Shadow Slave

Having crossed the remaining distance, Sunny entered the city.

The humans and Nightmare Creatures both moved aside to make way, ushering him to the strange, towering shape of the glass Citadel. He studied them as he walked, feeling a bit odd to see lumbering Nightmare Creatures coexisting peacefully with humans.

The streets of Red Hill were busy, but tranquil. The odd scene was both eerie and idyllic, like a twisted illustration of an old myth about a world where predators and prey were supposed to live in perfect, harmonious peace with each other.

At the same time, Sunny could not help but feel how alien it all was.

Even Asterion and the plague he had unleashed did not feel as peculiar and alien as the city where Mordret ruled — where the endless variety of life was reduced to a single point of view. A single mind, a single soul, and single will. Where there was no us and them... only boundless I.

In and of itself, it was odd and a little unsettling.

It became truly disturbing when one reminded himself that all the vessels of the King of Nothing had been someone once. They had been living beings whose souls he destroyed to take their bodies.

Sunny had thought that he was truly disturbed by the sights around him, at least, until he saw a ghastly scene on one of the Red Hill squares. Then, he realized that he had not seen anything yet.

There on the square, a long line of humans had assembled in front of several enormous, hideous Nightmare Creatures. The abominations opened their maws, and humans calmly walked inside, only to be torn apart by sharp fangs and devoured moments later.

More and more blood pooled on the glistening glass, shining in the glow of the sunset.

Sunny stopped and stared at the vile spectacle, aghast.

“Are you... devouring yourself?”

Reflected in the blood, his own face looked at him in amusement.

”Some of my vessels need sustenance, Sunless. Some are more useful than others, as well... I was a little starved there, in the Hollow Mountains, so sacrifices had to be made. Things are going to get better now that I have access to the Hive, though. Ah, what a wonderful feeling! My new home has a bottomless pantry.”

Sunny looked at his own reflection in disgust.

“Those are people, you bastard. You are feeding people to Nightmare Creatures.” His reflection smiled politely.

”Those were people. Now, they are me. The same goes for the abominations. I must say, though — I did not expect you, of all people, to have such prejudices, Sunless. Your powers are much creepier than mine, after all... in fact, a less enlightened person would find them terrifying.”

Scowling, Sunny looked away from the ghastly scene with an expression of disgust and continued on his way.

Reaching the Citadel, he made his way to the very peak of the Red Hill. There, an imposing man with dark skin and flawlessly sculpted muscles met him with the same pleasant smile.

Saint Dar of the Maharana clan... or rather, what was left of him.

The Maharana clan had been wiped out, and its Saint was an avatar of Mordret now. Mordret smiled with a stolen face.

”I suppose we can have a proper conversation now.’

Sunny stared at him somberly, then spoke through gritted teeth:

”You’ve done it now, madman. You’ve crossed the line.”

Mordret studied him for a moment before laughing.

”Oh, did I? What line did I cross, exactly?”

Sunny pointed to the city below them.

”Red Hill, you bastard! You slaughtered the entire population of a human city! You killed them all. You broke our deal!”

Mordret crossed his tan, muscular arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Let me remind you of the nature of our deal, Sunless. We agreed not to attack each other — you, Changing Star, and me. You gave me the Hollow Mountains, and I promised not to prey on the Human Domain. What condition did I break, exactly?”

He shook his head.

“I never attacked you or Changing Star. I never harmed the Human Domain, either. I waited patiently until the two of you lost this city entirely to the Hunger Domain, and only acted then. If anything, I’d say that I showed incredible restraint.”

His expression twisted.

“Or did you want me to sit quietly and let the Dreamspawn take everything while doing nothing? Like the two of you, fools, have been doing?”

Sunny took a step forward and snarled: ”Yes! That is exactly what I want you to do! Sit quietly and do nothing, as you have been!”

Mordret laughed, then looked at Sunny with awry smile.

Far below, millions of people and myriads of abominations all stopped what they were doing and raised their heads to look at them, as well.

Mordret’s smile slowly turned colder.

”Or what?”

His stolen eyes — the all-seeing eyes of Saint Dar — glistened dangerously.

“What will you do if I refuse? Will you call upon Changing Star to burn me? Will you unleash your legion of enslaved souls to wipe me out? Look around you, Lord of Shadows.”

His smile was entirely gone now, replaced by a cold, threatening ire.

“Do you really think you can destroy me? Ah, you might have stood a chance immediately after I attained Supremacy... but I have not been idle since then. I hunted restlessly, conquering countless Corrupted souls and taking their vessels as my own. It wasn’t easy, but I felt very motivated.”

Mordret took a step forward and looked at Sunny darkly.

”Changing Star’s flames are not hot enough to burn me. Your legion is not enough to drown me. Nothing can destroy me, Sunless... but nothing can destroy you, and swallow all that you’ve built.”

He stared at Sunny for a few moments, and then suddenly gave him a friendly smile. “So let’s remain civil. There’s no reason to forget our manners, is there? I, for one, see no reason to quarrel...”