Shadow Slave

In the morning, the island shook again. Sunny opened his eyes and reached through the shadow sense, checking in on Saint. Since the taciturn knight was standing calmly above the fissure, he relaxed and yawned with great satisfaction.

He felt incredibly refreshed.

The dark island was in one piece, and nothing was pouncing to kill them. Life was great.

He sat up, leaned on the slope of the fissure, then rubbed his eyes and looked around. Nephis was already up, doing light stretches a few meters away. Sunny watched her for a few moments, then forced himself to avert his gaze.

The sound of her even, yet fragile voice resounding from the darkness still echoed in his ears.

Neph's Second Nightmare... was different from his own, just like her First Nightmare had been. She had not battled immortal Saints to free an imprisoned daemon from divine chains. Instead, she had tried to save a small group of pitiful and forlorn creatures, only to watch them all die.

Nephis had been the last one standing on the Forgotten Shore, and after traveling alone through the purgatory of the Nightmare Desert, she built a tiny community amidst the cold darkness, only to watch it be destroyed.

She had been so strong, but the Nightmare made her weak. She had been so proud, but the Nightmare made her beg for mercy on her knees. He wasn't sure he could imagine how painful it was for her, to sacrifice the two things that were at the core of her sense of self.

Yes, Neph had not slain impossibly powerful enemies with her radiant sword in the Nightmare... but, for her, wielding a sword against an overwhelming foe was not something to be feared.

Maybe that was why the Spell always tried to break her in some other, more cruel way.

Sunny looked down at the weathered surface of the black rock.

'The Spell... I wonder...'

How had the Spell appraised Neph's performance in the Second Nightmare?

Sunny was not sure, but he had an inkling that the appraisal was exceedingly high. If his theory was right, that was, and the appraisal depended on how much the challenger had changed the flow of fate. In that regard...

He suspected that what Nephis had done was miraculous. She had wanted to change the fates of the forsaken creatures living in the darkness at the bottom of the Underwold.

that task,

succeeded

the harrowing creature that had come from

the creature been compelled by her words?

had it been infected by the same yearning that Neph had ignited in the hearts of the forsaken? Had the creature of darkness been poisoned

a horror in the Underworld had been changed, even ever so slightly, then Sunny could not really imagine

Spell could have appraised Neph's

that was not

The Spell and its carriers had different criteria for success, after all. The Spell might be satisfied with Neph's performance, but Neph obviously saw it as a bitter, irredeemable failure. The tone of her voice yesterday had

to stare at

her resolve to

he knew the truth... many things about her past words and actions made

I going to

who was oblivious to

one more thing he had to

description of Neph's

that was banished and doomed to exist in the darkness. You bring

to the trial the Spell had

unlocked as

Longing, yearning, desire... wish...

to destroy the Spell that burned like fire in Neph's heart so powerful

light. It had seemed like a rather useless power to have, outside of very rare

However...

Nephis immune to the Corruption, then wasn't it actually the most

their arm when it got infected with the Corruption. Not only was the great and terrible Demon of Fate not immune to Corruption,

what was

more importantly, what was she to

his thoughts, meanwhile, finished her stretching exercises, pulled the fastened strap of her white tunic back to her pale shoulder, and

Nephis smiled.