Shadow Slave

Cassie was reeling under the weight of innumerable voices calling out for her, her senses overwhelmed by the blinding dread of witnessing scenes of violent destruction transpiring in every corner of the two worlds.

..But yesterday, there had been more voices.

And a day before that, there had been more voices still.

She was struggling to endure the burden of humanity’s hope, but was more afraid of people losing their faith in her. Because she knew that once their desperate calls ceased, leaving behind only echoing silence, they did not vanish.

It was just that people learned to put their faith in someone else, and therefore, it was he who listened to their prayers now.

Asterion, the Dreamspawn… the monster who had escaped his prison after learning to love the taste of human flesh.

The Longing Domain was crumbling as it was being devoured, and the Hunger Domain was growing. The more people Asterion enthralled, the fewer of them called out to Cassie — because they were calling out to him instead. With every voice that went quiet, the darkness spread.

She was witnessing the downfall of what she and Nephis had built happening right in front of her.

Red Hill, the Sanctuary, the Weeping Goddess, the Night Garden… other Citadels were soon to fall into the embrace of the Hunger Domain, too.

Unless they were taken by the King of Nothing first, of course.

Cassie had to do everything in her power — and well beyond that, as well — to postpone the collapse of the Longing Domain for as long as she could. But, at the same time, she could not deny the possibility that its collapse was inevitable.

So, she had to prepare for the inevitable, as well.

Days passed, turning into weeks.

Ravenheart was besieged by the forces of the King of Nothing, while in Bastion, Asterion was quietly amassing more and more zealous followers. The Night Garden was gone, leaving behind no traces — it could be drifting in the darkness of the Sky Below, still, or it could have long traveled to somewhere else. Cassie had no way to tell.

The battle for the Black Mountains raged on. Initially, Mordret had been confidently pushing the forces of the Human Domain back… but after a while, the situation changed. The defensive line facing the relentless invasion of the King of Nothing grew stable, doggedly holding out against the onslaught.

In the basin of the River of Tears, as well, the Citadel Cities rallied to blockade the great river and prevent Mordret from raiding the settlements downstream, resulting in a series of bloody naval battles.

It was not because of Cassie’s best efforts to prevent humanity from being consumed by the King of Nothing, though…

She had done her best. She really did. But in the end, Mordret had only been stalled because Asterion took matters into his own hands.

As more and more people fell into the hex of his insidious Domain, his influence among the Awakened warriors spread uncontrollably. innumerable Masters had fallen under his influence, as well — and with each day, more and more Saints.

There was a brief moment when the Longing Domain and the Hunger Domain reached a point of equilibrium. Then, the equilibrium was broken, and the influence of the rapidly spreading Hunger Domain outgrew the diminishing authority of the Longing Domain without ever slowing down.

That was the point of no return.

Once Asterion subjugated the majority of Awakened, he commanded his thralls to take control of the frontline and extended his personal support to the struggling forces of humanity, both bolstering his already radiant fame and serving as a deterrent that prevented Mordret from crushing the defensive line with the power of a Supreme.

Led by a Sovereign and imbued with the eerie unity his thralls shared, the followers of Asterion stood side by side with the remaining warriors of the Longing Domain to repel the King of Nothing. The Black Mountains quaked, ancient peaks fracturing and crumbling under the pressure of fierce battles. The two clashing forces reached a bitter stalemate.

Changing Star was absent, and there was a harrowing adversary besieging the borders of the Human Domain. So, naturally, people opened their hearts to a charming, powerful Supreme who seemed both benevolent and righteous.

A warrior could wake up at dawn and pray to Changing Star, longing to survive until dusk. By noon, he would forget all about his loyalty to the Immortal Flame and praise Lord Asterion instead, no different from all the other thralls.

And by the time the sun set, his soul would be shattered, and his body would become a vessel of the King of Nothing. Instead of whispering prayers to Changing Star or the Dreamspawn, his lips would twist into a pleasant smile, and his eyes would shine with an eerie hint of madness.

The deafening choir of desperate voices resounding in Cassie’s mind was growing less unbearable. Her marks were disappearing one by one — knowing that being connected to Asterion through his thralls was no different from inviting him into her mind, she did not hesitate to cut her connection to anyone who fell into his sphere of influence.

As a result, her own sphere of awareness was shrinking. Her mental map, which had once encompassed most of the Dream Realm and the waking world, was drowning in darkness now.

Time passed.

The Citadel Cities in the vicinity of Bastion grew silent one by one. The storied Legacy Clans that had defended the heartland of the Dream Realm for decades looked to a different Sovereign now, just like they had looked to Nephis after the King of Swords fell.

The Stormsea had become a black void in Cassie’s mind. She did not know what was happening there — all she knew was that ships kept arriving at the estuary of the River of Tears, bringing supplies and warriors with them.

Then, the darkness extended to the basin of the River of Tears, as well.

In the waking world, cities blinked out of existence one by one. Northern Quadrant, Western Quadrant, Eastern Quadrant… and the colonies in South America, too. Watching it all transpire was terrifying. The voices crying out to Cassie became fewer and fewer.

Until, one day…

She was left in a vast, deafening silence.

No one called out to her anymore. The world was swallowed by impenetrable darkness, becoming no different from an empty void.

Cassie stood in the Gateway Hall of the Ivory Tower, motionless.

Daunted by the silence and drowning in the sense of defeat.

The peace that had descended on her exhausted mind was a blessing, but it felt like a curse. Her world, which had once been overflowing with sounds and sensations, was now narrow and dull. There were only a few islands of vibrant color in the vast darkness that surrounded her…

Kai, Effie, Rain. And a few Fire Keepers who were guarding the Ivory Island.

That was all that remained of the Human Domain, and of her mental web as well.

But, even then…

Cassie did not fully trust any of the people who surrounded her.

She was all by herself.

And as she stood there, trapped in the darkness, Cassie suddenly remembered something…

She remembered that after Ariadne had saved Theseus and helped him defeat the Minotaur, she was left on an empty island by the victorious hero… to die there, abandoned and alone.

Cassie took a deep breath.

[Effie, Kai… be ready. The Dreamspawn will come for Bastion and Ravenheart soon.]

He was going to come for the Ivory Island, as well.

Their time had run out.

As Cassie took a step forward, she suddenly sensed something and halted.

Her head whipped toward the ceiling of the great hall, and her one remaining eye widened behind the blindfold.

‘Rain?’

She turned around and dashed toward the stairs.