Shadow Slave

Sunny stood motionless for a while, feeling the ground move beneath him. Now that all seven of the chains were broken and the Ivory Tower became completely untethered from the rest of the Kingdom of Hope, it started to ascend. Slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the island it stood upon soared into the sky, leaving the shattered land behind.

And as it did, Sunny felt the Nightmare coming to the end.

Slowly, he walked to the edge and looked down, at the burning city below.

The beautiful buildings of white stone were melting. The aerial bridges and elegant aqueducts were collapsing, unable to withstand the terrible heat. The streams of clear water were turning into scolding steam. All around, he could see nothing but an ocean of flame.

The wind brought with it the distant sound of human cries, smoke, and the smell of burning flesh.

Thousands of people — those who still lived — were drowning in the fiery ocean, turning into piles of blackened bones and ash.

The Ivory City was dying.

Was this what salvation looked like?

…In the thousands of years to come, the scorched islands were going to crumble into the Sky Below one after another, forming the Tear. The Twisted Rock would eventually be the last one to fall.

As the Ivory Tower rose higher and higher, the sight of the dying city did not encompass all of Sunny’s vision anymore. Now, he saw further and wider. The landscape of the Kingdom of Hope was laid bare in front of him.

He saw the shape of a giant steel corpse swinging below a faraway island on a broken chain, and a shape of a shattered ship laying on the ground. Effie and Cassie were somewhere there, as well… but the distance was too great for Sunny to see them.

He saw countless islands, some of them verdant and green, some of them grey and desolate. There were forests and lakes, rivers and hills, human settlements… small and large. He saw people, cattle, beasts, and Nightmare Creatures.

He saw the chains stretching into the distance as they connected the islands together.

Looking up from the ground, Sunny saw numerous flying ships rushing toward the burning city. There were hundreds and hundred of them, some with white sails, some with red. The army of the fallen Chain Lords had arrived.

As the Ivory Island rose even higher, the sky around it started to change.

The change was subtle at the beginning, but as the Ivory Tower continued to ascend, it became more and more pronounced.

The invisible power that held the flying islands above the abyss of the Sky Below was shifting. As its heart climbed higher and higher, it was slowly becoming more and more overbearing. The giant enchantment was losing its balance.

Sunny shivered as he realized what was happening.

The Crushing… the Crushing was coming to the Chained Isles for the first time.

As he watched, it descended upon the shattered remains of the Kingdom of Hope in all its vicious might.

Across numerous islands, dust suddenly rose into the air. Ancient forests were flattened in an instant, tall hills broke apart, rivers boiled and change their course, settlements were turned into ruins.

Countless humans, beasts, and Nightmare Creatures were cruelly killed, not knowing what had killed them.

The flying ships were hit the hardest, every one of them instantly turning into a cloud of splinters, debris, and broken bodies. The mighty army was gone in a second.

The scale of the destruction was too large to comprehend.

Sunny watched as the Kingdom of Hope was turned into the Chained Isles, paralyzed by the inconceivable horror of that sight. For a while, all thoughts disappeared from his head…

Then, suddenly, his eyes widened.

‘Cassie! Effie!’

For a moment, he was consumed by fear, but then his hearts slowly calmed.

No… they were alright.

Cassie had always been good at predicting when the islands would enter the Crushing, back in the future. She would have warned Effie if they were in danger and taken them both to safety.

Sunny sighed with relief. Now that his paralysis was broken, however, another thought suddenly entered his mind.

He took an uncertain step back from the edge, then turned around and ran to the center of the island.

Approaching the dead dragon, he hurriedly climbed over the beast’s massive head and jumped down, landing near the gates of the Ivory Tower.

The ancient doors were closed shut, as if no one had opened them in a thousand years. Sunny gritted his teeth and pulled, putting the strength of all his shadows into it.

Hope… he had to see Hope!

Succumbing to the pressure, the gates slowly moved. Torturously slowly, one side of them slid forward, creating an opening.

Not wasting any more time, he pushed himself into the narrow gap and entered the Ivory Tower.

Soon, he saw the familiar great hall, its vast expanse bathed in light that streamed through tall windows. Seven chains sprawled from the pristine white floor, as if growing out of it, each ending in a broken shackle. The shackles were bleak and marred, their metal torn.

There was fresh blood on the broken shackles, suffused with a radiant golden glow.

And between them…

Sunny staggered and involuntarily fell to his knees.

Every passion, every desire, every emotion dwelling in his heart suddenly surged forward and ignited, breaking out of control.

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In the center of the great hall, surrounded by a swirling hurricane of light and darkness, a vague and graceful silhouette towered above the broken chains. He couldn’t quite tell where the light ended, and where her numinous body began… perhaps Hope had no body at all, and was instead made of pure radiance, pure darkness.

He felt as if her nebulous visage was almost human-like, but also inexplicably alien. The shapes and contours were both correct and wrong… both familiar and strange… both pleasing and revolting.

And beautiful…. so beautiful…

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

She was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen.

She was…

Divine, unholy, unknown, unknowable.

…A daemon.

And she was leaving.

Sunny couldn’t see much, but he clearly understood that Hope was ready to disappear. Maybe she was already half-gone, and all he saw was an afterimage.

And yet, he had to… he had to…

His mind was scattered and empty, and he didn’t quite remember what he wanted to do.

What he desired…

Sunny gritted his teeth, and then screamed, letting his desire dictate the question:

“Wait! Don’t go! Tell me… tell me why the Lord of Light did this! Why did the gods imprison you?! Why couldn’t they just kill you?! Why?!”

The Demon of Desire paid him no attention. For a moment, Sunny thought that he would not receive an answer.

But then, something changed.

Hope moved, and was suddenly beside him. Her face, which was weaved of light and darkness, encompassed the whole world. Her radiant eyes peered into the deepest, most hidden parts of his soul.

And then, a voice that sounded like the rustle of countless leaves, like a myriad of prayers, like the wind that blew between the stars whispered into his ear:

“…Because we are their Flaw.”

Sunny’s eyes grew wide.

And then, everything became dark.

…The Nightmare was over.

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