Shadow Slave

Dozens of constellations shimmering on the vast velvet expanse of the night sky exploded. Some stars were extinguished, while some bloomed with shining auroras, as if experiencing a glorious moment of radiant brilliance as they collapsed in a splendid display of self-destruction.

Or at least they seemed to be.

”Wait, that does not make any sense.”

The enchantment Sunny had activated was consuming a vast amount of his essence, but still, he was not powerful enough to extinguish countless stars. Even if he was, nothing would have changed in the night sky — the stars scattered across its dark expanse were unfathomably far away, after all.

Their light took years to travel across the vast emptiness of space... at least that was how things worked in the waking world. Of course, it was theoretically possible that the spell left behind by Weaver had reached through time and destroyed these stars at various points in the distant past, so that the spectacle of their passing became visible all at once just now. But that... that seemed like too much effort, even for the treacherous Demon of Fate.

Especially since there seemed to be no obvious result, beneficial or otherwise, to the strange change in the night sky. It was pretty to look at, but beyond that, nothing seemed to be happening.

“Sunny... what the hell did you do?”

He lingered for a few moments, studying the strange pattern of the vanished and blazing stars, then cleared his throat.

“I am... not entirely sure? I just activated the enchantment.”

Far below, on the decks of the Night Garden, people were gathering and gesturing at the sky, surprised by the beautiful sight. They seemed to be enjoying the unexpected spectacle quite a bit.

Sunny looked at the wooden staff in his hand, feeling it consume his essence continuously. He would not have been able to sustain this mysterious enchantment for a long time as a Saint, but now that he was a Supreme, it was of no consequence. More essence poured into his soul, replenishing his reserves almost instantly.

“The enchantment does not seem to be perilous. At the same time, I have no idea what its purpose is. How mysterious.”

Jet sighed, then looked at the shimmering night sky with a thoughtful expression.

She contemplated its dark depths for a while, then said in a hesitant tone:

”Well, whatever its purpose is, it must be connected to the Stormsea.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

“In what way?”

Jet looked at him with a neutral expression. “You don’t know much about where we are, do you?”

When Sunny responded, his tone was a little offended:

”I know quite a lot, actually. It’s just that most of my knowledge about the Stormsea is theoretical, since I consciously tried to stay as far away from this place as possible. Nothing good ever happens when I am near large bodies of water... and since this one is the largest and most terrifying of them all, you can imagine my reluctance to get entangled with it!” ɽ𝙖NօʙƐ𝐬

He gave her an indignant stare and thought back to what he knew about the Stormsea. After a short pause, Sunny added:

“Do you mean that it has to do with navigation?”

Jet nodded.

”Yes... the Stormsea is not like any other place in the Dream Realm. It’s quite treacherous, as far as navigating its waters goes — and I don’t mean because of the terrible abominations, the harrowing storms, and the thick mist that tends to obscure everything for days, or even weeks on end.” She sighed.

”Rather, space itself behaves strangely in the Stormsea. Nothing ever stays in the same place for long here, and things tend to shift around in relation to each other. You might sail in a straight line for a week, and end up in the same spot you began from... that is the best-case scenario. You might also plot a course to a safe harbor, but end up in previously unexplored waters that teem with all kinds of ghastly Nightmare Creatures and unimaginable horrors. That happens far more frequently.”

Jet looked at the starlit sky.

“That is why Nightwalkers are so important.”

Sunny knew that the Nightwalkers — a title given to certain members of the House of Night in honor of its founder — were able to guide ships through the mists of the Stormsea. In fact, they did the same for mundane ships in the Indian Ocean and were generally good at finding their way around.

That was not surprising, considering that they had inherited the lineage of Storm God, who was also known as the Goddess of the Black Skies — the goddess of depths, oceans, darkness, stars, travel, and guidance.

..And disaster.

In any case, he knew that the ability to navigate the sea by stars was one of the inherent abilities of many members of the House of Night. The skies above the Stormsea were not mundane, either — they were as mystical and treacherous as the misty waters below, so not just anyone could observe them to plot a reliable course.

And since the mysterious enchantment Weaver had left behind seemed to have changed the geography of the night sky... ”Do you think that this staff shows a path to somewhere?”

That was the most reasonable conclusion he could make.

Weaver had left an image of a strange spellweave in the skies that the Night Garden dreamed about. Once realized, this spellweave altered the real sky, making it seem as if some stars had been extinguished, while some burned brighter. The stars were the only way to navigate the Stormsea, and therefore... the beautiful spectacle above them could be a map, of sorts.

Sunny had no idea where that map led to, but he was pretty sure that the fragment of Weaver’s lineage he was searching for would be there, in that mysterious place.

Jet lingered for a while, then shrugged. “Actually, I can navigate the Stormsea as well, somewhat. That is one of the privileges granted to the captain of the Night Garden. But I am not very experienced in reading the stars yet — so, I can’t really tell if this enchantment shows a path to somewhere.” She looked at him, then smiled slightly. “However, I know a few people who can.”