Shadow Slave

Rain had once believed her Aspect would awaken during the war — perhaps at the most desperate moment, when she was on the brink of defeat, so that she could rise and turn the tide in the most dramatic fashion imaginable.

In hindsight, that had never truly been possible.

She did not fully understand how the world worked — no one truly did — but Rain sensed there was a subtle poetry to the mysterious crossroads of fate. People and their choices echoed one another... just as did the events they could not control. In that way, lives were like poems.

Not all of them, of course — or at least not all in equal measure. But the lives of those who held great power, or were extraordinary in some way, often were.

Rain did not possess great power. And while she might have been a little unusual, she would never go so far as to call herself exceptional. Yes, she had accomplished something remarkable once — she had Awakened without receiving the Nightmare Spell’s cruel gift — but most of that feat belonged to her brother, not her.

Still, it seemed her life carried its own quiet verse.

And while the poem of her life described battlefields and bloodshed, that was not its true theme.

Her Flaw, the Crown of Thorns, revealed as much.

What was the true theme, then?

The end of the Great War had left Rain in disarray. She had only just begun to understand that she was a Legacy — a princess-to-be, not unlike Tamar. Then, in an instant, her brother betrayed everyone and died.

So instead of a princess, she became the sister of a dead traitor... the most reviled villain in the world.

Thankfully, Rain was only an Awakened. She hadn’t seen Lady Nephis strike her brother down with her own eyes — her perception had not been sharp enough for that. She hadn’t even known what had happened until much later, when Cassie’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind, gently telling her not to worry.

Only then did she learn that her brother was alive — and that he was supposed to have died. In fact, she had not even been given the opportunity to mourn him properly.

More fortunately still, no one truly knew that Rain — or rather, Rani of the Seventh Royal Legion — had any connection to the enigmatic Lord of Shadows.

In the chaotic days that followed, the world changed at a dizzying pace. When the dust finally settled, Rain chose to remain behind in Godgrave, helping to build the road across the Collarbone Plain — the road intended to connect the former Sword and Song Domains. She made that choice for no other reason than a quiet love of creation.

That love carried more weight than one might assume.

She had thought long and hard about her future, and in the end, made her decision with solemn conviction.

Rain was weary of destruction. Tired of war. Tired of watching things crumble. Tired of doing the crumbling herself.

So, she returned to her place on a construction crew — though this time, she was not a mere laborer, but an elite among the Awakened.

And it was there, on a dusty worksite rather than a battlefield, that her Aspect finally revealed itself.

Fitting, really — especially for someone whose Flaw rendered years of painful training and hard-won battle experience almost meaningless.

Rain had spent many hours speculating about what her Aspect might be. In the end, it turned out to be something so strange, so unexpected, that no one could have predicted it.

It was entirely unique.

As an Awakened, Rain now had access to two Aspect Abilities. She also held two essence pools — one of soul essence, and one of spirit essence.

Her Dormant Ability allowed her to bestow Names upon things. Not ordinary names, and not quite True Names either — something in between. These Names were permanent, and imbued with modest power. The power was not overwhelming — she was still an Awakened, after all — but it was real, and it belonged solely to her.

Giving a Name required a one-time infusion of spirit essence. The more she invested, the stronger the Name’s influence on the object and the world around it.

The issue was, Rain still had no idea how to expand her spirit essence pool. And yet, by the time the road across Godgrave was complete, she had somehow accumulated quite a lot of it. The sky of her Soul Sea, once wide and clear, had become overcast, blanketed in thunderclouds and dripping with gentle, constant drizzle.

Then, she poured all that gathered essence into the newly completed road — and Named it the Road of Shadows.

When she did, the skies above her Soul Sea cleared. Sunlight shone once more on the glistening sea below... and something miraculous occurred.

Her brother had taken his Citadel away, but he had left behind a strange thing — the Shadow Realm Fragment, whatever that truly was.

Sunny had explained that he could control it a little, now that he was Supreme, but not well enough to use it where he was going.

The Fragment had manifested as a dome of impenetrable darkness at the heart of the Collarbone Plain — a sphere that stretched for dozens of kilometers. When Rain gave the road its Name, that darkness stirred and uncoiled, forming a thin veil that extended over most of the road’s length. ȑâNȰ𝐛ЁŞ

Just like that, the Road of Shadows was protected from the blinding radiance of the white abyss above Godgrave.

And Rain collapsed from essence exhaustion, causing quite a panic among the Shadow Clan operatives disguised as road workers nearby.

Still, it had all worked out. Sadly, Rain had not managed to accomplish anything quite so monumental since.

With the road complete, she traveled to Bastion to help with the construction of the Rivergate Dam and begin her Shaping studies under Lady Nephis — while continuing her engineering apprenticeship with Chief Bethany.

All the while, she kept quietly experimenting with Names and trying to understand her own soul more deeply.

She discovered a few things.

For one, using the runic language of the Nightmare Spell made Naming more efficient — it required less spirit essence to achieve the same effect.

She also discovered that Naming something which already possessed a True Name was nearly impossible.

Her second Aspect Ability — her Awakened Ability — allowed her to assign descriptive titles to things: Epithets. Unlike Names, Epithets were temporary. They only lasted as long as Rain had soul essence to fuel them.

For example, she could assign the Epithet “Indestructible” to a shield, greatly increasing its durability until her essence ran dry.

In fact, as an Awakened, she could apply two Epithets simultaneously. So, she could make it an Indestructible, Magnetic Shield — causing enemy weapons to cling to it after failing to break through.

More powerful Epithets cost more essence. “Indestructible” was much more potent — and much more draining — than something like “Durable.”

There were other factors too.

The more an Epithet conflicted with the nature of the target, the more essence it consumed. Making a shield tougher was easy. Making it brittle was harder. Assigning Epithets to living beings always demanded more.

Still, Rain could temporarily turn someone into an Immobile Person — especially if she knew their name, or better yet, their True Name. At least for a moment, assuming their Rank was not too high.

In fact, using Epithets on things that had True Names — or had already been Named — was cheaper and more effective.

It worked in reverse, too. Assigning a known True Name as an Epithet cost less essence and produced dramatically stronger results than using ordinary words.

For instance, calling an enemy’s sword “Burning” might heat it up until it became too hot to hold.

But assigning it the True Name of Burning would melt the blade completely.

In that way, Rain’s Epithets were often more powerful and versatile than even Shaping. Shaping required one to speak the Name aloud and channel it — once the sound faded, the magic began to unravel.

But Epithets stayed active as long as Rain’s essence held.

She could even keep minor ones going almost indefinitely if she chose carefully.

She could even assign them to herself.

Rain took another sip of her cocktail and smiled at Telle and Tamar.

They didn’t know it, but she wasn’t just Promise of a Distant Sky at the moment.

She was Sober, Well-Rested Promise of a Distant Sky.

Though, that second Epithet was eating through her essence at an alarming pace.

Not even her Aspect and Shaping could keep up with the might of Chief Bethany, apparently.