Shadow Slave

Ananke considered her answer for a while, then shook her head.

“That ghastly bird is truly terrible… but her spawn just might be worse.”

Both Sunny and Nephis were surprised to hear that. Noticing their reaction, Ananke explained:

“The Thieving Bird is a Cursed Terror, and while it is unfathomably powerful and can steal the sun out of the sky, it is… complete. It is what it is, and it does not aspire to become more — that is how it seems to me, at least. Which is quite unusual for a Terror, but then again, that bird is both uniquely vile and unique, so who’s to say what is usual when it comes to the Thieving Bird?”

She chuckled.

“For all we know, it could have stolen the mentality of a Titan. So, in its mind, it already is one.”

Sunny blinked a few times.

That would mean that somewhere out there, a Titan was walking around, thinking that it was a Terror…

Ananke continued:

“The Vile Thieving Bird’s Spawn, however, is not complete. On the contrary, it is a newborn — even if it was born Supreme, it has the capacity to grow. And growth needs fuel and catalysts.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

“Supreme Devil? Not a Great one?”

Ananke nodded.

“Indeed. Quite surprising, isn’t it?”

Sunny leaned back, a look of confusion on his face.

“A bit.”

It made sense, in hindsight — the Thieving Bird had fallen to the Corruption before laying its vile spawn’s egg, so the Vile Spawn was meant to be born a Great Devil. However, Sunny killed it… and death was a weapon Shadow God had created to cleanse the world of the Corruption.

So, the shade stolen from his soul by the Thieving Bird was that of a Supreme Devil, not a Great one. Shadows were meant to be immune to the Corruption, after all… even if that rule did not always hold, as Eurys had told him.

Sunny himself had benefitted from being akin to shadows quite a number of times, even if he had not known that at the time. Anyone else, with the exception of Nephis, would have long succumbed to the Corruption if they learned and experienced a fraction of the things he had learned and experienced.

He pursed his lips.

“But what exactly makes you say that the spawn is worse than the Thieving Bird?”

Ananke shrugged.

“Well, it’s just the fact that while the Thieving Bird can steal the sun, its Vile Spawn steals life itself.”

She shivered.

“In fact, it wasn’t the Terror who cleansed the Great River of life. It was the Devil. It was the Vile Spawn who hunted down the great horrors of the past — those of them who remained — and killed them. Then, it hunted down the great horrors of the future and killed them, as well. It single-handedly drove the Corrupted beings of the Great River to extinction.”

She let out a heavy sigh.

“I used to find their corpses drifting in the water. No wounds, no marks left on them. They were just dead, as if their very life had been stolen from them. That is the Vile Spawn’s power — it can sap living beings of their life and absorb it. So, needless to say… I stayed away from the Devil, as well. Granted, hiding from the Vile Thieving Bird’s Spawn was more difficult than hiding from the Thieving Bird, because at least the Thieving Bird was not actively searching for me in order to kill me.”

Sunny frowned.

“So it can siphon away one’s life force?”

That was not that surprising either. After all, that was exactly what had happened to Sunny when he approached the Vile Thieving Bird’s egg — the damn thing had tried to drain him of his life. However, Sunny had never been truly alive, to begin with — at least not in the same way that all other people were.

Even if his transformation into a Shadow Creature only concluded when he attained Supremacy, he had been akin to one in many ways all the way back on the Forgotten Shore. His soul was dark and lightless, brimming with shadow essence instead of soul essence — that was why the Thieving Bird’s egg had failed to kill him, and was destroyed by him instead.

If so, he was going to have an advantage against the Vile Thieving Bird’s Spawn in a battle…

Unless the damn thing had learned new tricks, of course.

Sunny remained for a long while, then grimaced.

“Well… that’s unfortunate. Because that is the reason we came to the Tomb of Ariel. We are here to kill the Vile Thieving Bird.”

Ananke studied him and Nephis silently, then said in a neutral tone:

“That will be difficult, Lord Sunless. The Thieving Bird made its nest in the heart of the Estuary… now that the Great River is dead, it is easy to find. However, in the past, only the First Seeker did — and after reaching the heart of the Estuary, she was irrevocably Corrupted by the secrets buried there.”

Sunny lingered for a few moments, then shook his head.

“You are wrong.”

He looked down and said somberly:

“Aletheia never made it to the heart of the Estuary. She only ever entered the outer edges of the Stone Titan’s heart… that is where the knowledge of the Void had been inscribed on the walls of the tunnel by the Demon of Dread, and that was where she became Defiled.”

Sunny sighed.

“Past the tunnel lies a vast lake. That is where Ariel had written the most terrifying truth on the water, so that he could forget. Past the lake is a maze of time — although it might be broken, now that the Great River is. Past the maze waits the guardian of the Estuary, which judges the souls of those who want to enter… and finally, past the guardian lies the heart of the Estuary. The burial chamber where a long-forgotten Demon rests under the branches of a sacred tree.”

He smiled joylessly.

“That is where the Thieving Bird has made its nest.”

Both Ananke and Nephis were looking at him, surprise written on their faces. After a few moments of silence, Ananke asked in a tone of wonder:

“Lord Sunless, how do you know all this? You speak as if you saw it yourself.”

Sunny held her gaze for a bit, then grimaced and looked away.

“Because I did. Once, a long time ago… in the depths of a Nightmare… I made it past the origin of the Defilement, past the maze of time, and past the silent guardian who rests beneath the water as well. I entered the tomb of Oblivion and was forgotten by the world; I met the Thieving Bird and lost myself to its talons.”

He smiled darkly.

“So, now, I am here to get myself back.”