Sunny felt that he was at the end of his rope. He had put himself through too much abuse during these last few days. Now, it was hard to even remember when was the last time he had slept.
A day before climbing the Soul Devouring Tree in search of a special fruit, perhaps.
Since then, he had lived through the harrowing torture of the Blood Weave transformation, spent countless hours on the verge of mental collapse to resist the effects of the enthrallment, mangled his hands to stay lucid, guided the boat through the terrors of the dark sea in absolute darkness, saw it being destroyed by the horrid dweller of the deep, and gave battle to that monster in the cold black depths, almost drowning as the result.
His body and mind were on the brink of shutting off.
Despite that, Sunny stubbornly continued to swim, bringing himself and Cassie closer and closer to the giant stone hand that was rising from the water, as though trying to embrace the skies.
Thus concludes the first volume of Shadow Slave.
Ah, what a journey it has been! I hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Over these past few months, Shadow Slave has taken the center stage in my life. When I sat down to write the first chapter, I really didn't know where this adventure was going to take me. Who would have thought that it was going to become the bane of my existence? Wait, no... uh... my greatest source of joy! My greatest source of joy, that was what I meant to say.
...Who would have thought that it was going to become my greatest source of joy? Today, a whole volume later, I feel very satisfied with the result. From the First Nightmare to the desolate hell of the Forgotten Shore, Sunny had to go through a lot, learn a lot, and grow a lot.
However, this is just the beginning. I hope you'll stick around to find out what happens next in Volume Two!
As for now, I only have one more thing to tell you, guys:
[You have finished a first volume, Child of Shadows.]
[Your shadow grows stronger :]