Shadow Slave

As they approached the bone orchard, Sunny felt a swift shadow approaching them from the mist. Soon, Nightmare dove out of the swirling fog, carrying Cassie and Jet on his back.

Jet was pale and bleeding from the wounds on her back, but she seemed calm and composed. Cassie should have already explained what was going on to her - if Soul Reaper had questions, she was keeping them to herself.

”Hey, Sunny.”

Her voice was a little hoarse.

Climbing down from the black stallion, Jet remained silent for a moment, then looked at him with a dark smile.

”I hear that you have a plan to kill that thing in the mist. Good. Count me in.”

Then, she chuckled quietly.

”Where are my manners? Greeting to you too, Changing Star. Thanks for coming to pick me up.”

Nephis studied her for a few moments, then nodded silently.

With that out of the way, the cohort proceeded to the bone orchard. Soon, a forest of towering bones appeared from the mist. Cassie led everyone to the Hollow Butterfly while Sunny looked around with a grim expression.

He had not summoned the Fragment yet, nor had he made use of the Mirror of Truth. Sunny wanted to only use the former if there was no other choice. As for the latter... the latter was needed for their eventual fight against the First Seeker, so he had to preserve it at all costs.

...Which was not to say that he had nothing else prepared to make this last revolution special.

Once they were standing in front of the monstrous butterfly, the usual routine of making its legs into pikes was abandoned. Instead, Cassie took Jet and Nephis aside to teach them about the Cavern Terror in detail.

Sunny, meanwhile, sighed and sat down on a protruding bone fragment.

This time, there was too much for the cohort to do within a single revolution. Which was why there was no other choice but to split the tasks between him and Cassie.

Cassie was going to lead Nephis and Jet, as well as Saint and Fiend, into the caverns to slay the Terror. Then, they would complete a couple minor tasks... and venture into the overgrown shrine to retrieve the enchantment key.

Sunny would have to travel to the far side of the island above ground, retrieve Effie, and visit the blood lake.

Of course, none of these tasks could be completed fast enough, considering how dangerous and teeming with harrowing Nightmare Creatures the island was. Which was why he had to create a diversion, somehow.

As he sat and looked at the Hollow Butterfly with a dark expression, Sunny summoned a flute made out of emerald bone and absentmindedly brought it to his lips. Soon, a slow, sorrowful melody echoed in the mist.

Cassie, who had been explaining the powers of the Cavern Terror to Nephis and Jet, paused for a moment and turned slightly. Then, she placed the Guiding Light on the ground near him and continued the explanation.

’I wonder what Kai is doing right now...’

Sunny sighed.

Would his friend appreciate how much better at playing the flute he had become? Was he even alive, still? Or was he long dead?

Dead...

Sunny felt the smooth texture of the Bone Singer with the tips of his fingers.

He had received this Memory quite a while ago... in the depths of another Nightmare. Back in the bloody arena of the Red Colosseum, he had gotten it for slaying a monstrous emerald skeleton.

The Bone Singer had not received much use since. Apart from erecting the dome of silence a few times with the help of its [Silenced] enchantment, Sunny mostly just played it for fun, slowly polishing his musical skill... what little of it he possessed. Nevertheless, it was a very important Memory for him.

The other of its enchantments, [Sonorous], was the first enchantment he had ever copied, after all, transplanting it to the Silver Bell first, then to the Ordinary Rock - which subsequently became the Extraordinary Rock. So, the Bone Singer represented a great milestone in his development as a sorcerer.

The emerald flute possessed a third enchantment, though. One he had never used...

[Sepulcher Song].

That enchantment allowed the master of the Bone Singer to raise the dead, provided he actually knew how to play it.

’Here we go...’

Nephis had already regained enough essence to use her Dormant Ability on Jet. Receiving a sliver of white flame from her, Sunny took a deep breath...

And sent a flood of essence into the emerald flute while his fingers danced across its surface. The melody he played suddenly grew vicious and angry.

In the next moment...

The bone orchard stirred.

**Sitting on a fragment of an ancient bone, Sunny played a bone flute. Cold sweat was rolling down his face. **

All around him, the towering remains of unspeakable horrors were moving and stirring, slowly coming back to life... or at least to some semblance of life. Jet was watching that chilling scene with a strange expression on her face.

’I really... really hope it works...’

The [Sepulcher Song] enchantment could raise the dead, but Sunny had never found a use for it until now. Yes, it had taken him a long time to teach himself how to play the flute well enough to produce a coherent melody... but that was not the problem. Actually, he had been good enough to activate the enchantment for a while now.

The problem was that once the dead were raised, they would not be under his command. On the contrary, the risen corpses would be murderous, wicked, and entirely beyond his control. The only way to control them... was by playing another melody.

And that melody, Sunny had not been able to master before becoming trapped within the loop. Even after experimenting with it on Aletheia’s Island, he was not entirely confident that he would be able to enthrall the murderous corpses.

...There was nothing like a swarm of giant dead leviathans to make him feel motivated, though.

’If it doesn’t work, I might just become one of these corpses myself...’

As his fingers started to tremble, Sunny continued to play an angry melody.