Shadow Slave

A faint smile appeared on Neph's face. She stared into the fire for a while, then leaned her back against the weathered black rock with a shrug.

"Who can tell? There are a lot of stories about the trials and tribulations he had to endure."

Bathed in the warmth of the fire and with his belly pleasantly full, Sunny felt his body and mind relax. Throwing a curious glance at her, he asked:

"What is your favorite story about that guy, then?"

Nephis remained silent for a while with a look of contemplation on her face, which was cast in shadows, with only its vague silhouette visible in the darkness... and the dancing white sparks that shone in the depths of her eyes.

Eventually, she said:

"Maybe it's not a favorite... but I often think about one of them, in particular."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Which one?"

Neph sighed quietly before answering:

"Odysseus was a great hero of Hellas, but he was not the greatest one. The greatest and most powerful hero was named Heracles, who was a demigod and a slayer of monsters. Heracles possessed incredible strength and performed many incredible feats... after he died, the gods took his soul to the heavenly realm, where he became an immortal god himself."

She grew quiet for a moment.

"However, Odysseus once descended into the underworld, where he saw the shadows of the dead. Among them was the forlorn shadow of Heracles... so, when I was a child, I always wondered how Heracles could both be a god and a lost shadow in the land of the dead."

Nephis shifted slightly and moved her hand, causing the fire to suddenly burn brighter.

"I asked my grandmother, and she explained that one part of Heracles was divine, while another part of him was human. It was the divine part of Heracles that ascended to godhood, while the human part was cast down into the underworld, doomed to wander its dark halls forever."

Her voice was a little wistful.

Sunny frowned and gave her a dark look.

"That's... a little messed up."

Neph smiled.

very unfair, for the gods to simply discard the human part of Heracles.

for a

death in those ancient myths. The version of his

talking, Sunny suddenly chuckled. His eye glinted in

that the gods were hypocrites, huh? I see now... turns out, your disdain for the figures of authority goes

her

"...I guess it does."

on killing the Sovereigns and destroying the Spell...

hesitated for a while,

great figure of authority yourself now, after all. Lady Changing Star of the Immortal Flame, the torchbearer of humanity and the idol of millions of people, both mundane

at him across the fire with a neutral expression. The sparks

in the name of pacifist religions, tell truths to deceive

away, she shrugged

child, and I often tried to understand people through reason - to no success whatsoever, of course. It was only after I learned that people are inherently unreasonable that I started to understand

at her silently. After a while, he

you... I was a very unreasonable

looked at him

"Seriously?"

He nodded energetically.

was a bit dumb. Trying to understand things through reason? Couldn't be me... I just

paused for a moment, and then added

"Well... mostly error..."

a

honest, I can't really imagine you as a child. I just always imagine you as... you. What

the back of his head with a bit of

was very gentle and kind. To a fault, even. Do you know how kids would sometimes pull the wings off annoying insects? I would never... in fact, I would cry for a day straight if I

face slowly

well... that didn't last long, though. So I was mostly a weird and wicked child, I guess. Still, it

Sunny looked at Nephis

you looking at

a couple of