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:

corpses of the fallen Awakened and give

prevented them from leaving on a pilgrimage

Her teacher stopped.

she felt a subtle change in his mood. Suddenly, the shadows populating

escaped as a cloud of

he not want to bother

«Climb off.»

knees, allowing Rain to stand firmly

«What…»

A

on the hilt of her sword, Rain turned

of Awakened… no. A Master and his retinue, perhaps? One, two, three people… one of them

discern any

teacher's hand appeared from behind and

She froze.

«W-what… what…»

Something was very wrong.

calm… too calm, even,

me very carefully. From now on and until I tell

She nodded slowly.

«Yes, teacher.»

remained silent

here and

hand. Rain's eyes were tightly shut, so she couldn't see anything, but she felt

were

wrong! This

had covered her eyes. What truly

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

the

«Why?»

silent panic was Interrupted by his bright,

Who might

sound of steps halted, and a deep

my companions, Master Skif and Awakened Ardon. We were on our way back to

Rain frowned.

«Master Sean? Master Skif?»

of Ascended in the world, but still. Each of the Song Domain's Masters was like

was standing there, frozen, with her eyes closed… but they did not seem to

for a

on our way

long stretch of silence. Eventually, Master Sean asked, his voice sending a chill running down

little familiar, young man. Say, have

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

answer was

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

was another

strange rustle come from the direction of the three strangers. Their surroundings were

«What was that rustle?»

how about it. How