Shadow Slave

In the end, they all came.

The Winged Serpent, the Leopard, the Ape, the Hummingbird, the Otter... even the Eagle, who lived on the border between light and darkness. Only the Eel was absent, having been banished into the darkness of the Spinesea for her mother’s crime.

They came from the Heart Bone, the Cage Bone, the Pillar Bone, the Cross Bone, and even from the shattered Skull. They came from all Domains of Mictlan, answering the call of its most ferocious ruler.

Now that the rains had unleashed a deluge, the Jungle became a complicated network of roaring rivers, with great waterfalls plummeting from the height in a silver radiance of sunlight. Because of that, traveling across the Jungle had become easier.

Ketzelkan arrived at the head of a great army of asuras. The Jungle quaked under their steps, and the Corrupted monsters that dwelled under its scarlet canopy were slaughtered as they passed.

The Otter arrived at the bow of a mighty warboat, a fleet of enchanted vessels flooding the web of rivers behind her. The Leopard came alone, the Jungle moving and crawling away to clear a path for his light steps. The Ape and the Hummingbird brought their own asuras, the former nimble and lumbering, the latter boasting a unique winged design.

The Eagle, who was known to be mad, had traveled across the surface and entered the Heart Bone through a fissure, falling with the water before spreading his vast wings. They all came to the shores of Heart Lake, looking across the water at the Temple of the Sun.

For some, like Ketzelkan, this radiant temple had a special meaning. After all, it was here that the Divine Children like him had been raised once, a long time ago.

To others, Heart Lake was merely a place where all the rivers of Heart Bone came together when the rain fell. Therefore, it was the conflux of Mictlan, as well as its foundation.

The temple that stood in the middle of Heart Lake was the neutral territory where the rulers of the Sun Realm met when there was a need for them to sue for peace or hold council. No one dared to stain the sanctity of the Sun Temple — both because of what it represented...

And because of the being who dwelled inside.

The rulers left their armies on the shores of Heart Lake and entered the temple in stark solitude. There, the Fallen One waited for them in his dark vestments, towering above the kings and queens of Mictlan as if they were children. His face was obscured by a deep hood, and the intricate silver armour encased his arms and slender torso.

Twelve grey wings rose behind his back, casting shadows upon them.

”Welcome, those who carry the Flame.”

The Fallen One was unlike them, humans. He was the last of the Sky People, who had once basked in the splendor of the Sun — before the Sun died and devoured the heaven, creating the White Abyss and annihilating all his kin.

Ketzelkan was old enough to remember the world before the Nightmare Spell, but the Fallen One was far more ancient. He had witnessed the world before the gods died, before the mortal realms were swallowed by the Doom, before the White Abyss existed, and before the Sun Killer fell, the great hollows of his bones becoming Mictlan. The Fallen One was older than the world itself...

Older than the world that they knew, at least.

He had also tended Ketzelcan and his siblings in this temple as a servant, raising them to inherit the Sun Realm.

The temple was both his home and his prison, since the Fallen One was sealed within and forbidden from stepping outside.

”Why have you called us here, Winged Serpent?”

Ketzelkan glanced at the rulers of Mictlan, sensing five oceans of tyrannical Will bearing down on him. Of course, he remained undaunted. They were the strongest and most ferocious warriors of the Sun Realm, but he was the most terrifying among them, and one who ruled the largest Domain.

The youngest of them had been born after the Nightmare Spell descended upon Mictlan. The rest had already been walking the Path of Ascension when the Spell first whispered to them, and climbed to the throne of Supremacy with its help. But in any case of their age, they all knew the truth.

He raised his chin.

”The gods are dead, and the mortal realms have fallen to Corruption. Now, Doom encroaches upon the Divine Realms... the Sun Realm is the first to bloom with the Seeds of Nightmare, but it won’t be the last. The Doom devours all, and only those who are blind believe in the promise of a glorious future.”

People easily believed lies. Worse even, they were easily led to wrong conclusions by vague truths.

But those who were Supreme could not allow themselves to be deceived.

”Mictlan is strong and fearsome. Unlike the rest of the Divine Realms, we have always been at war with the Corruption, living under the constant siege of the Jungle. Ours has always been the sacred duty of keeping the Sun Killer from being reborn, and therefore, we have always been warriors.”

He paused and gave them a ferocious look.

”Mictlan gave birth to myriad heroes in the past, and after the Nightmare Spell was cast upon our people, their number only swelled. More than that, we possess the sorcery of creating the asuras, which make each of our Awakened capable of fighting creatures far more powerful than they are. We wield myriad other sorceries, as well.”

His gaze turned heavy.

“But all of this is meaningless in the face of the encroaching Doom. Make no mistake — the armies of asuras will fail us. The walls of our fortresses will fall. The thrones that you are so proud of will be shattered, and one day soon, the scarlet vines of the Jungle will bury our temples under mountains of rot.”

Ketzelcan inhaled deeply... and then smiled.

“Unless new gods are born.”