Shadow Slave

Song of the Fallen remained silent, offering no retort to his description. Mordret watched her for a while, then continued:

“All of us are missing memories, which is a strange thing. However… it doesn’t seem that odd when one learns what your Transcendent Ability is, does it, Cassia? You wield a power to erase and manipulate someone’s memories, and here we are, missing some of our memories. Naturally, you weren’t Transcendent yet in the Third Nightmare — but Torment was. She was the one who erased them, wasn’t she? Either you lied about her being dead, or that Echo of yours slithered into our heads in her stead.”

Cassia just faced him silently, then shrugged and said in an even tone:

“I don’t remember.”

Mordret couldn’t help but laugh again.

“Right. Just like you don’t remember where Changing Star and the Lord of Shadows have gone. Because you erased your own memories of knowing. Right?”

She did not answer.

Mordret gave her a long look, then turned away.

“Anyway, it is too much of a coincidence for you not to be involved. The most powerful seer of humanity enters the Tomb of Ariel, and the second she returns, all seers in the world suddenly lose the ability to see the future. Not only that, but all the people who had gone into the pyramid with her are mysteriously missing chunks of their memories, while she gains the ability to play with other people’s memories. Only a fool would not suspect you. So… I guess everyone in the world is a fool, except for me. So I’ll ask you again — do you think that I am foolish enough to let you touch my memories again?”

Cassia remained calm and expressionless.

“Yes. Because you have no other choice.”

By then, Mordret was truly amused.

“Don’t I?”

She stayed silent for a while, then sighed.

“What is the alternative? What is your plan, Mordret? What are you going to do without me?”

He shrugged.

“Well, it is as you said. I am planning to survive.”

Song of the Fallen turned her head, facing away from him.

“What happens after you survive?”

Her quiet voice was somber.

“Imagine that you defeated the Dreamspawn. Humanity is gone, and you’re left alive on its ruins, victorious and utterly alone. What are you going to do then?”

He tilted his head a little.

“Why, I’ll continue trying to survive with all my might. There are plenty of things in this terrifying world that can and will destroy me if given the chance, after all. The Cursed Ones, the Unholy Ones… I guess I will have to become a god, to start with. Becoming a god in order to survive is a bit of an overkill, but what to do? That is the world we live in.”

Cassia shook her head.

“What happens after you’ve become Sacred… after you’ve become Divine? After you defeated all the fallen deities of the Dream Realm and became both its sole ruler and its sole inhabitant. After you survived. What kind of dull, dreary, unbearable life will you live then, without anyone to share it with you? To witness you, or be witnessed by you? Will it be that much different from being dead?”

For the first time, Mordret’s smile grew a little forced. He remained silent for a while, then scoffed.

“Who knows? Being a god gives one all kinds of choices, I think. I’ll be spoiled with them, for sure… maybe I’ll follow in the footsteps of the Demon of Destiny and try creating my own race of living beings to keep me company and chase away my loneliness. perhaps I’ll follow the example of the Demon of Imagination and retreat into the Great Mirror, to live out a thousand lives surrounded by reflections. maybe I will delve into the mists of the Hollow Mountains and behold the Nothing beings, thus giving them shape and making them something. They are my kin, after all… what will a world populated by beings like me look like, I wonder?”

Mordret smiled.

“Hell, perhaps I’ll shatter myself into a million pieces. The pieces of me will inevitably start killing each… so, I’ll see which one of us survives then.”

Song of the Fallen smiled darkly.

“I see. I guess you really are spoiled for choices.”

Mordret chuckled.

“Isn’t it a bit hypocritical, though? Here you are, advocating on behalf of humanity. But, at the same time, you are offering to support me in the battle against the Dreamspawn — knowing full well that my victory would mean the end of humanity. What are you really after, Song of the Fallen? What is your own plan?”

She hesitated a little, then shrugged.

“My plan… why not? Let me be honest, for once. My plan is to keep you and the Dreamspawn at each other’s throats for as long as possible. I can’t let either of you win too swiftly, because that would mean that Nephis and Sunny won’t have time to finish what they are doing. You cannot be allowed to win, because that would mean the destruction of humanity. However, you cannot be allowed to lose, either, because that would mean that nothing would stand in the way of the Dreamspawn attempting Apotheosis.”

She faced Mordret once more.

“As far as I see it, though, you are set to lose terribly at the moment. So, here I am, hoping to help you hold out. Because, unlike what you seem to believe, the Longing Domain is not gone. It might have been weakened and almost destroyed, but it still exists. It will continue to exist for as long as even a single person believes in it, and that means that it will be able to rise once again, one day.”

Mordret grinned.

“Set to lose, huh?”

Well… she wasn’t wrong.

Despite being so wary of the Dreamspawn, Mordret had underestimated just how powerful that monster was. No, rather… even in his wildest dreams, he had never imagined that Changing Star and the Lord of Shadows would just disappear, leaving the Human Domain to be ravaged both by the Dreamspawn and by Mordret himself.

Their disappearance made all his calculations meaningless, and as a result, the Dreamspawn took full control of humanity far sooner than Mordret had anticipated.

He had been gradually pushing humanity back up to this point… but now that the Dreamspawn controlled it completely, the balance on the battlefield was about to change. Not only would the battle effectiveness of all human armies grow tremendously because of his absolute control, but he himself would not need to hold back anymore.

Mordret anticipated that his invasion would slam into an impenetrable wall soon. After that, his forces would slowly be pushed back, and eventually, he would be forced to retreat back into the Hollow Mountains. Even if Asterion was incapable of following him into the white mist in force, Mordret would not be able to slow the Dreamspawn down from there either. That would mean that the Dreamspawn would be able to attempt Apotheosis unopposed, and if he succeeded…

Then, Mordret was not sure that even Nothing would be able to protect him.

So, he really couldn’t afford to refuse Cassia’s offer of assistance. In the absence of Changing Star and the Lord of Shadows, she was the best shield he could find against the Dreamspawn’s sinister powers. It was just that he was very reluctant to accept her offer.

‘What a pity.’

Things would have been entirely different if she were a Supreme, herself…

Mordret sighed.

“You know… of all the people I’ve met, Cassia, you are the closest to becoming Supreme, and maybe the most worthy. After all, you’ve been bending the world to your will ever since you were an inexperienced youth.”

He shook his head.

“However, you will never become Supreme. You are simply incapable of attaining Supremacy — not without the help of the Spell, at least. And even if you do conquer the Fourth Nightmare one day, Supremacy will only be a deadly poison to you.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“And why is that?”

Mordret shrugged.

“Because you are an incomplete being. With all your memories missing, you are barely a person. Supremacy is an act of imposing your authority on the world and reshaping it according to your will, but how can you reshape the world in your image if you don’t even know what your image is? If you don’t even remember who you are?”

Cassia remained silent for a while, then said with a faint smile.

“That is alright. I don’t need to be Supreme… sitting on the throne never suited me, anyway. I am far more comfortable standing in the shadow of the throne. Now, if you agree to my proposal, I will be standing in your shadow. That will be enough.”

Mordret pushed himself off the wall, walked over to the cot she was sitting on, and knelt in front of her.

Leaning forward to face her up close, he smiled darkly and said in a low tone:

“Let’s not talk about shadows, shall we? Instead… how about you take off that blindfold? Let’s not waste any time, Cassia.”

She remained motionless for a while, then asked:

“I take it you agree to my offer?”

Mordret smiled.

“Didn’t you already know that I’ll agree? Ah… wouldn’t it be great if we both were able to survive, Cassia? of course, there is a good chance that we won’t. But I am willing to give it my all — I am planning to live longer than you, at the very least. So, I won’t kill you yet. In exchange, you will make sure that my mind is free of the Dreamspawn’s influence.”

She lingered for a moment, then sighed and raised her hand to pull the blindfold down.

“I… am not looking forward to this.”

Mordret tended to agree. However, he didn’t want to let his trepidation show in front of her… even if she would be able to see a memory of him feeling trepidation soon.

So, Mordret lied:

“I, on the contrary, am looking forward to this quite a bit.”

As far as lies went, that one wasn’t very convincing.