Shadow Slave

The sun was drowning in the white sands of the desert, and the murderous heat that had been tormenting them before was slowly dissipating, soon to be replaced by a terrible cold. And the chilling terror of the coming night.

The battered group of humans was making its way to a towering ruin. The two Saints were holding up well, but the Ascended were in a dire state - all of them bore vicious wounds, and each step was torture. The only healer among them was unconscious, and the Memories with restorative enchantments that some of them possessed were not powerful enough to deal with the multitude of severe injuries, at least not immediately.

Jet looked slightly better than she had during the battle with the vessels of the Guardian - she managed to kill a Nightmare Creature that ambushed them as they traversed the desert, and absorbed some soul essence. Still, just glancing at her mangled body was a bit chilling.

Seishan’s arms were wrapped in fabric, and even though her wounds had been treated, she could only walk by leaning on Beastmaster. Kai was hovering above the sand with a pale face - the great abomination’s blow had damaged his spine, and although he wasn’t paralyzed, the archer was in a sea of pain.

Effie was visibly limping, while Morgan seemed utterly spent and weak.

As for Sunny... people sometimes said that he looked like a doll, but if that was true, currently he looked like a rag doll that had been neglected for decades and then thoroughly chewed by an animal or two.

’Ah... it hurts.’

He was hurting, but the pain was tolerable. At least the five shadows were once again augmenting him - with their help, he could manage the strenuous journey without too much trouble.

Saint was carrying Nephis, who was still unconscious, in her arms. Neph’s damaged armor and clothes had been destroyed by the incinerating flames, so she was wrapped in Cassie’s seawave cloak. The blind girl herself was walking behind the taciturn knight, side by side with Sunny. She was the only one in the group who looked exhausted and drained by the heat, but not battered. Then again, Cassie had been in the middle of the battle between the great clans, too. Many Awakened, enthralled abominations, and Masters of Clan Song had attempted to kill her, only to die by her hand. Her armor was riddled with dents and covered in dried blood, so there was nothing fresh or glamorous about how she looked.

Sunny glanced at her, then said quietly:

”By the way... you were just in time. Thank you.”

Cassie remained silent for a while, then shook her head.

”There is no need to thank me. It was just a fortunate coincidence.”

He smiled.

’Yeah, no. Zero chance of that.’

Sunny studied her delicate face, then asked:

”You knew, didn’t you?”

Cassie raised an eyebrow.

”Knew what?”

His expression darkened.

”About the Gates. That was why you told me to write a message to Rain... you knew that we were going to get stuck in this damned desert for a long, long time. You knew that Antarctica was going to be destroyed, too.”

The blind girl turned her head, and he saw her beautiful blue eyes. Her expression was calm.

”I know nothing.”

Sunny scoffed.

”Right... sure. So, you don’t know what is going to happen next, either?”

Cassie turned away and shrugged.

”Oh, no. That, I do now.”

She lingered for a few moments, then nodded in the direction of Beastmaster and Sir Gilead.

”They are going to abandon us.”

Sunny stared at her for a bit, then chuckled and looked away.

”You don’t say.”

One didn’t need to be an oracle to know that the two Saints that Cassie had brought were going to leave the members of the cohort behind. They had already helped Sunny and the rest by allowing them to survive... But both Beastmaster and Summer Knight had their own priorities. For Beastmaster, it was Seishan. For Sir Gilead, it were Morgan... and, perhaps, Nephis. That was the reason they had not left the desert immediately after escaping the battlefield.

Both Saints could return to the waking world at any moment - they just needed a safe place and some time to activate their tethers. Once they did that, however, they were not going to be able to return to this particular corner of the Nightmare Desert without approaching the three gargantuan Gates first. The problem was that they could not bring too many people with them. Sunny knew that Beastmaster’s limit was two - she had delivered both Seishan and Ascended Bast to East Antarctica, after all. But most Saints could only transport people between worlds one at a time.

In any case, most of them were going to be left behind.

’What to do, what to do...’

Sunny desperately needed to think of a solution, but he was too tired to form complicated thoughts. After remaining silent for a while, he asked:

”What about Saint Tyris? Do you know where she is?”

Cassie slowly shook her head.

”We saw no sign of her after entering the Dream Realm. Same for Silent Stalker. The desert is vast... chances are, they were sent someplace far away from us. Sky Tide would have been able to escape from the Gate Guardian, but she was already spent at the end of the battle. She might have had to flee into the waking world.”

Sunny felt slightly disappointed that there was little hope of receiving help from Saint Tyris. But, at the same time, he was happy to know that she might have already retreated from the Nightmare Desert. That, at least, meant that she was still alive. Her entire clan was there in Antarctica, too - considering that great abominations were now wandering the Southern Quadrant, Sky Tide was the only one who could ensure their safety. She bore a heavy responsibility, considering that it was her actions that had exiled the White Feather clan to the frigid continent. And she had done those things to save Sunny and Cassie.

He sighed.

’I hope Saint Tyris and Master Roan make it out of Antarctica alive.’

And Kim... and millions of civilians that had not been evacuated yet, as well as the soldiers of the Evacuation Army.

Sunny and the rest, however, could not do anything to help them, not anymore.

Now, their goal was to escape the Nightmare Desert.

...He didn’t know which task was more dangerous.