Shadow Slave

In the past, it had taken the Dreamer Army many days of an arduous march to reach the Crimson Spire from the Dark City. Now, however, Sunny could traverse that distance in less than a minute.

He was not in a hurry to leave, though.

Leaving the towering mountain of rubble behind, he crossed the broken bridge and returned to the ashen wasteland. He remained motionless for a while, then sighed and leaned down to brush the dust off the old bones.

...In the end, it took him almost a week to find the remains of every Sleeper that had perished in the battle for the Crimson Spire. There were four hundred of them, after all, and he had to be careful not to damage the brittle bonds. So, it took some time.

He placed them together on the ground, and then used the jagged slabs of black stone from the ruins of the gargantuan tower to construct a stone barrow above the mass grave.

It was a little fitting, to lay these young men and women to rest under the broken remains of the Crimson Spire, which they had laid down their lives to conquer.

Sunny also collected the remains of every Nightmare Creature that had fallen in the battle, and piled them onto each other to the side of the barrow. The mountain of hideous bones towered above the stone grave, dwarfing it entirely in size... a poignant testament to how fearsome the Dreamers of the Dark City had been, and how valiantly they had fought.

He stood in front of the barrow for some time, and then sighed.

"We were tough bastards, weren't we? You guys... rest easy now. The others are doing well. Most of them still follow Nephis, but they are Masters now. The remaining Handmaidens will Ascend before too long, as well - Seishan is taking care of them. Oh, Effie and Kai are already Saints. There are a few independents like myself out there, too. We... we all escaped."

Sunny didn't know why he was saying that. His words rang hollow... he wasn't a big fan of speaking to the dead, to begin with. What was the point?

Shaking his head, he approached the barrow and carved a few runes into the surface of the black stone.

The runes read:

[Here lie those

Who extinguished the sun Dreamers of the Dark City

Sleep well

Your nightmare is over.]

a heavy heart, Sunny remained silent

sea of ashen dust, he summoned Nightmare and

he

get out

***

hair rode through the darkness on a tenebrous steed, his fearsome armor crafted from polished onyx. In front of

reached the Dark

hunched in the saddle, looking up at the towering wall. The city, which had been populated by dreadful abominations, was now

a while, Sunny stepped through the shadows and appeared on top of the wall. Gazing down, he

of the Bright Castle were covered in soot. The Sleepers had set flame to the ancient fortress before leaving, destroying

could recognize many other landmarks, as well. The toppled lighthouse, the half-collapsed library where he had once learned the truth of the Forgotten Shore, the plaza where Saint

all these years later, Sunny remembered every ruined street of the Dark City where he had hunted. The places where he had ambushed abominations, the places where he had been ambushed by them. There were countless pieces of rubble here that had been wetted by his blood, and even more that he had painted with the blood

had seemed like the

down from the great wall of the Dark City. The wind whistled in his ears for a few seconds, and then, he landed on the stone rubble. lіght~nоvel~cаve~c`о/m. The silence enveloping the ruins was momentarily broken by

of the living beings on the Forgotten Shore to fuel her transformation into a Corrupted Titan. Everywhere the rays of the ruthless sun had reached, nothing

the ruined buildings, the catacombs, the lairs dug in the rubble... the sun could not reach there. More than that, the abominations populating the Dark City were much stronger than those in the Crimson Labyrinth.

them over, wishing to eradicate them all in one

so

city, but Sunny could not

off the Onyx Mantle and ventured into the maze

the past wistfully. Here, he had rescued Kai from the well... here, he had learned from Effie how to kill a Blood

ditch where he had hidden

'How nostalgic.’

why there were no

ruined streets... most of them showed no sign of having received a wound, since their souls had been annihilated by the Crimson Terror. But some bones had nicks and deep cracks on them,

'...Nephis.’

have come here after escaping the Crimson Spire and hunted the remaining abominations down, one after