Shadow Slave

Cassie finally managed to compose herself. The tendrils of her Will sprawled through the dark ocean of memories, twisting as they grasped those shards that had to do with her past. Her childhood, her youth, the years of darkness she had endured after becoming Awakened...

The core of her being was slowly taking shape. Even if there were still plenty of gaps in her understanding of herself, she at least knew enough to know how to fill them.

The abyssal expanse of memories still felt daunting, but now, she faced it as an adversary instead of prey.

The phantom pain of her missing eye was still shredding her consciousness apart... Which in and of itself told her something.

’I must be using my Transcendent Ability’

Even in this subliminal space, there was cause and effect. After losing an eye to the Dreamspawn, Cassie had to endure gruesome torment every time she wanted to use her Transformation... so, it was reasonable to assume that the agony she felt now was the result of using her Transformation, as well.

If so, the dark ocean of memories surrounding her would betray a hint of meaning.

But not an explanation.

’What happened to me?’

Enduring the pain, she reached for more recent memories.

The memories that had to do with the Dreamspawn.

Some of them belonged to her, and some of them belonged to others. But all of them had one thing in common: a heavy, suffocating feeling of a growing threat. They were the memories of a plague.

***

Rain found herself in a familiar darkness once more. The sky above her was like a lightless abyss. The ground beneath her was a wide, nearly seamless expanse of grey plates stretching toward the horizon like a stone river.

She gave the solid plate she was standing on a good stomp and smiled.

”I built this road.”

A quiet chuckle resounded from the darkness.

”An army of workers and engineers built this road.”

Rain turned up her nose.

”I was one of them, though! And I even gave it a name.”

The two of them had only just reached the Road of Shadows. It crossed Godgrave from east to west, hidden from the merciless sky by the Fragment of the Shadow Realm. Anywhere else on the surface of the titanic skeleton, one’s life could be scattered by the wind like an evanescent cloud. But here, travelers could enjoy peace, safety, and the cool embrace of darkness.

Well, safety from the radiant skies of Godgrave, at least.

Rain looked into the distance with a wistful smile.

“You know, the people who populated the Dream Realm are long gone. But many things they built still stand. Mirage Castle, the Jade Palace, Rivergate, the Dark City — and so much more. People still live among those ancient walls, walk along the trodden paths, and stop from time to time to admire the great monuments of old.”

She fell silent, studied the Road of Shadows for a while, and then gave it a softer stomp. ”So, I can’t help but wonder if one day, long after I’m gone, people will travel across this road and think about its builders. That’d be nice, don’t you think?”

Sunny answered in an agreeable tone:

”It will indeed be nice if there are still people to walk this road in the future.”

He sounded a little distracted, though.

Rain studied the darkness with a thoughtful expression.

”So, what exactly happened? You have been out of sorts ever since the Hollows.”

He lingered for a while.

”Well, there’s a bit of trouble. A new Sovereign showed up, and he’s difficult to deal with.”

Rain raised an eyebrow.

”Who, the King of Nothing? That’s old news, though”

A heavy sigh resounded from the darkness. ”No, not him.”

Rain opened her eyes wide.

”Wait, there’s another new Supreme? Goodness. It hasn’t even been a year since the last one popped up. Hey, tell me honestly... do you Supremes grow on a tree?”

The darkness answered with an unamused silence.

Eventually, though, it did respond.

”No. Oh, but actually, this particular Supreme has a lot in common with a certain tree.”

”There are plenty of reasons, really. First of all, being willful is simply our nature. Secondly... we are Children of War, after all. Besides that, the Nightmare Spell itself is designed in a way that pits Supremes against each other. But most importantly, the first cohort to have achieved Supremacy was rotten. So, we’re still dealing with the consequences of that one misfortune.”

He let out a heavy sigh.

”It all went wrong when Smile of Heaven died in America.”

Rain had not expected a detailed answer instead of one of his usual outrageous tirades, so she was taken aback a little. Eventually, she asked:

”How bad can this new jerk be, though?” Sunny remained silent for a while.

”It’s pretty bad. Worse than usual, I’d say.” Rain let out a nervous chuckle.

The usual was already pretty atrocious... “Wait. There won’t be another war, will there?”

He stayed quiet, making Rain anxious.

“Will there?”

Finally, Sunny answered in a dark tone: “Who knows? Even if there is, it will be very different from the previous one. Wars aren’t only fought with swords, you know.’

Rain cursed quietly.

“Well, that’s just wonderful.”

Neither of them spoke for a minute or two. In the end, Sunny broke the silence with a lighthearted question:

“Anyway. Where are you off to now?”

Rain sighed.

She looked west. The Moonriver Plains lay there — and beyond them, Ravenheart. She had not seen her family in a long time, so she missed them a lot. It would have been great to pay them a visit.

Then, Rain looked east. There, the Road of Shadows led to a region of the Dream Realm known as the Glass Hell. Beyond it lay the Chained Isles, and from there, one could travel south from Citadel to Citadel until they eventually reached Bastion.

A journey like that would take many months, though. Of course, Rain could use the waking world as a shortcut and get to Bastion through a Dream Gate instead. Well, and there was a Supreme capable of instantly moving between shadows hiding in her own.

She made a bitter face.

”My work at Rivergate is over, so I wanted to visit the Chained Isles. They pulled a flying island from a literal abyss there, you know, and are affixing it at the heart of the region to anchor the rest of the islands. So, I want to take a look... but I am sort of afraid of Telle’s mom, considering that she snuck out to challenge a Nightmare.” Sunny let out a short laugh.

”Oh. Good thinking... I’d be afraid too”

Rain took a deep breath.

”Still, I need to get back to Bastion and concentrate on my work — as well as on my Ascension. We will be ready to unveil natural Awakening to the masses once I become a Master, so... there is no time to waste”

The darkness seemed to shift slightly. ”Yeah. I’ll become busy now, too”

Sunny remained silent for a few moments, then asked in a neutral tone:

“Shall I take us to the waking world? Or we can stop by the Chained Isles first, after all.” Rain looked west once again, where small dots had appeared on the horizon just a few moments ago. She studied them silently, then shook her head.

“No need. I’ll travel with the caravan to the Red Hill and use the Gateway there. You can stay in my shadow or leave to attend to your business... do as you like.”

He laughed again.

”Yeah, no. No chance I’ll leave you alone when there’s a mad Sovereign running around. Well, one more mad Sovereign.” Rain frowned and looked into the darkness with a dubious expression.

”Are there sane ones? That’s news to me.”