Shadow Slave

Sunny was getting used to the feeling of being pursued. He and Kai had spent a peaceful night in the dead branches of the Axis Tree, and in the morning, the Tree Devil and the Cursed Dragon conquered the mountains to the south and west of it.

He watched the western volcano be extinguished and shrouded in snow, familiar with the sight. For a few seconds, Sunny allowed himself to contemplate turning back and attempting to take out one of the Devils come evening. It was an alluring idea, no doubt… facing each of the two fiends in sequence, slaying them, and arriving at the Snow Castle after having completely cleared the board.

But no matter how much he wanted to kill the Snow Devils and add them to his Shadow Legion, Sunny knew that it was a bad idea. He had not even recovered from his wounds yet, and both Slayer and his most powerful shades were still unavailable. More importantly than that, facing these powerful creatures was at best a gamble.

He might have allowed himself to become a little arrogant after attaining Supremacy, but the eerie events in the recent past helped him regain his senses. In truth, he had no business confronting a Cursed Tyrant in his current weakened state… even if he could wield his full power, a battle like that would be a lethal challenge.

Sunny was ready to die - losing one incarnation would be painful, but not disastrous. However, if his avatar died here, Kai would die too. And that was not something he was willing to consider.

So, he had to win.

The battle against the Snow Tyrant was unavoidable, but fighting these two Devils was unnecessary. Sunny was not going to gamble three times in a row if he could do it just once.

With a sigh, he turned away from the distant mountain and glanced at his right hand.

A few seconds passed, and then, his fingers twitched faintly.

A subtle smile appeared on his lips.

’It’s healing well…’

There was another piece of good news, as well. His soul had been healed completely - it happened in an instant, actually, not too long ago. This incarnation of his was isolated in Ariel’s Game, but it still shared the soul with all the rest. That meant that they had suffered the agony of having their soul wounded at the same time as he had.

But… that also meant that Nephis could heal his soul by touching any of the avatars.

That was what must have happened.

’The rest must be really confused right about now. I’ll have new stories to tell when I come out…’

Shaking his head, he concentrated on weaving. The pieces of golden amber lay near his feet, glistening in the morning light.

In the evening, Sunny and Kai left the Axis Tree and crossed the obsidian bridge, moving north. The mountain did not offer them any resistance, its peak exploding in a fiery conflagration of smoke, ash, and lava. Sunny could almost move his fingers freely by then, which helped him weave at greater speed.

They ascended to the smoking caldera and climbed its edge on the other side, looking north - at the last mountain they would have to conquer before coming into sight of the Snow Castle.

…And froze.

”What… what the hell is that?”

Sunny could not help but say the words despite promising himself to hold back on using them for a while.

But he had a good reason to. The landscape in front of them… was not at all what they had expected to see. In fact, it was something that no one could have expected to see, because Sunny had never even imagined something like that existing.

The vast expanse of the chasm between the two mountains, was entirely obscured by a vast, tattered shroud. The three peaks in the distance were overgrown by that dark mass, as well, appearing like towering pillars enveloped in black spider webs. Enormous sheets of ghostly, tattered cloth billowed in the wind, stretching for numerous kilometers in all directions, their surface frayed and uneven, comprised of innumerable strands.

These eerie, tenebrous strands reached the northern slope of the mountain Sunny and Kai were standing on, as well, disappearing into the snow. As Sunny glanced closer, he saw that the dark mass consisted of myriad threads of flawlessly black silk, each of them as fine as a hair. ṜＡɴοΒĚꞩ

The entire northern side of the miniature realm created by Ariel was shrouded by this black web, as if a distressing spider had made its nest somewhere beyond the horizon.

The silk strands were so countless, in fact, that one could walk from where Sunny stood to the Snow Castle without needing the obsidian bridges or ever touching the clouds.

He shivered.

”Ah…”

Just what kind of horror had Weaver put on the board?

Sunny remained silent for a while, then said in a subdued tone:

”You know, Kai… Weaver’s symbol was a spider.”

Kai did not seem happy to hear that.

Sunny shook his head slowly.

”But actually, it was not Weaver who chose the spider as their symbol. Rather, people commenced to associate spiders with the Demon of Fate… after all, spiders are masters of weaving, as well.”

He smiled darkly, remembering the spider silk he had found in the nest resting on the branches of the Soul Devouring Tree.

”Perhaps even spiders themselves came to see their tribe as servants of Weaver. But, come to think of it, even the name Weaver is simply a description of what that daemon was. The Demon of Fate never shared what they knew, so they would naturally never reveal their true name either. I’d imagine someone simply commenced calling them Weaver, and that was what they went on using to introduce themself.”

Nether and Hope were also like that. Their names were simply descriptions of what they were… the Demon of Desire gave living beings hope, while the Demon of Destiny ruled the Underworld. The titles given to them by people had slowly become known as their names, but they were merely descriptors.

So, in truth… despite inheriting the cursed lineage of the Demon of Fate, Sunny did not really know anything about Weaver at all. Even their name was a deception.

Kai raised an eyebrow.

”Why, exactly, are you telling me this?”

Sunny cleared his throat.

”Well, it’s just… I am trying to convince myself that the Snow Tyrant is not necessarily a spider. You know?”

Kai let out a deep sigh.

”Do you hate spiders, as well?”

Sunny forced out a smile.

”Not really. But I am considering starting to hate them right now…”