Riley tumbled back from another heavy kick. He clutched his stomach and lurched forward, all of his vomit was already spilled down the hall.
"W-Why are you toying with me?"
Gerald paused in his gait for a second. His amused smile dimming a little.
"Why did you set the monsters loose?"
Riley had no human reason for it. He knew that most of the victims would be civilians. For that, his stomach twisted with a pain worse than being kicked.
"That's what I figured."
He spit in Riley's face and clentched his shirt, bringing them face to face.
"You nobles don't give a shit about us. We are tools and pawns."
His sword flashed and slashed Riley's ear off. A torrent of blood spewed out. Riley tried to block the wound with his hands but Gerald snapped his right arm.
A blood curdling scream echoed through the hall. Red stained tears pricked his eyes and his throat ached from having screamed.
"Aww don't look at me like that. Not that I give a shit, you just don't have the right to."
He brought the sword to Riley's throat and his voice had a cold finality to it.
"Any last words?"
A sea of spark manifested in his hand and the lantern flared alive, freezing Gerald in place.
"Yeah, goodbye."
Riley vanished into thin air. Gerald burst forward striking the empty air. But he already knew that he was alone.
In no time a cigarette found a way between his lips. A cloud of smoke puffed out as he leaned against the stone windows. Chaos had continued to reign down below.
"No rest for a working man."
He smiled and wandered down the hall, vanishing behind a large wooden door.
====
"Fuck Shit Damn it!"
Riley clutched at his ear. The leakage had stopped, but the pain continued to throb. His face was covered in crimson and his vision had already began growing blurry. The worst of all though was his right arm, shattered enough so that not even his fingers twitched.
He found himself in a small nook tucked away in the castle's kitchen area. There he had wrapped some gauze used for cheese and wrapped it around his head.
The only silver lining was that Lucy wasn't around to see his pathetic display.
Shadows seemed to keep away from this room. There were many lights to cast them, yet the room naturally had none. It put Riley on his toes.
A sole goal burned in his mind. Escape.
Several minutes of fruitless searching led him to the same predicament. Leaving the kitchen meant running into Gerald, yet staying there risked losing the war. The grizzly man had been a force to be reckoned with, but did his side have any such warriors? Not to mention the giant's skeleton from the future fortress.
Just as he leaned back against a cupboard, the wood gave way and Riley tumbled down. He thrashed around and hit every possible surface. But once he reached the bottom, a bricked tunnel welcomed him.
Long shadows danced frantically, as if even they were afraid of something.
Riley could feel it too. A Will. One so powerful it made his brain want to explode.
He gripped his throat. The very air in his lungs burned. Tears as hot as magma poured from his eyes and blood leaked from his nose once again.
And just ahead, he could see him. Two of them.
A woman with eight arms and a smile more twsited than fate. And a beautiful man whose aura was suffocating.
An invisible battle of pressure had long since ensued in the small tunnel. Anything that dared near either was crushed into dust finer than sand. Riley struggled to even keep his gaze on the two while standing at the far end of the tunnel. It was utterly mortifying.
A soft pair of arms wrapped themselves around Riley, pulled him back into the distant shadows of the corridor.
When his breath returned to him, the beauty revealed herself. She boasted the same beautiful locks of hair and mesmerising eyes. But her skin was a small bit dirty. Unbefitting of a concubine, but at this point he realised that was not her real position.
"You saved me?"
"Would you have rather turn to dust?"
Riley didn't respond.
"Don't bother going near those two. Neither you nor I are anywhere near their level, even if they are weakened at the moment."
She pulled out a pouch of water and handed it to him.
Through the soft flogging, he tried to wrap his head around what she meant. Weakened? How could a sacred being be weakened? Or had they been divine back there? Riley wasn't sure.
But he did know what was to come of their clash.
Destruction.
"We have to get out of here."
Riley cocked an eyebrow.
"We? You began this war early. Now you want to escape?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I was under strict orders. Now get a move on or I'll carry your ass."
He wasn't keen on being carried, so he did as instructed.
Despite the awkward situation, he wasn't keen on returning to the main castle. That was where Gerald was, and he knew that the next battle might be fatal. Now though? Lydia's presence gave him a small bit of confidence, enough to place one foot in front of the other at least.
A small wooden trapdoor creaked and they jumped up into a boarded up bedroom. Lydia made light work of ripping the boards down, and sunlight leaked in.
"Sunlight? But are we not in the shadow domain?"
In that moment, the castle shook with a thunderous roar. Down below in the courtyard a massive beast in the shape a of a tiger ripped abominations to shreds. It's blue eyes pierced all it gazed.
Riley shuddered upon realising what sort of beast it was.
"Should we avoid the courtyard?"
"Can you read minds now too?"
Lydia cracked a smile and pulled him along from his still functional arm.
====
The shadow god's banner fluttered through the mountain air atop the castle. Riley and Lydia had managed to slip by the guards scarcely scattered through the halls. And now they had reached the final stage.
The leader of Shadows stood atop a throne of onyx. He watched in silence as his people perished down below. However, not even sympathy blessed his face, his muscles were still as if frozen. His eyes moved back to the two behind him and regarded them with a warm smile.
The kind stood from his throne and slowly marched closer. His arms swung wide and greeted them with joy.
"Ah, what pleasant company. Come, come. Let us watch the show below."
He ushered them closer to the ledge.
On most occasions, Riley would've denied such offer. Yet now, the sparkle that the king possessed in his eyes compelled him to listen.
Lydia however was not as open minded. She followed, but only in case she had to protect Riley. In truth, she was itching to kill the king of the shadows. She couldn't not sense his Will, or any strong pressure. So, Lydia surmised that she was to be stronger.
Violent screams filled the spaces of the pained shrieks. A sea of blood marinated the soil, and worst of all, the sun beamed down on the fortress of shadows.
"Does it not bother you that my men are culling yours?"
Riley spoke with a grimace on his face.
"It did. But an angel descended from the heavens. And it foretold a battle that I must lose."
Riley looked down at the ground. Then back up at the shadow king.
If there was one thing Riley was sure of, it was that there were no angels in Shadow Slave.
"Did it bear eight arms? And did it take the form of a woman?"
The king appeared puzzled. Then shook his head.
"It was a man of great beauty with a veil of crimson butterflies. His voice was that of comfort. A truly beautiful angel."
Riley started piecing things together. There were bits of information that still would not line up with his suspicions, yet hearing the shadow king only solidified his theory more.
"What do you know of the daemons? It would be ever better to know of Weaver."
The a flash of fear crossed his eyes, but it was quickly shaped back into his jolly smile.
"There are seven demons right? I haven't had the pleasure of meeting any, of the displeasure for that matter."
After sensing no deceit, he concluded that the man was telling what he believed to be the truth.
'The master of lies is a sneaky one.'
A pair of illustrious scissors materialized from a sea of sparks. And the following second a head fell from atop the great castle.
For a mere seconds, the fighting stopped, and all looked at the leader who prevailed.
Lydia squeezed his arm with a sorrow filled smile. She summoned her own weapon, a bow with a single enchanted arrow.
The world stopped. No wind howled, no creature moved as if petrified by time. Riley breathed in deeply.
"May your nightmare end, find peace within the shadows."
Lydia released the final shot.