Shadow Slave

Far away, almost invisible, an eerie creature was hiding in the golden glow. Rain had almost not noticed it, but a subtle movement betrayed its presence. The ethereal creature was two... no, about three meters in length, almost entirely transparent, and vaguely resembled an enormous woodlouse made of glass.

As if sensing that it had been noticed, the abomination launched itself forward with stunning speed. Its fourteen long legs bit into the glass, pushing the ghostly body forward — the wind carried over a melodic sound of the segments of its clear carapace scraping against each other, as if crystal chimes were ringing quietly in the breeze. Suffused with a golden glow, the Nightmare Creature was almost invisible on the glistening plain of glass.

Rain’s arrow still found it, though.

It struck the joint of one of its legs, severing it cleanly. A split second later, the second arrow struck, and then another, and another...

Some took a limb, while some took a couple. In the span of half a dozen seconds, all fourteen legs of the abomination were shattered or severed, leaving it writhing on the ground.

Rain lowered her bow, breathing heavily, and spared a crippled creature a cold look. She might not have been able to kill her enemies, but that did not mean that she could not maim them.

..Or mangle and torture them, for that matter, if need be.

Pill jumped to his feet and looked at the disarmed... dislegged?... abomination. Then, he turned to Rain in astonishment.

”That was some fine archery, Rani.”

A confused frown creased his brow, and he raised an eyebrow.

“But if you are that good with a bow, wouldn’t it have been easier to just kill it?”

Rain remained silent for a few moments, catching her breath, and then looked at him with a smile.

”Target practice, Pill. I might be good with a bow, but I can always get better — right?”

He scoffed.

“So young, so ambitious...”

Shaking his head, the older man looked back at the crippled abomination.

”I should probably finish it off, then. Uh, only... it’s quite far away. I don’t think I can hit it. Perhaps you should do the honors, since it’s your kill anyway.”

Rain kept smiling while trying to come up with a reason not to.

At that moment, a familiar voice sighed in her ear.

[There’s no need.]

She frowned slightly and looked at the writhing abomination.

‘Is he going to...’

In the next moment, something plummeted from the sky and pierced the Nightmare Creature.

No, it didn’t just pierce it — the force of the impact was terrible enough to simply splatter it across the glass, turning the massive creature into a vast puddle of transparent slime and glass-like shards.

All that remained was an enormous arrow, several metres in length, rising from the shattered surface of the glass plain at an angle.

Rain stared at it incredulously.

‘What... kind of sniper ballista...’

Her brother sighed again.

[Ugh. It’s that guy. That bastard is showing off.]

Pill scratched the back of his head.

”Or not.”

Rain studied him for a moment and pointed to the giant arrow, which was already collapsing into a whirlwind of sparks.

”Hey, Pill. What the hell was what?”

He let out a nervous laugh.

”Oh. It’s the Lord of Hell — The Saint who rules Red Hill. He probably shot that arrow all the way from the Citadel.”

Rain looked at him with an unamused expression.

”That Citadel is like a thousand kilometers away.

Pill coughed awkwardly.

“Well, you know how Saints are. What, do you expect their powers to be reasonable?” Shaking his head, he walked away.

Left alone, Rain glanced at her bow... which had felt mighty just a minute ago... and sighed.

Then, she made her shadow sign a question.

[A friend of yours?]

Her brother scoffed.

[As if!]

He paused for a moment, and then added in a satisfied tone:

[He’s Dar of the Maharana clan. I crushed his skull and splattered his brains all over the ground once. Ah, that felt so satisfying...]

Rain sighed again.

‘...Of course he did.’

The caravan moved on.

After that first welcoming arrow, the Lord of Hell did not assist them anymore. So, the days of traveling to Red Hill were tough on the Ascended merchant and his guards. The heat was oppressive, the hazards of the Glass Hell threatened to damage the wagons, and the elusive abominations of the Hive attacked them incessantly, making one skirmish blend into another.

Still, they made good progress. None of the guards lost their lives, even if one of the gargantuan Echoes had to be dismissed in order to prevent its complete destruction. The speed of the caravan fell after that, but they still reached the city in one piece — just as the sun touched the western horizon.

Rain studied Red Hill with interest, since this was her first time visiting it.

It was... a peculiar place.

The Citadel itself stood on a tall hill of glass. In fact, it was carved from the hill, resembling a tall, vertical fortress made up of different structures and narrowing to a sharp spire. Even if Rain knew that it was carved from glass, she could not help but think that she was looking at clear ice instead.

A fiery sunset ignited the vertical fortress, making it glow with a spectacular scarlet glow — that was where the name of the Citadel had come from, most likely.

The city surrounding the Citadel was built on the lower slopes of the hill and around its base. It was large, but not nearly in the same category as Bastion, housing no more than a million people.

Curiously enough, the only building material readily available here was unnaturally clear glass, so the houses were mostly transparent. In fact, one could easily determine how wealthy a citizen was by how opaque their residence seemed.

The rich people living on the slopes of the hill could afford to import materials and cover their houses, making them both private and less prone to turning into glass ovens. The poor folks could barely afford to board their bathrooms, though, and lived their entire lives in broad view of their neighbors.

Rain felt that this nearly absolute lack of privacy was extremely bizarre, but the locals seemed to have grown used to it, going about their lives as if nothing was the matter.

Humans were truly the most adaptable creatures.

‘How would it feel like, to live in a city almost entirely devoid of secrets?’

Maybe it was the influence of her brother... But Rain thought that it would feel absolutely horrible.

She smiled.

“Now I see why these huge wagons are loaded to the brim with nothing but stone from the Moonriver Plains and lumber from Godgrave.”

Pill nodded.

”We’ll sell it here, load up on glass, and then resell it at a profit further down the line. Hell Glass is amazingly durable, crystal-clear, and can even repair itself. It’s dirt-cheap here, but goes for a pretty penny in Bastion.”

Rain nodded.

‘No wonder.’

The caravan rolled toward the city gate. The wall surrounding Red Hill was formidable, but just as transparent as everything else — so, Rain could easily see the lively streets beyond.

Actually, they were a bit too lively. There was a peculiar energy suffusing the population of Red Hill, as if something impactful had happened.

The Caravan Master noticed it, as well.

As his Echo reached the gates, he shouted to the Awakened guarding it.

”What is going on? Is the Hive swarming?”

The tunnels under the city were blocked off, but a massive enough attack could still breach the seals.

The guard looked up, grinned, and shook his head.

”You’ve been on the road for a while, huh? Then you mustn’t have heard!”

The Ascended merchant frowned.

“Heard about what?”

The guard let out a laugh.

”A new Sovereign emerged in Bastion! What was his name again... Asterion? Right, Asterion! These days, the whole world is talking about him!”

Behind Rain, the older guard smiled quietly. And at the same time, she felt an ominous feeling squeeze her heart.