Shadow Slave

The Chain Breaker flew through the boundless black abyss of the sky above the Forgotten Shore, surrounded by silence. There were no stars and no moon above them, and the ground was shrouded in utter darkness. It felt as if they were floating through a lightless, endless void.

The light of the lanterns hanging from the masts of the Chain Breaker seemed feeble and weak in the face of this vast, lightless expanse.

Sunny could see the terrain far below the flying ship perfectly well, of course. However, Nephis had been rendered blind. She pulled the oars gently, slowing down the ship, and sighed.

”I’d close my eyes if I were you.”

Sunny followed her advice and closed his eyes, then covered them with a hand. Nephis inhaled deeply, then channelled her essence and invoked the True Name of Light in a simple, but powerful Verse.

In the next moment, the hull of the Chain Breaker ignited with a blinding white radiance — so blinding, in fact, that Sunny felt a great change in the shadows above, below, and around them. The shadows fled away from the light like an oceanic tide, and just from the scale of that sudden migration, he could tell that an area spanning hundreds of kilometres across was now illuminated.

The desolate, barren terrain of the Forgotten Shore was instantly bathed in light. It was as if a new sun had risen above it after long years of cold darkness — that sun was the Chain Breaker, which flew across the sky like a divine chariot.

Sunny carefully opened his eyes, giving them time to adjust to the sudden daylight. Nephis was still steering the Chain Breaker, looking ahead impassively.

She remained silent for a few moments, then said:

“It seems this is my limit. If I were Sacred... I would have probably been able to illuminate the entirety of the Forgotten Shore.”

Looking at him, she smiled faintly, a hint of a strange bittersweet emotion in her eyes.

“Then, I’d really be able to replace a sun.”

Just as she said that, the ruins of the Crimson Spire appeared on the horizon. Nephis and Sunny did not say anything to each other, but there was a tacit understanding between them. She sent the Chain Breaker into a descent, and when it reached the ground, Sunny summoned a cradle made out of shadows to support its weight.

Soon enough, they were standing on the rubble of the great tower that had once supported the weight of the sun. Some distance away, the statue of the Builder was kneeling in the dust, holding its head. Behind them, hidden in the towering mountain of shattered black stone, the Dark Sea was waiting silently beneath the seal. Nephis looked around, her face betraying no emotion.

She did not seem interested in the Dark Sea and its seal, and while the massive figure of the kneeling Builder held her attention for a while, eventually, she simply walked past it and crossed the bridge that led to the sea of dust beyond.

There, two hills stood side by side.

One was a barrow built from black stone — from the shattered pieces of the Crimson Spire.

The other was an eerie mountain of monstrous bones, tall enough to dwarf the barrow.

They were the grave of the Sleepers who had fought and lost their lives on this battlefield and the bones of the Nightmare Creatures they had slain.

Nephis approached the barrow and stood beneath it, looking up.

Her eyes traveled to the words carved into the black stone...

[Here lie those

Who extinguished the sun

Dreamers of the Dark City

Sleep well

Your nightmare is over.]

Nephis remained motionless for a long while.

Eventually, she asked:

“Who buried them?”

Sunny shifted slightly.

”I did.”

She lowered her head and let out an almost inaudible sigh.

”Thank you.”

Her words fell heavy into the ashen silence. After some time, Nephis turned back and looked at the ruins of the Crimson Spire.

”People call me a hero, you know. For leading the Sleepers of the Dark City back to the waking world. But actually, there was nothing heroic about it.”

She paused for a moment.

”I merely used them to achieve my goals. I needed an army to reach the Gateway, and for that, I needed to wrestle authority out of Gunlaug’s hands. So, I simply made myself into the opposite of Gunlaugh. I didn’t really know much about people back then... but becoming the opposite of the man who oppressed them was simple enough.”

Nephis smiled bitterly.

”Of course, I sincerely believed that laying siege to the Crimson Spire was the best choice for all of them — the only choice. But, still. I did it for myself. I did it to pursue my goals.”

Sunny studied her silently for a few moments, then asked:

“Would you have done anything differently if you had a choice?”

Nephis looked at him in surprise.

”Done anything differently? Of course. I wouldn’t have failed.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow, then gestured to the ruins of the Crimson Spire.

”It doesn’t seem like you failed, though. If anything, it looks like you succeeded completely.”

Nephis laughed quietly.

”If I succeeded, there would have been far more survivors. Most of all, I wouldn’t have ended up stuck in the Dream Realm for two years.”

She looked at the ruins of the Crimson Spire and sighed.

“Granted, I don’t quite remember what transpired there. The battle against the Crimson Terror must have been too taxing. I figured out the mechanics of the Spire too late, I think. Caster was already dead by then, so there was no one to make the conduit instead of me. Oh... Caster was a Legacy whom the Sovereigns had sent to kill me. He died in the Spire.”

Sunny smiled and looked away.

”Still... you were victorious in the end, weren’t you?”

Nephis studied the ruins of the Crimson Spire once more.

Eventually, she said:

“Victorious? Oh... no, not at all. I only ever tasted defeat for the longest time.”