Shadow Slave novel Chapter 3150

3150 /3157

Sunny wanted to use the Grace of Shadows Ability of Soul Serpent to bestow it upon Revel.

There were two reasons why he had chosen to make that decision, each of equal importance.

The first one was pretty obvious, and had already been touched upon by Revel. He had to make arrangements for the Shadow Clan before leaving, the main of which was the fate of the Forgotten Shore.

Sunny and his forces were entrenched there, holding their own against the Barrow Wraiths. With Saint becoming Supreme, he was able to push the abominations back to the border of the Burning Forest — but if Sunny went away, the line of defense would collapse. In fact, if he did not take some kind of measures, the line of defense would simply cease to exist.

The members of the Shadow Clan would find it difficult to travel between the Forgotten Shore and other lands of the Dream Realm, as well, not to mention between the Dream Realm and Earth. Since establishing a safe route through the Underworld seemed impossible at the moment, all they would be able to rely on were Revel and the Nameless Temple.

In any case, the simplest decision seemed to be to give up on the Forgotten Shore and relocate his forces somewhere else. Sunny was tempted to do just that, as well... but ultimately, he felt compelled to fight for his lightless demesne. He had invested too much effort into making it his stronghold, as well as a secret sanctuary for humanity. More than that, giving it up felt like the first domino in a vicious chain of defeat.

The Forgotten Shore was not just any region of the Dream Realm, after all — it was the entire northern frontline of humanity's fight against the encroaching Nightmare. If it fell, all other human lands would feel the pressure eventually, if not soon enough.

Both on a strategic and personal level, the Forgotten Shore was important to Sunny. So, he had chosen to make sure that it remained in human hands... which meant that he had to come up with a way for humans to defend it even in his absence. The question of how to go about that, however, was innately connected to the second reason he was leaving Serpent in Revel's hands.

It was the Fifth Nightmare itself.

No person of the waking world had ever conquered it, and even in history, there were few examples. Sunny only knew of one — of Ketzelkan and other rulers of Mictlan, who had managed to become deities, but seemed to have lost themselves in the process of Apotheosis and ended up destroying their own people.

He knew that people of the Storm Realm, the Twilight Sea, had never produced a Spirit. It was unknown how the scions of the Beast Realm and Heart Realm had fared, but none of them managed to survive the spreading Nightmare, so it was safe to say that their achievements had been ultimately proven insufficient.

In short, there was scarcely any information about what the Fifth Nightmare entailed. The only pieces of knowledge they did possess came from Eurys and, to a larger degree, from the Dreamspawn — and gods knew where he had unearthed that information.

According to the Dreamspawn, Sunny's very own Domain — as well as all his powers and tools — would be turned against him in the Fifth Nightmare. They would, or at least could, become an obstacle instead of helping him pass the trial.