Shadow Slave

A huge onyx serpent swam across an endless expanse of still water, surrounded by boundless darkness. The heavy shroud of it was broken only by the radiant white light that spilled from the hand of a woman who rested between the serpent’s horns, looking ahead with an impassive expression.

Her pure radiance reflected on the rippling water, and it seemed as if they were traveling on a path of dying stars.

Sunny had cast his shadow sense far and wide, hoping — and dreading — to find something living in the quiet, dead world of the Tomb of Ariel. However, there was no movement in the lightless void around them. No warmth, no sound… only darkness, stillness, and terrifying cold.

The more time passed, the more wary he felt.

‘It should befall us soon.’

There were numerous perils on the Great River — or had been, at least. One of the more deadly ones was the time storms that wandered its vast expanse, carrying with them fragments of the distant past. That was where Sunny had witnessed the reflection of Nether, the Demon of Destiny, once — and barely survived the pale echo of his calamitous killing intent.

The waters downstream of Weave were especially wrought with time storms, so Sunny expected to meet one soon. That was how it had happened in the Nightmare, at least… that was where they had lost Ananke.

But no matter how far he swam, there was no sign of an approaching storm. The Great River remained still and quiet.

It seemed like the time storms had been quelled, just like its eternal current.

On the head of the onyx serpent, Nephis sighed.

“We should be near the Chain Breaker by now.”

Sunny changed direction, circling the endless expanse of dark water in a spiral. Soon, he heard a sound that seemed alien in the grave silence of the Tomb of Ariel…

It was the sound of rustling leaves, carried from afar by the wind.

Sunny chased the wind to its source, and before too long, he sensed the shadow of the Chain Breaker resting on the dark water. The battered ship was floating listlessly in the vast darkness. There were ugly burn marks and horrible scars littering its wooden hull. The deck was splintered and covered in soot, with deep grooves cutting into its surface. The railings were shattered and broken in numerous places, the mighty siege engines lay broken and destroyed.

Several gargantuan holes had been punched through the deck, as well, revealing the devastated interior of the ancient vessel.

It looked like a ghost ship abandoned by its crew.

Sunny came to a halt, looking at the battered ship as an eerie sense of déja vu took hold of his mind.

This was exactly how they had found it in the Nightmare.

He remembered thinking that the Chain Breaker looked like it had escaped from the depths of hell after a long and terrifying battle. The scale of the destruction, the marks left on its ancient hull by some unknown and terrifying beings… it had been enough to make that young, inexperienced version of Sunny shudder.

Who knew that he had not been that far from the truth?

Chuckling quietly, Sunny raised his colossal head above the water and rested it on the broken deck of the Chain Breaker.

“Let’s go.”

The flying ship had indeed escaped the depths of hell… of Ariel’s Hell. The battle they had waged to reach those depths had indeed been long and terrifying — far more terrifying than the young Sunny could ever imagine, even after surviving Antarctica.

It was just that it was Sunny himself who had fought that terrifying battle, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake on the path to the Tomb of Ariel.

Life was funny that way — once upon a time, he had not been capable of even imagining such power, and now, he was the being wielding it.

Most amusing, however, was the fact that the vast and terrible power he could not have imagined… was insufficient to achieve his goals.

It was woefully not enough.

The summit of what the young Sunny could imagine was the bare minimum his current self could accept.

‘I used to be such a fool…’

Then again, he was probably still a fool. Who knew? Perhaps one day in the future, an older and wiser version of him would think back to this day and shake his head in frustration.

If he were to survive and see the future, naturally.

Nephis jumped down to the deck of the Chain Breaker, followed by Sunny’s second incarnation. Dismissing the Onyx Serpent Shell, Sunny turned into a shadow and wrapped himself around that avatar. Together, they made their way across the ruined deck, looking around to ascertain the damage.

“Could have been worse.”

Considering that the Chain Breaker had engaged in an aerial battle against a myriad of Great abominations, it was already a miracle that the ship was in one piece. Sunny looked at the wide, jagged hole in the deck and grimaced. He vaguely remembered making that hole personally, when one of his mangled bodies crashed into the deck at terrible speed.

Nephis nodded slowly.

“Yes. I remember it being in the same state in the Nightmare. The ship is not taking in water, and although its runic contour is broken, it can still sail — as long as we repair the sails.”

She reached the runic circle at the stern of the ship, which was lifeless now, and studied it for a moment.

“Eventually, it was Cassie who repaired the enchantments and made it fly again. Cassie is not with us this time, so…”

Her expression turned wistful.

Sunny shook his head.

“You are caught up in the past, Neph. Remember, you are not a Master anymore. Cassie was the only one who could mend the Chain Breaker back then, but now… you are the most powerful Shaper in existence, and I am the one and only weaver that exists. We are both Supreme, as well, so surely we’ll manage somehow.”

He put a hand on her shoulder.

“But is there really a need to repair the Chain Breaker? The two of us can travel just as fast, if not faster. We can carry more cargo in our souls, and destroying us is more difficult than destroying this ship.”

Nephis stared at the broken deck of the flying ship, then at her own hand.

“…That is true.”

Sunny and Nephis might have been able to travel across the Great River without a ship, but it was still more comfortable to have one around. Of course, Sunny could have created such comfort himself — he could have manifested a small island out of shadows, built a dark mansion on it, and even planted a garden of black flowers. Or even summoned the Nameless Temple from the dark depths of his soul.

But the Chain Breaker felt like home. Sunny had found it on the Chained Isles a long time ago, encountering the Mordant Mimic there and almost losing an arm to it. Cassie repaired the ancient ship, and later, Noctis invited him aboard as a guest. The cohort had taken a vacation aboard the flying ship, and later, Sunny and Nephis lived in one of the cabins together during the Third Nightmare.

Sunny knew every nook and cranny of the ancient vessel, and even now that it was in a sorry state, he felt comfortable here.

And a little comfort… a little comfort went a long way when one was traversing the dark depths of the Tomb of Ariel.