Shadow Slave

Sunny and Jet stood side by side, observing the magnificent plaza with incredulous expressions. The shades had retreated to form a defensive formation around the Dark Castle, and the vast open expanse around them was littered with gorgeous men and women who lay on the cold stone, quick asleep.

There was no sign of the recent devastation left anywhere in sight, and none of the sleeping youths bore even a single wound... it seemed as if they were fairies who had simply fallen asleep after making merry throughout the night.

Sunny had deactivated the five links of the Curse, for now, so that its passive enchantment could do its work — the enhanced the rate with which his shades were mended by his soul, and since quite a number of them had been vanquished in the battle, he needed to get them back as soon as possible.

Jet remained silent for a while, then cast a sideways glance at Nightmare, who stood nearby.

Her expression was neutral.

”L.. Lrode atop that thing, huh?”

Sunny shrugged.

”Sure. He’s a horse, though. So why not?” Nightmare snorted in response and raised his head a little.

Jet stared at Sunny for a moment.

“A horse. I see, he’s a horse. How did you get this kind of horse, anyway?”

He scratched the tip of his nose.

”Well, funnily enough... | made a deal with a insane immortal to spend a night in a creepy castle. To fix my broken heart. That’s how Nightmare and I first met.”

Jet blinked a couple of times, prompting him to smile faintly.

“One thing led to another... and I killed him. And now, he’s my horse.”

She inhaled deeply, then shook her head and glanced away.

“l already thought so after Godgrave, but your horse is terrifying. I guess it makes sense, though... who else would use a Transcendent Terror as a steed if not the Lord of Shadows?”

Sunny chuckled.

”Says the dead woman who sails around on a living ship made by a daemon from a Heart God’s branch. And I’d imagine that countless people would... it’s just that few people can.” In truth, he was not in the mood for jokes. Sunny was not particularly tired, but defeating these immortal abominations had not lessened his apprehension one bit. This battle was merely a prelude to the true hardship — now that they had established a foothold in the Eternal City, the actual conquest would soon begin.

Jet studied the sleeping immortals.

”So... what do we do with them now? I don’t suppose we can just leave them to nap here?”

Sunny was asking himself the same question, as well.

He hesitated for a few moments, then commanded Mimic to open its gates.

As the colossal gates began to move, the shades did, as well. Picking up the motionless bodies of the immortals, they turned back and carried them into the great dark maw of the Marvelous Mimic. Jet observed them with a dubious expression.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea?” Sunny hesitated.

He was not trying to feed the immortals to Mimic, merely store them in its spacious halls. Still, it could prove perilous — if Nightmare failed to keep the abominations asleep, they would wake up inside the Dark Castle, giving it the worst case of indigestion in history.

Not to mention opening Sunny to a deadly attack from the rear.

It also prevented him from dismissing Mimic, since doing so would carry the sleeping immortals straight to the lightless depths of his souls...

Sunny did not know what would happen then, and wasn’t particularly interested in finding out.

He sighed.

“lam not sure. However... this is the best terrible idea I’ve got. It is safer than leaving them in the open, at least.”

Jet contemplated for a moment, then shrugged.

”Well, if you say so...”

While the shades carried the grotesque creatures inside, Sunny and Jet spent some time examining their sleeping enemies. He attempted to carry one into the Shadow Realm, and — just as expected — felt a powerful sorcery preventing the immortal from leaving the boundary of the Eternal City.

‘Daeron would not have left any loopholes, I bet...”

Jet had been studying the immortals as well, in the meantime.

After a while, she frowned. Noticing her troubled expression, Sunny asked:

”Did you discover something?”

She remained silent for a few moments. “They don’t have soul cores.’

He tilted his head a little.

‘Indeed:

2639 Deep Sleep

Sunny himself had noted that the vile darkness hiding in the souls of the corrupted immortals did not have the usual nodes. However, he had no idea what that meant — or rather, too many ideas to consider any one seriously.

“What do you think that means?”

Perhaps Jet could come up with a good theory.

She did not answer immediately, looking at the sleeping immortal with a concerned expression. Then, she asked him an unexpected question:

“Sunny... do you know when a mushroom dies?”

He blinked a few times.

”W—what... what kind of question is that?” The question seemed preposterous. But, of course, his Flaw forced him to give an honest answer.

And that, in turn, forced him to consider the question seriously. When he did, he realized that he did not really know.

”No idea, actually. When it’s harvested... no, when it’s cooked? When it’s eaten?”

Jet glanced back at the immortal.

“Those are all good answers. But actually, mushrooms never really die, because they’re never really alive, to begin with — not in our understanding, at least. Because mushrooms are not organisms... they’re merely organs. The real organism is the mycelium that is hidden underground, so when we’re picking mushrooms, we’re just taking its fruit. You can say that a tree died, but you wouldn’t say that an apple did, would you?”

Sunny stared at her with a peculiar expression.

”I guess not. But, Jet... are you alright? Is the lack of oxygen getting to your brain, perhaps? Why the hell are you telling me this?”

Actually, he already had an idea of what she was trying to say. He did not like the implications, though.

Jet sighed.

”This is the impression I get from these abominations. That they’re not really abominations... just little parts of a far larger one. That would explain why they don’t have soul cores — because there are no souls in their bodies, just fragments of a soul.” Sunny remained silent for a long while before answering.

“First of all... can we move on from the mushroom metaphor, please? It’s giving me the creeps.”

He grimaced and then added reluctantly: ”So, anyway. If these are merely mushroom fruit... then where’s the mushroom tree?” Instead of answering, Jet simply turned to the center of the Eternal City.

There, a colossal structure towered above the radiant spires.