Shadow Slave

Rain stared at the reflection for a while, then sighed and sat down on the floor.

“The other Mordret, huh? Is that what I am supposed to call you, mister?”

The reflection smiled.

“You can call me whatever you like. Although I am used to going by Mordret… calling me the other Mordret would imply that I have a weaker claim on being myself than he does, which is a bit sad. Also…”

He hesitated, then said in a subtly sullen voice:

“Mister, seriously? I’d rather not be called a mister. I am a young man in my prime, after all.’

Rain gave the mirror a dubious look.

“You’re past thirty, aren’t you?”

The reflection coughed.

“Well… yes. But, uh…”

Rain chuckled.

“You say that I can call you whatever I like, but there are all these conditions. In any case… you seem to be aware of who I am?”

He remained silent for a moment, then nodded.

“l am. I see a lot of what he does… and he sees a lot. So, l am somewhat acquainted with who you are.’

The reflection — Mordret — studied her for a short while and raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t seem to be surprised to meet me, though? I’d have thought that finding an identical copy of an infamous Supreme would be at least a little bit startling.”

Rain let out a little scoff.

“I know a guy who has seven bodies. Having one identical copy is not that impressive, as far as I’m concerned.”

The other Mordret smiled.

“Oh. I think I know that guy as well…”

After that, he fell silent for a moment, and then said in a neutral tone:

“I, on the other hand, am quite surprised to see you. My other self usually doesn’t let anyone near me — he is very concerned about my safety, you see. So, I did not expect that he would allow you to wander in here unsupervised. It’s a nice surprise.”

Rain could not help but sigh after hearing that.

‘Damn it.’

She lingered a little, then said:

“It’s probably because he knows that I am harmless. I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

She had always been careful to keep her Flaw a secret, but the King of Nothing must have learned about it, anyway — or at least guessed its general nature. That was most likely the reason why he allowed her to come in contact with the prisoner of the mirror.

Mordret looked at her with amusement and smiled.

“Really? What a funny coincidence. Actually, I am the same — harmless, I mean. You have my sympathy.”

His smile turned a little bitter.

“It is difficult to be harmless in a world where weakness is seen as sin, isn’t it?”

Rain simply shrugged.

“There is a bit of that, yes. But I manage.’ She leaned back a little and looked at the ceiling.

“I guess any sin can be forgiven if you are lucky enough. I am quite a lucky girl, myself.”

She glanced at the tall mirror in which the strange reflection seemed to be trapped and offered him a sympathetic look.

“You seem to be both harmless and unlucky, though. Must be tough.”

He mirrored her shrug with a smile.

“There is a bit of it, yes.”

Rain remained silent for a while, then leaned forward and asked:

“Hey, since you see everything that the King of Nothing sees, perhaps you can explain to me what happened? I am completely lost here… what the hell is going on?”

Mordret scratched the tip of his nose with an awkward look.

“Well, let’s see… there is a man called the Dreamspawn, who wants to consume all of humanity and become Sacred. Over the course of the last few months, he slowly bewitched everyone and made them into his thralls. You were enthralled, too, and used as a hidden blade to kill Song of the Fallen. Lucky for you, she survived and cleansed your mind of the contamination. Some of your memories are missing as a result.”

Rain blinked a few times.

“That does explain a few things. Wait, did you say that the entire human race is enthralled?”

Her heart skipped a beat.

Mordret sighed.

“Quite a few Nightmare Creatures, too. At the moment, my other self and the Dreamspawn are at war. The Lord of Shadows and Changing Star are who knows where, doing who knows what. Hopefully, they’ll return in time to stop those two from destroying the world.”

Rain rubbed her face tiredly.

“So, I was enthralled as well. If the Dreamspawn was in my head… that probably explains how I was able to Ascend so soon. Did he coach me? What an honor, wow.”

And she stabbed Lady Cassia.

She groaned.

“Damn it. I finally achieved natural Ascension, and I don’t even remember how. That knowledge is gone forever… what am I going to do?”

Rain was supposed to share her experience with humanity to empower a new generation of Awakened — and all generations after that. Now, that precious experience was gone, erased from her head by Cassie. And since Rain could not Ascend for the second time, she would never experience and learn Ascension again. Would Cassie herself remember the contaminated memories she erased?

She would — unless she erased her own recollection of contaminated memories to protect herself from being enthralled. In that case…

“I can help you with that.”

Mordret’s voice distracted Rain from her dark thoughts. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

The charming reflection hesitated for a short while, then shrugged with a smile. “Natural Ascension — I can explain how it works to you. Actually, I can teach you how to become a Saint without conquering a Nightmare, as well. You really are a lucky girl, it seems! You just happened to stumble on the only person in the world who can.’ Rain gave the man a long look.

“And how would you know about natural Ascension, let alone natural Transcendence?”

Trapped in the mirror, Mordret leaned back and sighed.

“Why wouldn’t I? That was how I became a Saint, after all.”