Shadow Slave

Sunny had no choice but to resort to one last, desperate gamble.

He had no chance against the enemy in a direct confrontation, at least not without an advantage. Bloodbane poison was supposed to be his hidden card, but turned out to be nearly useless. Being able to see in the dark did not help that much, too: somehow, Hero was able to perceive their surroundings even without any light.

Whether he was using his sense of hearing or some magical ability, Sunny did not know — not that it mattered now that they had left the cave and were standing under the moonlit sky.

Now he had only one advantage left. The fact that he knew that the tyrant was blind, and Hero did not. Acting on that knowledge, however, was easier said than done.

But what else could he do?

That’s why he tried to stay as quiet as possible and rang the silver bell. If the description did not lie, its ringing could be heard from miles away. Surely, the tyrant was going to hear it, too.

Now Sunny only had to stay silent, stall for time and hope that the monster would come. As he did so, Hero’s bewilderment slowly turned into anger.

“Tell me right now or you will regret it.”

His voice was quite threatening, but still, the young slave did not answer. He just shivered in the cold and tried not to moan despite the pulsing pain in his chest.

“Why are you not answering?”

But Sunny did not dare to answer. He held his breath and watched, horrified, as the familiar colossal figure appeared behind Hero. His lungs were on fire, and his heart was beating like crazy. It was beating so loud that he was even afraid that the blind tyrant would hear it.

But, of course, it couldn’t be louder than Hero’s voice, who was still talking, turning himself into the only source of noise on this mountain.

At the last second, a hint of understanding appeared in the young soldier’s eyes. He began to turn around, his sword rising with lightning speed.

But it was too late.

A massive hand appeared from the darkness and caught him into an iron grip. The bone claws scraped against the armor, pulling it apart. Mountain King dragged Hero back, paying little attention to the sword biting into its wrist. Viscous saliva was streaming from its opened maw.

Petrified by fear, Sunny slowly turned his back to them and took a couple of steps up the old, winding path. Then he darted away, running as fast as he could.

Behind him, a desperate scream tore apart the silent night. Then a hungry roar followed. It seemed that Hero wasn’t going down without a fight, even though his fate was already sealed.

But Sunny didn’t care. He was running away, climbing higher and higher.

“I’m sorry, Hero,” he thought. “I did say that I will watch you die… but, as you know, I am a liar. So go and die on your own…”

***

A lonesome dark mountain stood tall against the raging winds.

it dwarfed other peaks of the mountain chain, cutting the night sky with its sharp edges. A radiant moon bathed its slopes in the ghostly

young man with pale skin and black hair reached the peak of the mountain. However, his looks didn’t

looked like

cloudy and lifeless. His body was

over, cradling the left side of his chest. Each step

But most of all, he was

So, so cold.

down in the

believed that the

Step. Step. Another step.

he had made

colossal columns and walls were cut from black marble, with exquisite reliefs decorating the stygian pediment and broad frieze. Beautiful and awesome,

had collapsed, letting in ice and snow. It’s tall gates were broken, as if smashed

Still, Sunny was satisfied.

you,” he said in a

limped in

thought, forgetting for a second that Hero was already dead. ‘I’ve made it. You were strong and ruthless, and

edges of his broken ribs cutting deeper into his lungs. Blood was dripping from

thousands of years to turn cruelty into an art. And as someone on the receiving end of all that cruelty… don’t you think I would know more about

was getting closer

never stood a chance… wait.

had already forgotten. There was only pain, the dark temple,

It’s just hypothermia. If you fall

started to climb them, not noticing thousands of bones that were scattered around. These bones once belonged to humans and monsters both. All of them were killed by the invisible guardians

in the defiler’s chest, but then stopped, sensing a faint, strangely familiar scent coming from his soul. The scent of divinity. Sorrowful and lonesome, the

entered the

of moonlight were falling through the holes in the partially collapsed roof. Deep shadows were surrounding these circles of silver light, not daring to touch them. The

the far end of the hall, a large altar was cut from a single piece of black marble. It was

wanted to

as a bed. Sunny climbed on

he was going

was okay with

the temple’s entrance. He turned his head to look, not even a little bit curious.

still massive, terrifying and revolting. Worm-like shapes were still moving frantically under its skin. It was sniffing

and moved forward, slowly approaching the

an ugly bastard,’ Sunny thought and suddenly clutched his