Shadow Slave

Jet’s icy blue eyes turned even colder as she regarded the distant forest of silver spires. She inhaled deeply, and then said in a dark tone:

”I smell Nightmare Creatures.”

Sunny looked at her silently.

His shadow sense could not reach deep into the dome surrounding the Eternal City, but he could still perceive some things. After lingering for a few moments, he smiled.

”Well, I have a bit of news. There’s bad news... and worse news. Which do you want to hear first?”

She looked at him with no amusement in her eyes.

”Ah... I’ll have the bad news first, please.”

Sunny nodded.

”The city is full of powerful beings... there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of them crawling all over its streets.”

The Saints of Night looked at each other with unease. Jet, however, remained unperturbed.

”What’s the worse news, then?”

Sunny sighed and looked at the silver lights of the distant city.

Was he imagining it, or were they painted ghostly green in a particular area? He grimaced.

”It seems like the Dutchman has already made landfall. I think some of those countless living beings are currently engaged in a battle against its wraiths, out there on the outskirts of the city.”

It was nice to imagine that the civilization of the Eternal City had survived, and was currently repelling the invasion of horrid specters. However, Sunny had little hope of finding a city full of ancient, enlightened immortals - things never went that way in the Dream Realm, after all, and Nightwalker had described the Eternal City as nightmarish on top of that.

So, it was most likely a situation where one horde of abominable horrors was fighting a different, even more horrifying one.

’They were going to find out the truth soon enough.

There was another anomalous zone on the other side of the city, too. That one, however, was different... if the battle between the wraith fleet and the denizens of the Eternal City was expressed through a cacophony of motion - even if ghosts did not cast shadows, the beings fighting them did that area stood out because of the total lack of movement.

As if every living being there had already been obliterated.

Sunny could only sense the very outer reaches of the Eternal City, so he could not say more. However, that alone was enough to make a few conclusions.

The Dutchman had arrived earlier than they, and its forces had already established a foothold within the dome. Currently, they controlled one of the outer islands and were staging a fierce attack to push deeper into the city.

Jet frowned.

”’So, what do you suggest we do? Join the fray?”

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

”Facing the Dutchman is already bad enough, but facing it and a legion of unknown nightmare creatures at the same time is even worse. And why should we? This is a large city. We can just as easily land on the other side of it and see who can conquer it faster. Then, we will have far more information and a chance to earn a territorial advantage before clashing with the Dutchman’s forces.”

Ideally, the wraith legion would have been wiped out by then, and they would only have to deal with the other eerie horde of horrifying abominations.

That, and the unknown being that Sunny suspected of being somewhere out there, inside the dome. The third contender, whatever that thing was - Old Tom’s killer, unless it was the captain of the Dutchman who had finished the malevolent oyster off.

Sunny looked at the vast expanse of the Night Garden, then added:

”Plus, our primary goal right now is to find the wharf that can repair the Night Garden. It should be somewhere on the outer rim of the Eternal City - so let’s sail around it and see. We can make further plans after securing a safe stronghold for our ship.”

Suppressing a feeling of urgency, they slowly sent the Night Garden circling the Eternal City from a distance. As the living ship moved through the abyssal depths, Sunny managed to explore the fallen city a bit better.

It was strange... his shadow sense could easily pass through the aegis of the Night Garden, and it seemed to be able to penetrate the dome of the Eternal City as well. But not too far beyond the invisible barrier, his senses betrayed him, as if something else was stopping them.

”Those things inside the city... what do they look like?”

Sunny turned his head, remained silent for a few moments, and then answered Jet with a hint of uncertainty:

”I can’t actually see them. I can only sense their shadows. And their shadows... well, outwardly, they seem like human shadows.”

They had two legs, two arms, and one head, at least. However, there was something profoundly disturbing about the shadows of the immortal denizens of the Eternal City. Sunny could not describe what exactly alarmed him, but he sensed a subtle, unnerving wrongness about them.

”I think I see the wharf.”

Eventually, Naeve’s voice distracted him from his unease.

Looking forward, Sunny saw a massive structure protruding from the dome of the Eternal City.

Before it, however...

A massive stele was forcefully thrust into the black glass just outside the invisible barrier, with a net of jagged cracks marring the smooth surface around it. Sunny did not know what strength one had to possess to actually shatter the bottom of the Stormsea, but the sigh of it made him shiver.

”What... is this?”

As the Night Garden drew closer and its light fell onto the surface of the towering stele, he could vaguely discem runes carved into its surface.

They were written on the outward side of the stele, facing the boundless expanse of the Stormsea. The script was strange, but he could still somewhat translate it.

Sunny exhaled slowly as he read the words written on the stone stele...

As he did, his eyes quaked slightly.

The runes read:

[I am Daeron, the Serpent King Heed my warning, wanderer: Tum back. There is no salvation from eternity And no respite from its bond. Beyond this line Lies hell.]