Shadow Slave

The wraith armada advanced across the Palace Lake, followed by a swirling veil of mist. On the opposite shore, the shades waited for their enemy in cold silence, aloof and indifferent to the eerie horror of the vast expanse of viridian glow converging upon them.

Behind the ethereal fleet, covered by mist, rivers of mangled flesh were flowing and swelling like a sea on the eve of a terrible storm.

The battle for the heart of the Eternal City was about to begin.

Jet glanced back, at the creepy silhouette of the titanic black moth sitting atop the magnificent castle. She could not see it, but felt the presence of countless strings connecting the dead deity to the silent warriors of the shadow army. From what she understood, Sunny was somehow using the moth to control his legion — therefore, it was their true commander.

Jet found herself playing the role of a simple footsoldier instead of a general. It felt a bit strange, after all these years of being in command, but also liberating. Finally, she could not worry about anything except wielding her blade and slaughtering her enemies.

Like in the good old times.

‘How nice.

She smiled faintly, casting an icy gaze at the approaching armada. Her blue eyes seemed to glow chillingly in the darkness of the Palace Island as she beheld its dreadful visage.

‘If it were me, I’d begin peppering them with arrows right about now.’

As if reading her mind, a black arrow suddenly streaked across the sky, coming from somewhere on the walls of the Dark Castle. It breached the distance to the wraith armada in an instant and bloomed into a blinding flash of a strange, radiant, silent explosion.

The light swallowed multiple ships, erasing them from existence.

‘Another one.’

Jet grinned.

Even from a distance, she could feel that the ghosts were not merely vanquished and returned to the dreadful cargo hold of the Dutchman. They were truly and utterly obliterated, disappearing forever — just like those slain by her own hands had been before.

She knew who the archer was, as well.

It was one of those few shadows that felt far more willful and sentient than the rest — the quiet, fearsome archer who was always surrounded by the dreadful scent of death. Jet had always sensed a kindred soul in her, and now, she had confirmation.

That one was a fellow slayer.

The first arrow was like a trailblazer. As soon as the silent explosion of essence swallowed the vanguard ships, the entire Shadow Legion stirred. Soon, a dark cloud of projectiles rose into the air, raining down on the wraith armada from the black sky. Sadly, none of them was as lethal as Slayer’s arrow. The silent legion of the Lord of Shadows mostly consisted of the Abomination shadows, and while there were some of them capable of ranged attacks, most abominations only excelled in melee. So, the Shadow Legion was most formidable in a direct clash.

It was probably a good thing, too. It was not difficult to realize that all of these shadows belonged to beings whom the Lord of Shadows... Sunny... had killed. His Domain was built on slaughter and death, so it was a relief to see that most of the shadows he subjugated belonged to Nightmare Creatures. There were some humans, as well, but not many.

Jet still remembered the chill she had felt when she saw the shadows of her former acquaintances standing among the silent shades, though. She had not been close to those people, but she knew them — even if most belonged to the Legacy Clans, there had been too few powerful Awakened before for them not to brush sides at least a few times over the years.

Watching the wraith armada shrug off the bombardment and continue its advance without ever slowing down, Jet glanced at the Shadow Legion with a complicated expression.

In fact... the shadows of people were not the only ones she had recognized.

There were others, as well. There was Goliath... there was an eerie thing hidden in the veil of snow, too. Jet had never gotten the chance to witness what the Winter Beast looked like, but she was almost certain that it was now dead and a member of the shadow army.

‘Too bad. I wanted to kill it myself.’

There were various abominations of the Chain of Nightmares, those who must have come from the Tomb of Ariel, and numerous more.

Which posed the question: how had the Lord of Shadows come to possess these shadows?

He had been veiled in secrets and mystery from the very start. No one knew where he had come from, or how he came to be as powerful as he was. Nephis and Cassie seemed to trust him, so Jet put his trust in him, too. Plus, the man was quite likable once he took off his mask.

There was something about him that put Jet at ease... a hint of familiarity that made her feel a strange sense of comfort when he was around, as well as a subtle note of unexplainable wistfulness. Maybe it was because he was a fellow outskirt rat, or maybe it was simply because he was immensely powerful and on their side, while possessing a down-to-earth and easygoing personality.

Even if, deep down, Sunny was definitely completely and utterly mad.

Still, the vexing mystery of his existence gnawed at Jet from time to time. But whenever she tried to think about it deeply, her thoughts seemed to wander in some other direction — most of the time, she did not even realize that there was something amiss with her thought process. Actually, the very fact that she only wondered about his past occasionally was an abnormality. But there were plenty of anomalies in the world of the Nightmare Spell. There were all kinds of bizarre Aspects, powers, and Flaws. Take Effie’s husband, for example... not even Jet could remember his name, despite how close she was to their family. Maybe Sunny suffered from something similar.

In any case, it was good to have the Lord of Shadows on their side. Jet had wanted to get to know him better for a while now, driven by an inexplicable impulse that was more than simply curiosity, so she jumped at the chance to participate in an expedition with him.

Granted, she had not expected to find herself facing an undying army in the middle of a sunken hell.

Well, no... that was not really true.

Actually, she had expected something exactly like that to happen.

Watching the first wisps of mist reach the Palace Island, Jet smiled darkly.

”I guess it’s time to prove once and for all which one of us is the more terrible wraith.”

Despite it all, the expedition to the Eternal City promised to be worth it.