Shadow Slave

Sunny studied the back of the young man who was old enough to be his grandfather, wondering what had happened between Nightwalker and Asterion — and when.

He was full of questions, but knew that it was not the time to ask them yet. The questions still struggled to climb onto his tongue, though, which made him feel itchy.

Sunny was also controlling the besieged Shadow Legion, repelling the harrowing onslaught of the hideous army of immortals, so there was that as well.

He squinted.

”Weren’t you a Master?”

Nightwalker looked at him, then smiled wryly.

”I found a Seed of Nightmare here in the Eternal City. Took me a... few tries, but I conquered it eventually.”

’A... few tries?”

Overwhelmed by the implications of these simple words, Sunny briefly wondered who had done it first - Broken Sword and his cohort or Nightwalker. Perhaps it did not matter, in the end.

He sighed.

”Anyway, in the war between Valor and Song... neither Valor nor Song won. Broken Sword’s daughter won, instead, killing both Anvil and Ki Song — with the help of an extremely dashing sellsword. Who then betrayed her and was promptly killed, as well. They’re dating now.”

Nightwalker slowed down and turned, giving him an incredulous look. Strangely enough, Naeve and Bloodwave stared at him with wide eyes, too.

”Wait... you and Lady Nephis... are together?”

Sunny gave them a dark look.

”Oh, did I not mention it? There’s no need to sound so shocked, you know. Yes, we are.”

He grinned.

”We’re like two sides of the same coin, she and I.”

Nightwalker stared at him for a moment, then looked at Jet. Then, he smiled. ”Good for you.”

Sunny tilted his head, suddenly feeling his smile growing strained.

”Nephis of the Immortal Flame clan Changing Star - attained Supremacy and became the ruler of humanity. Earth is being slowly devoured by the Dream Realm, so hundreds of millions of people are being resettled to the Dream Realm ahead of the apocalypse. We almost lost the Eastern Quadrant to a Great Terror recently, but a new Supreme ascended and took care of it. That pretty much covers everything. Oh... the remains of the House of Night were absorbed into the government. Saint Jet is the de facto leader of the government, as well as the new captain of the Night Garden.”

Nightwalker looked at Jet once again, then glanced at Naeve and Bloodwave. His expression grew distant for a short while, but cleared eventually.

”Good to know.”

He studied Sunny silently.

”Naeve and Bloodwave are members of the House of Night, while the stunning young lady is the captain of the Night Garden. But who are you, kid? Did someone find Shadow God’s lineage, after all?”

Sunny smiled.

”Someone did.”

He paused for a moment.

”I am Supreme Sunless, the demigod in charge of conquering this city. I am also thousands of years old, so please refrain from calling me kid... young man.” Nightwalker stared at him with no particular expression on his youthful face, then looked away and sighed.

”The world has changed a lot since I’ve been gone.”

He walked forward without saying anything else until a wall built of large stone blocks revealed itself from the radiance. Opening the door, Nightwalker walked inside and invited them in.

The space inside might have been a storage area once, but it had been turned into a makeshift living space now. There was a luxurious bed, paintings and statuettes decorating the haphazard collection of furniture, and several braziers with cold coals in them. There were also weapons and various tools littering the floor, with large spools of metal wire and long spikes leaning against the walls. It seemed like Nightwalker both lived and prepared his traps here. If anything, this place resembled Sunny’s room in the ruined cathedral of the Dark City more than anything else.

Most importantly, though, was that there were shadows here. Bright light spilled through the small window near the roof, but most of the storage space was mercifully dark, soothing Sunny’s strained eyes.

Walking inside, he let out a relieved sigh and pulled the blindfold off. He felt like a fish thrown back into the water.

Curiously enough, Sunny had not sensed these shadows from the outside. It was only when he crossed the threshold that he felt their presence, hinting that this building — and maybe the Lighthouse, as well — were able to suppress anyone from peering through their walls.

”Make yourself at home.”

Nightwalker walked over to one of the braziers and made fire. Then, he looked around with a slightly lost expression.

”Sorry... I don’t think I have any food or beverages to offer you. I don’t actually remember the last time I ate something.”

In the silence that followed, Naeve sighed and asked the question that had been on all of their minds from the moment they met the miraculously surviving founder of the House of Night:

”You... you are one of those immortals now, aren’t you2”

Nightwalker regarded him with a neutral expression.

”Aren’t we all immortal here, in the Eternal City?”

He shrugged, and then sat down in a decadently opulent chair.

”But yes... the answer to your question is yes. I died here. And then, the Eternal City

brought me back. So, I am one of its immortals now.”

Naeve drew a shaky breath.

”But you are not corrupted, like the rest of them?”

Nightwalker shook his head slowly.

”No... not yet, at least. In fact, none of the immortals are corrupted.”

Sunny frowned.

”I’ll have to disagree.”

Naeve nodded.

”Indeed. We’ve seen them... Jet and the Lord of Shadows fought them, as well. How can those abominations not be corrupted?”

Nightwalker lingered for a moment.

”Ah, sorry. I should rather say that the abominations you’ve faced are not the immortals.”

He leaned back and sighed.

”The actual immortals aren’t really alive anymore. Their bodies are intact and their souls are intact, but their minds have long crumbled. They are like empty dolls with nothing inside... well, at least there wasn’t anything inside them, initially.”

Nightwalker looked at them darkly.

”That was before a certain Nightmare Creature came to the Eternal City, crawled into them, and rooted itself within their immortal bodies. So, the things that you saw and fought is that Nightmare Creature wearing the bodies of the immortals. It’s a parasite.”’

Sunny frowned.

”I don’t suppose you know what that Nightmare Creature is called?” Nightwalker turned

to him and smiled.

”Oh, naturally I do.”

His smile dimmed, and was then erased from his face.

”It’s called the Flesh of Kanakht.””