Shadow Slave

Soon enough, it was time to say goodbye again. Effie and Kai were returning to the government-controlled section of East Antarctica with Wake of Ruin and Saint Tyris, while Jet was leaving with the forces of Song.

The joint army had already withdrawn from the battlefield and traveled some distance away from it. Now, it was ready to break apart... before it did, however, Sunny managed to find an opportunity to talk with Soul Reaper in private.

The long column of vehicles had come to a stop, and they found each other among the busy chaos of imminent separation.

"How is living with the Song clan treating you?"

Jet smiled a little, then shrugged.

"It's treating me fine. I am often reminded of why was it exactly that I never wanted to be a part of a Legacy clan... but it's fine. Weirdly, I feel a bit of kinship with these women."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Kinship, really? Why?"

She lingered for a few moments.

"A thief knows a thief, as a wolf knows a wolf. It's just a vague feeling, but I think that their Flaws are similar to mine... not exactly the same, but similar. I have no solid proof, of course, but there are ways to tell. A thing like that influences you in many subtle ways."

Jet looked away and let out a wistful sigh.

"All of Ki Song's daughters are adopted, you know? Many of them were taken from the outskirts when they were very young. Who knows, in another life, I might have been a princess of a great clan, as well... wouldn't that be a sight?"

Sunny looked at her gloomily, trying to imagine Soul Reaper in the traditional wine-red attire of the Song clan. However, his imagination failed him.

...No matter how hard Sunny tried, he just couldn't imagine Jet wearing a dress.

He scoffed.

"I do know, and yes, that would be a sight. However, I like the current you much more."

Soul Reaper laughed.

"...Me too, Sunny, me too. You are maybe a bit too young to understand the sentiment, but... I fought long and hard to become the current me. I wouldn't trade it for the world."

The smile slowly disappeared from her face, and she looked at him with a somber expression.

"You know that things are about to change in East Antarctica, right?"

Sunny slowly nodded, prompting her to ask:

"So, what are you going to do?"

He remained silent for a few moments, then shrugged.

"Probably something stupid. But... not too stupid. It's hard to tell, yet."

Soul Reaper studied his face for a while, then nodded.

"Let's stay in touch, then."

With that, she turned around and walked away, heading for the departing force of Song's Awakened.

Sunny watched Soul Reaper go, considering if he should have told her more. He had already warned her to stay clear of Mordret... as for informing Jet of the presence of his shadow, that would do neither of them any good. It was not like she could help the gloomy guy in his mission.

'There are too many unknown variables at play. I have no idea how the situation will unfold, for the both of us... one thing is certain, though. We'll cross paths again, soon, before it's all over.'

He grimaced, then went to join his own convoy.

The ostentatious tortoise Echo had been dismissed, and they were going to be traveling by using more mundane means of transportation.

But not much more mundane... many of Valor Awakened were in possession of Echo mounts, and would be riding them across the desolate landscape. There were ordinary vehicles, as well.

Sunny himself was going to catch a ride with the Fire Keepers, but before that, he sneaked into a small crevice that was drowned by deep shadows. There, he found a small figure laying motionlessly on the ground, spread-eagled, with a drunk expression on its ugly little face.

The Imp seemed to have grown bigger. His belly had, at least - it protruded from the scrawny frame of the little fiend like a balloon, looking as if it was on the verge of bursting.

Noticing Sunny, the Shadow turned its head and grinned stupidly.

Sunny closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head.

"Gods, you gluttonous little wretch. Can you even stand?"

The Imp stared at him lazily, and then answered in a grating, screeching voice:

"...Wretch!"

Sunny scowled.

"Who are you calling a wretch, you wretch?"

The Imp did not deign to answer, so he sighed and dismissed the Shadow, sending the scrawny fiend to digest his ill-gotten gains within the darkness of a Shadow Core.

'I'll check on his progress later... that bastard better have listened to me and only eaten those Nightmare Creatures that had to do something with steel and metal. Otherwise, he'll be on a vegetarian diet for a very, very long time...'

Sunny left the crevice and walked over to one of the armored vehicles. There were already a few familiar faces inside - the members of Cassie's former cohort. The healer, Shim, Kaor and Shakti, and others...

Noticing Sunny, they all became lively.

"Sunny... man! You were a real terror on the battlefield yesterday."

"When the hell did you become that scary?"

"Now I really want to Ascend, too. Maybe I'll get a pseudo-transformation ability like you!"

"You're an Artisan, Kaor. What kind of transformation are you going to get? Turn into a block of wood?"

"Better be a block of wood than a blockhead like you..."

Sunny greeted them with a few smiles and a few elusive answers, then walked over to where Cassie was sitting and looked around.

"Hey, Cas. Where's Nephis?"

The blind girl pointed forward, where another vehicle - this one larger and better armored - was visible through the windshield of the APC.

"Morgan invited her for a last-minute discussion."

He smiled darkly.

"Oh, yeah? Discussion of what?"

Cassie lingered with the answer.

"Probably the ambush."

He really did not know what to say.

'What kind of stupid ambush is this, when everyone knows that it's happening? Damn, I'm sure that even the ambushers know that we know. The sheer stupidity of it all...'

Sunny sighed, then sat near Cassie and grew quiet.

Soon, the column of vehicles started to move, surrounded by a moving shield of mounted Awakened.

The human forces were returning victorious from a dire battle with a harrowing horde of Nightmare Creatures, having slayed four powerful Titans.

But what awaited them was not the warm welcome of the citizens, but the swords and bullets of fellow humans.

He shook his head dejectedly.

'No... actually, there might be Nightmare Creatures in the ambush, as well. That's Beastmaster we are talking about, after all...'