Shadow Slave - After the Third Nightmare - A different Story

'Children are animals…'

Sunny didn't need to put much brain to understand that. Humanity is strange a trait. By biology we're humans just by being born as humans. We have human parents, and therefore we're humans.

The truth behind humanity is much slippier than that. He's seen the act of Gods sealing the Void, the depiction of it from the Estuary. The sparks that escaped before the Gods put that cage of universal laws were humanity, but the sparks aren't infinite.

So if humans are finite, and the flame of humanity is also finite, how come that there are still new humans? The answer should be simple: The flame spreads. Therefore there should be a second question: How come the Gods can't spread their flame? Why don't they make more Gods? The answer is somewhat obvious if we stick to the metaphor: Sadly they can't. Because… that's the nature of the flame. It can be passed, it can spread, but for that there has to be a fuel.

That's what Ling is. Rather a spark. If the fire is set properly, it will burn brightly. If it lacks fuel, then the flame wanes. He doesn't like to think about this, but he, and Rain at the starting point were a bit animalistic too. There's no doubt about that. He doesn't like remembering such things, but because of his insane remembrance he does it pretty well. Also without that recollection he wouldn't have recognized his sister.

He didn't talk with Effie much. It's not like he didn't want to see her. Effie is one of those he wanted to see the most, regardless of insults that would follow. He provided her with Memories similar to those he had given away to Jet, and promised to talk with her next time, when the bed is ready. He added some for the Nameless Guy too, a present for his best student.

Aiko unfortunately was hurt. Ling might be a toddler, but he's still enough to leave something nasty. Sunny had to use a Memory from Neph to heal her, and let her take two days off. It's sort of a miracle that the Brilliant Emporium was still intact. After sorting out the situation he urgently departed to the Tower of Longing.

The Tower was still in the Chained Isles. In a matter of one or two months it would leave that place. Sunny felt odd about the vision of the Tower of Longing disappearing from the archipelago. The tower seemed to naturally belong to that region, though the truth was the region that belonged to that tower.

Now that he knows the history behind the Isles he knows that the chains that are keeping the region together are bound to the Tower of Hope. Of course, the chains weren't directly attached to the Tower, nor was the Tower being kept in place by the chains. Otherwise the Tower couldn't move.

And yet it was that strange power of divine miracles. The chains were a medium to perform the power of the Fire God, then channel it to the shackles in the Tower. The chains, and the tower were important for that sorcery to work. Otherwise there would be nor Tower, nor chains. While he still doesn't understand the details it's clear that removing the Tower from the equation will leave a serious mark on the region.

Sunny appeared before the tower, in place, where he left his anchor. The island didn't change much, except it was still empty with Cassie 'keeping eye' on it. The greatest change was there's no dragon skeleton wrapped around the tower. The Fiend consumed it all. It didn't obtain any attribute though.

[Welcome to the Tower of Longing.]

Cassie's voice resounded in his head deeply, and ominously. Sunny rolled his eyes.

'If you're going to add Kai to the mix, I think I won't be so lonely anymore. I don't know… perhaps, I should congratulate you. You indeed have helped me a lot.'

[Are you displeased with me?]

'Yes, in a truth yes… but not in the truth. I'm displeased with what you did, but my annoyance is directed at myself. I would like to handle things myself. Somehow… Instead I behave like I'm still not ready.'

[They're all busy, Sunny. Don't take it to yourself. I don't know what you're planning, but you do comparably much as we do. Well, your things might be even more important than Nephis' doings.]

'Thanks to Effie I have another reason to see you. How's Neph?'

[She's dealing with another crisis. A huge infestation of vines extruding pollen that…]

'You know what? I'll just come to you. Wait a minute.'

He knew very well where to look for Cassie in the vast tower. First of all, not in the tower. There are many things to study there, mainly runic circuits, but Cassie's actual passion is the flying ship, Chain Breaker.

Earlier Sunny couldn't really bring himself to consider Cassie this way. The main thing he saw in her is a dangerous traitor wearing sheep's clothing. Being disillusioned with that mask is very occupying so it was easy to overlook that there's much more to that woman than surficial sweetness, hidden ruthlessness, and sincere mix of courage, and desperation. She's a capable, and passionate swordsman, she's studying runic sorcery, she's an administrator, and for whatever reason she likes motorization.

The flying ship for her is a different, more amazing form of having an old sports car, doing it with a blindfold is like driving such a car, and wearing black sunglasses. If you look at her like this, the picture becomes more clear.

'Isn't she a swagger with that ship?'

He walked to the place where the ship's landed. While going inside he could hear a strange noise coming from inside. Somewhere between the sounds of guitar, drums, and keyboard he could recognize…

"Kai?"

He heard the music stopping, and Cassie talking something, this time her voice reached him the conventional way.

"Kai's not here. Hearing about him so many times I start to suspect there's something more between you two than just you missing him."

Sunny quickly realized what's going on. Cassie has a Memory that can record sound, and play the recording.

"Nice thing. Did you make it?"

Cassie nodded lightly.

"Cool... Unfortunately my rock can only record voices."

She lowered her head a little, and sighed.

"That's… way better than you think. Recording the voice itself is better than catching air vibrations."

Which was right. Even mundane technology can do that much. There are such recording machines in Bastion. But to do that with runes is still cool, somewhat. Mundane torches can give light, produce heat, and so on, but there's magic, and a lot of utility in doing the same at the cost of soul essence produced infinitely by dormant soul shards.

Sunny walked into the ship deck. There were tool boxes with different instruments. There were brushes, and sorcerous inks, eyeglasses probably meant to be used by Quiet Dancer, or that Clockwork Man, or other Echoes, templates to make a rune without caring about the precision of movements. Cassie herself was dressed like some car mechanic, wearing huge pants with suspenders, clothes meant to be used without care about getting dirty. She had her hair tied for them to not get in the way.

The Sacred Tree was also there, much bigger than last time, closer to its former glory. One day it would be a source of these sweet golden fruits.

Due to enormous didactic potential of her new abilities, and insights obtained from her 'future self' within the Tomb of Ariel, and seeing Aletheia's enchantments, and the access to Valor's enchantments her sorcery could now improve in leaps, and bounds. She could steal the memories of enchanters without them noticing anything, and then try to use them to expand her own repertoire. Why not?

He summoned the Covetous Coffer, and revealed the wooden bed, creation of the Nameless Guy. Despite being made by a rather beginner carpenter Sunny could almost feel how much love the father has for his son. The creation was simple, yet solid, and industrious. Also it was very restrained. There was no unnecessary part that would weaken it, and no attempts to sculpt anything of additional beauty. The father was definitely worried he would just mess that up.

To that they added a leather mattress filled with feathers of… whatever. He cannot guess that. Whatever it was, it had to be a creative solution.

"Thanks. Are you in the mood for a cup of tea?"

"Sure."

There was a dining room with a few chairs, and tables secured to not fly around during the maneuvers. Cassie was trying to figure out how to make such measures unnecessary, but without success.

She boiled the water, and poured it into the teapot. No one would notice that she actually can't see, if not for the blindfold. The stove she used to boil the water was also her own creation, at least the enchantment. Which is nice.

"I suppose you don't need me to upgrade the bed."

"I'm proficient enough."

Sunny wondered how proficient Cassie is. It was obvious her skills improved a lot, but he didn't have anything that would indicate the extent of her abilities. His improvements could be measured by what effects he can apply, and what he can upgrade. Cassie was improving herself by deciphering, and repairing circuits, rarely creating new ones.

"Do you want to turn it into a Memory?"

He asked.

"Not many can do that. Do you have some trick for me to be able to weave or something similar?"

"Not sure. I'm just curious. There seem to be enchanters capable of making Memories, and Valor seems to depend heavily on runic circuits."

"Mostly it comes from special aspects that turn the product into Memories."

"And the rest of them?"

"I don't know. It is still a mystery. It's not easy to extract that knowledge."

So that's how it is. They still don't trust her enough to explain the trick. Or maybe there is no trick, and no way? He doubts that. After all, regardless of what he might think about the requirements, it's more, or less undeniable that the Anvil crafts Memories. It rather doesn't come from his aspect. Then how? And maybe Cassie can do that much as well? He decided to give the seer a little push.

"There's something I remember from my early experiments. I mean the time when I was a carrier."

"You said that knowledge is more that I can handle."

Sunny knew that Cassie would tell him that. He spent many hours figuring out what he can tell his friends, and what he can only leave for himself.

"Normally, yes. The knowledge is forbidden for you to remember, but that's for a reason. Our recollections connect us to other people's past. In some metaphorical way, but probably also literally. Stepping on that connection is forbidden. But not stepping isn't."

"I understand."

She untied her blindfold, and he looked straight into her eyes.

Sunny concentrated on a single event, the moment he put a runic enchantment from… the amulet of Noctis on the Ordinary Rock. He ignored all parts about the amulet, how he received it, all the times he used it,… Everything was reduced to the moment of him weaving it into a Memory, then the amulet decaying, and his swiftly memorizing the pattern of the Memory.

When he finished Cassie looked at him with consternation.

"That amulet decayed, and broke. I don't think it's a success."

"But you could see that. The Spell can probably transform your sorcery too. There are some conditions, and the extent to which it can happen, but that might be still worth consideration."

"I'll think about that. It's a valuable insight, but that won't be easy."

He couldn't expect Cassie to solve the mystery just on the run. She needed time to experiment with Memories. Probably the bed won't ever become a one, but there's no harm in showing some support.

Later they were chatting about their things. He told Cassie about him trying to teach sorcery, about Rain's training, about him killing a crocodile, about his progress, and obstacles. He even made a request if he could borrow some kind of Echo so he could copy basic enchantments a bit faster. Soon he had to ask a question about her plots.

"By the way, how are your days?"

"A lot of work. Soon the Fire Keeper will return from their first mission since our transcension, and then there will be an influx of spoils. I'm in the process of preparation to liquidate some assets, and invest them wisely."

"You're going to open restaurants, carpenter's workshop, or something like that?"

"We're going to make a movie about Nephis, set a theater, buy some Memories, perhaps some from you, order dolls, gadgets…"

"Like 'Your own Nephie doll'?"

"Exactly."

"How ruthless…"

"Sort of. She's a Saint. Probably she's already the strongest Saint in existence, but that's not enough. She…"

Sunny felt like he heard that already. If it was Nephis talking that to clueless him, that would be really a great speech, but not anymore. Actually after living with that thought during the Antarctica Campaign it stopped to be so shocking. He cut the crap.

"I know that already… she wants to kill the Sovereigns, right? And because she will be the strongest, she will claim the throne of humanity, and will be the sole ruler of them all."

Cassie paled. At once he revealed their biggest, which is so politically sensitive that if someone ordinary said that to her she would wonder if she shouldn't kill him to protect Nephis.

"WAIT! YOU KNEW?"

Sunny shrugged, and started talking in the manner she could compare to talking about groceries he's going to buy. Not that she ever heard him talking about groceries, but she was convinced he would make it sound the same.

"Kind of… I know her ambitions very well, and the Sovereigns are now the biggest obstacle. I only wonder how she's gonna get rid of them. And I don't even have illusions how ruthless, power greedy, and daring she is."

"You wouldn't believe what she said to me about the way. She wants to become a celebrity so people want to serve her by desire."

The same crap again. He was getting a terrible sense of deja vu. Perhaps there was another time loop put over the universe, and he has now to figure out how to escape it, and not repeat his tragedies anymore. Naaah. He wanted to skip that part.

"I know that too. I want to hear about that killing part."

Then Cassie started stuttering.

"Ugh…"

"What's wrong?"

"It's embarrassing."

He was experienced with the idea of Cassie being embarrassed. Even if she's embarrassed it's usually when she has something important to say.

"I'll try to no laugh."

"She said she wants to become a Supreme naturally."

If someone didn't know Nephis, he would be shocked to the bone by such a bold declaration. Unfortunately for Cassie's expectation the one she's been talking to knows Nephis very well, so he couldn't be surprised by such a declaration.

"Really? Did she learn the way?"

Cassie formed a fake smile.

"No."

In exchange she heard a mocking laugh. Sunny couldn't prevent himself from laughing over how predictable it is.

Isn't it the way Nephis does things? First, want to do something unbelievable, then slowly, and patiently make it true. If someone is about to say something about her lacking proper means, and a reasonable chance to achieve that, she says it's her will, and by the way she never had a reasonable chance to achieve anything so screw the reason!

"So that's not a plan. It's a wish. No, that wouldn't do justice. It's a girly fantasy!"

"I was worried you wouldn't like it."

But he's unreasonable too.

"Cassie, I like it. No… I love it! If someone became a Supreme naturally, then we wouldn't have to worry about many things that haunt us in sleep. But without a way, and the knowledge of means this is just a desire."

"Well, Nephis hopes she'll find it, infer it somehow. After all, it's not like we can't take time to do that. And we already know three steps of the path. What's more, we already proved that we're very capable of transcending naturally."

She didn't tell it directly, but Sunny could tell Cassie's referring to the fact they faced their Corrupted versions in the Nightmare. They don't remember him, but they remember the Six Plagues. No reason to flinch.

"It's okay. I'm looking for it too. I'm a bit limited with resources. I don't possess a citadel, though I can find one as well if necessary."

Cassie looked at him in disbelief.

"You too?"

Sunny shrugged.

"Tell me rather, why shouldn't I? The three Nightmares traumatized me a lot, and without the Spell I cannot enter a Seed. And whatever humanity is going to face in the future, Supremes are in high demand. And it's not just me. We all should be looking for a way! Nephis won't be enough to save you. If possible we all should reach that step before the world is doomed."

"I don't get it. So what are you doing to achieve that? Don't you happen to be driven just by a wish?"

He took a long sip of tea. A good blend. Also an excuse to look for a proper answer, not just one forced upon him by the flaw.

"I'm not sure how I'm gonna get there. Currently I'm in the process of covering my shortcomings, and building foundations. Did you ever saw someone in the process of awakening?"

"No."

Sunny thought it to be a problem. Already a few months have passed since they returned from Antarctica, but they didn't make a proper use of what they learned. It might be his fault, or there might be some kind of a subtle mind hex that prevents people from making a new Awakened… Whatever it is, it's not simple. The Spell itself for some reason didn't want people to awaken naturally. Otherwise how could he explain the fact that the Sleepers crushed so many soul shards, and none have managed to get control over their essence? Many managed to saturate their cores, and yet no one awakened this way. Of course, it's because of the Spell! There's no other explanation.

And therefore there's a possibility that the natural Supremacy is meant only for him.

"So I'm gonna do that. I want to make many people awaken, experience the process, and then witness it with my own two eyes! What is the cost? 200 soul shards? I can make that much sacrifice, and more. In exchange I will obtain priceless insights."

"Insights…. Is this why you jump off the island so often? To get insights?"

"Yup.""And you're gonna do that also today?""You're reading me so well. We'll finish the tea, and after that I'm gonna jump into that abyss again."

He had a feeling it's going to be a good time.