Soul Reaper had been his mentor, comrade, and friend. For him, she was synonymous with competence and power. And perseverance. If a girl from the outskirts could rise so high, then why couldn't he?
And now, she was dead.
Sunny couldn't believe it, but there was no denying it. Her lifeless body was right there in front of him, unmoving and still. Her beautiful blue eyes were now glassy and hollow. Her lips were never going to curve into a smile again.
Soul Reaper Jet was gone.
Sunny's heart was empty.
'Right…'
He remained motionless for a while, then walked over to Belle and carried him to the first grave. Then, silently, he repeated the same process with Samara and Dorn.
Master Jet was the last, but he couldn't bring himself to approach her body for a long time. Eventually, though, it had to be done.
Feeling as though he was dead himself, Sunny approached Jet's corpse, then leaned down to grab it.
The corpse stared at him with glassy eyes, and said hoarsely:
"Kindly unhand me."
Sunny sighed.
"Don't worry, Master Jet. I am going to bury you well… there are no Nightmare Creatures around, yet, but they will come eventually. You wouldn't want to be eaten, would you? I surely don't."
The corpse remained silent for a few moments.
"...Have you lost your mind, Sunny? Put me the hell down."
He nodded.
"Yes, yes… I did lose my mind, a little. That's true."
The corpse of Soul Reaper Jet continued to stare at him.
'I should probably close her eyes…'
"Do you need me to slap you again? Snap out of it, damn it!"
A small frown appeared on Sunny's face. Then, he suddenly dropped the corpse and flinched back, falling on his butt.
"Wha… what?! Master Jet, you're alive?!"
The corpse remained motionless on the ground. After a short pause, it said in a dull, hoarse, corpsely voice:
"No. I am dead."
Sunny stared at it, dumbfounded.
Suddenly, the corpse let out a grating, hissing sound. It was trying to laugh.
"...I've been dead this whole time. It's my Flaw… "you are dead". But as long as I keep killing things and absorbing their essence, I can at least maintain a semblance of life. If I don't, I'll be truly destroyed."
She struggled to turn her head and looked at him with dead, glassy eyes.
"That was the real reason I joined the government, all those years ago. I knew that I'd always have things to kill if I did. Now… Sunny… argh, damn it… can you help me sit up?"
He slowly rose to his feet, took a few shaky steps forward, and pulled her up to a sitting position.
Then, he blinked a couple of times and said:
"So… that was why you told me that it's impossible for you to die in Antarctica? Because you were never alive, to begin with?"
Soul Reaper struggled for a few moments, and then took a labored breath — the first one since he had found her in the snowfield outside the city.
"Yes. It was a figure of speech."
Both of them remained quiet for a while, not knowing what to say.
Then, Jet suddenly turned her head. Her eyes glistened a little.
"Sunny… look! Look there."
He turned around, not knowing what she wanted him to see. Nothing seemed to have changed… the graves, the snow, the frozen buildings of the destroyed city were all the same.
However, far away… a thin line of pale lilac appeared above the horizon, breaking the reign of cold darkness.
Soul Reaper tried to smile, but failed.
"The sun is rising. The night… it's over."
[End of Volume Five: Dread Night.]
The long night is over! And so is Volume Five of Shadow Slave. I hope that you enjoyed this cold, dark adventure. As for me, I surely had a blast writing it. I'll take a day off and return with the first chapters of Volume Six the day after tomorrow.
Thank you and have a great day! :] Guiltythree