Shadow Slave

The attack of the Shadow Clan had been swift, stealthy, and chillingly efficient. They had eliminated all sleeper cells of Asterion’s followers in one fell swoop... all of the cells that had been helping his name spread, at least, and were therefore discovered.

By the time a new day shone upon the world, half a dozen cults and more than a few fringe organizations had vanished without a trace. Their churches and bases stood empty, and even though there were signs of fierce struggle left inside, no bodies were found.

There were no clues and no evidence left by the unknown assailants, either.

The number of missing people was significant, but in the grand scale of humanity, they were merely a drop in the ocean. However, it was the mysterious nature of their disappearance that caused the public a great shock.

The public became disturbed.

After all, it was not every night that a mysterious force entered their cities to snatch up people, with no one being the wiser. The fact that the Fire Keepers and the forces of the Immortal Flame clan had not only failed to prevent the eerie attack, but were also unable to uncover what happened only added fuel to frightening rumors. Observing the frightful reaction of the public, Sunny could not help but remember his own past. Back then, on the Forgotten Shore... wasn’t that how the Sleepers of the Dark City felt about Harus, the ruthless executioner of the Bright Lord?

No one ever saw Harus come to claim his victims, but everyone he had been sent to kill inevitably ended up dead. The fact that there had not been a single witness to explain how the hateful hunchback killed his targets only made him more frightening. After all, what people feared the most was the unknown.

Now, Sunny had become the unknown for humanity.

”How ironic.”

As for Sunny himself... he was a little disturbed, too.

Not only because of the somber nature of the act, but also because of how smoothly everything had gone.

He had expected something to go wrong until the very end. He had even prepared to find Asterion himself in one of the hidden lairs.

The Dreamspawn was supposed to be trapped on the moon, but who knew? His influence seemed to have no problem spreading. So, it was quite reasonable to assume that the man himself had escaped his seal, as well.

The thralls of Asterion had not done anything harmful, continuing to go about their lives as usual. And even now that Sunny and his people had attacked the followers of the Dreamspawn, the man offered no resistance.

It was as if Asterion were a pacifist who harbored no malicious intentions whatsoever.

...Or was simply so confident in his eventual victory that losing a few sleeper cells was of no importance to him.

In any case, Sunny did not like it.

Capturing the followers of the Dreamspawn had not been too difficult. In fact, transporting them to the Forgotten Shore had proven to be a greater challenge — still, Sunny managed. And now, the real difficulty would begin.

It was the task of keeping all these people safely locked up away from the human population while taking care of them. The prisoners had to be fed, clothed, and watched over. Some would require medical assistance... the thralls had to be separated from ordinary zealots and delivered to the quarantine facility in NQSC, where Cassie would hopefully cleanse their minds from Asterion’s influence.

Sunny suppressed a heavy sigh.

‘Ah... so much work.’

It was a good thing that he had a new lackey... uh, a new lieutenant to help him handle all the difficult tasks.

“Isn’t it too cruel?”

Revel was gazing down at the black settlement illuminated by enchanted lights. There, some of the prisoners were already waking up, staggering into the street from their assigned dwellings.

There were no living guards in the prison camp, and no living staff either. Instead, his shades were doing all the work — the only human allowed to interact with the captives was Revel herself.

Sunny shrugged.

“Hey, I already chose the most comely of my shades to take care of the prisoners. Sure, they might be shadows of dead people, but most of those people were radiant immortals of the Eternal City once! I could have chosen dead Nightmare Creatures, you know.’

There was nothing he could do about that. Sure, the more humane option would have been to assign at least a few of the Shadow Clan members to take care of the captives... but subjects of his Domain were not immune to Asterion’s powers, either. If the Dreamspawn could steal the hearts of those who followed Nephis, he could steal people from Sunny’s Domain, too.

So, the members of the Shadow Clan could not be exposed to Asterion’s thralls more than necessary.

Revel sighed and covered her face with a hand.

”They’re going to think that they died and have gone to the afterlife...”

Sunny glanced around.

An empty black void instead of the sky, peculiar buildings made out of smooth black material, and a great dark wall towering above the settlements like the barrier of existence.

‘She’s... not wrong.’

If someone attacked Sunny in the dead of night, and then he came to his senses in this place, he would have assumed that he was in hell, too.

Sunny offered her a pleasant smile.

”What are you waiting for, then? Go and explain to them why they are here, and what is going to happen to them. You know, how they’ll be treated well and that there’s nothing to fear.”

Revel glanced at him from between her fingers.

”You do realize how I look, do you?”

Sunny gave her a stare.

Alabaster skin, raven-black hair... leathery wing, two obsidian horns, eyes that were entirely black...

How would he react if someone like that told him that he was definitely not in hell? Sunny coughed.

”Well. Perhaps dismiss your Transcendent form first...”

Shaking her head, Revel spread her wings and stepped off the parapet.

He watched her glide toward the settlement in silence, then turned away.

There was a lot he had to do...