Shadow Slave

“How are things going there?”

The Night Garden had moved past the battle on the bridge and was now sailing around an unknown island. The deafening cannonade had ceased, and only the distant echoes of the fierce battle were breaking the tense silence.

Sunny was on the bow of the living ship, accompanied by Naeve and Jet. Giving the latter a brief look, he sighed.

”Better than expected, worse than I would have wanted.”

Despite his best efforts, the Shadow Legion was still suffering casualties. If there was a consolation, though, it was that for every shade that was vanquished, several immortals were infected by the Dream Curse — the measures Sunny had taken and the fortifications he had built were doing their job.

He could not tell if this was enough, though. It seemed like he would be able to conquer the three islands in due time while suffering relatively few losses, but would that rate of attrition be acceptable in the long term? There was no way to tell, yet, since the battle for the Eternal City was only starting. Sunny closed his eyes and rubbed his face, feeling as if his mind was on the verge of melting.

”..As I mentioned already, I have established fortified strongholds on each of the three islands, for now. Currently, the locals are laying siege to them. Once that chaos subsides a little, I will probably try to accomplish a few secondary goals to gain more advantages.”

Jet raised an eyebrow.

”Secondary goals? Like what?”

He hesitated for a few seconds.

“I was thinking of trying to destroy one of the bridges. I’ll need to find out what hides in the water, as well. The Eternal City used to drift in space, too, so I am sure that there is some kind of underground communications here. I’ll need to explore them to see if there are tunnels that can be used to move around the islands rapidly. Oh, but most of all...”

Sunny turned his head slightly, looking north.

”When we were approaching the city, I noticed a building that glanced like it might be an armory. It will be great to go ona small excursion and see if I can arm my shades better there.’

After a short silence, Naeve suddenly said in a neutral tone:

”I don’t think that you’ll find weapons in that building”

Sunny looked at him steadily.

”Why?”

Naeve lingered for a bit, then shrugged. ”The locals don’t seem like militant people.” Sunny blinked a couple of times. He was currently engaged in three distressing battles with swarms of rabid locals, so how were they not militant?

On the other hand, he somewhat understood what Naeve meant.

The Saint of Night still explained himself, though.

“From what I’ve seen, this place was meant to be a sanctuary. A place of peace and prosperity where even death held no power. In other words, the people living here were not supposed to suffer... plus, didn’t you mention that the Eternal City used to exist in space? An armory suggests the existence of a military force and a need for

weapons. Who would the inhabitants of the Eternal City even fight in space?”

Sunny stared at him silently.

Naeve... was making a lot of sense.

To his disappointment.

Jet spoke at that moment:

”Still, that does not mean that there are no weapons in the Eternal City.”

When Sunny looked at her with a silent question in his eyes, he smiled and shrugged.

“Well, think about it. If weapons were not used for war, then why would they be used?”

He tilted his head a little.

Was that a trick question? Where did people wield weapons except for the battlefield? Training schools? Or...

His eyes glistened a little.

”Sports?”

Jet nodded.

”Yeah. People might become immortal, but some things never change.”

Sunny hesitated for a moment.

Indeed, all he had to do to come up with this answer was ask himself where he had used weapons most often outside the usual battles. And the answer was simple — it was in the Dreamscape.

People were wired to enjoy conflict and competition, so sports thrived even in wartorn societies, but especially so in those that experienced long periods of peace.

In the waking world, the most popular sport was dueling, and since battles between Awakened were too perilous, it mostly took place in the Dreamscape. Sunny knew better than most how popular these duels were, since he had suffered a lot of unintentional fame as Mongrel.

The same could be said about all cultures throughout Earth’s history. The Dream Realm had not been an exception, either. The immortals of the Eternal City would have been even more susceptible to the excitement offered by sports competitions, since they could not even kill each other. War had been impossible here — or at least meaningless — but the deeply rooted need to experience strife all people shared would have remained.

”But how am I supposed to find where... where sports competitions...”

Sunny fell silent.

‘Wait a minute:

Hadn’t he already found one such place? “The Hippodrome?”

Jet nodded.

“Chariot races were quite popular in ancient times. I would imagine something similar would have been happening here, as well, considering your description of the local hippodrome. Of course, the races themselves would have been different — with not only people, but also Beasts and Monsters participating, and everyone in the arena being immortal... gods, I would have bought a ticket if I could”

Sunny stared at her for a moment.

Instead of answering, he simply commanded his incarnation in the Hippodrome to separate itself from Saint, assume a tangible form, and descend to the floor of the arena. Sunny extended his shadow sense into the ground, and immediately sensed hollow spaces there.

There was a whole network of service spaces under the Hippodrome: rooms for the athletes, stables, training halls, lounges...

And equipment storages, as well.

Once Sunny sensed what was hidden inside, his eyes glistened.

”Ah...”

He lingered for a bit, then looked at Jet with a bright smile.

”I think I’ve found the first part of that treasure.”