Shadow Slave

Walking toward the broken transport, Sunny was deep in thought. If the blizzard was really returning… things were going to get ugly for the convoy

Sure, the snowstorm would hide their location from the roaming swarms of Nightmare Creatures, but it would also all but destroy his own ability to track the abominations and keep his map up to date. Sunny and his shadows could see through the darkness of the polar night, but they could not see through the impenetrable wall of billowing snow.

Additionally, the mundane drivers were going to have even more trouble with keeping their vehicles on the road. The vehicles themselves would suffer more stress, as well…

Should he insist on continuing to drive through the blizzard, or find a place for the convoy to wait it out? Sunny did not like the thought of traveling across treacherous old roads in such hazardous conditions, but neither did he like the idea of being stationary, holed up in some cave like a blind rat, with no way to escape should things go south.

‘Damned blizzard… damned rustbuckets… why can’t they all be like the Rhino?’

Of course, that was not a fair comparison to make. His Rhino was a state-of-the-art military carrier, while the civilian transports were just that – some of them could barely be used to carry people, even, since they had been hastily refitted from industrial cargo vehicles in preparation for the evacuation campaign.

It was a miracle that they were able to move, honestly.

Approaching the cause of the current setback, Sunny had to walk around the massive body of Abomination, who was laying on the road and staring east. The massive beast seemed to have sensed the approaching blizzard, as well, considering how intently it was looking at the sky. Snowflakes were falling on its rugged fur.

The smaller Echo… Blackie, or whatever the Awakened Beast was called… was there as well, leaning against the larger one. It had a habit of following the stronger monster everywhere, while Abomination mostly ignored its existence.

‘Damned mongrels… would it kill you to make way for me? I am the master of your masters, you know! Show some respect…”

Shaking his head, Sunny reached the transport. Samara, Kim, and Quentin were already there, running diagnostics with grim expressions on their faces.

He did not like the look of that.

“What’s the situation?”

Samara glanced at him with a deep frown.

“Captain. It is serious this time… there was a charge overload in the hub relay, causing the main battery to be cut off from the rest of the systems. Usually, that wouldn’t be too debilitating, but this transport already lost both the support battery and the backup accumulator. There’s… a lot of melted wiring. Quentin can restore some, but other parts will need to be replaced.”

Sunny did not understand much of what she had said, but then again, he did not need to. That was the whole reason for employing specialists.

He had become a big fan of delegation.

“So… how long is it going to take to get this transport moving again?”

Samara looked at Kim and Quentin, then hesitated for a bit.

“About two hours, if we move fast.”

Sunny closed his eyes for a moment.

Two hours… that was not impossible, although cutting it close. Their window of opportunity to drive past the nearest horde allowed for such a delay, but not much more. If he let the convoy stall for two hours, there would be no space for mistakes in the next day or so.

Could he afford that? Or should he abandon the transport and relocate people to the remaining ones, thus overloading the struggling vehicles even further and increasing the risk that they themselves might break down in turn?

‘Curse it. Did Nephis have to deal with this amount of nonsense during her short stint as the Bright Lord?’

Leading half a thousand crazed Sleeper through a bloody revolt and a suicidal crusade might have been a bit harder than he had thought.

‘Being in charge of hundreds of people was not at all fun…

Sunny was slowly starting to understand why the Sovereigns were all suffering from some sort of lunacy.

He sighed.

“I can give you one hundred and ten minutes. If it’s not done until then, though, we’ll load the refugees on other transports and abandon this one. For now, do what you can. Gere will make sure that the passengers aren’t cold.”

With nothing much to do after that, Sunny walked aside and stood in the shadows as his subordinates got busy with their tasks. He thought about returning to the warm interior of the Rhino, but decided against it. He had been cooped up inside it for a while, so some fresh air – even if it was bitterly cold – was a welcomed change.

The refugees inside the dead transport did not seem too discouraged, especially after soldiers brought a portable heater. The Sleeper was there too. His lantern Memory chased away the darkness, helping the civilians cope with their fear.

And speaking of the Sleeper…

‘Currently, we do not have any more infected. Which means that the infirmary transport is empty… if things don’t go well with the repairs, I can just reassign the passengers there. That can be a good stopgap solution. There’ll be trouble when someone does catch the Spell, of course…’

His thoughts were interrupted by Abomination, who suddenly let out a low growl. Considering the size of the massive monster, its growls reverberated through one’s very bones, and were not easy to ignore.

Sunny turned and looked at the Echo with a frown.

“What’s up with him… her… whatever. What’s up with that thing?”

Abomination’s monstrous snout was gnashed, revealing rows of terrifying fangs. It was still laying on the road, staring at the eastern skies. The Echo looked… tense.

The other beast by its side was also acting nervous. However, it seemed to be simply repeating after the larger one without understanding the reason. Sunny’s frown deepened, turning into a scowl.

‘…That can not be good.’

He walked over to Abomination and tried to climb on it to get a good vantage point.

“Don’t move, you bastard!”

Reaching the creature’s withers, he looked east, seeing the same thing that it saw.

The veil of the blizzard had grown closer, and a large part of the horizon – what little of it could be seen between the towering mountain peaks – was now hidden by it. Sunny did not notice anything else, though.

‘Does it not like snow?’

Then again, that blizzard was not of natural origin. It was caused by a titan called Winter Beast. From what Sunny knew, the titan was currently being suppressed by Saint Tyris somewhere far to the north… that was why the snowstorm came and went, hinting at who was prevailing in the clash at the moment.

Sky Tide’s Aspect also had to do with controling winds and storms, so while it did not directly counter the titan’s powers, she could at least challenge its authority.

In any case, Winter Beast could not be anywhere near the convoy.

Then why…

Suddenly, Sunny’s eyes narrowed.

Looking closer at the distant haze obscuring the cold dark sky, he suddenly had a very disturbing idea.

…Was it really the blizzard?

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