Shadow Slave

Out on the edges of Verge, the dilapidated buildings still stood, ancient darkness nestling in their empty doors and windows. Further away, though, the city was flattened, having turned into a stone valley. That was where the mountains of flesh that belonged to the First Seeker once lay — but they were there no more.

Nothing was moving in Verge. Nothing was alive.

Instead, the entire city was littered with bones. Countless bones lay scattered among the ruins. Some seemed like they had belonged to humans once, some were gruesomely deformed and twisted. Some were small, while some were giant. Some lay alone, stuck between the rubble, some lay in towering piles.

There were hollowed-out carapaces of enormous, monstrous creatures as well. There were skeletal remains of abominable leviathans.

One thing that lacked in the city of bones, however, was the Defilement.

Its source had disappeared, and the Defilement itself vanished as well.

“What do you see?”

Nephis could not see in the darkness, and the light of her flame did not reach that far. She could sense it, though — the absence of the terrifying enemy she had been prepared to destroy for the second time.

Sunny sighed.

“It’s gone. The First Seeker, the Defiled… they are all gone.”

At that moment, he felt like he understood what kind of calamity had befallen the Great River. What kind of unstoppable, merciless monster had visited such final devastation upon it, leaving only silence and desolation in its wake.

It was time.

Shadow God might have created death, but time was the ultimate killer. It destroyed everything, in the end… even the Great River had eventually fallen to its ruthless cruelty, despite being the River of Time. Sunny remained silent for a while longer, then shook his head.

“Let’s go.”

Together, they entered Verge and traversed its empty streets, stepping over the ancient bones. Then, they climbed the flattened ruins and walked across them, as well. Having crossed the sea of bones, they reached the other edge of the fallen city and saw the dark, still water again.

Nephis stared at it for a long while, then closed her eyes for a moment.

“Everything… everything is different from how I imagined.”

She exhaled slowly.

“I really thought that at least the First Seeker would be here.”

Sunny nodded.

“Me too.”

Then, he looked into the darkness… where the Estuary, and the Vile Thieving Bird, awaited.

“There is nothing for us here. Let’s go. It shouldn’t be far, now.”

They left the city of bones behind.

Once, a long time ago, Sunny had sailed the last stretch of the Great River on a small ketch. He had encountered many terrifying Nightmare Creatures back then — the most terrifying abominations of the Great River dwelled in the furthest reaches of the past and in the most distant future, after all.

But even those horrors were nowhere to be found. So, Sunny and Nephis traveled in relative peace.

It was just that the waters of the Great River were growing thinner and thinner the closer to the Estuary they came.

In the end…

The Great River simply ceased.

There was not even a great waterfall where its water ended, just a gradual termination. The shallows grew vast, and then, they became ubiquitous. Instead of islands of empty darkness interrupting the surface of the still water like pustules, it was the small islands of water that broke the vast expanse of empty darkness, separated by a great distance.

And finally, Sunny and Nephis reached a patch of shallow water that seemed to be the last — there was none that could be seen from it, at least. All that remained was an endless and dark vastness.

A great abyss of dark nothingness…

And somewhere far away, too distant to be seen, a hint of something hidden in the darkness.

Manifesting a thin layer of shadows atop the water, Sunny walked to the very edge and looked down, a pensive expression on his face.

He lingered for a few moments, and then asked somberly:

“Now what?”

Instead of answering, Nephis raised a hand and pointed into the distance.

“Sunny, look.”

She could not see through the darkness, so it was doubtful that she noticed something that he had not.

However, that was exactly what happened. Because when Sunny looked where she was pointing, he immediately realized what she meant.

There was light in the darkness.

Far away, a scattering of tiny sparks was moving slowly… growing a little brighter. As if coming their way.

The two of them remained motionless, watching the distant lights approach.

Soon enough, they saw it…

There was a ship sailing across the emptiness. It had a strange and archaic silhouette, different from how the ships were built both in the waking world and in the Dream Realm — but quite similar to how they had been built by the River People. The hull was entirely covered in intricate engravings, and the black sails were beautifully embroidered with silver thread. The sparks were the lanterns that shone on the ship’s masts.

To Sunny, it looked like the ferry meant to carry the souls of the dead to the Underworld.

“Stay alert.”

Soon enough, the ship approached the island of water they were standing upon and came to a halt, resting on it.

Sunny and Nephis glanced at each other, then jumped up to land on its deck.

There, both of them froze.

‘It… it can’t be. How?’

Sunny’s breath caught in his chest.

Because someone was waiting for them aboard the mysterious ship.

It was an exquisitely beautiful young woman wearing a black mantle. With her small stature and glistening ebony hair, dusky skin and piercing blue eyes, she looked like an enchanting river spirit. Her lovely face was lively and captivating, and her eyes glistened, reflecting Neph’s flame.

The young woman studied them for a few moments, and then bowed deeply.

Her voice was bright and melodious.

“Hail Weaver, Demon of Fate… Firstborn of the Unknown.”

The young woman straightened, looked at them, and then smiled warmly.

Her disarming smile was bright enough to illuminate the world.

“Ananke greets the Children of Weaver.”

Sunny simply stood there, frozen.

Nephis, meanwhile, took a step forward as if mesmerized.

“Ananke… you are alive?”

The young woman looked at them with a hint of confusion.

“Why, it would seem so. Don’t I look alive, my lady? It is…”

Before she could finish the sentence, Nephis reached forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Sunny was finally able to move, as well.

He hesitated for a moment, then said in a raspy voice:

“The Children of Weaver greet Ananke of Weave…”