Shadow Slave

A long time ago... Sunny had made a promise to himself. A promise to come back and destroy the Soul Devouring Tree one day.

Now, many years later, he was here to fulfill that promise.

He had been descending into the colossal crater for a while, but now that its heart was behind him, the ground was slowly starting to slope upward. Sunny rode Nightmare with a cold expression on his face, holding the ghostly torch in his hand.

The light of the eerie flame reflected from the polished surface of his armor and danced wildly in his onyx eyes.

It took some time to traverse the crater, but eventually, Sunny saw it.

The branches of a great tree covering the black sky.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

'It lives.‘

He had a feeling that it would.

Sunny... had changed greatly since leaving the Ashen Barrow.

The Soul Devourer had changed, as well.

The insidious fiend had already been enormous back then, but now, it had grown even taller, reaching into the black sky with its obsidian branches.

This tree towered above the sea of ashen dust like a majestic mountain. Its bark was as black as the lightless sky, while its leaves were as red as blood... of course, Sunny could not really see color in the darkness. But he remembered their crimson splendor vividly. The crimson crown of the magnificent tree had used to cover the Ashen Barrow in its shade, but it was much richer and more expansive now, reaching far into the crater.

'That thing... has evolved.‘

Sunny sighed.

It was understandable. Since the Soul Devourer had managed to survive the rays or the annihilating sun, it would have been left with no competitor on the Forgotten Shore. The Crimson Terror was gone, and so was the Dark Sea. The other powerful abominations, like the Lord of the Dead, had been slain by the Sleepers of the Dark City.

The insidious fiend growing on the Ashen Barrow would have used the vacuum to enhance its power.

Sunny shifted his gaze, looking beneath the obsidian bark.

Then, a sad chuckle escaped from his lips.

'A Fallen Terror...‘

He was more or less sure that the Soul Devourer had been an Awakened Terror before. It seemed to have risen to a higher Rank... or rather, fell to a lower one? Sunny wasn't sure what the correct wording would be for a Nightmare Creature.

He did feel a certain sense of... disappointment, though.

been so terrified of that thing once. But now, it seemed so weak,

up the slope of the crater.

must have looked like a small mote of light

might have been illuminated by the pale flame, but his presence drowned the area in deathly cold. Outside the small circle of light, the absolute darkness seemed

inescapable.

heard the leaves of the magnificent tree

was as though the rustling

Don't come

stepped through the shadows and appeared on the

he felt an insidious influence

the tree was generous... the

was weak and benevolent, and

'Huh...‘

a shadow fragment for Sunny to consume, after all. Best of all,

collect the fruits and keep the Soul

and shook off the mental hex. It was

he was a Transcendent Terror. The Onyx Mantle was augmented by five shadows,

manipulation of the Soul

attempts to save itself... were

leaves rustled again, this time full of panic. He

ash... one, two, three... a hundred. Nightmare Creatures — new thralls to replace Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie, who in turn had replaced the Carapace

to protect it. The abominable tree must have worked hard, luring so many of the Nightmare Creatures that had survived the annihilating sun under its branches. Sunny would not have been surprised if these were all of them, really — every single creature that had avoided being consumed by

this place because she had no means of protecting

coral labyrinth, and were therefore merely Awakened. There were a few Fallen

time, it was his

was terrifying, inevitable, and full of murderous frenzy. ...The shadows stirred, and a hundred inky-black hands rose from the darkness. They grabbed onto the thralls, onyx claws sinking into their flesh. The next moment, the air was filled with the smell of blood. lіght\nоvel\cаve~c`о/m. The massacre was harrowing and thorough, the silence broken by howls of agony and the revolting sound

walked through the mayhem calmly, not even sparing the dying

he reached the trunk of the

the branches were swaying, their sound full of desperate

on the obsidian bark and closed his eyes for

the eerie torch. Opening his

the wrong

walked back

The view was breathtaking.

towering trunk. The obsidian bark cracked, blooming with smoldering embers. Soon, the fire reached the leaves and

the darkness shrouding the Forgotten Shore was dispelled by the colossal

turned to ash, the cracking of dying wood- All

It was... incredibly disturbing.

as if he was

screamed for a long, long