Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2945

The first thing Sunny saw when he opened his eyes was blinding light.

Disoriented, he hissed and covered them with a hand, immediately casting his shadow sense outward to know if they were in danger.

There was no danger... at least there didn't seem to be. He sensed the unfathomable depths of the lake, the rocky shore, and the frightening mouth of the tunnel somewhere behind him.

He also felt the shadow of Nephis, sitting motionlessly on the shore, facing the water. The next thing Sunny sensed was the smell. The world smelled of soot and ash, the air permeated by scorching heat.

After the deadly cold of the lightless depths of the Tomb of Ariel, the heat was like a blessing.

Sunny heard Ananke gasp as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light. Eventually, he was able to look around properly.

Sunny's expression became incredulous.

'Well... I'll be damned.’

There, in the sky above him — or rather on the roof of the boundless cavern they had found themselves in — six radiant suns were clumsily embedded into the black rock, emanating a beautiful radiance.

‘So the damn bird did steal them, after all.’

The Vile Thieving Bird seemed to have stolen the suns out of the sky... to decorate its nest.

In quite a gaudy manner, no less.

Sunny did not know what to make of the fact that there had been no sinister purpose to the disappearance of the suns... they simply caught the eye of the crazy bird, so it took them. Being proven wrong did not feel great, but at least the Thieving Bird had not fed them to its vile spawn, making it evolve into a more horrible abomination.

The fate of the seventh, shattered sun was still a mystery, but the other six were now accounted for.

Ananke was staring at the sun with a distant expression, as if overcome by memories of when they shone above the Great River, and life was bright instead of cold and shrouded in darkness.

Sunny, meanwhile, lowered his gaze to look at Nephis... and frowned.

It was only then that he finally noticed the source of the burned smell.

The world around them — as far as the eye could see — was a scorched wasteland of ash and volcanic glass. The mouth of the tunnel behind them was like a melted candle. The entire stone shore seemed to have been turned to molten lava, then cooled off in a mess of bizarre patterns. The waters of the lake were scalding hot, vast clouds of steam drifting on the wind far in the distance.

And Nephis...

He could not see her face due to the fact that she was sitting with her back to them, but his heart fell when he noticed that her hair seemed longer than it had been before. It was also in disarray and covered in ash, losing its usual silver sheen.

‘What happened?'

Moving quickly, Sunny reached Nephis and bent over to look at her face.

It was smeared in ash, as well, expressionless. She was staring into the distance, her grey eyes void of their usual white sparks. Her eyes seemed different, somehow. The dark pools of her pupils seemed deeper... much deeper. So deep, in fact, that he felt a hint of instinctual fear that all humans felt in front of unfathomable depths.

When his shadow fell on her, Nephis shifted faintly. Her eyes slowly focused, and she looked at Sunny.

Finally, the familiar white sparks ignited in their depths, chasing the deep, frightening darkness away.

“Sunny."

Her voice was listless.

At first glance, Neph's condition felt similar to how she was after overusing her Aspect, but no... this had been caused by something else. Something different. Something that had happened to her while Sunny and Ananke were sealed inside the Ark Amulet.

“Neph, what happened? Did you encounter the Thieving Bird? Its spawn?"

Nephis remained silent for a few seconds, her usual countenance gradually returning. In the end, she shook her head.

“No. I don't quite... I did not encounter the Thieving Bird, no."

Sunny let out a relieved sigh. Ananke had regained her composure and approached them by then, as well, looking at Nephis with concern.

“Then what happened?"

Nephis lingered with the answer, then turned her head slightly to look at the melted entrance to the tunnel.

Her silence stretched, but eventually, she inhaled deeply and seemed to shake off her strange condition.

"You were right. That tunnel... the runes inscribed on its walls... they would have Corrupted anyone but me."

She paused for a second, then added with a sigh.

"But I did not escape it entirely unscathed, either."

Sunny blinked a few times.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify