Chapter 3191: There and Back Again |
The shadow's senses extended over a vast area... but all of that area was his kingdom. By extending himself across its lightless reach, he had turned himself all but blind to everything that happened beyond its borders.
Still, he felt compelled to watch over the small doll until she disappeared from his sight completely.
So, sitting on the steps of the temple, the shadow remained motionless as a flawless copy of him rose from the darkness.
The second incarnation, too, took the form of a human. It looked down at its human hands and slowly made them into fists.
“It feels strange, to become a human once more."
It was strange, but not alien. After all, the shadow remembered living countless human lives.
The incarnation tilted its head a little.
"Don't you think?"
The shadow smiled faintly and remained silent. He felt no desire to converse with himself.
All across the primal land of hills and forests, countless creatures shivered, as if feeling a gust of ghostly cold. All shadows seemed to grow a little deeper.
‘Ah... how blinding.’
Having spent many years in the lifeless refuge of his kingdom, the shadow was momentarily dazed by the infinitely dazzling mayhem of life. Its splendor, its multitude, its movement... the teeming revelry of it all was nothing short of violent, assaulting his tired heart.
It took him a few moments to find the little doll...
And the Nightmare Creature that had descended upon the doll, full of frenzied hunger.
The shadow frowned.
That Nightmare Creature... he knew it well. It had been a Supreme Beast once, at the dawn of time — an offspring of one of the first living beings to be created by the gods. However, somewhere along the way, its soul festered with the seeds of Corruption.
It fled to this distant realm and hid, making the depths of the forest its lair. The shadow had sensed the Great Beast prowling the edges of his senses on many occasions, but despite being driven by madness and hunger, the Nightmare Creature never dared to enter his domain. So, the shadow never bothered to eradicate it, either.
The Beast was not very talented — after all, it had failed to rise both in its Rank and its Class over the ages — but it was still one of the more powerful abominations that dwelled in this realm... among those who had survived being the shadow's neighbors, that was.
So, the transient soul had little chance of surviving an encounter with the monster.
It was wearing quite a pathetic shell, after all. Snuggle was not exactly created for battle: she had no armor, no weapons, no fangs, no claws. The shadow was not sure what kind of power allowed the radiant soul to move the tattered doll, but he knew that it did not grant her great strength.
Perhaps if it had chosen a more formidable vessel — a golem forged for battle or the body of a fearsome predator — she could have offered the Great Beast a tough fight. But, as things stood, his unexpected guest would soon be annihilated.
She was quite nimble, true, having escaped his pursuit for a few days. But that was only because the shadow had never aimed to destroy the dazzling soul — if he had wanted to kill her, there would not have been any pursuit at all.
The Great Beast had no such limitations. The shadow's frown deepened.
‘Should I intervene?’
There was no logical reason for him to interfere, and yet, he was reluctant to see the little doll be destroyed. At the same time, he had spent a long time searching for peace, finally finding it within the bounds of his tranquil kingdom. Stepping out of its silent shade felt like an imposition.
Torn, the shadow sighed.
Before he could make a decision, however, the situation suddenly changed.
There was a blinding flash of light, and the ground quaked. Far away, in the distance, the little doll had clashed with the Great Beast — and, to the surprise of the shadow, it was the Great Beast who staggered back, roaring in pain.
"Huh?"
The little doll did not possess weapons, tough armor, sharp claws, or vicious fangs. All it had was its blazing, radiant soul essence — soul essence that belonged to a Transcendent Beast, but was dazzling enough to be mistaken for that of a Supreme.
And, somehow, she had used that essence to make a Beast of higher Rank wail terribly, as if consumed by an unbearable agony. Looking into the distance, the shadow saw something he had never seen before. Something that made even his ancient mind stir in discomfort.
There, within the horrid soul of the Great Beast... the appalling darkness of Corruption was boiling and dissolving, dispelled by radiant streaks of dazzling golden light.
Corruption was being destroyed.
‘H—-how?'
That should not have been possible. In all his countless lives, the shadow had never seen Corruption let something that it had grasped with its claws go. It could be defeated before taking hold of a soul, but never after.
Still...
The soul of the Great Beast was being cleansed of Corruption. The golden light was too weak to purge it entirely, but it diminished the appalling darkness. And, as a result, the Nightmare Creature was weakened. But even if the Great Beast was weakened, it was still a Great Beast. It was an ancient Nightmare Creature that had survived eons of agony and divine persecution, honing its frenzy and deadly rage.
And the radiant soul was still hidden inside an old, tattered doll.
So, their battle ended in a predictable way. However, the shadow did not have to intervene — even if the little doll had failed to defeat the ancient horror, it managed to escape it, at least.
Some time later, a tattered figure flew into the darkness as if shot from a cannon, got tangled in the branches, and rolled lifelessly to the ground after breaking through the canopy.
There were a few moments of silence, and then a squeaky voice broke it weakly:
“Ouch... owie..."
The shadow walked over to where the doll had fallen and looked down at it, unimpressed.
Snuggle had seen better days. It had always been covered in clumsy stitches, having endured countless rips and tears from rough play, but now, it looked like a victim of a particularly vicious delinquent.
Its crude dress was singed. One of its arms was barely attached to the body, and the body itself was torn almost in half. There were many smaller tears, as well, and one of the beads that served as her eyes was missing. Its hair was a tangled mess, with leaves and small branches sticking out of it like a ruined nest.
The shadow sighed.
"Back already?"
Snuggle turned her head and looked at him, her mouth downturned. She remained silent for a short while, then said in a trembling voice:
"Yes, well... it suddenly struck me that I haven't thanked you properly for rescuing me from that crystal, Lord Titan! So, I thought about it and decided to return... in order to express my gratitude. After all, I would hate being seen as ungrateful!"
The shadow studied her pathetic state for a moment.
"Uh-huh."
The little doll tried to stand, but toppled after leaning on her torn leg.
A frenzied roar resounded from somewhere in the distance.
“And, uh... oh, would you look at that! It's already evening. Traveling in the dark is unwise, so I thought I'd stay until morning. Or, you know. A few days. How about that?"
The shadow did not answer immediately. There was no morning in his kingdom, so the question was meaningless. She might as well have asked to stay indefinitely.
At the moment, however, he did not care about that. Instead, he was looking into the depths of the torn doll, feeling a hint of concern. Snuggle had suffered some damage... but it was the transient soul itself that was truly hurt. It was in tatters, having received vicious wounds.
And yet, as he looked, it was already mending itself. The radiant soul was healing with astonishing speed, recovering from the level of damage that would have destroyed almost anyone else.
That thing truly possessed mysterious powers.
With a sigh, the shadow leaned down and picked up Snuggle.
“Alright.”
She squirmed in his grasp.
"May I ask, what..."
He stepped into the shadows.
"Be quiet."
Returning to the temple, he delivered the doll into the hands of his first incarnation and collapsed into a torrent of darkness. The doll observed in stunned silence. Holding her with one hand, the shadow outstretched the other. Soon, a needle appeared in it, and the darkness flowed, forming into a black thread.
“W—what are you doing?"
The shadow looked at the doll with an an aloof expression.
“I am going to repair you, of course.”
With that, he began to mend the torn doll with smooth, delicate stitches. She froze, surprised.
The tears littering Snuggle's body disappeared one after another under the shadow's needle. His needlework was so precise that it seemed as if the doll had never been torn at all — soon enough, it looked better than it had ever been.
He manifested a bit of darkness into an onyx bead to replace her eye, then created some fabric to make her a new dress. Snuggle observed his actions in incredulous silence.
Eventually, she squeaked:
“What a cute little... inky-black... dress! You seem to be very good at sewing, Lord Titan. What an... unexpected talent you have."
The shadow smiled faintly.
“Of course. I used to be very good at weaving."
When was it?
He did not quite remember. His hands, however, remembered it all too well.
In no time at all, Snuggle was as good as new — better than it had ever been, really. Putting it down with a satisfied expression, the Shadow nodded.
"That's better."
He considered something for a moment, then added:
“You can call me Shadow. No need to be so formal."
Snuggle made a few tentative steps, then waved her hands in the air and stared at them for a moment.
“Huh? That is indeed much... much better. Shadow? Alright then!"
She stared at the needle he was still holding in his hand, which shone faintly with an ethereal golden glow.
“That is a very interesting needle you have there, Shadow. Where did you get it?"
The shadow looked at the needle, as well. He wasn't quite sure. He had just thought about needing a needle, and it naturally appeared in his hand.
Where had he gotten it?
He tried to remember.
“This one? Hm... well, if memory serves..."
The shadow tilted his head a little.
"I think I stole it from Nether's tower. Yes, that should be correct."
The little doll trembled a little, then looked away.
"Nether, huh? So he's on a first-name basis with a daemon."
Her quiet mumbling sounded dejected.
"Gods, I'm doomed..."
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