Shadow Slave

Soon, the group left the ruin and ventured into the desert once again.

Their speed was much greater than the day before - not only because the weaker member of the group had received an opportunity to rest, but also because their wounds were healed by Nephis.

Nephis... did not look well. Physically, she was perfectly healthy, and anyone who did not know her as deeply as Sunny did would have assumed that everything was fine. But he could feel how drained and hurt she really was. Neph had not recovered from using her Aspect to destroy the vessels of the Gate Guardian yet...

He was worried that, perhaps, she never would.

Nevertheless, Nephis had insisted on treating everyone's injuries. Even Seishan's - only Beastmaster, whose wound had been delivered by Whispering Blade's sword, had turned out to be beyond her ability to mend flesh. The ugly cut on the diabolically beautiful face of the enchantress still continued to weep blood.

There was some logic to providing aid to the enemies of Clan Valor. As long as they were in the desert, they were on the same side - no one knew when the Gate Guardian would attack again, or what kind of monstrous abominations awaited them in the scorching expanse of the Nightmare Desert. So, the higher the strength of the group was, the higher Neph's chances to survive would be.

That was also the reason why Sunny did not stop her from treating his wounds. Usually, he was deeply reluctant to let Nephis torture herself on his behalf... but now, both of them were in dire danger. He had to be in the best state possible to ensure that they made it out of the Dream Realm alive.

The group walked across the white sands of the cursed desert like lost souls wandering the vast expanse of a scorching hell.

The Nightmare Desert was full of dangers that even two Saints would find difficult, or outright impossible, to survive. More than that, their chances of finding a spot where the pull of the Seeds was weak enough to escape were slim, at least in a short amount of time.

...Or it would have been, if not for the unique advantage the group possessed.

That advantage, of course, was Cassie. The blind oracle had long proved how irreplaceable she was in the Dream Realm. Now that she was a Master, her supernatural intuition had only grown stronger.

Guided by Cassie, they managed to avoid the most dreadful dangers and go deeper and deeper into the desert without losing a single member of the group to its horrors. Of course, the cursed sea of dunes was too dire of a land to make their journey easy.

There were still hazards, pitfalls, and abominable creatures of all kinds that they had to avoid, overcome, and fight. But with Summer Knight and Beastmaster protecting the Ascended, none of it managed to harvest their lives.

And, by the time the sun started to roll toward the horizon, they finally stumbled on what they had been hoping to find... some of them had been, at least.

The ruin in front of them was not very large, and looked like a spent candle. It was low and misshapen, as if furious flames had once melted the black stones into a searing liquid, which then cooled down and solidified in a chaotic pattern.

A vast expanse of sand around the ruin had been turned into a sea of uneven black glass.

That was not important, though. What was important was that the misshapen structure was distant enough from the surrounding Seeds to allow the Saints to leave the Dream Realm from inside it.

The group made its way into the ruin, stepping across obsidian glass. Inside, the floor was just the same - everything told the story of furious flames that had raged within the structure once, turning it into a scorched husk.

Stepping on the cracked black glass, Beastmaster breathed in deeply, and then looked at the rest of them.

"Well. There's no point in dragging this out... Seishan and I will be leaving. It was nice knowing you all! Granted, I can take one more person with me - those of you who have fought against the great clan Song, I hope you won't be offended if I don't extend the invitation. Oh, except for you, little brother. You, Raised by Wolves, and Nightingale. I can help one of you escape this bothersome predicament."

She smiled brightly, giving them a measured look.

The underlying message of her offer was clear - you would owe me.

Or maybe even... I would own you.

A tense silence settled in the chamber of black glass.

Eventually, it was Effie who broke it:

"I'm sorry. My mom told me not to follow strange women."

The words were just like what one would expect from the rambunctious huntress, but her tone was uncharacteristically somber. Effie seemed to be struggling with the decision, and yet, there was no room for compromise left after what she had said.

Kai and Sunny silently shook their heads, expressing their solidarity.

Beastmaster laughed.

"Suit yourselves. Seishan, come closer."

She took her hand, and soon, without much fanfare, they disappeared without a trace.

The two beautiful monsters were gone.

'Just like that...'

Sunny looked at the spot where they had been standing a few seconds ago with a complicated expression.

That had been his chance to save himself... and he let it slip from his fingers.

He felt some regret, but at the same time, Sunny knew that he could not have made a different decision. There was no way in hell that he would leave Kai, Effie, Jet, Cassie, and Nephis to die to save himself.

He had been forced to do something similar twice, and those were some of the most vile moments of his life.

...This time, at least, no one insisted that he did.

At that moment, a heavy sigh escaped from Summer Knight's lips.

He threw a long look at Nephis, then walked over to her and gently took her hand.

"Lady Changing Star... please accept these Memories. There is not much I can do to help you today, but these are some of the best weapons and tools I've been able to earn, receive, and collect. You must survive. I know you can, because you have already done it once."

A pale smile appeared on Neph's face.

It was so bitterly ironic, for her to be thrown back into the Nightmare Desert after suffering so much to escape it.

She retracted her hand and looked away.

Even though Sir Gilead seemed to have expected an answer, Nephis remained silent.

He lowered his hand, then took a step away and looked at Morgan.

"Lady Morgan... if you will. I am ready to take us back to the siege capital."

Morgan smiled.

'Here they go. Now, we will have to...'

...And shook her head.

Sunny blinked.

"No, not yet."

Noticing confusion in Sir Gilead's eyes, Morgan shrugged.

"You can take me away later, but for now... for now, we still have a chance to reach the pyramid. We can still complete our mission. Yes, our situation is far from perfect, but on the bright side, Clan Song is entirely out of the picture. The competition is gone. It would be foolish not to make an attempt."

She looked at the rest of them.

"Plus, if we do conquer the Tomb of Ariel, everyone would be able to escape through its Gateway. Why, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Summer Knight's face hardened.

"Lady Morgan... I'm afraid I will have to insist. If we do not leave immediately, there might not be a siege capital to return to when we try again next time. The whole continent might be lost."

She shrugged dismissively.

"Don't worry about that. We have four more days, at least..."

Their conversation was extremely interesting. Morgan's confidence that East Antarctica would hold for four more days at the minimum was also fascinating.

However...

Sunny found himself distracted.

That was because he suddenly felt a gaze. Someone was watching him, and from a direction where no one was supposed to be...

He did not turn his head, but instead looked around through his shadows.

In a distant corner of the glass chamber, a figure was reflecting on the fractured wall.

However, there was no one there to cast the reflection.

'That bastard...'

Noticing Sunny's attention, the reflection smiled and waved a hand.

...Or rather, a bloody stump.

One of its hands seemed to be missing.