Shadow Slave

Sunny could not get used to how small and bleak his world had become without shadow sense, feeling exposed and uncomfortable. As they drew near the ruins, he could not tell if something was hiding behind the old stone or if danger was lying in wait — all he could tell was that the air seemed colder here, and that it smelled of water.

The quiet sounds in the distance told him that the river they had been searching for was close. To reach it, however, they would have to traverse the ruins and face any potential peril that hid there.

Sunny glanced at Nephis briefly, then grimaced and continued walking forward. The two of them caught up with Saint, who entered the ruins first.

The settlement where the Stone Saints had dwelled sprawled around them, desolate and empty. They had been created by Nether — a great artisan among the daemons — so their dwellings were built with stellar craftsmanship, as well. Constructed from dark stone, the settlement had endured the end of the world and eons of desolation well.

The buildings were tall and magnificent, imposing in their solemn beauty. Their facades were adorned with intricate decorations, sweeping colonnades and beautiful rotundas standing upon pools of black water. It must have been a place of dark splendor once... but now, it was all hollow and pointless, devoid of movement and life.

The streets were drowning in dust, the walls of the building were covered by fractures and deep cracks. The reliefs and decorations had been eroded by the passage of time, and some of the dwellings had crumbled. The recent rain of shattered stone had caused more devastation, damaging many buildings and causing some of them to collapse.

Saint seemed to know her way around, navigating the wide streets with measured, confident steps. Sunny gave her a curious look.

He had rarely considered her life before the two of them met on the Forgotten Shore. Back then, Saint and her kin had already succumbed to Corruption, guarding a square in the Dark City against other Nightmare Creatures. In the end, an especially fierce clash ended their profane existence and allowed Sunny to slay the original Saint and make her a Shadow.

But now that he thought about it...

How, exactly, had a war party of Stone Saints ended up on the Forgotten Shore? Had they been sent there by the Demon of Destiny during the war against the gods, ordered to guard the mortal realm that bordered the Underworld? Or had they come there later, after the gods perished and their homeland was consumed by a flood of Corruption?

Sunny was more or less convinced that one of the seven heroes of the Forgotten Stranger, the Stranger, had been one of Nether’s children — and a powerful one, at that. Had Saint been one of his soldiers? There was no answer. Saint herself might remember, even if the memories of her past life were no more than a distant dream now that she had died and become a Shadow... but she was not very talkative, to say the least. Outside the Great Mirror, that was.

In any case, she might have been to this settlement once, a long time ago. This could have been her home, even... albeit Sunny doubted that. If it were, she would have probably shown more of a reaction.

As the three of them drew close to the central square of the ruined settlement, Nephis shifted slightly and looked ahead.

”There are Nightmare Creatures nearby.”

Her voice was even, but hid a hint of wariness.

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

”How do you know?”

She lingered for a moment before answering.

”I can sense their Corruption.”

Her sensitivity to the presence of Nightmare Creatures seemed to have become greater after she mastered the Knowledge of Corruption.

”Nightmare Creatures...”

At this point, encountering a Nightmare Creature was almost a relief. Nightmare Creatures were often terrifying and deadly opponents, and those who dwelled in the Underworld were bound to be especially so — but at least they were a familiar foe.

Sunny knew how to slay Nightmare Creatures, but eerie things born from true darkness or nothingness were beyond his field of expertise.

True darkness and Nothing...

In fact, now that he thought about it, was it really a coincidence that there were only two powers that existed outside the framework of universal laws established by the gods, and Nether had come to wield both of them?

Was there a hidden reason why the Demon of Destiny had established his domain in the Hollow Mountains, of all places, after his falling out with Storm God?

‘The youngest daemons always had a rebellious streak, it seems.’

Just then, they finally reached the central square.

It was vast and austere, surrounded on all sides by a stream of flowing water. Four bridges connected the settlement to the square, and at its center, a great stele pierced the darkness like a sharp blade. There were deep, strangely familiar runes carved into the weathered surface of the stele, but at that moment, Sunny paid them no attention.

Instead, his attention was drawn to a circle of statues that surrounded the stele, facing outward as if to watch over the settlement. There were seven of them. The statues were towering, almost as tall as Saint, each carved from stone with sublime mastery. They were statues of stone knights whose armor shared a similar design to Saint’s fearsome suit of armor — and to the Jade Mantle — even if theirs was simpler and less imposing. Their weapons, however, were different.

The largest statue was leaning on an enormous greatsword, its head lowered, the plume of its helmet moving slightly in the wind.

‘Ah, damn it...’

Sunny’s expression fell.

Obviously, a stone plume could not move. Which meant that these statues were no statues at all.

As seven towering stone knights moved slowly, turning their heads in Saint’s direction, he muttered a quiet curse.

They were the Nightmare Creatures... They were corrupted Stone Saints.