Shadow Slave

The coliseum had been built by the Demon of Desire herself, and was called the Theater of Hope. Its walls were white and pristine, as if built from the pure clouds that traveled across the azure sky — however, as Shadow glanced up at the magnificent arches, he couldn’t help but imagine them adorned with banners that were as red as blood.

An echo of a distant chant surfaced from his memory:

“Glory! Glory! Glory!”

Shadow winced, feeling a ghostly pain pierce his chest. A moment later, the ghastly vision was gone, and the pain was gone as well.

There was indeed an exuberant chant resounding from within the great theater, but it had nothing to do with glory. Instead, the jubilant voices of a vast crowd were calling for the performers to enter the stage.

It seemed that a play was about to begin — Shadow and his companions had arrived just in time.

“I’ve heard so many stories about the Theater of Hope! They say that there is nothing like it in the world.”

Noctis grinned, clearly excited.

Snuggle seemed quite curious, as well. Shadow lingered for a moment, then said in a calm tone:

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Leaving the carriage below the walls of the great theater, they paid a small fee and entered. Inside, a vast arena was surrounded by soaring rows of stone benches, all of them filled by expectant spectators. Sunshine poured from above, reflecting from white stone and creating a beautiful, dreamlike atmosphere.

The sounds of laughter and excited chatter washed over Shadow and his companions, making them feel a bit of warm anticipation as well.

Even Shadow, who was rarely enthusiastic about anything, felt like he was looking forward to the play.

He frowned, then shivered slightly.

‘Such potent sorcery...’

Indeed, that feeling of anticipation was not entirely his own. Looking around, he noticed shallow channels carved into the stone throughout the great theater. The entire enormous coliseum was one vast runic array — Shadow could not quite discern its purpose yet, but it seemed to enhance the emotions of people gathered inside.

The sorcery of the Theater of Hope was truly astonishing... and terrifying. It wasn’t easy to affect the heart of a Supreme Titan, and yet that was exactly what had happened — without him noticing, no less.

Noctis had said that the Demon of Desire was nice, but Shadow felt nothing but cold dread when thinking about her.

His companions, however, succumbed to the atmosphere of her theater easily, igniting with excitement.

“Shadow! Let’s go find a good seat!”

Hearing Snuggle’s squeaky voice, Shadow pulled himself out of his short reverie and went to do just that. Soon enough, the three of them were seated in one of the higher rows of the Theater of Hope — Shadow and Noctis resting on the benches, Snuggle sitting on one of Shadow’s shoulders.

The vast arena was below them. It was circular, and at its center stood the stage.

“Look, look! It’s starting!”

Snuggle pulled at Shadow’s hair to make him pay attention, which only made him wince.

There was movement in the arena, indeed.

As if out of nowhere, a tall figure appeared on the stage, wearing a white robe and a smiling mask. The audience exploded with excited shouts, while the figure — the leader of the chorus, coryphaeus — bowed and performed a few movements of a simple, elegant dance.

When the audience grew quiet, a booming voice resounded from beneath the smiling mask. The Theater of Hope was vast, and yet Shadow could hear each word clearly, as if the coryphaeus was standing directly in front of him. It was partially due to the unique acoustics of the theater, and partially due to the actor’s masterful delivery.

The play began.

At first, Shadow was only mildly interested in the story. But as it progressed, told by the masked actors and the chorus, he felt himself being drawn into it. The singing of the chorus and the voices of the actors fused with the unique sorcery of the Theater of Hope, creating an unforgettable mixture.

The story of the play was one he knew, but not in detail.

It was the story of the beautiful and enigmatic ruler of a mystical land of ash and snow... the Jade Queen.

At the start of the play, the Jade Queen was a young and innocent monster. She was born in the crystalline darkness and spent her days enthusiastically searching for miraculous nectar. Then, however, her beauty and innocence caught the eye of the Demon of Dread, who was passing by during his journey to the mortal realms. Bored, the Demon of Dread decided to become the young monster’s teacher. The first act of the play was light and comedic in tone, describing the many clashes between the terrifying daemon’s desire to make the Jade Queen into a proper young lady and her mischievous, inhuman nature. Eventually, the Jade Queen learned how to speak the human language and Transcended, gaining a Transformation Ability — it was just that since she was a creature, and not a human, her Transformation Ability worked the other way around and allowed her to become one.

At the end of the first act, the Demon of Dread whispered something into her ear — he taught her a terrible truth that no one else knew, causing the end of the Jade Queen’s childhood.

Shadow had an inkling of what that truth was, but the playwright didn’t. So, the play never stated it either.

‘I wonder how much of what is shown in the play is true.’

In the second act, the Jade Queen had already become a young woman. She was now a ruler of a distant, mystical realm — wise and enlightened, but also willful, capricious, and at times downright sinister. Nevertheless, the news of her enchanting beauty and profound wisdom spread far and wide, stirring the hearts of many heroes.

Many suitors arrived to pursue her. Some failed to cross the great bridge leading to her Jade Palace, some made it through and were welcomed in her court, but ultimately refused. Some harbored impure thoughts and were punished for their vices in ghastly, horrible ways. Eventually, the Jade Queen grew tired of these advances and issued a challenge to all the mortal realms. If someone could solve her riddle, she would fulfill any wish that person had. After the second act ended, Shadow found himself unable to decide whether the Jade Queen was a benevolent being or a creature full of malice. She was endearing and tantalizing, no doubt... her wisdom and insight were unrivaled. But what was hidden behind the jade mask?

What did the Jade Queen desire? What did she fear? Everyone knew of her, but no one seemed to care who she was.

Maybe that was the purpose of the deadly riddle — not to find a worthy consort among the sea of suitors, but to find someone who could share the heavy burden of forbidden knowledge she carried in her heart.

The third act showed the gathering of guests who arrived in hopes of solving the riddle and receiving a wish from the beautiful, frightening Jade Queen. The tone of the third act was not at all comedic, but Noctis spent its entirety laughing... that was because there were many familiar faces among the Jade Queen’s guests.

”By the moon... aren’t they the pompous brothers, sons of Sun God? They visited the temple once. I stole the older one’s sword!”

“Ah, the Mason! That Transcendent uncle is such a bore. Actually, the priests who raised me were all over him, forgetting all shame. That is because nobody can build a temple more magnificent than those built by him — he built one for Sun God, War God, Storm God, Heart God... so, they couldn’t endure the thought that grandma doesn’t have one as well! I swear, if he put just a fraction of the time he spends on building things into fighting Creatures of Corruption, he’d be Supreme a long time ago.”

”Wait, is that supposed to be... me?! What the hell, I never went to find the Jade Queen! I was a toddler when this gathering happened, damn it!”

Shadow spared him a casual glance and smiled.

Indeed, many heroes gathered to solve the Jade Queen’s riddle. In fact, not all of them wanted to become her consort — some were simply attracted by the promise of a wish being fulfilled. There were not that many Supremes in the world, after all, not to mention Supremes favored by one of the great and terrible daemons. So, a promise made by the Jade Queen was worth a lot. None of the illustrious heroes managed to solve the riddle, though. The warriors failed, and the sages failed as well.

In the end, a figure wearing tattered rags emerged from the crowd of guests, the eyes of her mask covered by a dirty blindfold. She was a mad oracle from a distant land — a land where people did not worship gods, and built temples to fate instead.

The great heroes treated her with contempt, but the Jade Queen seemed amused. So, she asked the oracle the same question:

“What is the heaviest thing in the world?”

The mad oracle laughed bitterly and then answered, pointing at her unseeing eyes.

”It’s knowledge.”

And thus, the riddle was solved.

The play ended with the chorus singing about enlightenment and knowledge, praising the wise queen and the learned oracle.

The audience seemed to be greatly satisfied, exploding with applause and whistles.

Shadow, however, thought that the ending of the play was quite strange.

Neither the Jade Queen nor the blind oracle seemed that fond of the truths they bore, so why would the playwright paint pursuit of knowledge as a noble virtue? Trying to attach a didactic moral to the story only seemed forced and patronizing.

More than that, where was the real ending? What was the wish of the blind oracle, and did the Jade Queen make it come true? Surely, that mad oracle wasn’t aiming to become the beautiful queen’s consort...

‘What a strange play.’

Shadow sighed and shook his head.

Even if he did not like the ending, the experience of watching a play in the Theater of Hope was truly wondrous. The songs of the chorus, the dancing, the twists and turns of the story... he was swept up by the blazing emotions of the crowd, feeling more joyful and exhilarated than ever before.

In this life, at least.

And while none of the spectators could perceive it, Shadow had learned quite a lot about the sorcery of Hope, as well.