Shadow Slave

Nightmare flew through the battlefield where the servants of dead deities fought against each other, unable to resolve their ancient grudge even after thousands of years had passed. All around the galloping steed, giants made of black bones clashed with murderous fury.

Each strike of a rusted blade, each blow of a vicious claw, each snap of crushing jaws produced powerful shockwaves that stirred the white sand and made it seem as if the world was on the verge of collapsing. Angry sparks flew into the air, and a cacophonous clangor filled the dark sky.

’Crazy, crazy... this is crazy!’

Sunny was in the form of a shadow, gliding across the sand in front of Nightmare. He was serving as a guide, and the black stallion followed, carrying Jet and Seishan.

Sunny’s mind was in overdrive, absorbing every minute detail of what was happening around them. He had to find a way to avoid the ancient wraiths and slip between them, somehow, while not being destroyed by their destructive wrath.

It was not easy... no, it was almost impossible. His only saving grace was that the dead did not seem to pay them any attention.

Still, just the aftershocks of their dreadful attacks were enough to obliterate a puny Ascended like Sunny.

’Damn it all!’

As they moved away from the ruin, Sunny saw...

A black skeleton easily parting the night sky with its obsidian sword. The abominable bone behemoth that had been attacking the dead swordsman shuddered and collapsed, making the whole desert shake. Its mountain-like skeleton, almost a kilometer long, was cleanly cut in half along the spine.

A phalanx of ancient warriors marching forward to meet the charge of monstrous skeletal cavalry. The moment the two tides of black bones met, millions of stars were suddenly extinguished in the sky.

Two giants colliding above the dunes. One wielded a sword, while the other had iron shackles fastened around its wrists and ankles. The heavy chains rang as a gargantuan shackled hand shot forward, grabbing the colossal sword and flinging it away.

...Right in the direction of Sunny.

’Curse...’

The giant sword fell down just a few meters ahead of Sunny. However, it did not hit the sand - instead, the ancient weapon plunged into the shadows, disappearing into their bottomless embrace. The steel blade flashed past his intangible form like a wall of steel, barely missing Sunny himself.

’...We won’t survive here for long.’

No one really knew what the Nightmare Desert had been before, but it was known that one of the last - or at least one of the fiercest - battles in the war between the daemons and the gods had taken place here.

Maybe the desert had already existed back then, or maybe this land had been turned into a desert by the battle.

No one knew why the fallen soldiers rose from the dead every night to continue the ferocious clash, either. Why did the continue to fight? What power had been unleashed here? Who was the architect of this nightmare?

All Sunny knew was that this was no place for the living. It was barely a place suited for the dead, even.

The weakest of the black skeletons were equal to powerful Corrupted creatures. The strongest... he did not even want to know. From what Nephis had said, the true horror was hidden in the heart of the desert, where the champions of the two armies had fought and died.

Sunny struggled to imagine what could be more horrific than the catastrophic clash happening around them, but he understood very well that they were not going to survive in the open.

They were like ants here. No one had stepped on them yet, but with how intense and harrowing the fighting between the dead was, it was only a matter of time - minutes, or maybe even seconds - before someone or something erased them from existence.

Just an echo of a distant strike was enough to annihilate them.

He had been planning to reach some other ruin. The location of the nearest structures was burned into his memory, but once they entered the battlefield, Sunny realized that it was of no use - the white dunes had shifted, and he had no marks to orient himself in the desert.

From the moment the three of them escaped the ruin, they were utterly lost.

The ground shook and split as a skeleton in rusted armor slammed its war hammer into the shield of a six-armed demon, and Nightmare almost stumbled. Baring its fangs, the black steed soared into a high jump, landed on the spine of a lumbering monster, galloped across it and landed on the other side, faster than wind.

Jet and Seishan held on for dear life.

Sunny was thrown out of the shadows and rolled on the sand, then jumped to the side, barely avoiding a titanic foot that descended from somewhere above like a black cliff.

The shockwave of its landing sent him stumbling back, and he tasted blood.

Dazed, he dove back into the shadows and flew toward Nightmare.

’We need to hide... we need to hide...’

Suddenly, Sunny saw a flash of light somewhere far away.

He couldn’t really perceive colors while in the form of a shadow, but from the purity of the light, he knew that it had to be white.

Some distance away, obscured by countless fighting skeletons, a white halo was rising above the desert.

’There.’

Without spending too much time doubting himself, Sunny pivoted and flew toward the distant light. Nightmare followed, foam falling from his mouth.

All around them, the armies of the dead continued to annihilate each other, their battle slowly turning into a frenzied, apocalyptic scene of the end of the world.

Sunny knew that he was going to die. He was supposed to be dead already, even - the power of the clashing creatures was too great for mere mortals to survive.

And yet, it seemed that luck was on his side today.

Somehow, they were continuing to cling to their lives.

Eventually, they reached the source of the white light.

Hidden behind rolling white dunes, a stone edifice protruded from the sand. It was surrounded by a ring of white flame - and, strangely enough, none of the black skeletons dared to cross it.

Sunny did not risk plunging into the fire, either. Instead, he stepped through the shadows and appeared within the ring of flames. Nightmare simply jumped over them, landing nearby.

The ruin was in front of them, seemingly empty. There was no movement inside.

Feeling his heart start to beat faster, Sunny glanced at the white flame, and then at the broken black stones. His breath grew heavy.

’...Neph?’