Shadow Slave

A heavy silence settled in the council room. No one spoke for a while, considering her ominous words. Eventually, Effie leaned back and rubbed her temple.

“How troublesome,” she sighed. “What about us? We all know his name — are we infected, as well?”

Cassie shrugged. “It is difficult to tell. From what I have been able to observe so far, not everyone is susceptible to his influence equally. The more powerful a person is and the more mental fortitude they possess, the less frequently they mention the name — which can be seen as them resisting infection. However, there is a difference between resistance and immunity. We also don’t know if they are resisting the infection itself, or merely a symptom.”

Effie grimaced, dissatisfied with the answer. “And that’s the problem, isn’t it? We just don’t know enough — we hardly know anything, really. Ki Song and Anvil were too thorough in eradicating any and all knowledge about As... about the Dreamspawn from the world. Hell...”

She glanced around the room and said in a somber tone: “We don’t even know why his name being known to people is dangerous. Does the Dreamspawn draw power from those who are infected by the idea of him? Is he rebuilding a foundation of his Domain that way? What happens when the virus reaches critical mass?”

Effie shook her head. ”How are we supposed to fight an enemy we know close to nothing about?”

After another bout of heavy silence, Kai spoke in a hesitant tone: “Still... how dangerous can that man be? Sure, he is a Supreme inheritor of a divine lineage — possibly even several of them, if Mordret is to be believed. But he is not a wielder of a Divine Aspect, unlike Nephis and Sunny. More than that, he has been sealed on the Moon for two decades. It is already a miracle that he has survived for that long, so how powerful can he still be?”

Even though the question was not directed at Sunny, and his Flaw did not force him to answer, he still answered: “Let’s not get careless. It does not matter how powerful we are — power is merely a weapon. And just like a weapon, it won’t save you unless drawn and pointed at the adversary.”

Truthfully, Sunny did not think that Asterion could contend against him and Nephis in terms of power — either of them, let alone the two of them together.

However, raw power was not a universal answer.

One had to express the power they possessed shrewdly to make use of it — even then, one moment of complacency could spell disaster. And further still, there was always someone or something that countered your Aspect in the vast and harrowing world of the Nightmare Spell — a bad match-up could bring down even the strongest beings, Awakened and Nightmare Creatures both.

Sunny knew all this better than most because he had triumphed over innumerable foes who were far more powerful than he and should have utterly crushed him.

So, he was not going to underestimate Asterion.

Especially not after seeing how spooked Mordret was by his former... caretaker. Calling the Dreamspawn his guardian would have probably been too big a stretch.

Sadly, that did not change much in the current situation.

Effie frowned. “So what now? What can we even do?”

Cassie remained silent for a while, then said, ”One option is to do what Ki Song and Anvil did. Find a way to identify everyone infected by the Dreamspawn... then cull them all. Naturally, that would be a slaughter of horrifying proportions.”

Nephis shook her head. ”No.”

He looked at them and said in her even, dispassionate voice: “We are not going to slaughter thousands, or possibly even hundreds of thousands of innocent people. If we do, we would be no better than Song and Valor. What was the point of overthrowing them, then?”

Sunny studied her silently.

Behind Neph’s calm facade, she was actually a person burning with passion — more than anyone he knew, possibly. Nephis wanted to conquer all Nightmares and destroy the Nightmare Spell with a passion so ferocious that it bordered on obsession... so, it was easy to overlook the rest of her behind that blazing ambition. ŕ₳ƝŐꞖĚS̈

But Nephis herself was never blinded by her incinerating desire. Even though she was pursuing it with obsessive persistence, for her, the end never justified the means. Sunny had learned it numerous years ago, near the crumbling Gateway of the Crimson Spirit — that Nephis did not simply want to destroy the Spell, but also did it in a way that she considered right, without compromising her values.

It was just that her personal sense of right and wrong was so peculiar that most people often failed to recognize her intentions. Sunny knew, though.

So, he knew that Nephis would never order a massacre of thousands of innocent people to prevent her enemy from growing stronger. She might send them into a bloody battle against a tide of Nightmare Creatures since that would fit her understanding of what was right and righteous, but she would not simply sacrifice them to further her goals.

That conviction was what made her so strong... but it was also something she lacked when compared to Anvil and Ki Song. A limitation that, if exploited, could be turned into a weakness.

’Was that what Mordret meant when he said that we have too much to lose?”

Sunny was troubled.

”The Dreamspawn has not even revealed himself yet, and it already feels like our hands are tied.”

Nephis looked at him briefly, then sighed. “There are still initial steps we can take. To learn more, and hopefully work out countermeasures based on that information.”

She remained silent for a while, contemplating, and then turned to Cassie. ”Cassie, continue to monitor the zealots and broaden the scope of the investigation to include other marginal groups. Request as much resources as you must — conscript the entire intelligence arm of the government, if need be. Additionally... I need you to pay a visit to Godgrave and have a conversation with the disgraced patriarch of the Dagonet clan, Saint Jest.”

Sunny nodded quietly.

Old Jest had outlived his king and was now living in exile, confined to a remote Citadel in Godgrave with the other staunch loyalists. If anyone knew about Asterion, it would be him — after all, he had been the most loyal enforcer of the Great Clan Valor. He would have certainly learned a lot about the members of his young master’s cohort. Whether Jest would be willing to talk was a question, naturally. But Sunny had no doubt that Cassie would succeed in getting valuable information out of him. She could be quite persuasive when she wanted to, after all... and if that did not work, she could simply plunder other people’s memories.

Nephis turned to Kai.

“Morgan is back in Ravenheart, isn’t she? Speak to her as well. Anvil had probably been wary of exposing her to knowledge about the Dreamspawn, considering how dangerous it is, so she would not know as much as Jest... but she can still know something. She also unearthed a part of the secrets left behind by Ki Song — Seishan, too. Learn all you can from them.”

A strange shadow ran across her face.

She lingered for a while, and then looked back at Cassie.

“Oh... and get me the casualties list among our Awakened warriors — everyone who fell in battle ever since the war.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow. “What’s that for?”

Nephis remained silent for a while. Her face did not show any emotion, but he could tell that she was troubled by something. Eventually, she said:

“All of humanity — most of it, at least — is encompassed by my Domain. I can feel the longing of billions of people day and night, washing over me like an ocean tide. Sometimes... too often to count... I can vaguely feel their radiant sparks being extinguished. That means that one of my subjects died. The flame of their desire is gone forever.”

Her expression grew a little wistful. ”.I’ve been sensing more and more people dying as of late. The increase in the mortality rate was not significant, so I assumed that it was just the natural course of things — after all, war is raging on all sides. A war to subjugate new regions of the Dream Realm, a war for the Eastern Quadrant... numerous people have become refugees and settlers, too, and their lives are far less stable than before.”

Nephis frowned. “But now, I think that there might be a different cause. So, I want to check.”

Kai looked at her in confusion. “A different cause? You suspect that the Dreamspawn’s followers are responsible for these deaths?”

Nephis slowly shook her head. ”No. I suspect that these people — some of them, at least... might not be dead at all. There is another reason for me to lose the ability to sense someone’s spark, after all. It is if they have ceased to be a part of my Domain.”

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

’Meaning... that they became a part of someone else’s Domain.”

Like the members of the Shadow Clan, who could not enjoy the grace of Neph’s flame due to bearing his mark.

He scowled. ”Do you mean...”

But before Sunny could finish the sentence, Cassie suddenly flinched. Her eyes widened a little, and she turned to them with a complicated expression.

“Wait. There is... there is a message from Jet.”

Cassie paused for a moment, and then said in an urgent tone: “Something strange just happened in the Eastern Quadrant...”