Shadow Slave

Sunny looked at the ceiling, extending his shadow sense upward. At the same time, he allowed his mind to drift back to the very end of the Nightmare.

...And what a Nightmare it had been.

Sunny did not know how long he had spent wandering the dreadful currents of the Great River, trying to escape the Tomb of Ariel. The last cycle had taken... how long was it? Close to a year? And that was only his subjective time. For some people, like Cassie and Mordret, it had lasted for much longer.

But that was only the final of the countless cycles. So, he could not even guess how long of a journey it had been.

What he did know, however, was that it ended in the very heart of the Estuary, past the silent lake where Ariel's heretical testament had been inscribed. Near the forgotten grave of the Demon of Oblivion...

Where a Cursed Terror had been waiting for him, hidden in the darkness.

That Terror...

Sunny was more or less sure who it was.

'The loathsome Thieving Bird, hated both by the gods and the beings of the Void...'

It was the thieving miscreant who had stolen the Weaver's eyes, and whose spawn he had slain on the Forgotten Shore, thus receiving the [Drop of Ichor] and Weaver's lineage.

That single event had started the chain of falling dominoes that intertwined his fate with the nebulous Demon, as well as the rest of the daemons and the dead gods.

Wasn't it very ironic, then, that the Thieving Bird would be the one to break that fate?

And Sunny... was pretty sure that that was exactly what the vile thing had done.

The moment the Thieving Bird's talons plunged into his chest, he felt it taking something from his soul. But then... he vaguely sensed it taking something else, from somewhere that lay even deeper.

in addition to all the changes caused by the Transcendence. It was as though a burden

Vile Thieving Bird stolen... his

promise that he would gain freedom in the Estuary to come true. It would also explain whose True Name Torment had delivered to the blind seer at

exactly, for

Did he lose the [Fated]

from the Nightmare Spell as a result of

he would find

thing is

he would have certainly been killed. Sunny could justifiably be proud of his power and prowess, but he was a mere ant in front of a Cursed Terror... and a very special Cursed Terror at that. If even Weaver had fallen victim to the vile Thieving Bird, what hope did he have

chamber? Why did it enter the Tomb of Ariel? And how did

the easiest to answer. The vile thing had even been able to steal from the Demon of Fate, so bypassing a guardian left behind by Ariel would

the other

had been left in the heart of Ariel's Tomb. Perhaps the Thieving Bird had become obsessed with the Demon of Fate? The description of the [Drop of Ichor] said that it had been enamored by Weaver's

it was connected

have probably taken his body and soul, as well, given the chance. He had inherited three parts of

the right moment simple

know. Nor

from that damned Attribute, he would

'Let's go.'

shadow sense as far as he could — which was much further than before, now that he was a Saint. Sadly, all he could feel was a mess of compressed concrete and alloy for dozens of meters above. That was only

was, more or less, buried

'Figures...'

worry. Sunny could not simply use Shadow Step to reach the surface, but he was more than strong enough to burrow through the ruins — mundane concrete and alloy could not stop

was

wrapped the shadows around his body. Then, he dissolved into the darkness, becoming a shadow