Shadow Slave

The work progressed slowly.

There was no day or night in the Sky Below, and Sunny did not particularly care for tracking time anymore. He only knew how much of it had passed because of the happy shadow, which continued to act as Rain's guardian somewhere far away.

The task of learning how to read the forbidden runes was engrossing.

Sunny was not trying to decipher the ancient script blindly. He was familiar with many variations of the runic language that had been used in the Dream Realm… or rather, in the multitude of realms that would one day become its various regions. The languages the people of the bygone eras had spoken were different, and so were the writing systems they had used.

However, they all shared a common root… Hope, who had invented the concept of writing and the original runic script. Being familiar with that script and many of its descendants, Sunny could somewhat infer the meaning of derivative runic languages, and learn how to read them.

That task was not an easy one, even for a Saint but after spending a few weeks in the Ebony Tower, doing nothing but studying Nether's writings, he was making quick progress.

Sunny studied the runes, took walks along the edge of the scorched island, slept, and lay idly on his cot, staring at the celling. His life was tranquil, easy, and entertaining.

Truly free of all burdens.

…Sometimes, he felt the desire to claw at the walls of the Obsidian Tower.

In those moments, he visited the lightless shrine and stared at the statue of the Goddess of Black Skies.

The face of the statue was obscured by a veil, but the sculpture was so exquisitely carved that the veil seemed to be made from fine silk, not cold stone. He could see a vague silhouette of a divinely beautiful face, outlined by its delicate folds and creases.

Sunny couldn't help but feel that it shared a close resemblance to the faces of the broken porcelain dolls that piled into a mountain on the lowest level of the tower… as well as Saint's inhumanly beautiful visage.

Had Nether been obsessed with Storm God, or simply too lazy to sculpt a multitude of faces when there already was a perfectly fine one for him to copy? He had been a very practical man, after all… as well as the most impractical of them. Why else would he rise in rebellion against the gods?

As Sunny made advancements in his understanding of the forbidden runes, he was able to make a rough estimate of when exactly the Demon of Destiny had resided in the Ebony Tower.

It had been in the latter half of the Golden Age, during Hope's imprisonment. Nether seemed to have already fallen out with Storm God, but was not contemplating going to war against the heavens yet.

Instead, he had turned his back on the world and dedicated himself to his misguided passion — trying to create living beings, which was an authority exclusive to the gods.

Much like Sunny had turned his back on the world and dedicated himself to studying these forbidden runes.

The Ebony Tower seemed to attract disheartened men.

Most of the runes carved into its walls were… esoteric, to say the least. Sunny slowly learned how to understand their meaning, but that did not mean that he understood what they meant. It would be the same if someone had given him a highly advanced scientific paper on quantum physics to read — knowing human language would not help him comprehend the contents.

to be read by anyone except the Demon of Destiny himself did not help, either. He

were many

Basic mechanics hide the

at

really understand the meaning of these passages, but he did

in two directions — the creation of a body, and the creation of a soul. The former was purely time-consuming, but the latter seemed

the creatures created by the gods able

Desire had created runic sorcery. The Demon of Destiny, however, had not authored an original school of sorcery of his own, taking elements from

power out of everyone Sunny had known, except for the gods themselves. Nether had been able to manipulate souls and soul essence to a frightening degree, accomplishing things that

living being out of nothing, no matter how Ingenious his methods were and how great his determination was. That was one thing that

For a time.

His perception was influenced by knowing the end result, but back then, Nether must have been daring to the point of insanity, to pursue something that had never been done before, and

him to persist

learn the answer in the Ebony Tower. The runes carved into its walls were Nether's research notes, not a personal diary — there was

the black walls was dry and void

of studying the runes, Sunny concentrated on three fragments, all unlike the rest of the passages he had

a poem or a short story that Nether had written down for

It read:

does the flame

the

[«What is life?»]

skies answered in

is watching her children die slowly of starvation. There is only enough food for one

They are brought to an arena and told to

her company. One day, walking the market, he sees

[I pondered.]

is

[The skies laughed.]

desire. It's a desire to be

illuminated by a myriad of stars, burning in the

in the

the flame

long time, Was it a fable Nether had written down on a whim? Or the transcript of an actual conversation between him and Storm

meaning. The Demon of Destiny was not someone who would have carved runes into stone