Shadow Slave

Sunny remained on the southern wall for two days, silently staring at the ocean. In the meantime, thirty-six people vanished. Some of them were Awakened, and some of them were mundane. Despite safety measures growing more and more draconian, Verne had failed to prevent the disappearances. It was all futile.

And deeply, eerily frightening.

The stern Master came to talk to Sunny at some point, but left more frustrated than he had been before.

The fortress withstood another attack from a transient swarm of Nightmare Creatures. Just like the previous one, it came from the north. This time, Sunny did not participate in the battle, choosing instead to remain where he was. There were a few casualties.

The Awakened soldiers were all exhausted after remaining awake for more than a week. The stimulant patches were gradually losing their effectiveness. The mundane soldiers were better rested, but much more disturbed. They were all wary of the Nightmare Spell.

The civilians... were both exhausted and afraid. They had not been trained to withstand this kind of stress, and the seemingly unknowable nature of the vanishings was pushing them to the verge of panic. If not for the sense of order established and enforced by Verne's protocols and the hope of the Aridane's nearing arrival, they would have come completely undone by now.

The rescue ship was supposed to arrive in three or four days.

...Sunny silently looked at the water, deep in thought.

Hearing light steps, he glanced sideways and saw Beth, who was shivering in the cold as she approached him.

"Hey... Master Sunless."

He frowned.

"Hey."

The young woman looked at him silently for a while, then gritted her teeth.

"What are you doing? You've been stuck on this wall for days! You even ignored the last attack!"

Sunny tilted his head a little. When he responded, his voice sounded a bit strange:

"I'm investigating."

Beth stared at him in disbelief.

"You... you are doing nothing and expect me to believe that it's all a part of the investigation? Please! Both you and Verne have turned out to be completely useless! So many people are gone, and the two of you failed to produce even a tiny clue!"

At that moment, another person appeared on the wall. It was a mature woman in a white lab coat, with a tranquil expression on her face. Both of them moved to let her pass, not paying any attention as the woman silently climbed over the lip and jumped down. The undulating darkness of the ocean reflected in her eyes.

Sunny frowned slightly at the sound of a body hitting the rocks down below and shook his head, instantly forgetting about it.

"Believe what you want."

Beth glowered at him for a bit, then sighed and turned away.

"...Sorry. It doesn't matter, anyway. We just need to persevere for a few more days, until help arrives. But... you promised to protect the Professor. And yet, you left him alone to sit on this wall. That is unacceptable."

'Gods, how devoted can she be? Professor this, professor that... can't that girl think about herself for once? She's in danger, too!'

He rolled his eyes.

"Who says I left him alone? Beth... I've been watching Professor Obel and you twenty-four hours a day, every day, since this whole mess started."

She blinked.

"Uh... what? How?"

Sunny scoffed.

"My first specialty is scouting. Wherever my shadows go, my gaze follows. One of them had been keeping an eye on the Professor, so... how do you think I was able to get to the safe room so fast, when you were attacked?"

Beth looked at him for a bit. Then, suddenly, her cheeks turned red.

"T-twenty-four hours a day? What kind of a creep..."

Sunny palmed his face.

"Gods! Get over yourself. Do you think I have time to spy on mundane girls while all this crap is going on? The point is, Professor Obel is as safe as I can make him."

At that point, another person climbed to the top of the wall and jumped down. Neither of them spared them a single look, although Sunny seemed to shiver a little.

Beth opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. After a long pause, she finally forced out a few words:

"Well... fine. I guess I'll be going, then."

Sunny nodded.

"Alright."

Then, he suddenly called out to her:

"Wait... do you know my soldiers? There's a big guy called Dorn. Can you ask him to come here?"

Beth frowned, then nodded and hurriedly walked away, hoping to get away from the cold as soon as possible. Sunny sighed.

Soon, Dorn arrived. After understanding what his captain needed, he disappeared, and returned some time later carrying recording equipment. These cameras were a bit old, but that was exactly what made them more reliable than the more modern ones.

Together, they installed the cameras on the wall and stared at the screen of the terminal the recording equipment was connected to.

One more day passed. Twenty people vanished.

Their passage was easily recorded by the cameras, but while Sunny and Dorn were studying the recordings, they didn't seem to notice anything strange about it.

One of Verne's Awakened soldiers fainted, or maybe simply fell asleep while standing at his post. Although chances of his anchor breaking were not high, that was exactly what happened. The soldier did nor return from the Dream Realm after eight hours passed, or even sixteen. Some time later, his body went through an almost imperceptible, but eerie and frightening change.

He had become Hollow.

His body was placed in a closed room in the medical center.

Several members of the civilian staff got into a violent fight, but were dragged away from each by the sentries, isolated, and injected with sedatives.

A stray Nightmare Creature wandered close to the fortress, and was torn apart by a rain of bullets. The thunderous noise of firing turrets made everyone inside the facility shudder.

Another day passed. Twenty-two people vanished.

The moon was gone, but Sunny and Dorn were still on the wall overseeing the ocean.

Standing there, Sunny looked at the dark waves, then at the screen showing the feed from the cameras... then back at the cold black water.

Finally, he scratched the back of his head, pulled the memory storage device from the terminal and turned to Dorn.

"... We're done here. Let's go."

Not waiting for a response. he turned around and headed in the direction of the security center. As Sunny walked through the settlement, many people looked at him. Some of them seemed frightened, some of them seemed angry. Some were simply numb.

Everyone was exhausted.

Arriving at the security center. Sunny found Verne and Professor Obel sitting in silence with dark, tired expressions on their faces. The old man looked even more fragile and ancient than usual.

Sunny placed the memory storage on the table in front of them.

Verne stared at it for a moment. then looked up. "Why are you here?"

Sunny sat down and rubbed his hands together to warm them. A dark. ominous smile appeared on his lips.

"..My investigation is complete. I know why people are vanishing."