Shadow Slave

After several days of journeying through the Underworld, using Saint as their lethal envoy, things seemed to settle into a steady rhythm.

Saint traversed the harrowing expanse of elemental darkness, hiding from powerful enemies and engaging in ferocious battles when escape was not an option. Even if her armor was damaged or her stonelike body was wounded, the damage was swiftly mended by her abilities. At the moment, it seemed like that stealthy approach was working quite well.

There were three exceptions, though.

The first exception was the Cursed Nightmare Creatures that dwelled in the darkest corners of the Underworld. These were too perilous for Saint to fight and possessed extremely keen perception, so even trying to hide from them was a gamble.

Luckily, the fallen deities of the Dream Realm were usually hard to miss. The very world in a vast area around them was heavily influenced by their presence, so Sunny and Nephis — and especially Cassie — could usually sense them from afar.

If nothing else, they could feel the tyrannical force of an alien Will suffusing the very fabric of the world ahead of them, which alerted them to danger.

Instead of trying to traverse the territory of the Cursed Ones, Saint had to take a circle around them no matter how much time that added to the journey. Sometimes, the detour resulted in dangerous clashes with other horrors inhabiting the Underworld, but that was a price they had to pay.

The second exception was the Creatures of Darkness. While Saint’s affinity to elemental darkness allowed her to hide herself from most Nightmare Creatures of the Underworld, it had no effect on the Dark Ones — in fact, they could sense her movements with perfect clarity.

Some chose to attack, while some did not. These creatures did not harbor an innate compulsion to destroy all that was not Corrupted, after all... however, they seemed to dislike light and had an appetite for shadows. So, those who could sense Sunny and Nephis hidden in the depths of Saint’s darkness would inevitably turn hostile. Those who could not, though, would usually let her pass with cold indifference. The clashes with the Dark Ones were the most hazardous and fearsome among all the battles Saint had to fight, since they could challenge her authority over elemental darkness. None had managed to render her sword and armor as ineffective as the first Creature of Darkness they had encountered, but fighting them was still a chillingly dangerous affair.

Luckily, Creatures of Darkness were more susceptible to the power of nothingness than Nightmare Creatures, and since Saint could wield both elements as weapons, she had managed to emerge from these fierce battles victorious... for now.

Her authority over darkness seemed to have grown stronger as a result.

The third exception... was the fallen Stone Saints.

Every time Saint encountered a ruined outpost or a settlement of her kin, she halted her advance and attacked, as if unwilling to abandon them in the indignity of their shameful existence.

The Stone Saints were prideful beings — Saint was, at least. Although her emotions were muted and difficult to interpret, it felt like she would rather be killed than succumb to Corruption. No one had been there to end her profane existence when Saint herself had become a Abomination... so, she was determined to give her kind the mercy she herself had been denied.

Saint was alone, while the fallen Stone Saints were many. And yet, she eliminated them all, invading their strongholds like a tide of darkness and slaughtering them in fierce melee. Her sword never wavered, and her shield never fell. In the end, the ruins grew quiet once more.

There were more settlements on the shores of the great river, and the waystations here were far larger, resembling actual fortresses. Cleansing them took a considerable amount of time, and Saint often received grievous wounds during the battles — especially if her fallen kin were commanded by a champion of the Great Rank. But Sunny never tried to dissuade her from taking action.

For one, he wanted to respect Saint’s wishes. She rarely expressed any kind of desire, so if she wanted to see this through, Sunny felt like he owed it to her to lend his support. He was definitely not going to force her to do otherwise.

Also, the more of the fallen Stone Saints she killed, the more shades joined the Shadow Legion. So, really, Sunny had nothing to complain about.

After a stronghold was cleared, Saint stopped to rest and mend her wounds. These were the only times Sunny and Nephis regained their human forms, using the short moment of respite to recover from the burdens of the perilous journey. They chatted, enjoyed some food — anything that could be prepared without a fire — and took turns sleeping. Nephis was still unable to see anything, so Sunny had to guide her carefully, as if she were a blind person.

That, too, reminded him of the Forgotten Shore.

Those times felt so far away now...

Just like that, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months.

The situation in the outside world was slowly growing worse. There was no news of Effie, Kai, Jet, and the other three who had entered the Fourth Nightmare. Ananke and Cassie did their best to prevent the world from falling apart, while Mordret helped from time to time — but even with their efforts, humanity was suffering grievous losses.

A few more Citadels fell. Most were evacuated in advance, but not all of them. In the waking world, two populous cities completely collapsed under the tide of Nightmare Gates, causing a mass evacuation. If not for the Fire Keepers, who had arrived just in time, the loss of life would have been appalling — but even with their help, the refugees had to be relocated into neighboring cities, which were already suffering from their own structural problems.

With millions of people pouring into these cities, the strain had only grown more dire.

In that heavy atmosphere, Saint made her way through the boundless darkness of the Underworld.

And after two months of that hazardous journey, she finally reached its heart.