Shadow Slave

With an empty stomach and a head full of thoughts, Sunny returned to the center of the platform and sat down. After a while, he beckoned to his shadow and said:

"Wake me up if anything happens."

Then, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. His consciousness quickly slid into the sweet embrace of darkness, giving Sunny some well-needed rest.

In the middle of the night, however, a sudden impulse stirred him awake. Sunny jumped to his feet, his groggy mind full of tense apprehension. He was afraid that the owner of the giant tentacle had come back to finish the job.

Or maybe some other horror from the depths had sensed him and decided to snack on human meat.

However, the sea was quiet and calm. He didn't hear any abnormalities around the knight's statue.

"What is it?" Sunny whispered, addressing the shadow.

The shadow silently pointed him in a particular direction.

Turning his head, Sunny squinted. He quickly understood why it was a good idea to wake up. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to see…

Out there in the distance, a few kilometers away, a small orange light was shimmering in the darkness. Its reflections were rising and falling with the movement of waves.

It was too far away to make out any details, so Sunny just stared at it for a while. Pretty soon, the light disappeared.

"Other Sleepers? Natural phenomenon? Or some monster laying a trap?"

Memories of nightmarish deepwater creatures immediately came to his mind.

Shaking his head, Sunny lay back down and attempted to return to his slumber. However, this time sleep was escaping him. Pangs of hunger were still not unbearable, but slowly becoming more and more intense. The thirst, however, was worse.

end, he remained awake up until the sun rose again, sending the

***

the morning came, the pincer monsters crawled back from their hiding spots and rushed to the giant carcass to

platform to take

or six kilometers away, the ground rose naturally and formed something akin to a hill. On top

of it, its upper branches were just high

ideas stormed into Sunny's head, but at the end

through the labyrinth and cover that distance during the day? And more importantly, should he even attempt to do it? After all, there was no indication that the source of the mysterious

however, send the shadow to investigate as far into the labyrinth as the range of Shadow Control allowed, hoping to chart at least the beginning

safe atop the headless statue as he probably could be in this strange place. The

He could desalinate the seawater in a number of ways taught to him by Teacher Julius, with materials that were present pretty much everywhere in the Dream Realm. He could also prepare traps and hunt a pincer monster

such a routine: hunting by day, returning to the statue at

way of giving him hope. If he was destined to spend the rest of his life in the small area surrounding the headless statue, devouring

jump down and end

pretty much meant that the only choice left for him was to try and reach the source of the orange light. And if Sunny was really trying to attempt it, he had to do it before the

segment of the labyrinth was going to be

the headless statue the next morning. He would spend the rest of

closed his eyes and concentrated his perception

***

storm descended upon the dark sea. Sunny was stirred awake by the shadow in time to prepare himself for the crushing winds and the

he was too thirsty to think about anything except for freshwater. Staying low so as to not be blown over the edge of the platform, Sunny cupped his hands and waited until

lightning illuminated everything above the churning sea. If anyone were to see Sunny now, they would have noticed a wide grin on his

for several hours. Sunny crouched in the middle of the platform, enduring its rage. More than once, a tall wave would crash into the

finally dissipated, all

there was no

a few stragglers quickly following behind,

Julius was adamant about giving his student a crash course in all possible forms of traversal. Additionally, Sunny had already scouted the optimal way down and memorized the best holds and indentions to grab onto