Shadow Slave

The Night Garden glided above the vast expanse of dark glass, pushing through the cold crushing abyss of unfathomable depths. The light of its lanterns glistened in the smooth black surface, and a faint reflection of the living ship traveled below it - as if the Night Garden was being pursued by its ghost. After the first hour or so, the novelty of the flawlessly flat plane of smooth glass had grown old. From time to time, eerie shapes appeared from the darkness and slowly drifted past the living ship - those were the remains of beings and things that had sunk to the bottom of the Stormsea throughout the eons, and were too durable to be destroyed even by its impossible pressure.

There were gargantuan bones, broken frames of ancient ships, and unrecognizable ruins.

At some point, the hands of a gargantuan statue revealed themselves from the lightless void, outstretched toward the distant surface. They were followed by an immense face, its features long erased by the passage of time, and the broken lines of a shattered crown.

Sunny and his companions observed the titanic statue in silence.

Eventually, he sighed and shook his head.

”What was it with the people of the Dream Realm and enormous statues? It’s almost impossible to go anywhere here without stumbling on at least one or two... or seven...”

Naeve, who had returned to the bridge, shrugged.

”Maybe it’s because many of those people were giants themselves.”

Jet, who had been resting by a pillar, opened her eyes and gave them a quiet look.

because they had not been born in a

”It is simply because they could. They could afford to spend time and resources on creating majestic statues, so they did. They did not need a reason other than that dying world being consumed by an apocalyptic war, like we were.”

Her calm words ushered in a somber silence, and soon, the gargantuan statue disappeared into the darkness behind them.

The Night Garden moved aimlessly, searching for the Eternal City - Sunny had cast his shadow sense as far as he could, trying to find its ruins. Jet and the Saints of Night, meanwhile, were preparing for battle.

”Where are you?”

Sunny hated to admit it, but the long period of tense anticipation was starting to negatively affect his mental state. Entire days spent in a state of battle readiness, surrounded by utter darkness and suffocating silence, had tired him. The fact that nothing had happened was only making him more frustrated. And if he felt that way, then Jet and the Saints of Night were probably worse off. Well... maybe not Jet. After all, she had always seemed relaxed and comfortable in any environment, no matter the circumstances. Now, too, it looked like she was taking a nap without a care in the world.

One of her eyes opened as soon as Sunny suddenly rose to his feet, though. Looking ahead, he remained silent for a moment and then smiled darkly. ”Found it.”

Out there, countless kilometers away, he felt a vast mass of shadows being cast on the bottom of the Stormsea. His perception of them was muddied and unclear, but he perceived at least several towering structures resting on the black glass.

Sunny looked at his companions.

”We found the Eternal City.”

****

The Eternal City had let itself be known long before they could see it. At first, Sunny thought that his eyes were playing a trick on him, but then he had to admit that what he saw was true — out there, far away in front of them, the absolute darkness of the abyssal depths was chased away by pale light.

The distant radiance illuminated the great mass of water, resembling the auroras he had seen in Antarctica.

That was the great lighthouse of the Eternal City shining from the bottom of a boundless sea, still intact even thousands of years after the Demon of Repose, its supposed creator, had perished.

That radiance had served as a beacon for those traveling through the cold darkness of the Black Skies; now, it was a guiding light for those traversing the crushing black abyss of the lightless depths.

”It’s a bit crazy, isn’t it?”

Jet gave him a brief look.

”What is?”

Sunny shook his head in bewilderment.

”That place, the Eternal City... it survived the wrath of Storm God, fell from space, crashed into the ocean, and spent thousands of years enduring the crushing pressure on the bottom of the sea. And yet, it still seems to be intact.” He let out a chuckle.

”That’s one hell of a building standard.”

She smiled, then sent the Night Garden forward.

Gradually, the distant radiance drew closer. The living ship moved toward its source, slowly coming into view of the drowned city soon enough, Sunny saw the vast ruin laying on the endless smooth expanse of black glass, illuminated by the light of its silver spires.

Only he wasn’t sure that the Eternal City could be called a ruin - it seemed to be completely intact and in pristine condition, after all.

Beautiful silver spires rose above the endless expanse of black glass, emanating radiant light. Smaller buildings made from stone stood between them, with streets, squares, and vast parks. The Eternal City seemed to be protected by an aegis of its own, similar to the Night Garden - a gargantuan dome surrounded it, preventing the water from drowning the streets.

The entire city seemed to be separated into dozens of large islands, with roaring rivers flowing between them at great speed.

At the heart of it, a magnificent palace — or maybe a temple-towered above the landscape. The Eternal City was vast, easily competing in size with Bastion, Ravenheart, and NQSC, so Sunny could not discern the details of the palace... And that was not what he was paying attention to, anyway.

”Crazy... it’s absolutely crazy.”

His expression turned somber.

Because out there, on the streets of the Eternal City, he sensed something else. Countless shadows were moving there - shadows that belonged to living beings.

It seemed that just like the buildings, the immortal citizens of the fallen city had been restored to pristine condition, as well.