Shadow Slave

Sunny grimaced, glanced at the sun, and then took a step back to stand in the shadow. The Stormsea was usually covered in mist and quite somber… why did it have to be so bright every time he crawled out of the shadows to take a proper look at the growing city?

“I see that the unfinished island ships survived the recent storm. That’s good.”

Ananke nodded.

“The River People know a lot about storms. And according to the people whom you call the House of Night, the storms here are much weaker than they are deeper into the sea, having exhausted all their fury.”

Sunny studied her for a moment, then said in a curious tone:

“You seem to be adapting well. It has been a year since you and your people escaped the Tomb of Ariel, hasn’t it? So… how is it? What do you think about the world beyond its walls?”

Ananke hesitated for a bit.

“It is a wondrous place, Lord Sunless.”

She paused for a moment and then added with a smile:

“And incredibly bizarre. Things are easier for me, since I had a long, long time to grow accustomed to the stillness of the Great River. But my people have only known it for a short while, so it is difficult for them to adapt to the Dream Realm.”

Ananke glanced at Sunny.

“As for me personally, I… am still a little stunned.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“By what?”

Ananke lingered, choosing her words carefully.

“By the scale of the vast world outside the walls of Ariel’s Tomb, and by the scope of your people as well.”

She shook her head.

“I… simply did not know that there could be that many people living in the world. Even at its peak, the population of the River People was merely a fraction of the inconceivable immensity of the War Realm’s population. All of my people can probably fit into one of those harrowing human hives in the place you call the Siege Capital… NQSC.”

Ananke shivered.

“NQSC… what a peculiar name! Visiting it shocked me the most, no doubt. Honestly, I was a bit terrified.”

Sunny let out a chuckle.

“Terrified? What can terrify a Supreme?”

She shifted uncomfortably.

“The… solidity of it all. Nothing moves, nothing flows. There’s no water anywhere, only solid ground. And an endless mass of metal looming over me. A suffocating number of people — too many of them to fathom — locked inside metal hives, hidden underground. Gods! For a moment, I thought that I was in hell.”

Sunny glanced at her incredulously.

“Hey, that was a respectable district close to the city center. You should have seen the place I grew up in… it’s ten times worse.”

Ananke let out a nervous laugh.

“The way you experience time is also very strange, Lord Sunless. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how a civilization can just… exist, despite everyone knowing that time is slowly devouring them, no matter what they do — and having no control over their lifespans. Bizarre, it’s simply bizarre! Just thinking about it gave me a headache. Not to mention that there’s simply nothing above us. Just a vast, boundless emptiness… that’s a frightening thing to imagine.”

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

“Well… now you know how I felt in the Tomb of Ariel.”

She smiled.

“And speaking of that…”

Ananke reached into the folds of her nebulous mantle and produced a booklet printed on synthetic paper. On its cover, a few words were arranged into a neat title: Exploration Report on Everything, by: Nobody.

She glanced at it with a complicated expression.

“It felt really peculiar to read about the Great River — and myself — despite having no memory of that… version of me. Of Weave being destroyed by a mad Titan, the Serpent King ruling a great city. Life is sure full of surprises… especially when you are involved, my lord.”

Ananke chuckled.

“Oh, but there were great things, as well. I quite like the city you call Bastion, even if it is imposingly enormous. Then, the place called Ravenheart… that was the first time I saw snow. Snow is a lovely thing, Lord Sunless! And there is the Garden of Repose, as well — truly a wondrous vessel, one worthy of carrying a god.”

Over the past year, Ananke had visited several places both in the Dream Realm and in the waking world. The latter repelled her with as much force as it did Sunny and Nephis, but she still stayed for a few days, exploring the alloy jungle of NQSC and meeting various champions of the Human Domain.

Her people, too, visited Earth with the help of the Saints of Night. They needed to establish tethers there, after all, to be able to travel between the worlds and rapidly relocate resources.

It seemed that the River People did not have a good impression of the waking world, perceiving it in the same vein as its people would perceive a Death Zone. And who could blame them? Toxic air, overcrowded siege capitals, hordes of Nightmare Creatures wandering the desolate expanse of deadly wastelands…

If Sunny had not been born on Earth, he would have seen it as some kind of hell, too. Ananke fell silent, lingered for a while, and then sighed.

“But mostly… it’s exactly the same.”

Sunny frowned slightly.

“Exactly the same?”

She nodded.

“There might not be a Defilement in the Dream Realm, but there are Seeds of Nightmare. People still live in fear of the Corrupted, fighting a losing battle against them in order to survive. The future is bleak and terrifying, but everyone has blinded themselves to the truth — because that is the only way to live on without drowning in despair.”

She sighed.

“That was how it was in the Tomb of Ariel, as well, shortly before the end.”

Ananke remained silent for a moment, and then smiled faintly.

“But, beneath all that despair… there is still hope. And people find the strength to live because that single ray of hope does not allow them to give up.”

She glanced at Sunny.

“My people did not give up, and because of that, they found salvation. I am sure that all of us will find salvation, as well — as long as we do not give up hope.”