Shadow Slave

Sunny spent some time studying the severed halves of the Black Turtle, a grim expression slowly finding its way onto his face.

‘I don’t like it.’

There was nothing strange in the fact that someone — or something — had killed a Great Monster. The Black Turtle had perished in the Nightmare as well, after all. Even if it was colossal and heavily armored, more so than most abominations of that Rank, Sunny would not have been surprised even by the fact that something had ripped the giant creature apart.

The problem, however, was that the Black Turtle had not been ripped apart — it had been cut in two. The cut was so clean and even that it almost seemed flawless. The impregnable obsidian shell had been cut like paper, and even the heavy plates of silver armor adorning it failed to stall the severing blade.

‘What kind of being could have cleaved the Black Turtle in two?’

Even Daeron had not been able to break its obsidian shell.

Sunny frowned.

Eventually, having failed to discover any clues, he returned to Nephis.

“I guess the Tomb of Ariel is not empty, after all.”

She nodded.

“Makes sense.”

Nephis fell silent for a few moments, then asked in an indifferent tone:

“That Cursed Terror we have to kill… the Thieving Bird. What do you know about it?”

Sunny gave her a bitter smile.

“Not that much, actually. It has existed from the dawn of time… or perhaps even from before that. I know that it was hated both by the gods and by the Void Creatures. It also stole a daemon’s eye once, and went mad as a result. Oh… and it made a nest in the heart of the Estuary. The real Thieving Bird is long dead, but it managed to come back to life by escaping into the real world from a Nightmare.”

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess its powers have to do with stealing things. Or concepts. Or pieces of universal laws — basically, anything it likes. And it likes shiny things the most.”

Nephis stared at him silently for a few moments.

“That… doesn’t really sound like a Cursed Terror. That bird seems more mischievous than sinister, let alone evil.”

Sunny scoffed.

“Speak for yourself. To me, it seems more odious and loathsome than any other Nightmare Creature. Or just any creature, really.”

He paused for a moment and then added reluctantly:

“Well… considering that the Vile Thieving Bird was hated by Void Creatures, I doubt that it cares about being corrupted that much. It had to have hung around those horrors to earn their loathing, after all. So, that bird is indeed not your usual Nightmare Creature. That doesn’t make it any less hazardous, though.”

If anything, it only made the Thieving Bird more of a disaster. Nightmare Creatures, in all their demented frenzy, were at least predictable. That damn bird, however… who knew what it was going to do? Not even Weaver had known, losing an eye as a result.

Nephis hesitated for a little while, then asked:

“But you think that I have some kind of special power over it?”

Sunny took a long time to answer. In the end, he sighed.

“Maybe. I don’t know. It has a certain something in its possession that might respond to you. If that happens, you’ll be able to weaken the Vile Thieving Bird. If not… well, we’ll just have to kill it the old-fashioned way.”

He really did not know.

The Thieving Bird was in possession of his fate, and while Sunny maintained the ownership of his Aspect — including its Innate Ability [Shadow Bond] — being bonded to Nephis was also a part of his fate. So, the Cursed Terror waiting for them in the Estuary of the Great River could be susceptible to her orders.

Sunny looked in the direction where downstream would have been if the Great River were still flowing.

“So, what’s our plan?”

Nephis shrugged.

“We’ll rest here for a short while. Then, we will try to retrace my steps and repeat the journey I completed in the Nightmare. Weave, Fallen Grace… Twilight cannot exist here, so there is no point going there. I’ll guess we’ll sail directly to Verge from Fallen Grace, making a stop at Wind Flower in the process. And sail for the Estuary from Verge.”

Sunny remembered all those places. The forlorn desolation of Weave, the lively canals of Fallen Grace, the damn horrors of Aletheia’s Island…

He nodded.

“Sounds like a plan. I do need some rest.”

He smiled.

“So, what… are we going to sleep in turns? Take shifts keeping watch?”

Nephis looked at him impassively.

“Why? Do you have other ideas?”

Sunny grinned.

“Why, as a matter of fact, I…”

She was already rising to find a place to sleep, though.

“Sure, you do. How about you take the first watch instead? If you don’t mind.”

Sunny suppressed a bitter sigh.

‘What if I do mind, though?’

***

Nephis had spent most of her essence fighting the Nightmare Butterflies, so even if she had saved herself from complete essence exhaustion, her reserves were nearly dry — and since there was almost no one left in her Domain now, she had to replenish them like an ordinary Awakened would, relying on nothing but the innate capacity of her soul.

Luckily, her soul was aflame with [The Fire], so her rate of replenishment was abnormally high.

Next morning — or whatever passed for morning in the boundless darkness that surrounded them — Nephis used most of the essence she had recovered to heal Sunny. Healing a Supreme Titan was not an easy task, and it took a vast ocean of essence to mend each of his wounds, so she only managed to fix him up a little in the end.

Still, it was a huge relief.

Feeling less like he was about to die, Sunny assumed the shape of the Onyx Serpent once again and plunged into the water. Nephis had to conserve her essence, so she did not summon her radiant wings to fly high in the sky above him — instead, she jumped onto his wide back, taking a position just behind the ridge of horns that crowned his giant head.

Sunny rushed downstream, cutting the Great River with his fins.

A great wave rose from his passing, towering above the dark surface of the river like a fortress wall.

‘It’s funny, really, how much this resembles the past.’

Back then, he had swum downstream in the form of the Onyx Serpent, as well. He was wounded and battered, as well… Nephis stood on his onyx scales, holding onto his horns.

The Great River was different now, and Sunny and Nephis were different too. But so many things were the same.

He wondered what else would be the same, and what would be different.

Soon, they reached the point where Sunny had run out of essence in the past. That was where Ananke had met them, back then… But now, the Great River was dark and still. A wooden ketch was nowhere to be found, and nobody waited for them, ready to welcome them into this odd, bizarre world. Sunny circled the waters for a while, hoping against all hope to find something — someone — but found nothing but regret and old pain. In the end, he gritted his fangs and turned away, swimming in the direction where Weave was supposed to be.

‘Surely, it will be there… surely…’

In the Nightmare, the people of Weave had been slaughtered by the Mad Prince. There was no Mad Prince in the real Tomb of Ariel, so they could still be alive. No matter how improbable that was, Sunny still wanted to believe that they were… that someone was alive, having survived thousands of years of isolation and Defilement.

Even with his speed, it took them a long while to reach Weave — especially because there was no current now, and the River itself was not pushing him forward. In the process, Nephis poured her purifying flames into his massive form a few more times, soothing his pain and mending his wounds. The Shadow Legion was slowly being repaired within his soul. Saint was already almost healed, and would be able to respond to his summons soon. One of his incarnations had recovered enough to be summoned, as well… the rest were still undone, so he enjoyed the company of his shadows instead.

The shadows seemed to be having a blast in the world of darkness that the Great River had become, but at the same time, they seemed cautious and wary after coming very close to being destroyed twice in a short span of time.

‘Damn… they’re such cowards.’

Sunny was proud. There was nothing wrong with being a coward. In fact, cowards lived longer. Come to think of it, most of his problems started after he stopped being afraid all the time…

Eventually, they reach the span of the Great River where the House of Parting should have been floating on the water.

However…

There was nothing. The small island where they had shared a meal with Ananke once was gone without a trace, as if it had never existed at all.

Sunny felt a painful wistfulness grip his heart.

He continued downstream in silence.

And eventually, they did find something in the water.

For the first time since they left the severed corpse of the Black Turtle, something was drifting on the still black surface of the Great River…

It was a piece of flotsam.