Shadow Slave: Possibilities Without Meaning

A heavy feeling fell upon his soul.

The sound of the spell announcing something was lost to Aldric as he felt a shock of absolute fear. 

A strange feeling descended on him as if something was looking for him. The feeling shifting in and out around him. 

'DAMNIT!'

Aldric seethed in anger. Pure rage coursed through his veins at what he was experiencing.

Feeling the gaze of the Dreamspawn's domain felt as if a worm was slithering in his brain. It was strange and disturbing.

'You fucking bastard! You really wanted to kill me that badly; you screamed out your enemy's name?!'

Aldric had never felt so pissed off in his entire life. While most of it was directed at the prince, some parts were directed at himself. For not anticipating a move like that.

The only thing stopping the young man from despairing was the feeling of the domain flickering in and out around him. As if something was obscuring him from its gaze. 

Perhaps because of the fact that they were within his soul sea or even his own special constitution, the domain could not pinpoint his exact location. 

But he did recognise that the Dreamspawn knew something occurred. And how much he knew, he couldn't tell.

'Thank god we fought here.'

Had their battle occurred in the dream realm, then he would have been discovered in an instant. With Aldric remembering just how fearful Mordret was of uttering his name even while he was inside the third nightmare. It spoke of just how potent and encompassing his domain was. 

Looking back at the prince, copious amounts of blood poured out of his mouth. Watching the life flicker out of Mordret's eyes, a wicked grin formed on Aldric's face. 

"May you find peace in death, you wretched bastard."

Aldric roughly pulled his blade out of the prince's chest. A wide hole remaining.

With only a ruby gaze filled with utter glee looking back at him, his soul form shimmered.

The Prince of War passed. 

His final moments were true to himself.

Habitually, Aldric looked to his runes to occupy his mind from what had occurred.

[You have slain an Awakened Terror: Prince of Nothing]

[You have received a Memory.]

Reading the typical display after defeating a creature, Aldric was about to dismiss the runes before something strange took form. 

[̸D̴o̴ ̵y̴o̵u̵ ̷w̴i̶s̴h̶ ̵t̵o̶ ̷a̸w̶a̵k̶e̷n̴ ̵a̷n̵ ̶A̸p̴o̸s̵t̷l̶e̶?̵]̵

"HAHAHAH!"

A loud laugh subconsciously released from his mouth. His feelings of anger finally having an outlet.

'I'm going to make you serve me for the rest of time, you failure.' 

He thought with pure vitriol. However, the strangeness of what he just saw from the spell was beginning to settle in. 

'What the hell is going on?'

It was one thing after another. 

The spell had never recognised his strange ability to embed his own darkness within Bael and turn him into an apostle. Remaining silent when he attempted it and succeeded.

The spell did not even recognise Bael's path of upgrading his rank. While Sunny's shadows required shadow fragments that he sourced from memories, the spell did not tell him anything. 

Not what he needed to do or how many times. However, it seemed that something changed. 

The nightmare spell was now facilitating the metamorphosis between the shrivelled-up soul corpse that was Mordret and into the apostle that he would become. 

Ideas were floating through Aldric's mind. 

'Maybe there won't be such a drawback like the time I created Bael.'

The creation of Bael taxed his soul terribly. Rendering him vulnerable to soul damage for a very long time until it recovered.

With no other options, Aldric consented to the change that would welcome his second apostle. Fueled by equal measures of spite and greed.

CRASH

A large pillar of darkness rose out of the clouds beneath him. Originating from the very pits of his soul, Aldric had never seen anything like this.

Strangely, a large hue of crimson began to emanate from the displaced chasm beneath him.

Questions began to fill his mind as he witnessed this shocking reveal.

What slumbered in the core of his soul.

'Is... that coming from me...?' 

It was at this moment that the tendril of light still latched onto the dead prince began to lift his corpse into the air. 

In the same moment, similar yet much thinner strands of pale red light burrowed themselves out of the chasm beneath them. The numerous strands latched onto the prince, piercing him all over his body. 

PULSE

A pulse of red light burst from both ends of what was holding the corpse up. 

The light blinding Aldric and prompting him to leave his soul sea.

Opening his eyes, they adjusted to a dome of darkness that surrounded them. Knowing of what was occurring, he spoke out.

"Bael."

With that, the dome dissipated. Revealing an open sky. It seemed that in the midst of their soul clash, the Night Temple completely disintegrated. Likely as an indirect result of the Saint's battles. 

Focusing on observing the world around him with his senses, he could tell that their battle concluded. The world still and the air stagnant. 

As he looked around, a shimmer of light caught his attention. Looking down, something laid on the ground. 

A knife cut out of a single piece of pristine white stone.

"I was wondering where you would be."

He spoke as he picked it up and placed it inside his silk pouch.

In the same vein that the Dawn Shard did not disappear with the first lord of the Bright Castle, the ivory knife that Mordret held did not disappear.

In front of him, Bael stood tall. Protecting his master from any danger. 

With the new information that he gained, only questions came to his mind as he looked at his first apostle. 

How exactly did he create Bael? 

When he had experimented with injecting his darkness within the few echoes he gained in the Forgotten Shore, why was Bael the only one to respond to it?

All of the other echoes had shattered in a sparkle of light. 

'What makes you so special?'

Aldric thought as he gazed at his loyal apostle. 

SHATTER

The rest of the island was beginning to collapse. With the Night Temple's precarious positioning on the island, it would be only a matter of time until it descended into the abyss below. 

Unbeknownst to Aldric, the Northern Island had already been severed into two. A final scar detailing the battle of Saints and its deadly conclusion.

"Return."

The apostle collapsed into a puddle of darkness, returning to his home. 

The Night Temple was collapsing.

Entire sections of ground fell into the abyss below, the rocks creaking against each other in a sick sound.

In an instant, Aldric fashioned his darkness into a familiar pair of wings and summoned [Dark Wing] to glide him back to the ship. He still needed his own wings to propel his descent towards the right direction. 

Dashing into a sprint, [Insight] warned him on which patches of earth to avoid. Leaving through a large tear in the temple floor, he darted around the falling rocks and boulders with brutal efficiency. Finally reaching the end of the chasm, he leaped into a jump.

Straight into the abyss below. 

----------

Diving like a swimmer, Aldric accelerated in the open abyss. Tilting his body to where the ship was. 

While he did not have the sight that Kai had, he had left a small amount of darkness that he generated on the ship. So even if it was too far away to manipulate, it was close enough that he could at the very least feel it. 

This ability did not extend to other bodies of darkness that did not originate from himself. 

WHOOSH

Aldric felt extreme exhilaration. The open air was caressing his face as he blitzed down.

He felt unbound. 

Knowledge of the future, mistakes of the past, or worries of the present. Nothing could pull him away from this feeling of euphoria. 

While descending into an abyss was a strange experience due to the perspective shift, it only spoke of the novelty of the dream realm. 

Coming upon a still dot, Aldric ended his free fall and began to direct himself with his wings. Gliding like a bird, [Dark Wing] guided him.

As the dot grew bigger and bigger, he slowed down until he was directly above the ship. 

THUD

Dropping onto the ship, Aldric was met with a group of eyes watching him. 

It seemed as though the Saint had not arrived yet. Perhaps their battle had continued onto a different island.

Looking around, he noticed two bodies lying on the ground. Unaware of his arrival. 

The broken forms of Cassie and Sunny laid there, as if they were dead to the world. Unconscious, each was being treated by the healers of the Fire Keepers. The awakened he knew as Shim and somebody else.

"Is everything alright, Aldric?"

Kai asked, his voice tinted with concern.

Aldric recognised that his detour took a bit longer than he said it would. Moving attention away from himself, he asked.

"What the hell did they do to them?"

He asked. Noticing just how much damage was done to them. While something like this was not rare for Sunny, he had never seen Cassie this battered before.

While he instinctively felt bad for the pair, he knew it was a situation of their own making. Both from Cassie's ambition and Sunny's naivety. 

Aldric himself wanted to rest too.

The battle with the prince might not have affected his physical body; however, his soul was completely exhausted. The bulk of it resulting from exerting his strange otherworldly source of energy.

'I really need to give it a name.'

The thought came to mind. 

With that, he sat with his back on the ridge of the deck.

It was time to rest. 

----------

A shift in the air woke him up. 

A large shadow covered the light generated from the lantern memories on the ship. Waves of charged essence coalesced around the ship.

A Saint was here. 

THUD

The large shape shifted and twisted into a human shape as they landed on the ship. The large sound came from the decapitated wyvern head that dropped onto the deck. With dead eyes and copious amounts of blood still leaking, life had left the beast a long time ago. 

Lady Tyris stood tall. Her armour was shattered and broken in places. Even as her form was covered in blood and gashes, her stoic face did not change at all.

Aldric looked to the Saint with a respectful gaze. To think that she had the courage to stand against a Saint of Clan Valor. 

This act of rebellion gave Aldric a bit more hope. It seemed as though the control that the great clans had over their vassals was not all-encompassing. 

But everyone here knew that she would pay dearly for her defiance.

The following hour was spent eating. With Effie making a hearty meal for everybody, everyone sat around an open flame on the deck of the ship as they sank deeper into the abyss. 

It was here that Sunny and Cassie explained what exactly had happened to them in the Night Temple. From Sunny being caught with a mirror on his person to them being held captive by Clan Valor as they battled the escaped prisoner.

"So the prince still lives... Where is he now?"

She opened the question to Sunny.

"I don't know. He is most likely within a mirror shard as we speak, descending into the abyss along with what remains of the Night Temple."

Aldric kept silent in this conversation. The end of the Prince of Nothing resting with him.

Saint Tyris remained silent for a moment. Her gaze fell back on Sunny as she stood up. 

"Proceed to the nightmare seed as you planned. I will deal with the fallout of what occurred today. Should you return, the worst of it will be over."

She spoke directly to the pair, easing the looks of apprehension on their faces. The gravity of what occurred clearly registered in their minds.

Glancing at the islands above, the Saint's eyes shifted to Aldric. 

"Singularity. Should you return from this nightmare as an ascended, you will need to choose a side."

Her beautiful amber eyes resting on his face, she seemed to stare at his eyes for a moment. As if she was registering something.

And with that she was gone. 

With her gone, the wandering eyes of the group fell upon who she last addressed. 

"What does she mean?"

Sunny asked. Curious about anything that the Saint spoke of. 

Sunny did not know how close the two were. He did know that Aldric had requested Saint Tyris to anchor him to the sanctuary's gateway because of how busy he was. 

'The privilege!'

He thought. It was one thing to ask to be anchored there as a freshly awakened, but to use a Saint to save on travel time, that was something else. 

"It's something that I've been thinking on for a while now."

Aldric spoke vaguely. 

Knowing that's all he would receive, Sunny quit while he was ahead.

Still feeling tired, the hunter went onwards inside the ship. Finding his designated cabin, a soft bed met him. The events of today flickered through his mind. 

Viewing his runes, it seemed that his dark sprites had taken a hit with the creation of the new apostle. 

From 1089 down to 889, the transition had spent only two hundred sprites compared to the thousand it took to create Bael. 

'The nightmare spell's help made the process five times more efficient.'

That was all Aldric could attribute the change to.

But something had changed. 

Apostle: [Oath-Bound Knight]

Apostle Rank: Ascended

Apostle Class: Devil 

Seed of Nightmare: 0/1

Apostle Description: [The first of its kind. Born from the darkness of a singularity, this knight swore an oath once more, far beyond the tapestry of fate.]

'A nightmare seed?'

Aldric thought in confusion. 

It was clear that with the quantity shown, this was Bael's method of ascending ranks. Perhaps this would apply to future apostles; he did not know. 

Perhaps the creation of a new apostle with the help of the nightmare spell rendered Bael's creation legitimate? Finally informing him on what he could do to strengthen him. 

'Do they have to conquer nightmare spells as well?'

The thought came to his mind. While he doubted that was the case, how else would they interact with the nightmare seed if they were not carriers of the nightmare spell?

'I guess I'll come to learn about it soon enough.'

The Ivory Tower and its seed should answer his questions. 

Entering his soul sea, the darkness around him retained a soft red hue. His nascent chaotic energy was dormant, resting after the task it had just completed. 

A figure stood alone in the centre of his soul sea. 

Moving closer, a familiar form came into view. 

Weathered, leather-like skin clung tightly onto a skeleton. While human-like, the figure had exaggerated features of longer arms and legs with narrow shoulders. With no hair on its withered head, only a pair of mirror-like eyes looked forward in a haze. 

It was slightly shorter than Bael and much taller than Aldric. And in the centre of its chest, a hole the size of a fist rested where its heart should have been. 

Hollow.

Aldric had feelings of revulsion looking at the being. In the dream realm, it was rare to find a creature so human-like.

[You have created an Apostle: Being of Nothing.]

The spell rang out as he got close to the thing. 

"Bow."

Aldric spoke clearly, directing his instruction to the newly created apostle. 

While not as steadfast or loyal as Bael, the being dropped to his knees like a puppet with its strings cut off. It seemed to lack any form of emotions.

With how disturbing his new apostle looked and the open cavity in his chest, Aldric fashioned a cloak of darkness for him.

Hanging over his gaunt body, the cloak made him look as if he was the Grim Reaper. His face hidden in darkness as the cloak made his already long limbs appear longer. With only a pair of shining eyes visible.

Looking back at his runes, he peered deeper. 

Apostle: [Being of Nothing]

Apostle Rank: Awakened

Apostle Class: Terror 

Seed of Nightmare: 0/1

Apostle Description: [Everything burned to fuel his hate. Doused by the anomalous Singularity, not an ember remained. A hollow husk.]

Looking at his defiled opponent, a smirk drew on his face.

It was only because of his [Null] attribute that Aldric even considered taking action and killing the prince. With how powerful fate is, he knew that it would do anything to keep the prince alive and give him the opportunity to escape. 

Perhaps sudden rain, giving him endless reflections to escape to. 

An errant shard of glass that escaped his darkness. 

While the previous [Destined] attribute helped against diviners such as Cassie, it would not allow him to escape the causality of fate. Knowing that if he suddenly decided to enslave Sunny or manipulate Nephis to escape her destiny as a Changing Star, a horrific backlash would be set upon him. 

And this backlash from fate had been proven during the siege of the Crimson Spire. When the [Dark Sea's Firstborn] suddenly appeared to hold him back, stopping him from interrupting what was fated to be.

But it seemed that he did not need to worry about changing fate any longer.

The act of defying fate had proven that to him. It was obvious to him and his group that they should have died within the temple of the Phantom Verge. But Aldric defied that conclusion, carving his own path out. 

Curiosity filling his mind, he ordered.

"Now, let's see what you can do."

Aldric drew his blade. 

----------

The next week passed by slowly, the ship continuing its descent. 

Sunny and Cassie had recovered from their injuries, with a few more serious ones still healing.

Bored out of his mind, Aldric spent a lot of time in his soul sea training with both Bael and his new apostle. There were only so many conversations that one could have while stuck on a floating ship. 

Aldric had felt Cassie gazing at him with her abilities, worry and fear etched onto her face. While he wanted to speak to the seer about everything that had occurred, a plan of action had to be formed. 

The group was now huddled around each other in a circle, hiding from the errant heat of the divine flames. With their descent drawing closer to the enigmatic Ebony Tower, they only drew closer to the source of the heat. 

The entire collective had forgone wearing their memories and dressed in bare tunics. The heat was unbearable to deal with for prolonged periods of time.

Now at the final stretch, Sunny led them through the rift in the divine flames. The place where the island was located. Positioning the ship in the centre of the rift, they were now as far as possible from the surrounding flames.

As much as Aldric wanted to fashion his darkness into a dome to protect them, the charged divine flame would have eaten away at his darkness. Draining his reserves. 

And in the following hour, they were here. A dark floating mass in the clear void of the tear.

The Ebony Tower. 

**********

Thanks for reading. 

So what did you think? 

I used his title of prince of nothing as his true name rather than using Mordret. 

Any names for this new apostle?

Till the next one.