Shadow Slave

While Nephis was pretending to sleep, Sunny moved to the stern of the ketch and looked at Ananke, who seemed to have paid no attention to their conversation. Sensing his attention, however, she turned slightly and asked:

”Yes, my Lord?”

He hesitated for a few moments. ”I… wanted to ask you about Weaver.”

The old woman smiled slightly, as if uplifted by his question. ”What would you like to know?”

Sunny remained silent for a moment. What didn’t he want to know? Daemons were surrounded by mystery, and while he slowly accumulated a lot of knowledge about them — much more knowledge than an average human in the ancient times of the Dream Realm had, most likely — there were still wide gaps in it. The problem was that Ananke was not really a person from the Dream Realm. She had been born in the Tomb of Ariel and spent her life in isolation from the outside world. Still… she was a priestess of the Nightmare Spell. She had to know many things, even if some of that knowledge had undoubtedly been twisted as a result of becoming religious doctrine.

So, he was unsure how much he would be able to learn from the old woman.

Sunny scratched the back of his head. ”Well… for starters, was Weaver a man or a woman?”

He was really tired of stumbling over his words every time he tried to say something about... them.

Ananke chuckled. ”No one knows. Weaver was a master of lies, after all — so, you should take anything that is known about the Demon of Fate with a grain of salt. Weaver was the firstborn of the Unknown. His — or hers — domain was fate. And just like fate, Weaver was fickle, inevitable, and terrifying. Despite not possessing dreadful battle power, unlike some other daemons, the Demon of Fate was feared the most.”

Sunny was not surprised. He couldn’t imagine a more frightening enemy than someone whose weapon was fate itself. That said… he wasn’t sure whether Weaver had been able to control fate, or simply perceive it. The latter seemed more probable, even if everyone had been convinced otherwise. Was that one of Weaver’s lies?

He inhaled deeply. ”Who was the Unknown, then?”

The old woman smiled.

”...I don’t know.” Sunny blinked a couple of times. ’Well, that is not surprising. There is a reason why that being is called the Unknown, after all… actually, no. Unknown is just the substitute word the Spell uses for the runes it refuses to translate. So, the progenitor of the daemons is called something else. The priesthood of the Nightmare Spell probably started calling that being Unknown for the same reason I did, considering that they are the carriers of the Spell, as well. Or rather, of an ancient, rudimentary version of the Spell.’ He shook his head dejectedly. ”For someone who has chosen to dedicate their lives to serving Weaver, suffering all kinds of mistreatment and persecution, you and your people don’t seem to know a lot about the being you serve.”

Sunny was afraid that Ananke would be offended by his remark, but she simply shook her head.

”We might not know a lot… but we know all we need. We know that when the gods and the daemons started their cursed war, Weaver was the only one who refused to participate.”

Her weathered face turned somber.

”...And when the flames of that war spread, bringing doom and destruction to all, Weaver was the only one who offered us all a path to salvation.”

Sunny glanced at Nephis, who could certainly hear what they were talking about. Wondering what she thought about all that, he asked:

”That path to salvation… is the Nightmare Spell?”

Ananke nodded. ”Indeed. The Nightmare Spell was created by Weaver and entrusted to us in order to save us all from the doom that Demons brought upon.”

And there it was. A proclamation of a hidden truth that Sunny had tentatively considered before, but was never really sure of. That the purpose of the Spell was not cruel and sinister in nature, but instead fundamentally benevolent... albeit still cruel.

However…

If that was what Weaver had told people like Ananke… could that truth really be trusted?

She had just described the Demon of Fate as a master of lies, after all, and said that everything about Weaver should be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, Ananke seemed to believe in the benevolence of the Nightmare Spell wholeheartedly. That was… rather strange.

’How should I put it…’

The old woman, despite her age and wisdom, seemed a little bit… naive. Sunny and Nephis were not the worst people from the waking world by far, but even they had briefly contemplated attacking and killing her after discovering the ketch. Yet she had never been on guard against them, instead treating them with utmost sincerity. Her unwavering trust in Weaver was just the same. He hesitated for a long time before speaking again:

”Grandmother… I don’t mean to offend you, but hasn’t that doom come already? Where is the salvation you were promised?”

Holding the steering oar, Ananke smiled softly. ”Why… it is right here, my Lord. It is you, the Children of Weaver.”

Sunny stared at her for a few moments, his expression incredulous. The old woman chuckled. ”You might have misunderstood me a little. When I spoke of salvation, I did not mean that my elders, who had accepted the mission of caring for the Nightmare Spell from Weaver, hoped to save themselves. The Doom War… it threatened to destroy all life — all humans, and all beings — everywhere, forever. So, what they really wanted to save… was the future.”

She paused for a few moments, took a shaky breath, and added:

”It might be strange to say this while sailing into the past, but the future… it is still ahead, and so, it can still be saved.”

Sunny pursed his lips. The Dream Realm was already a dead world, with only Nightmare Creatures populating its hellish expanse. And now, the Spell had even infected Earth with the same plague that had destroyed it, forcibly pulling more humans there… in an attempt to do what?

He sighed. ”How exactly are we supposed to save the future? We can’t even save ourselves.”

The old woman shook her head. ”That is for you to know, my Lord. Although I am a caretaker of the Nightmare Spell, I am not a person it was meant for. All I can do… is help those chosen, like you… brave the thorny path. As much as I can, with what little power I have.”

She smiled.

”Even if it’s just for a short while. That is enough for me.”

Sunny remained motionless for a few moments, then rubbed his face.

’Well, isn’t that convenient…’