Shadow Slave

As Tamar retreated, nimbly dashing through the air when towering carcasses blocked her way, the remains of the horde tried to pursue her. Whenever a Nightmare Creature got too close, a black arrow fell from above, its passage almost invisible in the stormy darkness. The arrows struck the abominations unerringly, pinning them down — however, not a single creature died.

Thinking that Rain was enduring the storm somewhere on the roof made Tamar feel better. After all, there was nothing more sad than being miserable alone... being miserable together with a friend was much better.

‘Damn storm...’

The battle for NQSC had been long and gruelling, but for Tamar, the constant rain and unceasing wind felt more exhausting than endless waves of Nightmare Creatures — which was a bit peculiar, considering that her ancestral Citadel used to stand atop the Weeping Goddess.

Until the King of Nothing destroyed it.

Who would have guessed that she'd be praying for his return one day?

His and that of her boss, of course, as well as the other two Supremes who had challenged the Fifth Nightmare.

[I'm retreating.]

The soldiers almost reached the Barrier. Their retreat was orderly, but just to be safe, the Shadow Clan agents under Tamar's command were covering it. Now, it was time for them to escape as well.

‘How many hours can we rest?'

Revel was in the Dream Realm, tied in a vicious war against the Barrow Wraiths and the horrors of the Burned Forest... for now. Last Tamar heard, something was stirring in the rotten corpse of the dead World Tree — so it was unclear how long the Lightslayer would be able to hold on.

That battlefield was too deadly for most human members of the Shadow Clan, though. So, most of them had been sent to various flashpoints of the apocalypse both in the Dream Realm and on Earth, moving in the shadows and accomplishing tasks that demanded an elite force with a delicate touch.

That was how it had been in the beginning, at least... by now, many of them operated in the open, pretending to be independent Awakened — those who were still alive, of course. Tamar had conquered her Third Nightmare recently and was hurriedly sent to the Northern Quadrant, where Rain was in command.

Despite still being a Master, the Princess of Shadows had become somewhat irreplaceable for their ragtag group of knaves and misfits. Her powers were simply too mystical, while her ability as a sorceress was second to none. So, no one was surprised that she was in charge of Saints despite being of a lower Rank, still.

By now, many of humanity's forces had been pulled to NQSC... but even with all of them fighting desperately to keep the city intact, the Nightmare Creatures were slowly pushing them back.

The outskirts had been swallowed almost a year ago. The outer barriers held out for many months, but were eventually breached and conquered by abominations. Now, the last district in the outer ring of the city was being abandoned... which meant that the defenders were fully retreating behind the Barrier.

The Barrier was something that Nightwalker had created. It was a zone surrounding the inner city where space was so torn and twisted that it had become a demented, deadly labyrinth — if one didn't have a special enchanted token, they could very well become lost there for the rest of their lives.

Or for eternity.

Nightmare Creatures still made their way through, but many of them perished or were weakened in the process. So, while the Barrier was not a panacea, it helped the defenders of the city keep at least the inner districts intact.

The battle for NQSC was tough...

But then again, it was tough everywhere. The entire population of the Eastern Quadrant was locked in a bloody war against the horrors that crawled onto the coast from the depths of the ocean. The Western Quadrant was already being consumed by the Dream Realm, and the situation there was even more desperate than here in the north.

Granted, there were relatively few people left there who had not been evacuated to the Dream Realm already — the Northern Quadrant was slowly and surely becoming the last bastion of humanity on Earth, as well as its final battlefield.

Out there in the Dream Realm, the situation was not much better. Its territory was shifting, new regions appearing in the middle of well-charted lands. As a result, old horrors that had been resting in their lairs for eons were stirring, directing their gazes at the human settlements.

The Stormsea was boiling and seething, rivers of blood flowing into its misty water. Silver Web was still holding, and the city in the delta of the River of Tears was holding as well — but they were under constant siege. The basin of the great river had become one vast battlefield, with isolated Citadel Cities barely holding the Nightmare Creatures at bay.

In the east, the eerie darkness had finally stopped spreading after swallowing half a dozen Citadels. However, nobody knew when it would start moving again. Ravenheart was being besieged by the snow wraiths of the frozen wastelands. Bastion was faring relatively well, but the connection to the northern territories had been cut...

And recently, waves of powerful Nightmare Creatures had begun to flow out from the belt of Death Zones lying between the Godgrave and the Stormsea. Morgan and her warriors took the brunt of that tide of horrors, even if some of it spilled into the basin of the River of Tears as well.

Morgan, Seishan, and Ananke... each of them had battled Cursed Nightmare Creatures in the past four years. For now, they were yet to be defeated, but each of those battles had left scars both on their bodies and on the surface of the Dream Realm itself.

The wardens of the waking world had fared somewhat better, but they were exhausted by the need to both fight endlessly and resist the hostile pressure of the very realm they were trying to protect. Still, their presence was like a ray of hope in the sea of nightmares — every time the soldiers of humanity witnessed Raised By Wolves, Nightingale, or Soul Reaper, their morale soared.

It was just that only one of them could be present in the waking world at a time — they had to take turns entering the battlefield, lest a dire crisis happened when none of them could return. And there were too many battlefields on Earth for one being to be enough, even if that being was Supreme.

"Ready your tokens!"

Tamar was the last to arrive in front of the Barrier, rushing ahead of the pursuing mob of Nightmare Creatures. Several cohorts of the Shadow Clan fighters were already waiting for her there, clad in sleek suits of black armor, armed with both Memories and mundane weapons. Rain had descended from the highrise as well, looking at the turrets the soldiers had to abandon with regret.

Tamar leaned on her zweihander, breathing heavily. All around her, her soldiers pulled the enchanted markers that would allow them to pass the Barrier from beneath their armor.

At that moment, blaring alarms roared all across the city.

Looking at her mechanical watch — a relic that had become priceless ever since humanity began to settle the Dream Realm while the Call began disrupting delicate electronics — she cursed.

‘Moonrise...’

Many terrifying things had happened when the boundary between the waking world and the Dream Realm began to become blurry, but none was more terrifying than what was happening to the Moon.

There had been a saying before that looking at the Moon too closely was perilous. Now, however, it was especially so — somewhere along the way, simply glancing up while the moon was visible in the sky became deadly. Many people had died, many had instantly gone mad, and even more of them had immediately become infected by Corruption.

Those who were mundane were dragged into the First Nightmare, most of them turning into abominations and slaughtering everyone around them. Those who were Awakened simply turned, to a much more devastating effect.

And with every month, the influence of the Moon was only growing more intense, frightening, and malevolent.

Tamar was a Saint, and the sky above NQSC was obscured by heavy clouds. Still, she lowered her gaze.

At that moment, another flash of lightning illuminated the word, and Rain pulled back the hood of her black raincoat to look up. Her expression did not seem good. Knowing that her friend often sensed things that other people couldn't, Tamar tensed.

"What?"

Rain hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and pointed at the sky. Tamar hesitated, then glanced at the seething mass of storm clouds above them.

There, hidden by the hurricane, something gargantuan was moving between the bolts of lightning. In fact, it seemed as if the heavens had gone mad, attacking the titanic form in berserk fury. Dozens, then hundreds of twisting eclectic arcs struck the colossal shadow as it slowly revealed itself.

The brilliance of myriad bolts of lightning illuminated the world like a pale sun.

Tamar paled.

A moment later, the Night Garden revealed itself from the storm.

The great ship had descended below the stormclouds, revealing its battered form to the people sheltered in the city. Its size was so immense that it was difficult to fathom, wreathed in lightning and glowing with residual energy.

And, at the moment, another form — one infinitely vast, grotesque, and repulsive — was wrapped around the ship's hull, straining to crush it.

Tamar couldn't see the upper part of the giant Nightmare Creature, but each of its tattered wings was large enough to cover an entire district of the city. One was severed and charred; the other was clawing at the Mainmast Pagoda of the living ship with giant, curving talons.

Myriad arrows streaked from the deck of the Night Garden to pierce its body, and enormous cannons roared one after another, each taking out huge chunks of flesh from its belly. An enormous figure woven out of starlight was rending the creature's back... but even with all these efforts, it didn't seem to be on the threshold of death yet.

Tamar took an involuntary step back.

"What... what the hell is this?"

A Titan? A Cursed Nightmare Creature?

"We need to get behind the Barrier."

Rain's voice sounded calm, but Tamar knew her well enough to recognize an underlying layer of trepidation.

She glanced at her friend with a silent question.

Rain pulled the barrier token out and turned back.

"It's falling. It's going to impact somewhere beyond the city... but close. So, we need to run. What are you standing around for, guys?! Run, run, run!"

Throwing one last look at the Night Garden, Tamar gritted her teeth and dove into the Barrier.

Behind her, Nightmare Creatures were flooding the ravaged street like a grotesque river.

A bolt of lightning flashed, and a deafening thunderclap shook the world.

Another day of the apocalypse was coming to an end.