Shadow Slave

Nephis and Sunny looked at each other.

‘Ah. I don’t like it.’

Even knowing that nothing Asterion said could be trusted, Sunny still felt intrigued. After all, they were planning on challenging the Fifth Nightmare while knowing nothing about it. Information about it was scarce... in fact, there was no information about it at all.

The Sovereigns could have known something, though. By now, Sunny had learned more about the greatest secrets of the world than they had ever learned, but that did not mean that there was no knowledge they had possessed that he did not.

The original Supremes had been around for far longer than Sunny and Nephis, after all. They had hoarded knowledge like treasure — or, rather, wielded it like a weapon to build their kingdoms. Asterion, meanwhile, had been the foremost explorer and historian among them.

It was no coincidence that he had visited both the Eternal City and the Nightmare Desert long before the rest of humanity discovered them. Where else had he been? What secrets had he gleaned, and what mysteries had he uncovered?

It was quite a tantalizing question.

So, Sunny lingered for a while, and then asked:

”What makes the Fifth Nightmare so different? And how do you even know about it?”

Asterion chuckled.

”I’ll admit, it seems improbable that I would know anything about the Fifth Nightmare. After all, no Awakened from our cycle of the Nightmare Spell has returned from it — so, it is not like I could ask someone. Right? The phantoms who dwell within the Nightmares, meanwhile, all lived long before the Spell was completed. I understand your suspicion.”

He looked at them quietly.

”However, that does not mean that the Awakened from the previous cycles did not know anything, either. If one searches diligently, finding traces that they left behind is not impossible... granted, there is barely any of those traces left, considering the obliterating conclusions of all the previous cycles.”

Sunny frowned.

”Cycles...”

He understood what Asterion was talking about. Earth was not the first realm infected by the Nightmare Spell — in fact, it was the last. In the past, the Spell had infected five other Divine Realms, giving its dwellers a chance to conquer the Nightmares and find salvation... just like the humans of the War Realm were fighting for their salvation now. It was just that none of those ancient people had succeeded.

The Twilight Sea had been swallowed by the Dream Realm and became the Stormsea. Heart Realm was the Burned Forest now. A piece of the Sun Realm had become Godgrave. Moon Realm was nowhere to be found, even if Sunny suspected that Moonriver Plains had once been a part of it.

And the Shadow Realm... well. Sunny had no idea who the Nightmare Spell would have infected there, but it had been swallowed by the Dream Realm in the end, as well. Asterion was claiming that he had discovered knowledge about the Fifth Nightmare in the ruins left by one of those fallen civilizations. Sunny did not know if that too was a lie, but he was willing to hear the Dreamspawn out.

Judging by the faint smirk on Asterion’s face, he must have read that thought in Sunny’s mind.

Shaking his head lightly, he continued to stroll around the ring of chains forming the Gateway.

”You should be familiar with Godgrave quite well, no? The ruins hidden inside the Hollows there are what remains of a civilization that, like ours, was infected by the Spell and strived to resist the encroaching Nightmare. Naturally, they failed in the end — but they had achieved quite a few startling feats before succumbing to their fate. Several Awakened of their cycle even became Spirits, no less.” He smiled.

”Condemnation, Desolation — and a few others, as well. Of course, they went by different names back then... before Corruption. And among the ruins of the cities where their temples stood, there were fragmented remains of the chronicle depicting their deeds. That is where I learned a few things about the Fifth Nightmare.”

Sunny looked at him incredulously.

’Huh.’

So, according to Asterion, Condemnation had not always been a Nightmare Creature. That fallen deity had been a fellow human once... a carrier of the Nightmare Spell no different from Nephis or Sunny, no less, albeit far more accomplished.

Not that it helped, in the end.

’What a sobering revelation.’

But one that could be easily believed, actually, considering that Sunny himself had once fallen prey to Corruption. If not for the nature of the Tomb of Ariel, he might have been a Great Titan now, not a Supreme one. He might have been the Mad Prince.

”Why would the Fifth Nightmare be so different from the rest?”

Asterion smiled.

”Why wouldn’t it be? After all, among all the steps on the Path of Ascension, the fifth one is the most profound. It is the step of attaining godhood. There is a vast abyss between those Supreme and those Sacred — that abyss is far greater than the gap between Supremacy and all the lesser Ranks combined. In fact, it is far greater than the gap between being Sacred and being Divine, as well. The latter is mostly a question of scale... of quantity. The former, however, has to do with the inherent quality of one’s being instead.”

He looked at Sunny and Nephis with a wry glint in his golden eyes.

”Look at you. You have only recently become Supremace, and you are already barely holding on to your humanity. Can you even remember what it feels like, to be mundane humans? And why would you? Your powers as Supremes are already incompatible with consciousness that is mundane, and therefore human. Imagine what you must become to wield the power of a god.”

Asterion shrugged.

”How would the Spell guide one to such a fundamental transformation? It is not a matter of gaining raw power or attaining a deeper mastery of your Aspect. It is a matter of shedding the remains of your mortal self and being reborn as something greater. It is only natural that the Fifth Nightmare would be different from all the rest.”

Nephis frowned.

”So, what exactly is the difference?” Asterion flashed her a smile.

”Ah, I am afraid I cannot answer that. Asking me to be exact is asking too much — even I am not omniscient, after all. All I know is that the Fifth Nightmare shares more in common with the First Nightmare than it does with the rest. It involves not one, but two trials — one personal, tailored specifically to the challenger, and one collective, like they usually are. Both are unimaginably brutal, and failing either one means death.”

He looked up with a wistful expression.

”If you succeed, however... well, the Spell will do its thing and help you achieve Apotheosis in record-breaking time. Quite miraculous, really.”

His expression darkened.

”The problem is that there is risk involved in causing such a transformation with brute force. The changes your consciousness — your very sense of self — will undergo as a result of the Fifth Nightmare cannot be controlled. After all, the Spell does not care if you are still yourself at the end of the Nightmare. All it cares about is that you have attained a new Rank.”

Asterion turned to Sunny and Nephis, looking at them with a dark expression. ”That was what destroyed the civilization of the Sun Realm, in the end. Their cycle did not end because of the Nightmare Creatures or because of the Dream Realm swallowing their world. Instead, it was the very thing that had been meant to save them that ended up becoming their doom.” The Dreamspawn smiled.

”That’s right. It was the Spirits that the Sun Realm civilization had given birth to that devoured and destroyed it, in the end. Because they lost themselves to godhood.”

He fell silent for a second and then asked in an amused tone.

”Now, do you still want to challenge the Fifth Nightmare?”