Shadow Slave: Eternal Dawn

Chapter 11: Soul Tree



The next morning, Nico woke up before dawn and didn't bother waiting for breakfast. Instead, he traversed the interconnected halls of the Bright Castle and ended up at the main gates.

Today — two after his initial conversation with Gunlaug — he would be beginning his vague duties.

Seishan's Handmaidens had transported all of his belongings to an apartment closest to the castle's walls while he slept in a spare room, but he didn't care. It was just an excuse to converse with his sister. In order to make any meaningful impression, he would need to truly live among them, and that wouldn't really mean anything if he retreated to his personal quarters within the castle come sundown.

'Meaningful impressions, huh.'

Over the long, grueling days that had passed since his debriefing with the Bright Lord, he'd often wondered about the man's true motives.

The role placed upon him, after all, seemed like little more than to parade around the poor Sleepers, demonstrating just enough power for them to glimpse the life of one that had earned the Bright Lord's favor. The young men and women, living in constant terror of what bloodcurdling abomination might sink their teeth into them — or devour them whole — would view him with admiration in their hearts, and hopefully that admiration could drift towards the benefits of the Host, driving them to strive for greater strength under their care.

In that respect, Nico was the most well-suited to the task of a catalyst. How could someone so cold be viewed as a pariah or savior? No, he would merely be following orders to them. Orders that came from his lord above him.

But, Gunlaug didn't care about anything as tactful as that, though. It was just a pleasant byproduct.

"Overseeing the misbegotten souls of the outer settlement," he mouthed ironically, remembering their conversation.

The Bright Lord really planned to use him to keep them in line. Because, although the swinging skulls above the castle gate did their job exceptionally, there was always the insubordinate few. The right to challenge was proof of that.

Yet, the way his emotions flared unexpectedly at the end of their conversation betrayed that reason.

The only way he could explain it was that Gunlaug meant to distance Nico from the rest of the castle by having him rule what he considered the refuse.

The Bright Lord just didn't want him around. Like Athena had been outcast and her cohorts stripped, his new station was the same. It was one that sent a message to the other lieutenants and members of the castle.

'This man has lost my favor.'

And, like he wanted them to, none would dare approach him after realizing that. None would be his allies, if he so chooses to make any. He would be more or less isolated.

'Well, we'll see how well it works.'

Indifferently, he passed two reverent guards, who had already opened the massive gates for him. An uncharacteristic sensation of dread sparked within him as he stopped before the grand, descending staircase of white marble.

Frigid air bit his skin.

The bleak sky loomed overhead.

An endless sea of ominous, dark buildings sprawled beneath him in all directions.

The sun began to rise.

He seemed to have gotten used to the comfortable — if not eerie — pleasantry that went around the Bright Castle. There was so much more space, and these people weren't nearly as desperate or miserable.

It made him feel normal.

Looking more directly below him, he noticed a smaller crowd of disgusting buildings. They were strewn from monster hides, bones, broken stone, torn wood, and whatever else the miserable Sleepers could find.

'This... isn't going to be nice.'

Nico descended.

At first, the short walk was somewhat peaceful, but as he drew closer to the tattered hovels that constituted shelter in the outer settlement, he felt a growing tide that threatened to swallow him.

Despair unbidden, hunger unfathomable, and terror so visceral it caused his hair to stand on end.

The pains of the slum dwellers festered inside him like an infection, and as he paused before a small crowd of Sleepers at the bottom of the grand staircase, he felt as if his head might explode from overstimulation.

A hundred aching gazes settled onto him. Yet, as he idly stood, cast in a light tunic, sandals, and loose pants, he felt their meager hope snuff out like a blown candle.

Of course they had heard. In the afternoon that he had returned, the entire Bright Castle was abuzz with the news that, Sir Nico, the newest lieutenant, had not only slain an Awakened Devil in single combat, but was going to preside over those outside the castle's walls.

'I guess they were expecting some sort of noble, silver knight.'

He let a dark expression unravel on his usually calm face and trudged past the disheartened crowd to find his own area, teetering the edge of the line of makeshift buildings.

Passing many people, he witnessed a variety of reactions. Most cowered in fear, but he vividly sensed the burning, scathing hatred, too. A scrawny boy clutched one of his few Memories — more than likely his only one. Another, sickly, retreated further in herself, but her eyes boiled uncontained. 

'There are so many people near the stairs...'

Gritting his teeth, he finally reached a place where the density of Sleepers had diminished and settled onto the edge of the path that split the outer settlement in two, crossing his legs and attempting to drive all the invasive emotions away.

His Flaw was surging unbearably. Enhanced by his Attribute, its range was enormous. Their unfathomable numbness slithered under his skin like a creeping tide, but it wasn't strong enough to smother their sorrow just yet either.

An hour passed in torment.

Foreign emotions continued to twist his thoughts.

He tried to stay himself — stay indifferent.

Eventually, he dove into his Soul Sea for reprieve.

It slightly lessened the burden, and the incessant information became like endless whispers in the back of his mind.

A bitter sigh of relief escaped him, and his eyes fluttered open as he stood, tiny ripples spreading out from under his feet.

Before he arrived on the Forgotten Shore, his Soul Sea looked like any normal one would. But as time passed, and he absorbed more and more shards, it grew wild and untamed. All around him was an endless, dark blue tide — an ocean of energy. Veins pulsed underneath, expanding and contracting in tandem with his heartbeat, and swirling with blue light like spiritual pathways, or perhaps the roots of some enormous tree.

He had long figured out which it was, however.

At the center of his Soul Sea, like a brilliant monument to all his achievements, a giant, ghostly tree sprawled, its ethereal branches and enormous trunk suffused with innumerable veins of solidified light. White leaves that seemed like soul essence manifest carpeted it, and floating above even its highest branches like twin blue suns were two glowing orbs of soul energy, radiant and overflowing, wisps of fog and dew dripping from their lustrous surface.


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