Shadow Slave novel Chapter 1917

Once the platform passed the great width of the porous hone, they were surrounded by emptiness from all sides. The vast Hollow sprawled beneath them, drowning in darkness. Here and there, radiant pillars of light fell from the cracks in its dome and illuminated the ancient jungle...

No one knew what unspeakable horrors hid under its impenetrable scarlet canopy, so the soldiers shivered, trying to distance themselves from the edges of the platform as much as possible.

Rain simply sat on the creaking wood, trying to catch her breath. She did look at the alien landscape below, but only for a short moment — seasoned hunters like her knew not to stare at the Dream Realm too closely.

Lest something stared back.

She looked at Ray.

"How's your wound?"

The young man was pale and uncharacteristically quiet. Fleur was treating him, but with how low she was on essence, the process was taking time.

The young man forced out an unconvincing smile.

"I'll live."

Then, he glanced down and paled even more.

"...Until we reach the ground, at least."

Tamar dismissed her helmet and sat down near Rain, swiping back her sweaty hair. She scowled and looked at him with scorn.

"Why are you worried? You have escaped the Hollows before — as a mere Sleeper and completely alone. You are an Awakened now, and we are surrounded by an entire army."

Ray stared at her gloomily.

"Don‘t remind me! I still have nightmares about that day... I mean, I would have, if I could dream..."

The other soldiers heard their conversation and turned, looking at the young man in disbelief.

"...Is that true, Ray? You survived the Hollows as a Sleeper?"

Ray seemed startled by the question.

"What the... wait, have I not regaled you guys with the amazing story of our chilling winter solstice? If that's the case, then — why, yes! Listen here... it happened on a dark and gloomy night..."

He launched into the story, making Rain wince — she had heard it retold at least a dozen times, after all, and each was more unwieldy than the previous one. Still, she couldn't help but notice that the expressions of the soldiers eased a little as they listened to Ray talk. All of them were frightened, and hearing that three Sleepers had escaped from the Hollows alive gave them some much—needed solace, and maybe even a little hope.

It was probably Tamar's reason for bringing up their winter solstice all along. Ray had been distracted from his wound, as well.

'Ilow sneaky.‘

That girl knew how to be subtle, as well.

Soon, the platform reached the ground, and they all disembarked, looking around with wary apprehension.

All around them, the battered soldiers of the expedition force were sprawled on the ground, resting, or hurriedly wolfing down their rations. The wounded were being treated, the dead or missing were being tallied and mourned.

"Seventh Legion? Your position is right ahead!"

They were corralled to a particular area and left to their devices for a while. No one knew how long this rest would last, so the soldiers did not waste any time and dropped down, unpacking their provisions and dismissing their armor to bandage shallow wounds.

Tamar‘s cohort was no different.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify