Shadow Slave

The Fire Keepers had retraced their steps, returning to where they had left the vehicles. The mood among the veterans of the Forgotten Shore was neutral... it was as if they had fought a mundane battle, not one that would become the opening act of a bloody confrontation between two great clans.

Sunny, however, felt slightly dejected. He had no pity for the Awakened of the great clan Song - they would not have any pity on him if the situation was reversed, either. And yet, all of it was such a shameful waste. Valor and Song were wasting the lives of skilled warriors, and in the middle of the Chain of Nightmares, no less.

That was both odious and the reason for why those who followed their orders did not deserve his pity... or his mercy.

The armored vehicles moved across the desolate landscape of Antarctica, returning victorious to the camp. They navigated the treacherous expanse of countless rivers and lakes and rejoined the main force of the Valor clan close to dawn - which was not much different from night and day in Antarctica.

Their return did not cause much fanfare, mostly because few people knew of the impending ambush. Those who did or were smart enough to figure things out on their own, however, paid the small column of vehicles close attention. Their faces changed slightly when they saw that none of the Fire Keepers seemed to be missing, or even bear any wounds.

The skilled Awakened of the great clan were begrudgingly impressed, if not envious.

Sunny left the APC with the rest of the Forgotten Shore Awakened to stretch his legs. Nephis and Cassie left to make a report to Morgan, but he stayed behind.

There was no point in being there personally, anyway... one of his shadows was going instead, hidden within Neph's.

The conversation went more or less exactly as he had expected. Morgan seemed both pleased and disappointed by the easy victory the Fire Keepers had achieved. She had expected more from the forces of the famed Clan Song. Madoc offered Nephis mild praise with a polite smile.

Both were impatient to get to the real bloodshed.

Changing Star herself remained impassive. She did not even seem moved by the boon she must have received for wiping out three cohorts of elite Awakened... if their cores were fully saturated, the bounty of souls she had collected had to be close to a thousand fragments.

Sunny did not summon the runes to check since he saw no reason to.

Not long after their return, the command to break camp was given, and the soldiers prepared to continue the march. Soon, the convoy started to roll forward...

Only to come to a sudden halt not a minute later.

The APC Sunny was riding on stopped so abruptly that he almost flew out of his seat.

'What the hell?'

There was some kind of disturbance outside, with soldiers exiting the vehicles and looking around in confusion. The shouts of commanders echoed in the air, and the Awakened riders spread out, turning their mounts around.

Soon, the source of the disturbance became clear - one of the APCs had failed to start and rejoin the convoy. It just stood there, unmoving, isolated from the rest by a stretch of empty space. All attempts to contact the cohort of Awakened assigned to the APC failed.

Suddenly, Sunny felt a chill creep up his spine.

He looked at the head vehicle through one of his shadows. Right at that moment, its hatch opened, and Morgan emerged, her vermilion eyes radiating such a sharp sense of coldness that he felt as if his soul would be cut.

The Princess of War jumped down and walked toward the tail of the convoy, her red cloak trailing behind her like a river of blood.

Madoc and Nephis followed.

Sunny hesitated for a moment, then used Shadow Step to quietly appear next to them.

'...This should be interesting.'

The four of them approached the silent APC, which was already surrounded by a ring of Awakened soldiers. One of them took a step forward, addressing Morgan with concern:

"My lady... please, it might be dangerous..."

She walked past the Awakened without a word and raised a hand. Morgan's fingers sliced through the armored alloy of the vehicle's hatch as if it was paper, and a moment later, the dark entrance to the interior of the APC was revealed.

She dove into the darkness without a moment of hesitation. Madoc followed a second behind. Sunny and Nephis glanced at each other, and then joined them.

Sunny did not know what he had expected to see inside the silent vehicle - a scene of revolting butchery or a hidden abomination, perhaps - but what he had not expected was... nothing.

The interior of the APC was entirely empty. There were no bodies, no blood, no signs of the struggle... and no Awakened, either. It was as if they had disappeared into thin air.

Morgan looked around with a grim face, then walked over to the pilot's cabin and reached behind the backrest of the seat, grasping something.

...Turns out, Sunny was mistaken. There was something left inside the APC, and she was currently holding it in her hand.

A single, unassuming arrow with dull-colored fletching and an arrowhead cast out of mundane alloy.

Morgan gritted her teeth, her eyes burning with fury.

Her voice sounded like the hiss of a sword leaving its scabbard:

"Silent Stalker..."

Sunny looked around the empty vehicle with a complicated expression.

'A Saint was here?'

The mystery of what had happened to the cohort of Valor's Awakened... was not a mystery anymore.

The Fire Keepers had dismantled the ambush prepared for the convoy by the forces of Song. But while they were doing it, someone else had entered the heavily guarded camp unseen, slaughtered a cohort of elite Awakened without making a single sound, and left, taking their bodies away.

That someone was Silent Stalker, a Transcendent huntress and one of Ki Song's daughters.

She even left one of her arrows behind, to let the enemy know who the perpetrator was.

A Saint could have wreaked much more havoc, if they wanted to... but Silent Stalker had seemingly only wanted to do one thing.

Prove a point.

Morgan snarled, then snapped the arrow with her thumb and threw the pieces away.

Madoc grimaced, then said evenly:

"Beastmaster is sending a message. It seems that she wants to provoke us."

His niece remained silent for a few moments, composing herself.

Then, she suddenly smiled.

Her previous disappointment appeared to be gone.

"...Message received."