Shadow Slave

The Winter Beast came. And then, it left. The last citadel of humanity in the Antarctic Center, Falcon Scott, had fallen to the Chain of Nightmares. The harrowing blizzard had swept through it, freezing the whole city solid and killing everyone inside.

Sunny had heard that a long time ago, during the Dark Times - or maybe even before that - the whole of Antarctica was covered by ice. It had been a land of perpetual winter, cold, and snow. After the Corrupted Titan wiped out the last human settlement and retreated back into the mountains, as if satisfied to be the sole sovereign of the region, the landscape looked just like that, again.

The city was drowning in snow. The buildings emerged from it, encased in ice. Below the cliffs, a large swath of the ocean was frozen, as well. A gargantuan battleship was stuck in the ice, still anchored, the people aboard it all dead. Everyone was dead. Except for Sunny.

His soldiers were dead. Millions of civilians were dead. Professor Obel was dead, too. But he was alive, and not even wounded. Sunny had remained in the shadows for a long time, only emerging from them after his essence almost ran dry.

And now, he was digging a grave. The earth itself was frozen solid, so his task was not an easy one. He had to summon the Sin of Solace, and use the beautiful jade blade to dig. Sunny was standing in a shallow pit, deepening it. His movements were fast and purposeful. Angry tears were streaming down his face, turning into ice before falling to the ground.

...He was not alone, either. A vague shape that looked a lot like him was sitting on the edge of the pit, staring at him somberly. It had his voice, too.

"Look at you go."

Sunny gritted his teeth, ignoring the Sin of Solace. The cursed sword remained silent for a while, observing him. Eventually, it asked:

"So, did you find it? Conviction? Or whatever it was you've been searching for?"

Sunny spared the vague shape a glance, then continued digging.

"No... no, I didn't find crap."

He wiped his face with an elbow.

"Actually, that's not true. I did find something. I found out that I was right all along!"

Sunny plunged the sword into the frozen soil and laughed.

"Faith, calling, conviction... all those lofty words. It's all rubbish! It's all... meaningless. People like Anvil of Valor and Ki Song have conviction, and that conviction helps them achieve greatness. Well, where are they? What good did it do? Where the hell were they, huh?!"

He lowered the sword and stared at the vague shape with fury in his eyes.

"Those great people go around playing with their great conviction, while little people like us suffer and lose our little lives. But what's wrong with having small dreams? All I ever wanted was to live a good life, and keep people I care about safe. What's wrong about that? Why do I have to have a great goal and soaring ambition to be allowed to exist?!"

Sunny remained motionless for a moment, then returned to digging.

"I'll tell you why. It's because those bastards made it so... that's the world they have built. They can pursue their convictions and trample on millions in the process, because there's no one to hold them responsible. They can have their little wars while ignoring the death toll, no matter how much people die. Hate it. I hate it!"

Suddenly, he stopped, and then let out a small laugh.

"Effie... she was wrong. Well, I can't blame her... she doesn't know Nephis as well as I do. From the outside, it might really look like Neph draws power from conviction. And she does, too. But the truth is so much simpler. I mean, she told me herself."

Back on the Forgotten Shore, years ago, Sunny had asked Nephis why she wanted to destroy the Spell. And her answer was very simple, indeed...

"Because I hate it."

Because she hated it...

She was going to destroy the Spell because she wanted to, and she wanted to destroy the Spell because she hated it.

That was all.

Sunny laughed again, then shook his head.

"Fool... I'm such a fool..."

The vague shape sitting on the edge of the grave grinned.

"Well, at least we agree on something."

Sunny continued to dig, thinking back on the past months. He... he had not found conviction. But in a sense, he also did.

'I don't need it. I know what I value, and I know what I want. It might not be much, but it's enough. I am who I am, and who I am is enough. It's plenty.'

He looked at the vague shape, and made it disappear with a thought. Then, Sunny climbed out of the grave and looked at it.

There were three graves beside that one. They all stared at Sunny like monuments to his failure.

Slowly, he turned to the four corpses that lay on the ground a small distance away from the graves.

After the Winter Beast left, he had returned to collect the bodies of Belle, Dorn, and Samara.

And then, not too far away, he had found the body of Master Jet, as well.

Master Jet... Sunny couldn't quite comprehend the fact that she was dead. She had always been there for him. She had been the first person to meet him after the First Nightmare, and the one to guide him to the Academy. She had been there when he returned from the Forgotten Shore, and from the Kingdom of Hope, too.

She had even helped him purchase his home.

Soul Reaper had been his mentor, comrade, and friend. For him, she was synonymous with competence and power. And perseverance. If a girl from the outskirts could rise so high, then why couldn't he?

And now, she was dead.

Sunny couldn't believe it, but there was no denying it. Her lifeless body was right there in front of him, unmoving and still. Her beautiful blue eyes were now glassy and hollow. Her lips were never going to curve into a smile again.

Soul Reaper Jet was gone.

Sunny's heart was empty.

'Right...'

He remained motionless for a while, then walked over to Belle and carried him to the first grave. Then, silently, he repeated the same process with Samara and Dorn. Master Jet was the last, but he couldn't bring himself to approach her body for a long time. Eventually, though, it had to be done.

Feeling as though he was dead himself, Sunny approached Jet's corpse, then leaned down to grab it.

The corpse stared at him with glassy eyes, and said hoarsely:

"Kindly unhand me."

Sunny sighed.

"Don't worry, Master Jet. I am going to bury you well... there are no Nightmare Creatures around, yet, but they will come eventually. You wouldn't want to be eaten, would you? I surely don't."

The corpse remained silent for a few moments.

"...Have you lost your mind, Sunny? Put me the hell down."

He nodded.

"Yes, yes... I did lose my mind, a little. That's true."

The corpse of Soul Reaper Jet continued to stare at him.

'I should probably close her eyes...'

"Do you need me to slap you again? Snap out of it, damn it!"

A small frown appeared on Sunny's face. Then, he suddenly dropped the corpse and flinched back, falling on his butt.

"Wha... what?! Master Jet, you're alive?!"

The corpse remained motionless on the ground. After a short pause, it said in a dull, hoarse, corpsely voice:

"No. I am dead."

Sunny stared at it, dumbfounded.

Suddenly, the corpse let out a grating, hissing sound. It was trying to laugh.

long as I keep killing things and absorbing their essence, I can at least maintain a semblance of life. If I don't, I'll be truly destroyed."

She struggled to turn her head and looked at him with dead, glassy eyes.

"That was the real reason I joined the government, all those years ago. I knew that I'd always have things to kill if I did. Now... Sunny... argh, damn it... can you help me sit up?"

He slowly rose to his feet, took a few shaky steps forward, and pulled her up to a sitting position.

Then, he blinked a couple of times and said:

"So... that was why you told me that it's impossible for you to die in Antarctica? Because you were never alive, to begin with?"

Soul Reaper struggled for a few moments, and then took a labored breath - the first one since he had found her in the snowfield outside the city.

"Yes. It was a figure of speech."

Both of them remained quiet for a while, not knowing what to say.

Then, Jet suddenly turned her head. Her eyes glistened a little.

"Sunny... look! Look there."

He turned around, not knowing what she wanted him to see. Nothing seemed to have changed... the graves, the snow, the frozen buildings of the destroyed city were all the same.

However, far away... a thin line of pale lilac appeared above the horizon, breaking the reign of cold darkness.

Soul Reaper tried to smile, but failed.

"The sun is rising. The night... it's over."

[End of Volume Five: Dread Night.]

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GuiltyThree Notes: The long night is over! And so is Volume Five of Shadow Slave. I hope that you enjoyed this cold, dark adventure. As for me, I surely had a blast writing it. I'll take a day off and return with the first chapters of Volume Six the day after tomorrow. Thank you and have a great day! :]