Shadow Slave

Sunny had not been too worried when they took Azarax off the tree. He knew that the curse of Shadow God did more than simply make those branded by it deathless, but he figured that they had a lot of time before the ancient tyrant truly lost his mind.

That was because he had a point of reference.

It was Eurys. Eurys had spent a decade wandering the world in search of death after being liberated by Nephis, and he was still perfectly lucid. So, Sunny had assumed that Azarax would be the same — that the curse of Shadow God was a poison that destroyed its victims slowly.

However, it seemed like he had made a big mistake.

He had failed to account for who Eurys of the Nine was.

Even among those who were exceptional and possessed uncompromising will, his resolve was unmatched — after all, he was a mortal man who had brought about the death of the gods and doomed all of existence to be destroyed.

Even if Azarax was an eldritch menace that even the ancient people had deeply feared, even if he was astoundingly adept at wielding his Will, he was not Eurys. He might have been more powerful, but his mental fortitude could not compare.

So, mere weeks after Sunny and Nephis had taken Azarax off the tree, he was already showing signs of succumbing to the curse of Shadow God.

His bones, which had been flawlessly white once, were now entirely black. His mind was still sharp, but he had become a little strange in the last few days. Most importantly of all, his memories seemed to be fading, even if he himself was not aware of it.

There was a small army of a thousand or so Deathless following him by now. That army was still weaker than the Shadow Legion, but it continued to grow, while the Shadow Legion continued to diminish — it would be restored to full power in no time if Sunny was afforded a little break, but their schedule was relentless.

Each night, there was a new battle, and each battle was more fierce than the previous one.

And yet they still had to push forward as fast as they could, not allowing themselves a single day of respite.

That was because Nephis was growing weaker every day.

Somewhere out there, the Longing Domain was coming undone, one Citadel after another surrendering to Asterion. Those in the north had already been lost to Mordret, and more were soon to follow. Nephis had lost countless followers by now — and, therefore, was deprived both of the generous flow of spirit essence and of the immeasurable weight her Domain used to afford her Will.

It was not a good time to grow weaker, to say the least.

As Azarax gave Saint a long look and wandered away to hide in the shadow of a protruding black boulder, Nephis descended from the sky and dismissed her wings. She looked pale and terribly drained, but her gaze and expression remained as calm and as resolute as ever.

She looked around the desert, welcoming the rising sun.

With a sigh, Sunny dismissed the Curse, allowing it to return to its passive state. In that state, it empowered the dark flames of his soul by drawing on his spirit essence, thus enhancing the rate at which his shades were being repaired.

It also allowed him to soothe someone’s pain through touch.

Rising to his feet, Sunny walked over to Nephis and took her hand.

She remained silent for a while, then said quietly:

“It’s alright. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Hearing that, Sunny closed his eyes for a moment. The smaller Neph’s Domain became, the fewer people there were for her to heal and empower. Therefore, the amount of pain she experienced was diminishing alongside her strength, which made a small part of him happy.

He hated himself for feeling that way, though, because he knew that in the absence of pain, Nephis was tormented by anguish. Because the Domain she had built was crumbling, and she would have never willingly chosen comfort over the well-being of her people.

Nephis sighed and faced him, looking him in the eye.

She remained silent for a while, and then said quietly:

“It’s all gone.”

He frowned slightly.

“What is?”

Nephis winced and looked away.

“Ivory Tower, Bastion, and Ravenheart. They are all gone from my Soul Sea… and they were the last Citadels there.”

He froze, studying her expressionless face with grim intensity.

Nephis inhaled deeply.

“The people who had been inspired by me are all gone, too. Not dead, just… I do not feel the sparks of their longing anymore. Their light is lost to me. It was such a brilliant sight, billions of flames shining in the darkness — but now, only darkness remains. There’s barely any sparks left to illuminate it.”

She exhaled slowly.

“Cassie, Effie, Kai, and Jet are among those sparks. They are alive, at least. Even if some are in a lot of pain. I can feel them longing to be delivered from the torment.”

Nephis paused for a moment, and then added in a subdued tone:

“Point is, the Longing Domain is as good as fallen. The Dreamspawn and the King of Nothing rule humanity now. We… seem to have failed to complete our mission on time.”

She was exaggerating a bit…

But only a bit.

The members of the cohort remained loyal to Nephis, and just those four were enough to constitute a powerful Domain. But, of course, their power was incomparable to the power of all of humanity, which Nephis had wielded before.

There was the issue of how Sunny and Nephis would make it to the Tomb of Ariel with her strength diminished so much. But more importantly, there was the abominable reality of all the damage the other two Sovereigns were going to do to humanity in their absence.

It was difficult not to feel defeated when thinking about the Human Domain being stolen from them by those two monsters. Still…

Sunny shook his head.

“The Longing Domain has not fallen — people are just under a mind hex. Once we destroy that hex, their loyalty to you and the Immortal Flame will be naturally reignited, and the Longing Domain will be as good as new. As for our mission…”

He gently nudged her fingers.

“Our mission has never been to stop the Dreamspawn from conquering a bunch of Citadels. It is to prevent him from consuming humanity while attempting Apotheosis. So, we still have plenty of time. Nothing has changed — you know that.”

Nephis offered him a pale smile.

“Yes. I do.”

She turned and looked at the horizon. There, the Tomb of Ariel loomed in the distance like a black scar.