Shadow Slave

Escaping the shadows, Sunny and Nephis rolled down a tall dune of obsidian dust before coming to a stop at its bottom. Above them, the black sky of the Shadow Realm was illuminated by the pale radiance of a distant essence storm.

Around them, the desolate expanse of the Realm of Death stretched endlessly in all directions, cold winds blowing across its surface. The world was silent.

The two of them remained motionless for a long while, breathing heavily. Their wildly beating hearts were slow to calm down, and the indescribable terror of facing an Unholy One still echoed in their dazed, rattled minds.

Eventually, though, Sunny was able to breathe normally again. He let out a heavy sigh and groaned, finally sensing the dull pain radiating through his soul. Where one of his Soul Cores had been once, there was now nothing but emptiness — the jagged wound dealt to his soul was not fatal, but it was still painful, making him feel like a cripple.

Still...

‘We made it out.’

At the end there, all he could think about was summoning the Shadow Lantern and escaping through its gate — once Sunny pulled Nephis with him into the embrace of shadows, he hurriedly dismissed the Divine Memory, leaving the prisoner of the Abyss no chance to follow them.

Perhaps the creature could have twisted the enchantments of a different Memory with its profane Will, but the Shadow Lantern was a relic left behind by Shadow God — so, Sunny had hoped that even an Unholy Nightmare Creature would not be able to influence it easily.

It seemed like he had been right. After all, neither of them would be alive otherwise. Thinking about the creature imprisoned in the Abyss made Sunny shiver again, and his instinctual fear swelled once more.

‘Damnation.’

He was properly shaken by the encounter with that horrid thing.

After a while, Nephis sat up and brushed the obsidian dust off her hair. Sunny pushed himself off the ground, as well, looking around with a lost expression. Neither of them said anything, trying to recover from the traumatic experience.

Sunny’s thoughts were wild and disjointed, swarming in his head like a cloud of wasps. A long while later, he glanced at Nephis and hesitated for a moment before speaking. In the end, all he could say was:

”That thing... the Unholy One... it simply pointed at me, Nephis. And I died.”

Sunny’s voice was grim. He pursed his lips, and then added somberly:

”No. Even before that, it only had to gaze at me to infect my soul with Corruption. It only had to look my way to destroy me.”

Sunny was not just anyone, either. He was... he had been a Supreme Titan. He stood at the very pinnacle of power among all humans — people who could compare to him could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and even among them, nobody could claim to surpass him with any measure of confidence. And yet, the prisoner of the Abyss obliterated him so easily.

Neph’s expression was dark. She remained silent for a moment, then said quietly:

”We knew how powerful the Unholy Nightmare Creatures would be.”

Then, she inhaled deeply and shook her head.

”However, knowing and experiencing it are two entirely different things. The power of that terrifying thing was beyond anything I had imagined. It was... sobering.”

Sunny could only give a grim nod. Sobering... yes, that was the right word. He had known that Unholy abominations would be terrifying and unfathomably powerful — and yet, he still underestimated just how traumatic they would be.

Sunny and Nephis were in a hurry to challenge the Fifth Nightmare and become Spirits. Before, he had thought that conquering Apotheosis would buy them some time — but now, he was starting to suspect that simply becoming Sacred would not be enough to prepare them for what was about to come.

Sunny could not imagine winning a battle against the prisoner of the Abyss without becoming a Divine being himself first. Even if he and Nephis managed to defeat the horrid creature, somehow, while still being Spirits...

Sunny was suddenly covered in cold sweat. Even if they defeated that profane creature, there were others like it. Was there a handful of them? A dozen? More?

The thought itself was terrifying.

At the moment, Sunny knew of only a few Unholy Nightmare Creatures. There was the thing in the Abyss. One was theorized to dwell in the skull of the continent-sized skeleton in Godgrave... it was too close to human civilization for him to remain undisturbed by the idea.

And then, there was one hidden on the Moon.

‘No wonder Professor Obel warned me to never look at the Moon too closely.’

There was probably an Unholy Nightmare Creature hidden in the heart of the Burned Forest, another one in the frozen wastelands west of Ravenheart... perhaps the eerie darkness that was swallowing Citadels in the far east was a manifestation of an Unholy One’s power, as well. Who knew how many more there were, and where they were hiding?

But it was the one on the Moon that frightened Sunny the most.

Once the waking world was entirely consumed by the Dream Realm, Earth’s moon would be swallowed, as well. It would shine upon the Dream Realm one day — where the laws of the waking world would not be suppressing the being that dwelled on its surface anymore.

The being would be able to gaze down and abandon its lunar prison then, descending into the world below.

How would humanity survive then?

Sunny’s expression turned darker and darker.

Having become Sacred, would he and Nephis survive if beings like the one they had just barely escaped besieged them on all sides?

That was highly unlikely.

So, if they conquered the Fifth Nightmare, there would be no time at all to collect themselves and prepare for the next one. They would have to reach the Moon and challenge the Sixth Nightmare as well — challenge it almost immediately.

So, entering the Seed of the Fifth Nightmare would be like reaching the finish line. After that, it would be full steam ahead until they either became Divine — became true gods — or died.

Therefore, humanity would either be saved or perish with them.

Sunny grimaced.

‘What is it that people say? Dream big? Shoot for the moon?’

He had never thought that this simple phrase would sound so sinister one day.