Shadow Slave: Arcadius of the Forgotten

The weight of the Voidfang's black blade clanged loudly against the Nightcarver, forcing Maya backwards across the coral-strewn ground. Gritting her teeth, she fought to maintain her footing. The icy sheen of her curved blade caught the muted light filtering through the labyrinth's oppressive sky.

Cade advanced swiftly, pressing the attack with precise, calculated strikes. Maya met each swing with surprising resolve. Her short, ashen hair remained stiff, seemingly frozen in place. A thin sheen of sweat glistened the pale skin of her forehead. The cloak of the Skerrian Aegis fluttered and its armored boots scuffed against the uneven terrain as she desperately parried.

"Not bad," Cade remarked in between blows, his voice even despite the exertion. "But you're too focused on blocking. That... is going to get you killed."

Maya's frosty glare was as sharp as the edge of her weapon.

"You... try blocking... a strike from someone... who swings like he's cleaving mountains!" she shot back in an incredulous tone, struggling to hold her own against Cade's barrage of vicious swings. "You're... not even... letting me use my... augmentation!"

Cade smirked.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Veil," he said, amused. He brought down the Voidfang with full strength, forcing Maya to block with both of her hands supporting the ice-clad blade of the Nightcarver. "And besides, depending too much on the power of your Aspect will only harm you in the long run."

"Oh, yeah? How so?" Maya muttered through gritted teeth. She twisted the curved blade of the Nightcarver to free herself from the deadlock.

"Oh, I don't know..." Cade replied, jumping backward to put some distance between the two of them. He slowly started moving to the side. Maya tracked him through wary eyes, her grip tightening around the hilt of her longsword. He continued, "What if I'm not around to control your Flaw and there's someone who needs your help?"

Without waiting for a response, he moved suddenly, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. But Maya had seen him do this enough times; she'd gotten accustomed to his sudden lunges. She quickly raised the Nightcarver, and held the blade of her longsword vertically in front of her torso, parrying Cade's strike. Cade smirked and stepped back a few paces once more.

"How will you be able to protect someone if you slide into a frenzy?" he went on, as if nothing had happened. "Or what if you face someone who can render your Aspect useless? We both know that nullification abilities are a thing. Take Black Moon of Song, for example. How will you face such an opponent if you've never trained without your augmentation?"

Maya seemed to understand. It was very difficult to beat her in verbal arguments, but it looked like she didn't have a sound retort to refute Cade at the moment.

"I told you this during our very first lesson," Cade continued. "The essence of combat is adaptability. You either adapt during a fight, or you get buried."

Without warning, he lunged forward once more, much faster than before. Even though Maya tried, she simply had no time to react to this one. Cade feinted high before ducking low at the last moment. With flat of his sword, he swept Maya's legs out from under her. She hit the ground hard, kicking up a fine mist of bone-dust and coral shards.

"Ugh!" she groaned, but didn't linger, rolling onto her side immediately. "Son of a...! You could go easy on me once in a while, you know...?"

"I don't believe in easy," Cade said, extending a hand to pull her up. "And neither will our enemies."

Maya hesitated before accepting the gesture. Cade could almost feel the coldness radiating from her fingers despite his own hand being gauntleted in the Ebonveil Plate. She brushed the dust from the Skerrian Aegis's cloak, irritation flickering across her face.

"You really love hearing yourself talk, don't you?" she muttered, adjusting her grip on the hilt of the Nightcarver. "Fine, I get it. Come on, let's go again."

Cade nodded, smiling. There was glimmer of approval sparking in his dark eyes. Despite her arrogance and sharp tongue, Maya had grit. She had come a long way since their first meeting two weeks ago at the Flat Hill. Now, she stood with a fighter's resolve, though still far from polished.

Moving a few paces away, Cade adopted a ready stance, the Voidfang angled low.

"You lead this time," he declared, nodding at Maya.

Her lips curved into a smirk.

"Why, prepare to regret that... teacher," she mocked.

Maya lunged forward, faster than Cade had expected. Her curved blade sliced through the air with icy precision, forcing him to pivot sharply.

Maya wasn't as predictable as she had been, anymore— that was a good sign.

Cade deflected her strike with a sharp clang. Their swords sparked as they clashed. He let her press the offensive. He was testing her footwork and endurance. She held up well, though her movements still lacked the fluidity of a seasoned fighter. That much was to be expected. She hadn't been in too many real battles.

"Better," Cade admitted, parrying and dodging her strikes. "But you're telegraphing your swings. You're not just fighting your opponent's weapon; you're fighting their eyes, their mind. Hide your intentions as best you can."

"I don't think... that mindless Nightmare Creatures... will care much about my intentions," Maya shot in between slashes.

"Again with that foolish argument," Cade shot back, deflecting each attack effortlessly. "We both know that Nightmare Creatures aren't the only things that'll threaten us in the future."

"Yeah, yeah... I get it," Maya said, sounding exasperated as she tried to find an opening in Cade's defenses. "...Fight like a liar."

"Exactly," Cade affirmed, smirking. He broke away from Maya's assault.

They began to circle each other, the tension palpable. Coral dust swirled around their feet as Maya lunged again and launched another series of strikes.

Cade met them with ease, testing her limits without overwhelming her. Finally, Maya made a mistake and Cade saw an opening. With a swift twist of his wrist, he disarmed her, sending her sword skittering across the ground.

Maya tried to reach for her sword, but the Voidfang's blade stopped inches from her throat. She froze in place and stared down at the empty space in her hand, breathing heavily.

"Arghh... why?!!" she exclaimed, irritated. "No one ever told me swinging a sword would be this hard!"

"Don't lose your temper," Cade said calmly, moving his blade away from her neck. "You're improving. Slowly, but surely. However, improvement takes patience on top of training."

Maya straightened and let out a sharp breath. A few paces away, the Nightcarver dissolved into a shimmer of frost.

"Well," she said, "in case you haven't noticed, teacher, patience isn't really my thing."

Cade laughed lightly. "That is kind of hard to miss."

They stood in the eerie quiet for a moment. The towering Bone Ridge cast long shadows across the coral-strewn ground. The colossal skeleton loomed in the background, a silent monument of ancient death. The scent of salt and decay clung to the air.

"You've come a long way, Veil," Cade said, surprising even himself with the admission. He rarely gave Maya a compliment when it came to her swordsmanship. He simply didn't want her to get too cocky. But he also didn't want her to lose heart. "Honestly, two weeks ago, I was surprised you hadn't managed to cut your own feet off."

Maya stared at him for a few moments, her arms crossed. Finally, she scoffed.

"Why, thank you," she said dryly, sarcasm stark in her tone. "High praise coming from the mighty Shroudkeeper."

Cade shook his head, a lazy smile spreading across his features.

"Yeah, well, savor it..." he replied. "You're not getting more anytime soon."

*** 

Maya and Arcadius's days had settled into a rhythm, though the Crimson Labyrinth never truly allowed for peace. The Bone Ridge became their home. Its towering skeletal arches and chaotic coral growth provided shelter from wandering monsters and the ever-watchful threat of the Carapace Legion.

Mornings began with training. Cade trained Maya relentlessly, pushing her to hone her swordsmanship.

Cade had never taught swordsmanship to anyone, nor had he learned it himself. So, he didn't know whether Maya's training was progressing nicely or if it was somehow hindered. He didn't admit it to Maya, but he kind of felt like she... wasn't cut out to be a swordsman.

But since he had no other ideas, he was trying his best to drill the intricacies of swordsmanship into her. She picked up most lessons, not easily, but through the work she put into it. Despite her tendency to bristle at criticism, she was a good student and a hard-worker.

Her Aspect Ability remained her greatest asset, but Cade insisted that she learn to fight without relying solely on it.

Afternoons were spent scavenging for food and supplies, hunting Nightmare Creatures, gathering fragments and keeping an eye on the trio.

Cade never got too close to the Soul Devourer. He kept his distance from the harrowing abomination, so he mostly used the Drowned Eye to catch a glimpse of the three Sleepers.

Cade's chest tightened every time he chose to look through the onyx spyglass. It was like the three of them weren't people anymore. They looked lifeless and rarely talked to each other.

Nephis mostly sat on the western edge of the Barrow, looking over the colossal crater that separated it from the Dark City. Sunny mostly just swung the Midnight Shard around, not really putting his all into it. Gloomy was always trying to tell him that something was wrong but Sunny never seemed to notice the frantic shadow.

Cassie was the worst hit out of the three of them. She spent her entire day sprawled at the bottom of the abominable tree, her eyes looking truly blind for the first time since Cade had seen her. This was the most heart-wrenching thing for Cade to watch. He just wanted to go and set that disgusting tree on fire or cut off all of its massive branches, but he held himself back— if only barely.

The trio was living upon the nutrition provided by the abominable tree's black and red fruits. They consumed one each day, seemingly thinking that it was their first time eating the fruits every time that they did.

Cade knew that they weren't aware how much time had passed since they had taken up residence atop the Barrow. It would take them two more weeks to break free of the abomination's enthrallment.

Maya also sometimes checked up on the trio herself. Unlike Cade, she didn't have to worry about being enthralled. The icy girl was immune to any and all kinds of mind attacks. Sunny was also not sane enough to send his shadow out to keep an eye on things, while the Nightmare Creatures avoided the tree like a plague. So, Maya would just sneak a peek and come straight back.

In the beginning, when she'd first proposed going there to take a look, Cade had been... skeptical, to say the least. He knew that Maya's original plan had been to save the three Sleepers from the Soul Devourer and gain their trust in the process. So, he'd been worried that she would be tempted to follow through with her original plan.

However, his worries had been for naught. Maya didn't seem too hell-bent on interacting with the three. She seemed satisfied in the company of her new-found companion. That had eased Cade's nerves somewhat.

He had recently asked her to increase the frequency of her visits. He'd seen a few cracks appear on the onyx alloy of the Drowned Eye. He was positive that the Memory had no more than a few uses left. That was... unfortunate.

Thankfully, Cade had other things to occupy his mind for the time being. He sat on the inside of the enormous leviathan's spine. Maya was sitting some distance away, deep in thought. He guessed that she was thinking about their lesson in the morning today.

Cade summoned his runes and checked the number of fragments in his possession:

Fragments of the Abyss: [956/1000] 

Just forty-four left... he thought, his lips curling upwards into a smirk. He dismissed the runes, got up and took a seat across from where Maya was sitting.

Maya gave him an uncertain look. "What?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Nothing. I just wanted to tell you that you'll be facing your first real challenge tomorrow," he replied smoothly.

Maya tensed slightly and leaning forward a little, she asked, "And what might that be?"

Cade shrugged.

"I'm only forty-four fragments away from completing the counter," he replied. "And I have no idea what'll happen once I do. I might be incapacitated for a while. So, I'll be counting on you to keep me alive during that time."

Maya's eyes widened slightly but she didn't seem too surprised. She had obviously known that he was only a few more fragments away from reaching a thousand.

"Right," Maya said. "We'll choose our targets carefully then. You need twenty-two Awakened cores for completing the counter. With enough caution and planning, we can isolate just the right number of Nightmare Creatures and dispatch them."

Cade smiled darkly. "There's that word again... planning."

Maya sighed in exasperation, throwing her hands up.

"Damnation take you, man!" she exclaimed. "There's no way I'm jumping into another monster free-for-all. You might not care about dying, but I do. Forget it!"

"Oh, come on..." Cade said, waving a hand at her dismissively. "Don't be such a buzzkill. Where's the fun in planning and tactics and all that bullshit? Carnage is best served with a side of recklessness. Lucky for us, I've got plenty."

Maya kept looking at him for a while. After some time, though, she sighed deeply.

"Honestly, why do I even bother? You'll convince me somehow, anyway..." she said, holding the bridge of her nose in mock despair and shaking her head. "Okay... but not anything too reckless. After you're out of the fight, I'll have to deal with them alone, you know? And although I've gotten a little better over the past two weeks, I'm nowhere close to your level."

"Of course," Cade agreed, nodding. "I obviously won't put you in a situation that you can't handle. Leave that part to me!"

Maya remained silent for a while.

"Alright, fine..." she said finally. "Now, go and let me get some sleep." Her lips curled in amusement. "I've got my first test coming up tomorrow."

Cade smiled brightly and got up. "Alright, rest up, Veil. We've got a big day ahead of us."

Then, he left to sit at the other side of the spine tunnel. He was too excited to fall asleep. Tomorrow, he was finally going to become a Monster.