Shadow Bond (A Shadow Slave Fanfiction)

You Absolute Fool

The rest of the journey to the Dark City was relatively peaceful.

On the way to the city, Sunny managed to reach his third shadow core, making him a Demon, and the crew found a large statue of what looked like a king.

The Ascended Shadow didn't grow much bigger after evolving and was thus still small enough to make its way through the labyrinth efficiently. Its newfound strength meant that Sunny didn't have to augment it with his own shadows to deal with the local populace, leaving them free to explore.

Curiously enough, they still made efforts to not run into any Centurions, even if they would now be capable of easily dealing with them.

Right before reaching the walls of the city, Sunny got bit by a little rock-like creature. Even if it didn't hurt him, it still gave him a small warning that he still wasn't as invincible as he thought he was.

When they reached the outer walls of the Dark City they needed to find a way to scale it. It only took a few minutes to decide on the best course of action.

The answer came in the form of an Ascended Scavenger that was capable of piercing its legs into the walls and thus capable of vertical climbing while carrying the cohort all the way to the top.

'I'm sorry Saint, but Scurvy is now my new favorite Shadow. Not even you could do this.'

Soon after, they can be seen at the top of the large stone walls, getting a clear view of the whole Dark City, and most importantly, the Bright Castle.

Even Wyatt is stunned when he sees it in person. He notes how the descriptions never properly gave him a sense of the sheer scale of the place.

In his mind, the Dark City was never much more than a castle and a cathedral, but he's swiftly disabused of that notion when he sees that it is, in fact, a city, and a large one at that.

After a few minutes of appreciation, Cassie is the one to break the silence.
"Now what?"

'(I'm also wondering just what the plan is.)'
'[We wait of course. Can't enter without a guide after all.]'

"We should wait." Sunny parrots. He then asks his own question.
'(Can't you guide us?)'

'[Look down there. Do you not see all those monsters there... most are Fallen. Do you really trust me to lead you through all that?]'
'(It didn't seem entirely unreasonable.)'
'[I'm flattered but I can't. Let's wait for someone to come over here. Whether it'll take days or weeks, I don't know.]'
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It ended up taking about two weeks for Effie to come back to her hunting spot.

Rather than twiddle their thumbs and wait for a sign, like Sunny and Wyatt did on their first few days in the Forgotten Shore, everyone took a more active role in preparing themselves for any potential problems.

With Scurvy out in the labyrinth collecting Soul Shards from his brethren, with a bag in his hand this time, the shadow guiding him found iron spider territory.

'[Ha... ha..hahaha! Sunny, we've struck gold!]'
'(Was this a part of your "grand plan" or something? What's so special about these Nightmare creatures?)'
'[Before I answer that, what do you know about spiders? The normal ones you see on Earth.]'
'(They can usually be found in old dusty places where no one ever goes. I did hear some stories about large versions of those things swarming most of the Eastern Quadrant when the Spell first arrived.)'

This mentioning of past events intrigues Wyatt and he decides that he wants to know more.

'[The Eastern Quadrant? Which continent is that on?]'