Shadow Slave

Asterion studied his own reflection silently, then glanced around. All around him, numerous vessels of Mordret stood still and gazed at him with an eerie, unsettling lack of emotion in their eyes. They were men, women... and monsters. In fact, most of them were hideous and monstrous, like a myriad of nightmares that had escaped the depths of an eldritch hell.

Standing alone among the sea of motionless horrors, he did not seem troubled at all. The Dreamspawn lingered for a few moments and then sighed.

”What have you done to yourself, boy?”

Mordret laughed.

But it wasn’t just the Reflection who had assumed the form of Asterion that laughed. Instead, all of his vessels — men, women, and monsters — laughed together, the terrifying cacophony of their voices drowning out the deafening roars of the Weeping Goddess.

When he spoke, a myriad of voices fused into a single, malevolent sound that came from all directions, rustling, sounding too vast and deep to belong to any living being. It was as if the world itself was speaking — or rather, a wicked thing that hid in the darkness beneath the surface of the world.

“I think I’ve done quite well for myself, no? Ah, but you probably did not expect that I would become Supreme, all those years ago. Life is full of surprises, isn’t it? Back then, when you discarded me... I was both hurt and glad to have been discarded. I was both abandoned and full of hope. But all my hopes were shattered, in the end, and I was left with nothing.”

The myriad voices of the King of Nothing grew even lower, making the surface of the lake ripple in peculiar patterns.

“So, I spent countless years dreaming of killing the King of Swords, my father. I managed to contribute to his downfall, but sadly, I failed to take his life with my own two hands. What a pity. But you are here now! A spare father figure... how wonderful. Life does indeed give us second chances, at times.”

Asterion did not seem alarmed by the chilling sound of Mordret’s vast, inhuman voice. He simply smiled and asked, his own tone calm:

”Oh? Do you think you can kill me, boy?”

His Reflection mirrored his smile.

“Who knows? I guess time will tell. One thing is certain, though — it’s going to be very fun to try.”

Asterion shook his head lightly.

“I’m afraid I do not have time to play games with you, Mordret. The other two are missing, and while I am not too concerned, their absence is a little vexing. So, why don’t you just give up? I am not inclined to surrender this Citadel to you. I am afraid I want it for myself.”

His reflection shook its head, as well, in the same exact motion.

”I know that you want it for yourself. That is precisely why I am here, to make sure that you never get it... you’ll only have the Lake of Tears over my dead body.”

Asterion smiled faintly, looking around once more.

”You have quite a few bodies, though.”

He faced his Reflection, a chilling coldness settling over his golden eyes.

“How many should I destroy? To be honest, I wasn’t planning on getting involved personally just yet... but you are forcing my hand. The other two seem to be up to no good, as well. My plans will have to be adjusted.”

The Reflection took a deep breath.

“Ah... let’s make this touching reunion truly unforgettable, shall we?”

In the next moment, the world seemed to shatter as countless vessels lunged at the lonely figure of the Dreamspawn, obscuring it from view. There was a revolting sound of rending flesh, and a vast swath of them was suddenly erased from existence, a cloud of bloody chunks and a cloud of fine red haze rising into the air.

Kai wasn’t looking, though, because he was busy pulling his soldiers away from the shore of the lake.

”Retreat! Retreat toward the cliffs!”

His army was not powerful enough to fight against one Sovereign, and it was definitely not powerful enough to survive in the middle of a battle between two. If he did not follow Asterion’s advice and run, all of them would be wiped out.

The ground quaked, and the vast lake spilled out from its shores as the defenders of the Human Domain hastily withdrew from the sea of Mordret’s vessels.

The King of Nothing paid them no attention, nor could he allow himself to split his focus —no one had seen Asterion in battle before, but Kai had no doubt that the Dreamspawn was a horror to behold despite not possessing any direct combat Abilities.

Even if Mordret’s original body — the body of a Supreme wielder of a Divine Aspect — was not here, he seemed to have learned a few new tricks, including how to control his Reflections better. That meant that the battle between the vanguard of his forces and Asterion would be truly calamitous, rewriting the very topography of this region.

It was going to happen fast, as well.

Which meant that Kai had no time to waste. His voice resounded above the battlefield, easily heard despite the thunderous roars of the Great Waterfall and the ghastly clangour of the Supreme battle.

He gave a few simple orders, commanding all remaining winged Echoes, thralls of Beastmaster, and Saints capable of flight to focus and ferry the civilians to the top of the plateau. The Awakened and Masters with suitable Aspects had to help the evacuation, as well...

Things seemed to be going well for a while. But in the end, there was still not enough time.

The battle moved closer to the Weeping Goddess, and a glancing blow from one of the clashing Supremes completely obliterated the system of stairs and elevators running to the top of the plateau... and killing those unfortunate people whose turn it was to use the elevators in an instant. It also cut the path of escape to the minority of them who were still at the bottom of the Great Waterfall.

Kai landed on the ground in his dragon form, shielding them with his body. At the same time, a steel wall rose between the remaining humans and the devastating violence of the battle between Mordret and Asterion.

Kai glanced at the polished surface of the towering steel wall and saw it tremble under a barrage of impacts.

The deafening ringing of metal somehow fused into a few cohesive words:

“Hurry. I’ll... endure...”

He remained motionless for a moment, then lowered himself to the ground, allowing the next batch of civilians to climb onto his back.

‘I am not leaving anyone behind... I won’t...’

But by the end of it all, countless people perished.

The soldiers, the civilians... the death toll was too gruesome to forgive, and too cruel to forget.

Those who survived fled northwest, following the road to Ravenheart.

Some time later, they went far away from the Weeping Goddess to barely feel the occasional tremor shaking the Moonriver Plains.

And then, the tremors ceased altogether. Morgan and Seishan — both of them battered and covered in blood — glanced back, wondering if the battle was over. Of course, they could not see what was happening on the shores of the Lake of Tears, myriad kilometres away.

But Kai could.

His face turned ashen.

Morgan, her own face pale and fatigued, gave him a guarded look.

”So? What happened? Who won?”

Kai remained silent for a while, then turned away.

”Nobody won.”

A heavy sigh escaped from his lips.

”Mordret... he collapsed the wall of the plateau. He destroyed the Citadel. So, nobody will get to add it to their Domain.”

If nobody was the winner, did that mean that the King of Nothing had achieved his goal?

Kai did not know. He wasn’t sure anymore.

The bloodied defenders and the tired refugees continued on their way north.