Shadow Slave

"Ananke greets the Children of Weaver..."

The word hung in the air. Sunny and Nephis glanced at each other warily, both confused by this strange situation. Why was the old woman prostrating in front of them? Why had she addressed them as children of Weaver?

'What is going on?'

Sunny was tired out of his mind, and the inexplicable nature of the strange old woman was simply too much for him to process. She didn't seem hostile, at least. With a sigh, he allowed his exhausted body to collapse and sat down on the wooden deck of the ketch. Nephis, meanwhile, hesitated for a few moments, then took several steps forward and carefully pulled the old woman up.

"Please rise, Grandmother. Do not bow on our account."

The owner of the ketch - Ananke - allowed herself to be gently pulled into a sitting position. Then, Nephis returned to Sunny and sat side by side with him. The two of them were now facing the old woman, waiting for her to say something. But she remained silent.

After a few moments passed, Sunny frowned. He felt nervous... there was no telling just how powerful this woman was, and what her intentions were. Ananke was a complete mystery.

...She could also provide answers to many mysteries that had plagued him. So, he asked:

"I am sorry, Grandmother... but why did you call us the Children of Weaver?"

There were many questions he wanted to ask, but this one was the most pressing - its answer could explain how Old Ananke would treat them.

The old woman took a deep sigh, then spoke in her thin, creaky voice:

"Because you are the Chosen of the Nightmare Spell. You are... a miracle. Your existence is Weaver's triumph."

proud smile appeared on his lips. It was warm and almost... motherly. As though she was indeed a grandmother looking at her

a deep

by the Demon of Fate. Now, the last, tiny sliver of doubt had disappeared. Weaver was indeed the being responsible for the great calamity that had befallen Earth... or maybe

Nightmare Spell. She was also, most likely, one of the people they had wanted to find - a native inhabitant of the Great River. One of the ancient people who had entered the

it mean that she had come to

were still not making any

leaned forward and asked

for asking, but who are

smiled. What she said next made both Sunny

Priestess of the Nightmare

the silence that followed, the old

the Nightmare Spell has matured and rules unopposed, its blessings given freely to all. But it wasn't always like that. At the beginning, which was also the end, when the Nightmare Spell was still in its infancy, there was a need for

wrinkled face grew somber, and a heavy

all. After all, we, the followers of a daemon, were deemed heretics and persecuted by servants of the gods. All

with them that Sunny found himself unable to digest it all. He felt like a person who was drowning in a deep sea after

Nightmare Spell... the beginning that was also the end? Must be the early stages of the war between the daemons and the gods... wait, the Spell was not created as it is today?

as he was. Nephis was struggling, too, but it seemed

not meaningless? That the Nightmare Spell you worshiped and

them with reverence,

are very

a few moments, then

to be surprised by the fact that we come from the

It was a very poignant question, and one that he had failed to think