Shadow Slave

The interrogation of Awakened Yutra, a thrall of the Dreamspawn, was like a nightmare.

Not the kind of nightmare that claws at one’s heart and leaves them breathless, covered in cold sweat in the middle of a dark night, but rather the kind of nightmare that makes one feel like they are lost in the middle of a bizarre and senseless mire. A dream that makes one uncomfortable because of how peculiar and nonsensical it is. Sunny was dazed.

‘I feel like I have a fever.’

”...I would never betray the legion!”

Awakened Yutra leaned forward, momentarily forgetting even his awe in the face of the ruler of humanity out of pure outrage.

”Never! My lady, you experienced war as a soldier as well. You know the kind of bond that soldiers share — so, you must know that I will never betray my comrades! I would rather die”

He sounded utterly sincere in his indignation.

Nephis studied him for a while, then asked in an even tone:

“What if that was Asterion’s will?”

Yutra had already invoked the name of the Dreamspawn, so there was no point in avoiding it anymore.

Which meant that somewhere out there, Asterion was paying attention to this interrogation as well.

The enthralled Awakened frowned in confusion.

“What? Why would Lord Asterion ever...”

Nephis interrupted him calmly:

“Still.”

Yutra remained silent for a few moments, then shrugged.

“Well, it can’t be helped then. As much as it pains me, my comrades would have to die.”

He sounded sincere now, as well.

Nephis looked at Cassie, a hint of a troubled expression reflecting in her clear eyes. Cassie opened her mouth.

“You will sacrifice them if Asterion orders?” The man gritted his teeth, visibly disturbed by the question.

His answer was firm, though.

”Yes.”

”But you will be pained to sacrifice them?”

He shuddered, then forced out in a tortured tone:

”Naturally I will be. How can you ask that? It will ruin me.”

Cassie tilted her head a little.

“And yet, you’ll still do it.”

He nodded.

“I will. How can I not?”

“Will you hesitate before betraying your comrades, or will you do it without hesitating at all?”

Yutra seemed confused once again.

“Why would I hesitate? If that is Lord Asterion’s will.”

Cassie ceased her questions.

Still hidden in the darkness, Sunny spoke then.

”Yutra...”

The man flinched at the sound of a disembodied voice that came from the darkness, surrounding him like a rustling tide.

Sunny studied him for a few moments.

“You have a wife and two children — a son and a daughter. Correct?”

Yutra nodded slowly.

”I do... yes.”

Sunny smiled quietly.

“A famine came, and your children are starving. You only managed to procure enough food to feed one person, but you are hungry too. What will you do?”

Yutra scowled, once again unnerved by the question. He did not hesitate to answer:

”I will split the food evenly between my son and my daughter, and starve myself.”

There was no shadow of a doubt in his answer.

Sunny considered him quietly, then asked another question.

”You and your comrades have been captured and ordered to kill one another. It’s kill or be killed. What will you do?”

The man’s scowl deepened.

”I’ll die. I won’t raise my sword against my brothers and sisters in arms.’

He sounded confident.

‘How admirable.’

Sunny asked a third question.

“The feelings between you and your wife are long gone, but someone new is paying you flattering attention. What will you do?”

Yutra grimaced in indignation.

“What? What kind of question is that?! Nothing! I’ll do nothing! I will never betray my wife! And our feelings for each other are not something that can disappear one day!” Sunny remained silent for a few moments, then asked in a calm tone:

“What if Asterion asks for the food that is meant for your children, orders you to kill your comrades, and advises you to abandon your wife?”

Yutra blinked a few times, then responded with the same firm confidence:

“Then I will let my children starve, kill whoever he wishes me to kill, and leave my wife without looking back. Naturally!”

The answer was a bit chilling.

What was truly disturbing, however, was the man’s expression. It was the very same expression he wore when vehemently denying the possibility of betraying his legion — the expression of a proud, righteous man who was valiantly stating his principles.

‘What the hell. What the actual hell! It’s creepy.’

The absolute lack of awareness that Yutra displayed was unnerving, and the fact that he seemed perfectly normal even when proclaiming a deranged level of devotion to Asterion was simply eerie.

It was like he saw nothing wrong with what he was saying — far from it. If anything, Yutra seemed confused, uncomfortable even, with the fact that his interrogators were somehow failing to understand something that he deemed self-evident.

“Why?”

Yutra frowned.

“What do you mean?”

Sunny sighed.

“Why would you choose Asterion over your wife, children, and comrades?”

The man remained silent for a while, as if he had never stopped to think about it before. Eventually, his frown disappeared, and he smiled.

“Because of the greater good.”

His smile was pale, but blissful.

Yutra inhaled slowly, then spoke in a subdued tone:

”I can’t describe how much I love my family and value my fellow soldiers. But that is just me — it is the private love and loyalty of a small, simple man. There has to be something greater in your life if you wish to live nobly, though. A greater purpose that goes beyond your personal attachments. Like the survival of all mankind... of everyone’s families and everyone’s comrades.”

He leaned back and looked at Nephis happily.

“That is why I am devoted to Lord Asterion. Because he is our best hope of survival — mankind’s hope. He is the greater good.”

Sunny could not help but laugh silently. ‘Oh. Oh, gods... the irony’

Didn’t what Yutra was trying to describe sound a lot like...

Conviction?

‘Because of the greater good, huh.’