walked across the swamp as if he was walking on a paved road, the black plates dissipating behind him after a few moments. The water sloshed and surged, but never managed to touch his leather boots.

«Huh, that reminds me of that time we fought the Drowned in the lost temple of Fallen Grace… back when I was still wearing the Serpent King's crown… who knew that I would end up becoming a swamp rickshaw one day? Damn, life is sure full of irony…»

Rain did not know what the words Drowned, Fallen Grace, and Serpent King meant, but they sounded exciting. Was her teacher a king once, in ancient times?

…No, knowing him, it was more likely that he had stolen a king's crown and wore it to gloat and boast about his nefarious deeds.

The walk to the shore was both comfortable and uneventful. Rain could have climbed off her teacher's back once they reached solid ground, but he simply continued to carry her without saying anything, and so, she didn't say anything either.

Perhaps he saw through her bravado and realized that her condition was worse than she was letting on, and that she was too exhausted to hike through the forest while suffering the pain of her wound.

Still…

After a while, Rain spoke:

take down the corpses of the

would have taken the dead. But the Huntsman must have prevented them from leaving on a pilgrimage to her palace, and as a result, their bones had

Her teacher stopped.

she felt a subtle change in his mood. Suddenly, the shadows populating the frozen forest seemed much deeper, and the world felt

breath escaped as a cloud of cold

he not want to bother with burying

«Climb off.»

his knees, allowing Rain to stand firmly on the

«What…»

heard it. A branch snapping somewhere behind

hand on the hilt of her

A Master and his retinue, perhaps? One, two, three people… one of them was waving

could discern any details, though, something

hand appeared from behind and

She froze.

«W-what… what…»

Something was very wrong.

sounded very calm… too calm, even, which

very carefully. From now on and until I tell you otherwise, no matter what happens, don't open your

She nodded slowly.

«Yes, teacher.»

silent

here and

that, her teacher removed his hand. Rain's eyes were tightly shut, so she couldn't see anything, but she felt him walking past to stand between her and the approaching

were drawing

This is

covered her eyes. What truly disturbed her… was the fact that her teacher had not retreated into the

known him, he had never, ever shown himself to other people, It was to the point that Rain had considered him a hallucination at

now, her teacher remained in the open in front of absolute

«Why?»

silent panic was Interrupted by his

Who might you

sound of steps halted, and a deep baritone answered

and Awakened Ardon. We were on our way back to Ravenheart… are you headed that

Rain frowned.

«Master Sean? Master Skif?»

were thousands of Ascended in the world, but still. Each

frozen, with her eyes closed… but they did not seem to care enough to

lingered for a few

on our

a long stretch of silence. Eventually, Master Sean asked,

little familiar, young man. Say, have we

of his voice was perfectly friendly, and so were his words. But she suddenly felt suffocated, as if there was something eerily, maddeningly wrong with it

teacher's answer was

fact, we have indeed met before. Although I doubt that you'll remember. In any case, why don't you and your friends continue onward? Let's part on friendly terms and go our separate

was another lengthy

strange rustle come from the direction of

«What was that rustle?»

it… how about it. How how how about