Sunny glided through the dark sky above the luminous expanse of softly shining water. The wind was caressing his skin, and tranquil silence ruled the world. If not for the need to pierce himself with the sharp needle over and over again, he would have found the situation relaxing.
Of course, there was also the monstrous sea serpent that patiently pursued him, staring at the perfectly black canvas of the night sky with cloudy eyes.
He also had to constantly remain on high alert - there was no telling what else could attack him from above.
After a while, Sunny let out a sigh.
'How tiresome.'
He was starting to miss the days of plummeting into the Sky Below. At least he had the dead mimic to sit on back then. Now, there was nowhere for him to rest - Sunny continued to fly forward, surrounded by nothing except empty air.
He had the Sin of Solace with him instead of Mordret, too. It was really hard to tell which one of them was worse company.
"What? Have you lost... I strongly protest against this comparison!"
The apparition glanced at him with contempt, then looked away.
Sunny sighed again.
"Yeah, yeah... you are way more handsome than that guy. Sorry. I went too far."
The Sin of Solace scoffed, and they continued forward in silence.
After a long while, the faint radiance of the flowing water grew a little dimmer. The eastern horizon brightened, and then, the first of the suns appeared from below in a crown of lilac hues.
A new day was starting.
The soft light suffusing the Great River slowly dissipated, and the seven suns appeared from below the water one after another. Soon, the western horizon was once again wreathed in the crimson flames of dusk.
Everywhere else, it was bright day.
Sunny stared at the Great Beast below him with resentment. He was tempted to summon Morgan's Warbow and start turning the ancient serpent into a pincushion. Even if the might of his arrows was not enough to pierce the azure scales of the creature, he was sure that they would at least irritate it.
Why should Sunny be the only one feeling endless frustration?
However, doing so was only going to consume his essence. He wasn't willing to waste it needlessly in a situation where it was impossible to tell what would happen next.
Gritting his teeth, Sunny steeled his will and continued flying above the water.
An hour went by. Then, one more.
Actually, Sunny had no idea if those were really hours - the seven suns shining above the Great River were too bizarre and unreliable to use them for measuring the time. He just guessed how much of it had passed based on intuition, but he could have easily been wrong.
In any case... more time flowed past him. Or was it Sunny who was flowing through time? Questions like this were driving him mad.
'I am really starting to...'
Sunny suddenly froze and looked at a certain spot on the Great River.
'Let's hope that the old snake is not going to follow me to land...'
Sunny removed the Heavenly Burden from his arm and started slowly descending in the direction of the dark island. The closer he got to it, the more details he could make out. The steep slopes of the island were craggy, with their lower parts encased in silver. There were numerous barnacles growing on the tarnished metal, with waves of water foaming as they splashed against them from time to time.
There were also massive chains rising from the water and disappearing in the fissures higher up the slopes.
Sunny frowned.
The island was very strange... that was a given. However, there was something about that strangeness that made him feel uneasy.
The monstrous serpent, too, seemed to have grown wary as they drew closer to the weathered hill of dark rock. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Sunny's eyes suddenly narrowed.
'Could it be...'
He hesitated for a few moments, and then tried to peer through the surface of the island.
A split second later, Sunny cursed and hurriedly drove the Heavenly Needle back into his skin.
In the next moment, the island quaked and moved as a titanic head slowly rose from beneath the waves to stare at the ancient sea serpent with a giant, unmoving eye.
...What Sunny saw beneath the weathered black rock was an ocean of vile darkness, and two nodes from where the Corruption had spread throughout the whole enormous creature.
The entire island... was simply the carapace of a colossal Great Monster.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Shadow Slave