Shadow Slave

Silence and darkness reigned in the empty underground hall. The mirror that had stood at its center was broken now, its shards scattered across the floor.

The mirror was gone…

The man who used to be the King of Nothing was gone, as well.

There was no body left in his wake, and no trace of his existence remained.

As if he had never existed at all.

There was only the bloodied mirror shard that the man who had become the King of Nothing was still holding in his hand.

It was hard to tell whose blood was smeared across the cold glass.

He was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, breathing evenly. His eyes were closed, and his face was emotionless. Behind the expressionless mask, however, raged a dark and dire storm.

After decades spent shattered and incomplete, Mordret had killed and absorbed the last shard of himself, finally becoming whole once again. Becoming who he used to be… a human.

But what kind of human was he?

The Mordret who had roamed the perilous expanse of the Dream Realm, dreaming of vengeance as he committed all kinds of vile and unforgivable acts, was gone now.

The meek and compassionate Mordret, who had spent most of his life in a beautiful mirage conjured for him by the Great Mirror… was gone, as well.

In their place, a man who was neither compassionate nor entirely heartless remained, slowly coming to terms with his newfound ability to feel all the things that a person was supposed to feel.

The burden of that ability was like a curse. Mordret remembered both of his lives, and was tormented by the memories of both.

Because now, he could feel the guilt and regret for the things he had done. He could feel the pain and sorrow of what had been done to him, as well.

It was funny…

Mordret’s Flaw was to be shattered, and now, he was not shattered anymore. However, that did not mean that he was free of his Flaw.

If one took a porcelain vase and broke it, then glued the pieces together… was the vase flawless? No. The marks of having been broken remained on its surface, marring it forever.

The same went for Mordret. Even if he had assembled the shards of himself into a complete person once more, the scars of having been shattered remained — would always remain, shaping him and dictating the terms of his existence.

He could never escape his Flaw. His entire life had been shaped by it, and all he could do now was learn how to live as a flawed vessel.

Mordret had to contend with the heavy burden of his past, which he was able to experience in all its bitter vibrancy for the first time, and with his the dark expanse of his future as well.

On top of that, he had to contend with becoming Supreme.

It was strange — Mordret was a mere Awakened only a year ago, but at the same time, he remembered being a Sovereign. His memories of ruling the Mirror Domain were fragmented and woefully incomplete, but he did remember it. The dire authority of bending the world to his Will, the inhuman state of being torn about millions of vessels…

Granted, he was not much of a Supreme at the moment.

All his vessels were gone. His Reflections were gone, as well. He only had one soul core left… his Domain was destroyed, and all that remained of his kingdom was its king.

A king who ruled nobody and had nothing. Hearing the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs, Mordret sighed and opened his eyes.

His eyes, which had reflected the world back on itself once, were now tired, dull, and somber.

The soldiers of the Hunger Domain were coming to kill him.

And unlike the previous King of Nothing, Mordret was not immortal.

‘How hateful.’

A moment later, the warriors burst into the underground chamber. There were dozens of them — some of them were powerful, and some of them weren’t. Mordret wasn’t clear what their purpose here was.

Were they pursuing his brother, hoping to kill the Great Beast he had become? Or were they searching for Mordret himself, hoping to kill him and end the profane life of the King of Nothing that way?

“It doesn’t matter, I suppose.”

His voice was quiet and aloof.

The soldiers of the Hunger Domain were led by a familiar face — an old and hateful face that had played a vile role in the memories Mordret inherited from his brother, thanks to the dire grace of Song of the Fallen. It was Saint Jest, the man who had done the dirty work for the Valor clan once.

Seeing his expression told Mordret all he needed to know about their purpose.

It seemed that they had not expected to meet him here at all.

As soon as Old Jest noticed Mordret, his face contorted. He froze for a split second, and then barked:

“Everyone, close your eyes!”

But it was too late.

By the time Jest shut his eyes, he was already surrounded by nothing except screams and the sound of blood spilling to the floor.

…Only a few moments later, however, did the screams stop.

Because there was no one left to scream anymore.

A dead silence enveloped him like a cloak and made him shiver.

In that silence, he heard a calm voice:

“Open your eyes, old man.”

Jest gritted his teeth, knowing that he was not going to escape this time.

He lingered for a few moments, then sighed and opened his eyes, looking at the man standing in front of him with a crooked smile.

“I thought you were on your way to the grave, kid. But you seem quite well.”

Mordret smiled faintly.

“This is my grave.”

He studied the old man standing in front of him for a short while, then said evenly:

“Jest of Clan Dagonet… if memory serves, you were in charge of the ambush that destroyed my original body. It happened right here on the Chained Isles, all those years ago. And yet here we are. Funny how life is sometimes, isn’t it?”

Jest stared at him for a moment, then chuckled.

“Life is the funniest thing, indeed. It’s all one big, horrible joke… the worst joke ever.”

He remained silent for a bit before asking in a calm tone:

“I am not making it out of here alive, am I?”

Mordret studied him for a while.

Eventually, he said:

“You’ve been very loyal to my family, haven’t you? Surely, such loyalty should be rewarded. Ah, but what about blind loyalty… blind loyalty is quite different. While loyalty is a virtue, blind loyalty is simply vile.”

Jest stared at him for a while, then raised his chin slightly.

He inhaled deeply and looked Mordret in the eye.

“It wasn’t blind.”

Mordret met his gaze, his expression growing cold and ruthless.

Then, he took a step forward, patted Jest on the shoulder, and walked past him.

“Live a little longer, old man.”

As Mordret took a few steps away, Jest blinked, and then asked in a bewildered tone:

“You’re… not going to kill me? But why?”

Mordret shrugged.

“Maybe I simply don’t have a reason to kill you.”

He stopped, looked back, and smiled.

“Perhaps I want to pay a visit to your family and make you watch them die first. Who knows?”

Jest gritted his teeth.

“Curse you!”

Mordret shrugged, then looked up and spoke into the air, as if addressing someone.

“Cassia? Is that you?”

He paused for a moment, and then asked in a quiet, mournful tone:

“You knew, didn’t you? About what was going to happen to us.”

Mordret chuckled and shook his head.

“Somehow, I find it hard to believe. But it doesn’t really matter, I suppose. What is it that you want me to do?”

He remained motionless for a moment, then sighed.

“Oh, that? Well… sure. That can be arranged.”

The corpses of the soldiers of the Hunger Domain littered the floor around him, surrounded by a pool of blood.

Mordret disappeared into the reflections glistening on the surface of that pool.

..A moment later, he appeared on the deck of the Night Garden. The living hull of the titanic ship tried to swallow him, but he simply bent and brought his fist on the ancient wood, shattering it.

The defenders of the Great Citadel — the Saints of Night, their patriarch, and the rest — were already surrounding him by then.

Facing them, Mordret smiled pleasantly.

“Good day, gentlemen. I feel like I must warn you — there are two ways to settle this situation. A pleasant one, and a gruesome one. The choice is yours. I will settle for the former… ah, but I do hope that you’ll choose the latter…”