Shadow Slave

Soon, the four of them were gathered in Sunny’s room. There was plenty of food on the table, and a kettle of fragrant tea. They had a peaceful meal, avoiding discussing anything important… but soon, it was time to have a serious discussion.

None of the four seemed too excited about the idea, perhaps because doing so would mean revisiting their experiences in the Nightmare and opening up wounds that had barely any time to heal. There were a lot of invisible scars each of them was hiding… none of the four had survived these three months unscathed.

Effie looked at her empty plate for a few moments, and then sighed.

“Can’t we just have a few days off before getting to work? The world won’t collapse if we take a small vacation… uh, I think…”

Sunny glanced at his friends — the bruised girl, the cripple with a disfigured face, and a beautiful young woman whose empty eye sockets were covered by a black cloth — and slowly shook his head.

“If we do, Noctis might grow… impatient. I promised to give him an answer after I find my friends. He has already been gracious enough to abstain from killing me, putting my soul into a doll… or a mop… and ordering it to give him the knives. So, we better not linger.”

Cassie turned her head slightly and asked, her deep, pleasant voice still sounding strange and unfamiliar:

“An answer? To what question?”

Sunny grimaced, then looked away.

“…Right. All of you must have already understood what the conflict of this Nightmare is. Hope, the Demon of Desire… Noctis is preparing to rebel against the will of the gods, kill the other immortals, and break her chains. And we have to either help him achieve his goal, or somehow prevent Hope from escaping. The former seems insane, but the latter… the latter seems impossible, considering that she is already able to influence the world from inside her prison.”

He shivered, grew silent for a few moments, and then added:

“Each of the immortals represents — or rather, embodies — one of Hope’s eternal shackles. They can only be destroyed by one of the Sun God’s knives. I am in possession of two of the remaining four knives, Noctis knows where the third is being kept, and the fourth one is in the hands of Solvane, who will freely offer it to anyone who can grant her a worthy death. So… while his plan means going to war against three ancient Saints, it is not entirely crazy. Just… mostly so.”

Sunny sighed, poured himself some tea, and concluded:

“So, we need to decide whether we want to help him in this craziness, or not.”

Cassie nodded, seemingly not surprised by what he told them. Then, she lingered for a moment, and said:

“Then, first, we need to share everything we learned about the Nightmare while we were apart. The more information we possess, the better informed our decision will be.”

Sunny took a sip of his tea and shrugged. That was what he wanted to do, as well. He studied the faces of his companions, and then gripped the emerald amulet tighter.

“In that case… I will begin, I guess.”

Effie, Kai, and Cassie turned to him, trying not to show how curious they really were. And who could blame them? Out of the four, Sunny’s situation was indeed the most… abnormal.

He hesitated for a few moments, and then spoke:

“As you might have noticed, the Spell sent me into the body of a demon… a shadow demon, to be precise. I found myself far to the west, in the territory of the followers of War. Even worse, just seconds after coming to my senses, I stumbled upon a beautiful woman wearing red. That woman… was Solvane, the Transcendent priestess of War God. She easily overpowered me, but decided to keep me alive.”

Effie’s eyes glistened when he mentioned Solvane. Kai, too, seemed to be shaken by that revelation… after all, he had been an officer of the army that was embroiled in a bloody war against Solvane’s cult. To soldiers of the Ivory City, her name must have been synonymous with power, death, and horror. To them, Solvane was as much of a person as she was an ancient, terrifying myth.

Sunny’s face grew dark.