Shadow Slave

East Antarctica was many times larger than the Antarctic Center, both in terms of territory and population. Its landscape was also much more varied, with vast plains, long mountain chains, and numerous lakes that ranged from relatively small to those that were as large as seas.

Somewhere out there, in that cold expanse, twenty-one siege capitals were currently enduring the onslaught of Nightmare Creatures. Each of them was comparable to Falcon Scott in size, and there were close to nine hundred million people protected by their walls.

Sunny was looking into the distance, feeling a bit uncomfortable. In front of him was a vast plain that stretched all the way to the horizon, covered in snow. It was littered by giant boulders that stood like solemn monuments to the ancient past, and cut by countless deep canyons. Here and there, hordes of abominations could be seen, flowing across the plain like dark rivers.

After months spent in the mountainous Antarctic Center, it was strange to be able to see that far. The world was broad and shrouded in dim twilight, looking quite surreal. Sunny felt... exposed.

"What a bleak sight."

It was still better than the poisoned wilderness of the other continents. He could freely breathe here, at least. There were also much fewer scars left by the destructive wars of the Dark Times here, although there were some. He could see the skeletal remains of massive war machines and the ruins of destroyed towns far in the distance, all covered with snow.

With a sigh, Sunny turned around. Behind him was a slope leading to the ocean shore. Jet had just finished climbing the slope and stopped near him, breathing heavily. She still looked like a dead woman walking... but at least she was breathing again. That alone made her less unnerving.

Soul Reaper remained silent for a few moments, then cursed quietly.

"There are still Gates near us."

Indeed, the Call was still too strong for them to escape into the Dream Realm. She studied the plain before looking at him.

"Do you have a working communicator?"

Sunny shifted awkwardly, then gestured to the Graceless Dusk.

"This is a Transcendent armor, you know. It has many wonderful enchantments. Sadly... one thing it doesn't have is pockets. I used to carry a few useful items inside a spatial storage Memory, but those were all destroyed by the Heart of Darkness. So, no. I don't have a communicator on me."

Indeed, the Covetous Coffer was more or less empty now. Sunny had spent most of his supplies during the escape to Falcon Scott, and what little remained was then obliterated by the dark beetles. The only thing they had not been able to destroy were the spools of diamond thread from the Ebony Tower.

Jet sighed.

"Pity. Mine was frozen solid. We can't even contact Army Command, then."

Sunny watched the distant hordes of Nightmare Creatures for a while.

"Well, then we just have to keep moving deeper inland until we find a safe spot to use our anchors."

Soul Reaper grimaced... which looked quite frightening, considering her current state. She lingered for a few seconds, then shook her head.

"Moving inland... it won't be easy. This place is in a much better state than the Antarctic Center was, but that's just inside the siege capitals. Out here in the wilderness, the Nightmare Creatures still reign unopposed. You know better than anyone how hard it is to traverse an environment like this."

Sunny smiled darkly.

"Luckily, we don't need to travel for three thousand kilometers. And there are no civilians slowing us down. Hell, there's not even a murderous sea to flood the entire world every night. Come on... it's going to be like a picnic."

He called, and a moment later, a stygian black steed rose from the shadows. Nightmare snorted, ominous red flames burning in his eyes. The stallion's adamantine horns glinted dully in the bleak twilight of the early dawn.

Sunny summoned the Overpriced Saddle and went about strapping it on the black courser. As he did, Jet looked at him with dead eyes.

After a while, she suddenly said:

"By the way. I never asked... but how the hell did you end up being Mongrel? That doesn't make any sense!"

She paused, and then shook her head.

"Actually, scratch that. In retrospect, it makes too much sense. We even met once, when that Gate manifested in NQSC... ah. I feel embarrassed now..."

Sunny coughed.

"I just wanted to train peacefully in the Dreamscape. Who knew people would make such a ruckus about me learning a few battle styles? This whole thing went out of control really fast. Ugh... believe it or not, I actually wanted to use the Mongrel persona to stay under the radar. That plan... yeah, it failed spectacularly."

Jet laughed, her voice sounding hoarse and disturbing.

"Stay under the radar? You call challenging Morgan of Valor staying under the radar?"

He winced.

"Well... I might have gotten a little greedy. Once or twice. But hey, at least I got a very good bow out of it. It's still my best ranged Memory - those Valor forgemasters really know what they're doing, huh?"

Soul Reaper shook her head.

You're not too bad yourself, Sunny. I... still can't believe that you can craft Memories. Do you know how rare Aspects that allow Awakened to create Memories are? There are very few such Awakened outside of Valor, and even those usually only work for the powerful Legacy clans."

Sunny remained silent for a few moments. By that point, there was nothing really preventing him from sharing his insights into sorcery with Jet - they had already learned a lot of each other's secrets, so one more wasn't going to make a difference.

But it would be a long conversation. If he explained that his ability to create and modify Memories had not come from his Aspect, but rather from an Attribute, he would have to explain what Blood Weave was, which in turn would require him to explain much more. He didn't feel like it.

The knowledge would not help Soul Reaper, anyway... or anyone else, for that matter. As far as Sunny knew, his ability to see and interact with spellweave was unique.

Instead, Sunny glanced at Jet and asked:

"What's so special about that Morgan, anyway? How strong is she?"

Soul Reaper sighed.

"Understand that there are Masters, and then there are Masters, Sunny. Legacies are trained from childhood to be monstrous fighters. And that's just those from lesser clans. Those from the great clans - well, you can imagine. Morgan is not just any member of clan Valor, either. She is their princess. You should know by now who her father is."

Sunny's face darkened. He finished dealing with the saddle and crossed his arms.

"What about you, then? Are you stronger than Morgan?"

Jet stared at him with her hollow, dead eyes. A corner of her mouth twitched upward.

"Me? Maybe... probably not. If we had to fight, I would most likely lose. Not because I am weaker, just because Morgan has the vast resources of Valor behind her. Memories, Echoes, soul shards... you can't imagine how much power the great clans have hoarded over the decades. People like us don't have the same foundation. So I wouldn't want to fight one of their heirs, if there's an option not to. That goes for your friend Song Seishan, as well."

He scoffed.

"It's a bit of a stretch to call us friends. And I think you are selling yourself short. I fought a couple of Masters from Valor, you know? They're not that tough."

Soul Reaper grinned.

"Oh, really? How come you ended up stuck in the waking world for half a year, then?"

Sunny stared at her for a moment.

"Good point."

With that, he jumped into the saddle, looked at Jet from above, and offered her a hand.

"Come on. Climb up."

She hesitated, prompting Sunny to raise an eyebrow.

"What? What's wrong?"

Jet cleared her throat.

"What do you mean, what's wrong? I don't know how to ride a horse. Why would I know how to ride a horse? I've never ridden one! I've never even seen one, before your Echo."

Sunny blinked a couple of times, then suddenly laughed.

That laugh surprised him, because he had not thought himself capable of laughing after Falcon Scott.

"Gods... you don't need to ride anything. I'll control the horse, you just sit in front of me and don't fall off. I'm sure you can handle that much, at least."

Jet sighed, then grabbed his hand and jumped up. Nightmare exhaled loudly through his nostrils, confused as to why a corpse was sitting on top of him. Shadow God was also the God of Death, though, so the shadow steed must have been accustomed to such things happening.

Or not. In any case, he would have to deal with it.

Jet looked down nervously.

"Sunny... how fast is your horse, exactly?"

He smirked.

"Pretty fast."

With that, Sunny sent Nightmare forward. Soul Reaper would have yelped, but she was still having trouble breathing. So, all she produced was a stifled hiss.

The nightmarish steed carried a dead woman and a divine shadow as it raced across the snow-covered plain, moving deeper into the cold expanse of a doomed continent.