Shadow Slave

There was no way to avoid it, since Nephis had to make space to allow other Supremes to establish their Domains. More importantly, it was almost a given that she would not be able to assist her subjects from the depths of the Nightmare — so, clinging to her throne served no purpose. And lastly, there was the simple fact that no matter how their attempt to conquer the Fifth Nightmare ended, the Longing Domain would disappear anyway.

If Nephis perished in the Nightmare, there would be no more Changing Star to govern the sea of frail flames burning in the hearts of humanity. If she succeeded, though, she would not be a Sovereign anymore — she would be a Spirit. And Spirits did not govern Domains... not in the same way Supremes did, at least.

As a matter of fact, neither Sunny nor Nephis knew what exactly would happen to their Domains after the Apotheosis. However, they knew that a deity was meant to be one with his or her source element, not merely controlling a construct made with the help of it.

Perhaps they would still be able to exert influence over their Domains — or over what had once been their Domains, rather. Perhaps the scope of their influence would even increase. However, its nature would definitely change, and neither of them knew how.

They knew, however, that Spirits existed on a plane above the Supremes, and were not concerned with expressing their authority. Although Sunny and Nephis did not know what Apotheosis would mean for them, they did know what their absence, as well as the absence of the Longing Domain, would mean for the warriors of humanity. There would be no miraculous flames to heal their wounds and save their lives anymore. There would be no radiance to shine from beneath their skin and make them stronger. Some of them had grown accustomed to the caring support of their goddess, but now that support would be gone.

Apart from that, the nature of the relationship between mundane people and the Nightmare Spell would change, as well. At the moment, humans who resided in the Dream Realm had two ways of challenging the First Nightmare — they could either leave the confines of the Longing Domain or relay their desire to become Awakened to Nephis, thus prompting her to withdraw her protection and allow the seeds of Corruption hidden in their hearts to bloom.

The latter was an unreliable method, since Nephis could not pay attention to each of the billions of sparks composing her Domain at all times. The former, meanwhile, was somewhat difficult to accomplish — simply because the Longing Domain was so vast, encompassing all settled regions of the Dream Realm.

The swiftest and most reliable way to challenge the Nightmare, therefore, was to leave the Dream Realm altogether and return to Earth, either with the help of a Saint or through Neph's Dream Gate. Everything about that process was about to change.

First of all, Dream Gates were meant to be a one-way passage — they only allowed people to enter the Dream Realm from the waking world, not the other way around. It was because of Neph's [Dreamspawn] Attribute that her Gate was unique, functioning as a Nightmare Gate as well and allowing people to return. Without her, though, leaving Earth would carry the weight of finality for most settlers.

Leaving their Domain in the confines of the Dream Realm, on the contrary, would become easier — simply because the Human Domain would become a coalition of smaller Domains in the future instead of being synonymous with just one.

At the same time, people would have to learn how to petition their Sovereigns in order to escape from the protection of their Domains... instead of praying to Nephis. Sunny could not quite imagine any of the new Supremes being treated with the same type of religious reverence — not yet, at least — so the meditation halls and barely disguised prayers would probably have to be replaced by something new.

The transition would not be a swift or easy process... however, considering how desperately humanity needed more Awakened, Sunny imagined that accelerating it would become a priority. There were other matters to address, as well.

The remaining Supremes all had unique advantages and disadvantages when it came to building Domains. Some could do without the assistance of the Nightmare Spell, while some would be able to support humanity better if they controlled a large amount of Citadels... some, like Jet, would find no use in ruling a Citadel at all.

All of that had to be considered when deciding how to divide the Longing Domain, so that humanity attained as much strength as possible while it was being split between its Supreme protectors.

Sunny felt a bit of incongruity as he watched the ruler of the most powerful and expansive Domain in existence calmly discussing how to divide it among other Supremes. Godgrave had not been that long ago... after that bloody civil war, who would have thought that something this peaceful would be possible one day?

‘I'm almost speechless.'

The eleven demigods deliberated for a long time, eventually coming to a tentative outline of a decision.

According to their plan, out of the seven Sovereigns that were certain to stay behind, four would stand guard over Dream Realm, while three would defend the waking world and oversee the resettlement of its population.

If there was one unexpected benefit to the great number of Sovereigns War Realm had given birth to, it was that its inhospitable laws could not keep all of them away. Even if the waking world was actively pushing those who had attained Supreme power out, they could remain on Earth for several hours before truly feeling the strain.

That meant that they could take turns overseeing its expanse and make sure that at least one Supreme was always present in the waking world in case some kind of unexpected calamity befell it.

The three Sovereigns who took responsibility for the dying cradle of humanity were Jet, Kai, and Effie.

Neither of them particularly needed the assistance of the Spell to build their Domain. Jet would draw no benefit from ruling Citadels, Effie carried one within herself, making it easy to gain new subjects, while Kai was limited in whom he could effectively convert. So, by process of elimination, they were the best choice.

Additionally, Effie had to be present on Earth to hasten the evacuation of its people. Her Soul Garden would greatly boost the rate of resettlement, moving the whole timetable of the great exodus forward by a few years. That alone was reason enough to assign her the task of guarding the waking world.

While these three focused their attention on the waking world, the other four would have to stand their ground and defend the Dream Realm to the last drop of blood. They were Ananke, Morgan, and Seishan, with Nightwalker serving as the link between them.

Ananke would remain in Silver Web, overseeing the Stormsea and protecting the lands of humanity from things that hid in its depths.

Seishan would claim Ravenheart and the Citadel Cities located in the basin of the River of Tears... ironically enough, that meant that she would regain the lands that had been meant to be her birthright, assuming reign over the former territories of the Song Clan.

The same held true for Morgan, who would claim Bastion and the vast expanse of the former Sword Domain. She would return home, as well.

Nightwalker, meanwhile, would take the helm of the Night Garden and turn it into a wandering stronghold of humanity, responsible for keeping the three parts of the Human Domain connected and capable of supporting each other.

Once the plan was finalized, Sunny leaned back in his chair, looking around with a strange expression.

A scion of the Song family would once again rule Ravenheart. The Princess of Valor would return to Bastion. The Night Garden, meanwhile, would fall into the hands of the House of Night once more...

Almost as if it had been meant to be. Sunny was not sure if that was poetic... or upsetting.

‘How come after everything we did to destroy the Great Clans, nothing seems to have changed?'

But, of course... in truth, everything had changed. This peaceful meeting was the best proof that the world had been irrevocably altered.

All the blood they had spilled was to make this moment possible.

Sunny sighed.

‘At least no one laid claim to the Forgotten Shore...'

A troubled smile appeared on his lips. That, too, was a headache he would have to solve... but not today.

Today, they had to draft the speech announcing the tectonic changes awaiting humanity in the upcoming weeks.