Shadow Slave

They returned to the cell in concerned silence. Sunny was still hidden in the shadows, having assumed his natural form. He studied Yutra carefully, paying attention to the exhaustion written on the man’s face.

“My lady, I don’t understand why you are doing this to me.’

Yutra’s hoarse voice was full of confusion. He glanced at Nephis with fatigued reverence in his eyes.

Then, however, a hint of something dark ignited in them, and after hesitating for a long while, he said in a hollow tone: ”Unless, of course, you harbor malice against Lord Asterion. Against the greater good for all of mankind.”

His pupils widened in terror at the implications of his bold suspicion.

”No, no... it can’t be.”

Sunny had been feeling uneasy all along, but now, he was suddenly full of dark apprehension.

Was this Asterion’s real goal? Was he not simply aiming to bewitch subjects of the Human Domain to fuel his source element, but also planning to turn them against the very woman who ruled them? There was only one leap of logic between being devoted to the Dreamspawn and loathing his enemies, after all.

Was Asterion building an army out of Neph’s very own soldiers?

‘He has to be. Does that mean that we will have to slaughter our own soldiers to destroy his army?’

Sunny was troubled.

Nephis, meanwhile, regarded Yutra silently for a while.

Then, unexpectedly, a soft smile graced her lips.

“Do you know, Awakened Yutra, I’ve known Asterion personally since I was a little child” Yutra stared at her in shock. Then, his eyes ignited with a sense of awe.

“Y—you have met Lord Asterion? Really?” Nephis nodded.

”Of course. I used to call him Uncle Aster. We were quite close.”

She took the alloy chair and moved it out of the way.

“And later, when Valor and Song conspired to kill me... I heard that it was my uncle Aster who kept them at bay.”

Yutra’s eyes shone as he nodded energetically.

“Of course. Of course he would!”

Nephis sighed and glanced up with the same soft smile on her lips.

”I used to think he was the greatest, too.” Then, she turned her gaze to Yutra.

”I know he is listening right now. I am glad he is.”

She entered the runic circle, walked around the shackled man, and placed her hands on his shoulders.

Leaning down, Nephis remained silent for a moment and then spoke softly into his ear. ”It took three of them to kill my father, even when they stabbed him in the back. Anvil and Ki Song have already been dealt with. They died too quickly, though... so, I am glad that Asterion cannot be destroyed, as well. He’ll long to be able to die, one day soon.” Before Yutra could react, she grabbed his head and held it in place.

“What... what are you!”

Cassie was already stepping into the runic circle, pulling her blindfold down. Sunny was behind her, so he did not see what her Transcendent Ability had turned her eyes into... he could see Yutra flinch in utter horror as he beheld them, though.

Then, the enthralled soldier’s terrified expression slowly slackened, turning into one of mesmerized wonder, as if he was witnessing something both tantalizing and breathtakingly gorgeous.

Sunny was faintly disturbed by the scene. ‘Damn it... why is everyone so creepy?’ Cassie stood motionlessly above the mesmerized Awakened, her golden hair moving subtly in the wind that blew through the underground cell thanks to a derelict ventilation system.

Everything else was still and motionless, swallowed by a cold silence.

Neither Sunny nor Nephis could perceive what was happening in Yutra’s mind, where Cassie’s power was currently waging a war against the insidious influence of the Dreamspawn. However, they knew that a daunting battle was happening close to them, hidden from view.

Sunny did not like the feeling of not being able to help... to do anything notable, really. It was an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling, one he had not experienced in a long while. The same feeling, in a broader sense, was connected to everything having to do with Asterion. He felt like all his power was useless in the face of this particular adversary... making Sunny feel powerless before the adversary had even revealed himself was quite an achievement, and he could not help but grit his teeth.

A few minutes later, Cassie let out a quiet groan. Nephis glanced at her tensely, then asked with a hint of concern:

“Are you alright?”

Cassie remained silent for a short while, then answered flatly:

“I’m fine. Delving into the mind of the Dreamspawn’s thrall is like opening myself to a vicious mind attack. It is like... walking through a minefield, intentionally stepping on each mine. But I am handling it.”

Now, Sunny was a bit concerned, too.

“You are handling a mental attack of a Supreme?”

Cassie responded after a short delay:

“l am incapable of repelling an assault of a Supreme. So while I am erasing the memories of Yutra, I am erasing my own memories of having erased them at the same time. Thus, I am dodging the attack and keeping my mind free of contaminated knowledge.”

Sunny fell silent, quietly impressed. He was sure that manipulating the memories of a person was not an easy task, so doing that while also editing her own memories must have been more than a little difficult. Still, Cassie was handling it with seeming ease. The process continued for a while, each minute more tense than the previous one. Yutra’s expression of wonder slowly dimmed, replaced by a strained grimace. He was as pale as a ghost, with beads of sweat glistening on his skin.

Then, gradually, his grimace disappeared, and he slowly looked away from Cassie. He seemed spent, disoriented, and dazed.

She let out a long sigh.

After remaining silent for a few seconds, Cassie said quietly:

“It’s done. I... think it’s done”

She pulled her blindfold back in place and took several steps back.

”His first memory of the Dreamspawn appeared only a few days after the conclusion of the war in Godgrave. I tried to be surgical in which memories I erased, but... as his condition worsened, every minute of his life seemed to be contaminated. I had no choice but to erase it all”

Just as she finished speaking, a weak voice resounded in the underground cell. “Where... where am I?”

Yutra was looking around, anxious and confused.

Sunny felt a hint of sympathy for the man. Coming to his senses with no memories of the past couple of years, chained to a chair inside a runic circle, had to be quite a shock.

Nephis calmly released the man’s head and walked around the chair to stand in front of him.

“Awakened Yutra, I presume?”

His eyes widened.

”L—lady Nephis?!”

Sunny felt a sense of deja vu.

Soon enough, a soothing white light ignited under Yutra’s skin, healing his scrapes and bruises.

Having been stolen from the Longing Domain by the Dreamspawn, he was now healed and returned to the embrace of the Immortal Flame.

Even if he had been robbed of a vast swath of his memories, having lost a short span of his life forever.

...Not long after, Sunny, Nephis, Cassie, and Kai were gathered on the floor of the abandoned factory, standing in a small circle. A somber silence hung between them, interrupted only by the rustle of the old air filters.

Eventually, Sunny asked in a dark tone: ”How many thralls can you cure in a day?” Cassie sighed, then lowered her head a little.

“It doesn’t take a lot of time... but my reserves of essence are not endless. A few. possibly a dozen, if I exhaust myself.”

‘A dozen...’

With the speed at which the infection was spreading and new thralls were being initiated into Asterion’s Domain, a dozen was woefully not enough.

”We can’t keep doing nothing”

Saying that, Sunny glanced at Nephis.

”I know that cracking down on small cults only makes them spread faster, but since our adversary is an idea, we have no choice but to engage in ideological warfare. Strict censorship, criminal persecution of dissidents, political repression... we’ll have to engage in all of those, and more.’

He sighed.

“At the very least, we must isolate those who preach the name of the Dreamspawn to the masses. That won’t stop him, but it will slow him down.

Nephis looked at him for a while, remaining silent.

Eventually, she asked:

“Are you suggesting that I start hunting down heretics? Those who denounce me in favor of a different god? What next, then... should I start burning them at the stake?” If she did, the words Immortal Flame would attain a much darker meaning.

Sunny frowned.

“Hey, there’s no need to be that extreme. I am sure that we can build a comfortable camp or two for these people.”

Nephis exhaled slowly.

”We are building camps now? Do you even hear yourself?”

Sunny studied her for a short while, then smiled.

”Nephis, we might have won the war against the Sovereigns, but now, we are facing a paranormal insurgency led by a Supreme who does not even consider himself to be human. There’s no time for half-measures anymore. Things are going to start happening fast from now on, so we should forget the false assumption that we hold an advantage and start acting far more desperate.”

Nephis lingered for a long while.

In the end, she sighed.

”Fine. Let’s stop doing nothing, then.”