Shadow Slave

The River of Tears was so vast that it seemed boundless, flowing across multiple regions of the Dream Realm. In fact, it was an independent region in and of itself, complete with its own collection of bizarre mysteries and a thriving ecosystem... an ecosystem that was lethal like everything else in the harrowing expanse of this dangerous world, but thriving nonetheless.

The vast river was born from the great waterfall of the Moonriver Plain, the Weeping Goddess, while its estuary was all the way in the south, on the misty shores of the Stormsea. It used to serve as a great waterway connecting the Citadel Cities of the Song Domain, and now that those cities were rapidly expanding, its vital role had only become more important.

Just like the caravans of the warrior-merchants of the East, the stronghold ships of the West were what made the scattered cities in the basin of the River of Tears a civilization. The scarred, huge, heavily armored vessels carried goods, resources, people, and information across the perilous waters...

None was as fearsome and majestic as the huge ship that was sailing on the River of Tears at the moment, however.

The Night Garden floated with the current, moving south. It was returning to the Stormsea after escaping its dark depths a few days prior. The Ivory Island glided across the sky high above it, as if escorting the Great Citadel home.

Jet was currently in her garden, looking around with a peculiar expression.

The sacred trees she had planted had grown considerably in just a few days, their branches brimming with golden fruit. Countless flowers bloomed between them like colorful jewels, while the decorative bushes had become tall and wild.

”...Do I need to hire a gardener?”

Her tone was a little troubled.

At that moment, a black crow fell from the sky and landed on her shoulder.

”Jet! Jet!”

She glanced at the bird and raised an eyebrow.

”Yeah? What?”

The crow pecked at her cheek.

”Fruit! Fruit!”

A subtle smile appeared on her lips.

“What about them?”

Just then, a second crow glided down and landed on her other shoulder.

“What do you mean, what about them? Those are sacred fruit, aren’t they? This much should be enough to supply you with essence for a while...”

“Argh, damn it! What the hell?!”

Jet flinched and reeled away, knocking the second crow of her shoulder. The crow was sent tumbling through the air, collided against the trunk of a tree, and fell to the ground pathetically.

There, it turned into a young man with pale skin and raven-black hair, sitting on the ground and comfortably leaning against the tree.

Sunny grinned.

“What’s up with that reaction?”

Jet stared at him with wide eyes.

”Since when... actually, forget it. Never mind.”

She sighed, then reached and plucked one of the golden fruit. Walking over to Sunny, she sat near him and took a juicy bite.

The two of them spent a few moments in comfortable silence, watching the clouds move across the azure sky. Eventually, Jet said:

”People don’t appreciate what they have until they lose it. I never really paid any particular attention to the sky, but after spending all that time underwater... gods, what a lovely sight. I never want to explore the depths again.”

Sunny smiled.

”Me neither. Still... it wasn’t all bad, was it? We gained so much.”

Just as expected, the expedition to the Eternal City had turned out to be quite eventful — granted, Sunny had not expected to wage a small war against a horde of immortal abominations. However, the spoils were similarly great.

First and foremost, they managed to initiate the restoration of the Night Garden.

Sunny gave Jet a curious glance.

“By the way. What, exactly, changed about your ship?”

She remained silent for a bit, looking around the overgrown garden.

”We are still figuring it out. But you must have noticed some of it already... local soil was always inexplicably fertile, allowing us to gather multiple harvests a year. But now, that nourishing effect has grown many times more powerful. It is truly remarkable.”

Sunny nodded.

The trees around them were noticeably higher than they had been before, and the bushes seemed out of control. The same was happening across the entire titanic ship — everything was growing, blooming, and bearing fruit much faster than before. The surface decks resembled a jungle, and the Night Garden now really looked worthy of its name.

Jet inhaled deeply.

“Here and there, various species of native plants sprouted out of nowhere. They are a bit weird... a certain algae in the water reservoir, for example, is producing oxygen. And I mean all by itself — it doesn’t need the sun or carbon dioxide to do so. Other kinds do other useful things. It is too early to tell, but I think the Night Garden is fully self-sufficient now. It can drift for thousands of years in any kind of environment, and people on board will still be comfortable. Well... I mean, they’ll be dead of old age. But they would have lived and died of old age comfortably.’

She chuckled.

”The aegis surrounding the ship seems to have grown much more sophisticated, as well — stronger, too. Honestly, we have no idea what exactly changed about it, but the changes seem incredibly profound. It is as if the Night Garden is ready to dive into the Void.”

Jet paused for a moment, then added in a distant tone:

“Do you think that that was what the Demon of Repose had built it for? That it is a Void Ship?”

Sunny hesitated for a while.

”I don’t know. Maybe it was not, initially. But after wandering the seas and the skies for thousands of years, exploring all of existence, she might have grown curious about what lay beyond. Of course... she probably never got the chance to explore it. The Doom War happened first.”

Jet sighed, then nodded.

“Indeed. Well, apart from that, the Night Garden now allows me to open... let’s call them portals. Rifts that connect two points in space. However, I can’t really use that new Component, because to do that, we need to figure out a different new function first. It has something to do with navigation, but nobody knows how it works. So, until we learn, I can only open those portals to somewhere within my direct line of vision.” She smiled.

“There are lots of minor changes, as well, like the hull being able to repair itself much faster — and so on. I won’t bore you.”

Sunny leaned back and looked at the sky. The Night Garden had become more robust... that alone would have made the expedition worthwhile. But there were other gains, as well.

The arsenal of enchanted weapons Sunny had salvaged in the Hippodrome was going to strengthen the forces of humanity. The artefacts looted across various districts would, as well.

The Marvelous Mimic was producing a steady stream of essence coins after gorging itself on the bodies of fallen immortals. Sunny had become familiar with using the Puppeteer to control the Shadow Legion, increasing the strength of his dark army by a large margin.

Naeve had returned with the Memory carrying a reservoir of starlight capable of granting people the Lineage of Storm God. Jet had greatly increased the volume of her soul core and captured two powerful souls into her Mist Blade.

Nightmare had become Supreme.

Nephis had come closer to mastering another branch of her Aspect Legacy.

Nightwalker had returned to the embrace of humanity.

And Sunny himself...

Sunny had found the sixth fragment of Weaver’s Lineage.

One he had yet to absorb.