Shadow Slave

Cassie tore herself away from the memory, gasping for breath even if she did not seem to possess lungs.

A piercing pain was rending her mind apart, radiating from her empty eye socket — even if she did not seem to possess eyes.

‘Argh!”

She writhed in the dark ocean of memories, pushing them away with the tendrils of her will.

However, in doing so, she touched far more of them than she had intended.

Instantly, a chaotic mess of memories was absorbed into her being, overwhelming her. She saw...

An abominable mass of flesh overgrowing a defiled city under the golden light of seven suns.

The ground opening up to unleash torrents of fire upon a crumbling world, an ocean of darkness flowing into the fractures from a vast, harrowing, broken silhouette that obscured the horizon in the distance.

The roaring thunderclaps of railgun salvos shaking the great alloy wall of a polar city as a vast horde of abominations threatened to drown it, melting under the hail of turret fire.

A radiant being with three eyes falling in an unfathomable battle that tore apart the sky, its body piercing realm boundaries as it plummeted down to the ground like a shooting star.

A young man piercing another youth’s heart with an iron knife, then violently throwing him to the floor of a pitiful wooden hut.

A hideous creature screaming as it dropped a stunning eye from its beak, its colossal wings beating in frenzy.

And then, Cassie lost herself in an old memory that had a familiar scent.

The sweltering, humid scent of the jungle. ...In the memory, Cassie was gazing down upon her city from the sacrificial platform of her great temple.

She was Ketzelkan, the Winged Serpent, the God-King of Mictlan. Her city was vast and prosperous, her people never knew hunger, and her mighty asuras were numerous, standing guard over the Heart Bone of the Sun Killer as the forces of Doom encroached upon his corpse.

She had been born as one of the Divine Children who carried the Blood of the Sun in their veins. Most of her siblings had perished a long time ago, but she remained. When she was a teenage boy, she ascended the Sky Bridge and passed the trial of the White Abyss, spending a month in a motionless meditation as the world burned around her. As a young man, she led hunters into the Jungle and hunted monsters of Corruption. Later, she abandoned the persona of a Divine Child and took on the mantle of the King.

The world had been different then. Her brother Inti had not created the asuras yet, and Shatana the Traitor had not cast the veil upon the White Abyss yet. The Ash had not been as deep as it was today, and Ash Nomads had still traveled the desolate land. Most importantly, Doom had not discovered the Sun Realm yet...

And neither had the Nightmare Spell. Cassie turned away from the dark landscape of her Domain, distant sunlight pouring through the cracks in the Heart Bone far away. On the altar in front of her, a Great Beast was straining against the sorcery that held it in place, trying to crush the world with its Will.

Its Will did not matter, though, because it could never overcome her own.

She smiled and raised a bone knife — the same knife she had used once to ascend the Sky Bridge. The sacrificial beast fell to her blade like numerous before it, surrendering its Corruption to the cold embrace of death. Hot blood washed over her hands, and the Nightmare Spell whispered into her ear: [You have slain a Great Beast, Fallen Wanderer of the Sky.]

The creature’s blood tried to flow to the floor. Its soul tried to dissipate into the ether, and its shadow tried to leave for the Realm of Death. However, there was no escaping Cassie — raising a hand, she absorbed the blood, the soul... and the shadow as well.

She absorbed the gargantuan corpse, too, making it a part of herself. Her skin rippled and settled in place, just as supple and flawless as always.

Raising her hand, she painted a red line on her face and closed her eyes.

The awed roars of the vast crowd that had gathered at the base of the temple washed over her. The silence of her Transcendent priests washed over her, as well.

Cassie exhaled slowly, then opened her eyes.

”What does the omen say, my king?”

The voice of her high priest could not help but betray a hint of nervousness.

Cassie smiled joyfully.

”I saw light shining upon Mictlan.’

The faces of her priests paled with horror. ”I saw the Heart Bone shattered by a tower made of white stone. I saw snow fall upon the Jungle, then disappear in a hell of white flame. I saw a shadow rise from the surface of the bone and an angel descend from the White Abyss to extinguish a storm of steel and drain a river of blood... and kill each other.”

She laughed.

“Most importantly, I saw the seed of our destruction bloom in black water. Ah... it is going to rain soon.”

The high priest fell to his knees.

”What... what does that omen mean? My king?”

Cassie looked at him with a benevolent smile.

She remained silent for a while, then spoke in a soft tone:

”Fear not, child. The omen shows that the Sun Killer will never overcome the White Abyss. It is a promise of good fortune.”

She lied, of course.

These children did not even remember the world before the Nightmare Spell and the Doom it had brought. To them, Mictlan had always been a land of mighty warriors and Supreme monarchs who held Corruption at bay.

But she had seen the Ash Nomads fall. She had seen the cities of the Pillar Bones burn. She had seen the vermin of the Jungle grow more powerful with each generation.

She saw the Nightmares bloom, bringing with them untold horrors from beyond the boundary of the Sun Realm.

She knew that Mictlan was doomed.

Unless she and others like her cast away their false titles and became true gods, of course.

And now, she knew how to do it.

“Hear my command, Children of the Sun.” She looked at the sprawling vista of her vast city.

“When the rain comes and floods the Jungle, we will set out on a journey. Send news to other kings... Ketzelkan is calling them to Heart Lake. The time has come to thwart the Doom, once and for all.”

Or die trying.