Shadow Slave

Rain stared at him in shock.

“You’re lying.”

That was the first thing that came to her mind, so she blurted it out. She was the only human to have achieved natural Awakening, after all — the only Awakened who had never carried the Spell.

But deep down, she did not believe that the prisoner of the mirror was trying to deceive her.

She felt… dismayed.

No, actually, she felt… happy?

If there were others like her, then she didn’t have to carry the crushing weight of responsibility alone anymore. Someone else — someone older and more experienced, no less — would be able to help her, or perhaps even do it for her.

That was great, wasn’t it?

“Yeah.”

Rain cleared her throat.

But why did she feel so dismayed, then? Mordret chuckled.

“I wish I were lying, but sadly, I am telling the truth.”

He fell silent for a moment, then offered in an apologetic tone:

“That doesn’t take away from your accomplishment or your uniqueness, though. To tell you the truth, Rain, I used a backdoor to become a Master, and then to become Transcendent. I… I guess you can say that I cheated.”

She frowned, feeling a headache.

“You know, mister… if you want me to stop calling you mister, you’d better stop talking in riddles and start explaining things clearly.”

He smiled.

“Sure. No problem… first of all, let me tell you that, unlike you, I am and have been a carrier of the Nightmare Spell. I Awakened the same way other people Awaken — by conquering the First Nightmare and anchoring my soul to the Dream Realm through a Citadel. After that, however, I spent a long time trapped in a different mirror, just like I am trapped in this mirror now.”

Mordret sighed, then raised a hand and mimed knocking on the surface of the mirror from inside.

“Actually, I am not literally trapped in this particular mirror. Rather, I am under house arrest at the very heart of my brother’s personal Mirror Realm — within his soul. Mirrors like this one are just windows I can use to look at the outside world.”

Rain gave him a concerned look.

“That felt like an unnecessary tangent.”

Mordret let out a quiet laugh.

“Oh… sorry. In any case, you need to understand something about me and my other self. We are a shattered being, he and 1 — two parts of the same whole. That is our Flaw. Both of us are independent beings, but at the same time, it is in our nature to be pulled together in an attempt to become whole once more. Do you see what is strange about it?”

Rain frowned.

“Two people can’t have the same Flaw. All Flaws are unique, just like all Aspects are.”

He nodded.

“Indeed. So, it would not be fair to say that we are different people. Rather, neither of us is a real person — we are just parts of a person, both missing the other half. The Flaw is not the only thing that we share, either. We also share the same Aspect, as well as a kind of connection that even | cannot explain. We are meant to be the same being, and yet, at some point, one of us was Supreme, while the other was merely Awakened. Do you see the problem?”

Rain furrowed her brow.

“Sounds like an issue of balance. All systems strive for equilibrium, though… that’s the holy law of structural mechanics.”

Mordret chuckled.

“Structural mechanics? Well, I suppose you are right. As a result, my existence weakens my other self, while his existence propels me toward greater power. However, a Supreme being possesses much greater… metaphysical mass, so to say. Which means that I was being pulled upward much more than he was being pulled down. So, I had a much easier time achieving natural Ascension and Transcendence than anyone else would — the world itself was on my side.”

He coughed.

“Which is not to say that I did not achieve anything on my own. I might have had a powerful advantage, but I did invent the essence technique to become a Master myself, as well as solving the mystery of how to become Transcendence. Granted, I already knew the final form of what I was trying to achieve — my other half had already walked the Path of Ascension in my stead, after all. The Nightmare Spell was also helpful, as far as understanding my own soul was concerned.”

Letting out a sigh, he glanced at Rain.

“Which means that I can teach you how to become a Saint, even if actually becoming one would be much harder for you than it was for me. I can also explain how you became a Master. I think it will be fun, to have a pupil. I am mostly by myself here in this mirror, you see.”

Rain stared at the mirror in question for a while, then leaned back, stretched her legs, and laughed.

“You know… when a strange man assures you that he is harmless and promises to give you something precious if you follow him, the natural instinct should be to run away. At best, you’ll be scammed. At worst… oh, did I forget to mention that the strange man in question looks exactly like a notorious war criminal and serial killer, but insists that he’s not the same person at all?”

Mordret blinked a few times.

“Well, if you put it like that… I guess it does sound a little concerning.”

Rain nodded, considered something for a few seconds, and spoke in an easygoing tone:

“That said — sure. I’ll be your pupil. Why not?”

Mordret, meanwhile, was saying:

“However, I can assure you… huh? What? You will?”

Rain nodded again.

“Yes. Why, are you surprised? Do you maybe think that only a crazy person would agree to your offer despite knowing how it sounds?”

He nodded slowly.

“To be honest… yes, I was thinking something along the lines.”

Rain laughed quietly.

“That’s just because you don’t know about my previous teacher.”

Mordret stared at her with a silent question in his mirror-like eyes. Rain leaned forward and said in a low tone:

“Listen, my previous teacher… was a real devil. He forced me to track down and kill countless Nightmare Creatures when I was a mere mundane person. He tossed me into a canyon once. He forced me to drag my grievously wounded friend across a wild region of the Dream Realm while an Awakened Tyrant was hunting us down. I had to kill the Tyrant myself, in the end! Me! A harmless girl… who wouldn’t hurt a fly…”

She pursed her lips and grumbled.

“He appointed himself as my roommate for four years, and never paid any rent. He forced me to get a tattoo of his pet snake. He even hired his girlfriend to be my tutor — if that is not nepotism, I don’t know what is.” Mordret’s eyes were wide by that point.

“Oh, my… you endured a lot. That person, whoever he is, sounds completely deranged. Surely, I’ll be a step up?”

Rain gave him a long look and grinned.

“Not in a million years. You can compete for seventh place, as far as people I learned from go.”

Mordret seemed stunned.

“S—seventh? Only seventh?”

Rain nodded.

“Of course! Do you know what kind of people have taught me in the past? Let’s see…”

She raised a hand and started counting on her fingers.

“The Lord of Shadows, Changing Star of the Immortal Flame clan, Saint Kai the Dragonslayer, the Jade Saint, my mom, Chief Bethany — she’s the person who brought electricity to the Dream Realm, by the way… am I forgetting someone? I must be.”

Mordret cleared his throat.

“Yes. I see. It seems that I am in good company, indeed…”