Shadow Slave

Rain had spent some time in NQSC, catching up with old friends and going on a little trip down memory lane. The latter, sadly enough, did not feel as meaningful as she had expected it to. She spent her entire childhood in this vast, ancient city... but, oddly enough, it did not feel like home anymore.

Her family had long left the cradle of humanity for Ravenheart. In their absence, NQSC just felt... empty. It was far more developed and technologically advanced than any city in the Dream Real, true — and on Earth as well, for that matter. But Perhaps because Rain had spent a great amount of time away from this dying world, she could not help but feel that everything here seemed shabby.

The air was stale. The space was limited. The buildings were colorless and oppressive. The people were stressed, and everywhere she looked, there were signs of decline and decay.

The waking world even seemed to have lost its main advantage over the Dream Realm in these last few years — it did not feel safer than that dire world anymore. There were too many soldiers on the streets, too many traces of past battles, and too many quarantined Nightmare Gates standing among ordinary buildings, contained within armored domes.

Because of all the Gates, numerous small areas in the city suffered from interference that messed up electronics. Some of these areas overlapped, creating whole islands of technological deterioration. It was as if parts of NQSC were slowly sliding into the Dark Ages.

As Sunny had explained, that happened because the laws of the Dream Realm were seeping into the War Realm through the rifts in its fabric. For Rain, however, it just meant that access to the network had become unreliable, and any communicator she used ran the risk of malfunctioning if she did not choose her routes carefully. She visited the terrace district where her family had lived once, as well as her school and a few other places. In the end, she came to the convenience store where Sunny had first found her.

The store did not exist anymore, and most of the building had turned to rubble. The white wall of a containment dome towered nearby, proving that a Nightmare Gate had opened here at some point in the past, causing the nearby streets to suffer heavy damage.

Staring at the ruins of the store, Rain sighed.

”You know... I guess it truly feels like the end of the world, now.”

She had noticed the signs of the approaching end before, but after being apart from NQSC for a while, they were unmistakable.

Her shadow shrugged and remained silent. Feeling a little down, Rain left the ruins of the convenience store and went to find a coffee shop somewhere nearby.

It was there that she first heard about the clash between Nephis and Asterion.

The people in the line were discussing the stunning rumors in hushed voices.

“...I am telling you, they are all monsters. The Supremes. Changing Star is no exception — she is just better at pretending to be human than the rest. I knew it all along!”

“How can you say that? No, I won’t stand it. Take it back now!”

“What did I say that is wrong?”

“You have to ask?!”

At that moment, another bystander suddenly intruded upon the private conversation.

“Sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear. I have to agree that you went too far, sir. All Supremes are monsters? Surely, not. That Lord Asterion seems like a reasonable man...”

Rain scowled.

Some time later, she sat on a rusty bench across from a busy police station, cradling a cup of coffee in her hand. Her expression was dark.

”Why are people such fools? Look at them, spouting nonsense about things they have no idea about. None of them were there, in Godgrave. So what do they even know?”

But she had been there. She had witnessed the senseless war began by the original Sovereigns, and saw countless people die, break, or become murderers because of them. She had seen Nephis and Sunny cutting the Sovereigns down, as well, to put an end to the war.

So, Rain was pretty sure that no one who had fought in Godgrave would ever betray Changing Star, their savior.

Her shadow finally spoke:

“Hundreds of millions of people almost died because of their goddess. Naturally, people are shaken.”

Rain gave it a sidelong glance.

“No, they are spouting nonsense. The whole premise is preposterous. Uh... no offense, big brother, but...”

Her shadow sighed.

“Why do I feel like I’m about to be insulted?”

Rain took a sip of her coffee.

”From the side, it looked like the King of Swords was giving you the pummelling of a lifetime until you became a Supreme. Nephis was not doing too hot against the Queen, either. So, the whole point is moot. It was either become Supreme and win or fail and die. Killing them as mere Saints was never an option.”

Her shadow remained silent for a while.

“Hey. The pummelling of a lifetime? As if! Ha. No way. Ridiculous...”

Rain looked at her shadow.

“Are you trying to say that he wasn’t pummelling you that hard, or that he was, but you had been pummelled way worse in the past?”

Her shadow coughed.

”The latter-”

She chuckled.

Soon after, Rain used a Shadow Clan connection to expedite her request to use the Dream Gate and crossed to Bastion.

It was nice to return to the Dream Realm after spending time on Earth.

The air was fresh. The sky was blue, and the sunlight was warm. The streets of the city were safe... but most of all, the energy of the city was different. In NQSC, Rain could not help but feel like she was witnessing the last days of a dying world. But in Bastion, it felt like she was in a world that was full of life and endless potential.

Even if it was hostile, deadly, and terrifying.

...Sadly, the persistent whispers and rumors about Changing Star and the Dreamspawn followed her here, as well.

At some point, Rain stopped and looked up, at the beautiful silhouette of the Ivory Island drifting among the clouds high above the city.

She wondered about the being who had built it.

Eventually, Rain sighed and continued on her way.