Shadow Slave

Sunny meant what he had said to Jet and the Saints of Night. Their situation was indeed desperate — the end of days was swiftly approaching, and the fate of humanity was woefully undecided. Perhaps the rest could ignore that ominous truth, but as one of the Supremes, Sunny was personally responsible for what would happen to the world in the end.

So, unlike those who wielded less power, he could not allow himself the solace of wilful ignorance.

‘Things would have been easier if I could..’ He missed the time when all he worried about was making enough credits to fill his belly and live a lavish life. Well... that, and surviving another day in a world where everything seemed both unfathomably powerful and hellbent on killing him, somehow.

In any case, Sunny could not allow himself excessive caution.

That said, he was not suggesting that they had no room for caution at all. He had merely pointed out that their choices were limited and that erring on the side of caution when calculating risk and reward was a luxury they could not afford.

Sunny was not advocating for complete recklessness, though. He had valid reasons to believe that an expedition to the Eternal City would be successful... or, at the very least, not end in disaster.

There were several factors mitigating the risk of following the Star Map.

First and foremost, there was the Night Garden itself. The living ship had spent thousands of years drifting in the Stormsea, and nothing had managed to sink it yet — so, Sunny believed that it could weather any danger they would face on the voyage to the Eternal City.

Even if they did stumble onto something too terrifying, though, there was one thing that the Night Garden was better at than almost any other Citadel — it was escaping danger. Not only was the titanic ship highly mobile in and of itself, but there was also the ability to open the Dream Gate between two points in the Dream Realm that it granted Nephis. Should the need arise, the Night Garden would be able to retreat to safer waters almost in an instant — that way, the safety of its passengers could be ensured.

Sunny did not want to risk millions of lives, after all. He would not have suggested taking the Night Garden into perilous waters if he was not reasonably certain that they would have a reliable way to protect its passengers.

And lastly, there was the fact that Nightwalker had escaped the Eternal City once. Not only that, but he had managed to escape it as a Sleeper... now, an army of seasoned Awakened warriors would be heading there, led by three Saints of the House of Night and Soul Reaper Jet herself. Most importantly of all, there was Sunny. And Sunny alone was the equivalent of having seven Sovereigns, a cohort of Supreme Shadows, and a vast army of undying shades guarding the Night Garden on its journey.

If that was enough to reap the rewards of the Eternal City, then what was?

And those rewards promised to be bountiful, indeed — for Sunny, for the Night Garden, and for humanity at large. So, he judged that the risk presented by the expedition to the Eternal City was more than worth it.

Of course, Sunny was not going to make that decision unilaterally. In truth, he did not really need the Night Garden to follow the map left behind by Weaver — he just needed someone capable of reading it to accompany him. It was just that the Eternal City offered an opportunity to strengthen the living ship, as well. If not for that, Sunny would have preferred to venture into the misty waters alone.

Regardless, Jet and Sunny needed to consult Nephis and Cassie before deciding whether to take the Night Garden into the depths of the Stormsea. Preparations for a lengthy voyage also had to be made, so a few days passed in discussions and strategic meetings.

Nephis was busy beyond belief, too. Cassie and she were still dealing with the fallout from Mordret’s unexpected rise to the throne of Supremacy. There was the public reaction to deal with, but also the King of Nothing himself — he and his countless vessels had to be allowed passage to the Hollow Mountains, and someone had to make sure that things did not go awry in the process.

So, after many years, Mordret had returned to the Chained Isles.

There, the members of the White Feather clan escorted him and Nephis to the northern edges of the region, where the Night Temple had once stood. A new crossing was built to breach the wide divide between the floating islands and the misty slopes of the Hollow Mountains, which Mordret then used to leave the territory of the Human Domain behind and claim ownership of his own.

At the same time, the Eastern Quadrant had to be salvaged now that the Skinwalker was gone. Troops had to be transported to other flashpoints, and on top of that, powerful Nightmare Creatures stirred in the Death Zones south of Godgrave. So, Nephis and the Fire Keepers were in the process of preparing for a military expedition, as well. In the end, it was decided that the expedition to the Eternal City had to happen.

While the preparations were being made, Sunny pulled the Shadow Legion back from the depths of the Burned Forest. He wanted to consolidate his position on its southern outskirts and secure his new Citadel in case of a potential attack — but more than that, he wanted his army to be free and ready to be deployed on the shores of the Eternal City, if need be. 𝙍ÂŊỘʙËs

The same went for his other incarnations. After experiencing two deadly adventures while not having access to his full power, Sunny was dead set on meeting the dangers of the Eternal City armed to the teeth. About a week after the initial meeting with the Saints of Night, the same people gathered in the private council cabin of the Mainmast Pagoda once again. This time, they had more practical issues to discuss. ‘How bad will this particular adventure turn out, I wonder..’