Shadow Slave

[Your Shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny stared at the place where the coin used to be, then blinked.

'What just happened?'

He dropped the coin on the altar, it was illuminated by the moonlight, and disappeared. And then, he received a shadow fragment.

'No way…'

Holding back excitement, Sunny summoned the runes and read:

Shadow Fragments: [198/2000].

The last time he checked, there was only one hundred and ninety-seven. He had definitely, without a doubt, just received a shadow fragment from the strange golden coin.

'So it wasn't an ordinary coin, after all!'

A satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

Not only was the coin special, it was even not cursed. On the contrary, it was blessed!

'Well, that was the easiest shadow fragment I have ever received…'

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

'Wait…'

Weren't there more coins he had left behind on the Iron Hand Island? Three more, at least, had been swallowed by the dead monstrosity.

Before the thought fully formed in his mind, Sunny was already leaving the Altar Island.

'Two things… there are two things…'

The first one was that other coins could, potentially, turn out the same as the first one and reward him with free fragments. The second one was that where there were three, there could be more… much more.

The Fallen Demon he had discovered could have come from a place where a whole treasure trove of miraculous coins was hidden. A whole mountain of them, even. If Sunny was right and managed to somehow trace the path the creature took before dying…

Who knew how much more powerful he would become?

Trying to suppress the giddy feeling of discovering a huge and tantalizing secret, Sunny left the Sanctuary and headed toward the edge of the island. As the sound of waterfalls grew louder and the first drops of rain fell to the ground, a dark silhouette suddenly took a step towards him.

It was one of the watchmen.

"Huh… Sunny, right? Are you really going to go out in that weather?"

Most of the watchmen here in the Sanctuary already knew that he was comfortable in the dark, so their initial surprise about seeing someone leave the Citadel at night had more or less disappeared by now. It was still strange for some of them, though.

Sunny halted for a few moments, then smiled.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I will be fine. I'm not going far, anyway. Just want to check something on the Iron Hand Island."

The watchman hesitated, then shrugged.

"Alright. Be careful out there. Night vision or not, this is not the time for humans."

Sunny thanked the man for his concern, then walked past him.

'Not the time for humans? Good thing I am a monster, then…'

Approaching the edge of the Sanctuary Island, he didn't waste any time and summoned the Dark Wing. Sunny was tempted to simply turn into a shadow and rush toward his goal, but he didn't want to show his powers near the Citadel so openly.

'Patient. Be patient…'

Since the Dark Wing couldn't really allow him to fly, he glided above the chain for as long as he could, then landed on it and continued forward on foot. By that time, the rain was already falling rather heavily. The iron surface beneath his feet was treacherous and slippery, so Sunny had to be careful and watch his step, lest he plummeted down, into the Sky Below.

He shivered, trying to think of a more terrible fate. With no means of real flight, he would just be falling through the darkness, endlessly, until his mind was gone and his body consumed itself from hunger, then slowly turned into dust.

People on the Chained Isles loved to tell horrible stories about unfortunate souls who fell into the Below, and Sunny could easily understand their fear. For that reason, he was very careful not to slip.

'Only fools fall down, knowing what waits for them below. I would never…'

As if to answer his thought, a gust of wind suddenly crashed into him from the side, and a distant bolt of lightning illuminated the sky.

'...To hell with this!'

Not wishing to tempt fate, Sunny dove into the shadows and continued his journey as one of them.

Soon, he arrived on the Iron Hand Island.

The severed arm of the unknown metal giant was still there, making Sunny wonder once again what force could have torn it off the creature's body. Judging by the size of that thing, the owner of the arm must have been of monstrous proportions itself. Not really on the same scale as the walking colossus of the Forgotten Shore, but still undeniably gigantic.

The remains of the winged demon that had swallowed the mysterious coins were there, too.

However, they did not look the same.

By now, only the bones of the fearsome abomination remained, all its flesh long devoured by the gluttonous scavengers of the nightmare world. The grass around the carcass was now higher, too, and had changed its color from the usual green to bright red.

The grass looked… satiated.

Sunny grimaced.

Out here in the Dream Realm, no creature or plant was really what they seemed. Otherwise, the thick forest on the island where he had battled the pack of Fallen Wolves would have been long ago destroyed by the Crushing.

Even the most innocent things were twisted, corrupted, and predatory. Without sufficient caution, even a blade of grass could be deadly.

…But he wanted those coins.

Approaching the wide patch of bloodred grass, Sunny hesitated for a bit, and then took a step forward. He felt the ground moving slightly beneath him, the rustling of the raindrops changing tone as they fell on the grass.

With a deep frown, Sunny summoned the Moonlight Shard and circulated his essence, sending it flowing furiously through the coils of the Soul Serpent. He also collected both his shadows and wrapped them around his body.

The grass swayed slightly, and then grew still.

A subtle smile appeared on Sunny's lips.

Indeed, everything in the Dream Realm was dangerous and deadly… including humans. In fact, Awakened were perhaps one of the most fearsome tribes of creatures in this world, if not in terms of raw power, then at least due to their cunning, wickedness, and unpredictability.

For something as weak as a blade of grass, it was wise to avoid angering one of the Awakened, especially one as dreadful as Sunny.

'Ah. It feels nice to be feared.'

With nothing threatening him anymore, he walked over to the spot where he had seen the coins last and bent down, trying to find the alluring golden disks.

They were just where he had left them.