Shadow Slave: Arcadius of the Forgotten

The blood-red coral pillar stretched high. Its surface was jagged and brittle, a natural fortress in a scarlet wasteland. Cade crouched low behind it. The rough surface scraped against his armored forearm.

Beside him, Maya pressed herself against the coral with a sharp intake of breath. Cade followed her gaze, peeking just far enough to witness the chaos unfolding beyond.

It was war.

The Hollow Striders had waged an all-out war on the Carapace Legion, and a gruesome confrontation between the two groups of Nightmare Creatures was taking place.

Cade and Maya had spent yesterday going over their plans for the future and getting to know each other a little better. Cade hadn't felt like hunting yesterday. He knew that the trio had returned to the place where the crevice of the Dread Revenant was located, to collect the torso of the Centurion that they had tricked and killed.

In the evening, they would put their plans into motion: lighting a fire on the Carapace Demon's back, summoning the harrowing depth dweller, killing the Demon, and finally taking up residence atop the Ashen Barrow.

Cade wanted to avoid meeting the three, and Maya wasn't too stoked to meet them either, so they had spent the entire day yesterday on the Flat Hill.

They had left the Flat Hill early in the morning today, heading toward the Bone Ridge. However, on their way there, Cade had noticed the grotesque battlefield.

The monstrous centipedes were moving in a blur. Their glistening red, chitinous shells caught faint light as their countless legs churned up the cracked terrain. Dozens upon dozens of Striders scuttled between larger forms— monstrous Carapace Centurions.

The Awakened Monsters' black and scarlet carapaces gleamed in the faint light. Their wicked bone scythes carved through waves of centipedes like farmers at harvest.

The ground was slick with oily residue. Some of it, where acidic black pools had bubbled into the dirt, was even smoking.

The guttural screeches and metallic clanging filled the air. It mingled with the faint acrid smell of scorched earth.

Cade's fingers itched around the hilt of the Voidfang as he longed to join in on the chaos. About thirty Scavengers loomed near the back of the battlefield, watching their superiors cut down the Strider centipedes like vultures waiting for scraps.

"This is actual madness," Maya whispered at Cade's side, her voice sharp but hushed.

Cade glanced at her. She was staring at the grotesque scene in utter shock.

"It's opportunity," he countered, keeping his own voice low.

"You're out of your non-existent mind," she retorted, turning her head to look at him. Her lips curled slightly, more incredulous than amused as she stared at him in disbelief. "Look at them, Cade. That, right there, is a slaughterhouse waiting to happen."

"For the other side, you mean," Cade said, adjusting his grip on the hilt of the Voidfang.

Her icy blue eyes cut toward him, doubt stark on her face.

"Cade, listen to me..." she said wearily. "There're like a hundred of those things down there. Not to mention those four Centurions!"

Cade grinned faintly, as he turned to stare at the chaotic scene unfolding beyond the coral pillar. He was feeling the familiar rush that always preceded a fight.

"I can count too, you know? I'm not that stupid," he muttered, amused.

"Yet you still insist on waltzing into the maws of certain death," Maya shot back. "Because that's what that is. Death."

"Lesson one: You don't waltz into battle, Veil of Ashes," Cade declared, turning his gaze toward her and holding up a finger. "You descend upon your enemy."

Maya huffed and folded her arms. The frost-bound armor shifted subtly with her movement. Her breath formed a faint cloud in the air.

She stared at him for a moment. Eventually, she sighed.

"Honestly, why am I even surprised?" she said, shaking her head. "Of course, you wanna leap into the middle of a monster orgy and kill everything in sight. What else did I expect?"

"Look, I get it," Cade said. "It's messy. But they're already tearing each other apart. We can pick off both sides while they're still distracted."

Maya narrowed her eyes, doubt stark in them.

"And if they stop fighting each other and focus on us instead?" she asked.

Cade smirked darkly.

"Then..." he said. "We show them what the Otherwalkers are made of."

"Oh, brilliant plan, Arcadius," Maya drawled sarcastically. "You ever think about not charging headfirst into suicide?"

"All the time," Cade replied, shrugging and meeting her gaze evenly. "But this? This isn't suicide. We're much more resourceful and most importantly, we're smarter. You've got your blizzard; I've got my Darkness. Together, we can be a force of nature."

Maya considered him for a moment with mild disbelief. Then, she sighed and shook her head.

"You're actually trying to sell this as a good idea, aren't you?" she asked, exasperated.

Cade leaned a little closer, lowering his voice. "Do you trust me?"

Maya blinked, thrown off for just a fraction of a second. Then, she knitted her brows together and said with a confused expression on her face, "What kind of a question is that? No. Of course, I don't. I barely even know you."

Cade was caught off-guard. Uh, what? Was she not supposed to say 'Yes, I do!' with full determination?

He shook his head, scolding himself for trying to apply fictional logic to real life. But could he really blame himself? Lately, the line between fiction and reality had become rather vague. He was currently in a fictional world, after all.

"Ouch..." he said. "But okay. That's understandable, I guess. Still, I know what I'm doing..."

Maya shook her head in resignation. Finally, she exhaled, her tone relaxing slightly. "You really think we can take this many of them?"

"Think? I know we can."

The Nightcarver appeared into Maya's hand. Her fingers tightened around the hilt of the icy blade. "Well, you'd better be right about this. If we get swarmed, you'll have hell to pay."

"Fair enough," Cade affirmed, grinning again and readying himself.

She sighed, shaking her head. "You're definitely gonna get us both killed one day, you know that?"

"Maybe." He slashed at the air with the Voidfang. "But today, my ice cold companion, is not that day."

*** 

The chaos beyond continued unabated. The clash of chitinous legs and scythe-like limbs created a grim symphony of violence. Cade's heart raced— not with fear, but with exhilaration. The itch to join the fray gnawed at him like a beast clawing at its cage.

Beside him, Maya was far less enthused. Her lips were pressed into a thin line as she surveyed the writhing mass of Scavengers that had finally joined the battle. The Hollow Striders were tangled in grotesque combat. The towering Centurions loomed over the battlefield, slashing at anything foolish enough to come close.

"So," Maya began cautiously, "how do you wanna play this?"

Cade's grin stretched wide. "Play? Whatever do you mean?"

Maya stared at him in disbelief. "You know, a plan? Strategy. Tactics. Things that usually stop people from getting murdered by a horde of mindless beasts?"

Cade laughed— a low, dangerous sound that made Maya narrow her eyes. "Veil... who do you think I am, huh? Sunny? I don't do plans."

She stared at him for some time. Then, she sighed, touching her forehead and rubbing gently. "Of course. Of course, you don't. Why am I even surprised?"

"Here's my plan," Cade said, voice thick with anticipation. "We descend into the fight and slaughter everything that moves. Sound about right?"

Maya exhaled slowly, as though wrestling with some inner urge to knock sense into him. "You're insufferable, you know that?"

"And yet, you're still here."

"Unfortunately," she muttered. "Fine. No plan. Just chaos. What could possibly go wrong?"

He winked at her. "Now you're talking like a real Otherwalker."

Shaking her head in dejection, Maya murmured something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'maniac'.

Cade didn't mind. He thrived in chaos. Also, he was glad that Maya had agreed to do this with him. As strong as he was, he couldn't have hoped to take on a horde of this magnitude by himself.

But Maya had showcased her Aspect Ability to him yesterday and after seeing it, he was confident that they would be able to hold their own against this many Nightmare Creatures.

"Let's go," he said, stepping out from behind the coral pillar.

The moment they emerged from the shadows, the air seemed to shift. Maya extended her free hand forward. Frost bloomed from her fingertips. The blizzard answered her call, swirling around her in a vortex of biting wind and shimmering ice. Snowflakes danced like silver knives, and Cade felt the temperature plummet.

Maya's icy aura clung to her form. It wrapped her in an unseen glacial shroud that made her appear both beautiful and untouchable. She had just activated her icy augmentation.

Cade drew in a steady breath, his lungs filling with the thick weight of True Darkness. Tendrils of black fog curled from his lips. They coiled around his body before surging toward the Voidfang.

The Darkness clung to the blade like living shadows. It sharpened the Voidfang's edges with raw malevolence. He had also activated his weapons augmentation.

Cade looked at Maya out of the corner of his eye, and smiled wryly. The rage was nowhere to be felt. He didn't feel even the slightest tug at the back of his mind.

Maya caught his glance. It was likely the same for her. Her lips curled into a smirk.

"Should I do the honors?" she asked.

"By all means," Cade said, gesturing for her to continue.

Her eyes gleamed like frost-touched gemstones as she raised both hands, the Nightcarver held firmly in one. The blizzard roared in response. It expanded outward with a sudden fury. Winds howled across the battlefield. Snow and ice seemed to blanket everything in sight. The air turned frigid, each breath sharp and biting.

The monsters momentarily froze in place. Their limbs were starting to show thin layers of frost. Striders slowed their frantic scuttling. Their countless legs struggled against the icy grip. Scavengers twitched. Their pincers scraped against the now frozen ground. Even the towering Centurions, with their blood-drenched carapaces, moved somewhat sluggishly.

A few of the creatures turned toward Cade and Maya. Their narrow eyes gleamed with primal hostility. They hadn't attacked them as soon as the two had appeared from behind the coral pillar. After all, Cade and Maya were soulless; they didn't warrant the inexplicable wrath of Nightmare Creatures.

Most of the abominations remained fixated on each other, their savage instincts overriding caution.

Cade grinned at the abrupt pause in the chaos. "Not bad," he admitted.

"Don't tell me you're just gonna stand there," Maya countered.

Cade smirked and with a sharp exhale, he unleashed a torrent of True Darkness. The fog surged forward, thick and impenetrable, drowning the battlefield in true night. Tendrils of Darkness writhed through the storm. They wrapped around the near frozen monsters and plunged them into deeper oblivion.

But even Cade could feel it— the sluggish weight pressing against his limbs. The blizzard's icy grip extended to him as well, slowing his own movements. His instincts screamed in protest, but the cold gnawed at his agility.

"Damn it," he muttered.

Maya noticed his struggle. She frowned but then, something seemed to spark in her mind. Without hesitation, she stepped closer, her armored hand brushing against Cade's armored shoulder.

Cade felt a warmth spread through his body— not literal heat, but a release from the blizzard's icy grip. His movements became fluid once more. The biting cold no longer hindered him, it seemed.

"Better?" Maya asked, a touch smug.

"Much. Thanks," Cade said. "What'd you do?"

Maya shrugged. "I have no idea. Just followed an instinct."

Cade nodded. His grip tightened around his sword. The Darkness writhed eagerly along its edges. He wasn't done yet either— not by a long shot. Instinct guided Cade as well. He extended his senses through the black fog, feeling the blizzards stormy embrace intertwining with his Darkness.

He didn't know exactly how he did it, or frankly what he did, but the Darkness and the blizzard began to come together to form a single, unrelenting force.

The storm raged on, no longer just cold and biting but now, dark and suffocating as well. Icy shards danced through tendrils of Darkness. It created a deadly vortex that swallowed the battlefield whole.

The monsters within the storm struggled. Their movements were slow but also frantic and futile, as if they were trying escape the harrowing storm.

Maya's eyes widened as she watched the transformation of her blizzard.

"How did you do that?" she asked, curious.

"Not sure," Cade admitted, a reluctant grin on his face. He wasn't feeling too good. "It seems to be working, but..."

"But what?" Maya investigated.

"Well, my mind feels like it's about to collapse," Cade said, grabbing his temple with his free hand. "I can sense the Darkness and everything within it, but the blizzard is making it too chaotic. It's like a literal storm is raging inside my head."

Maya thought for a bit and then, asked. "Well, what do we do?"

Cade gritted his teeth, struggling against the weight of chaos that was ensuing in the Darkness. But thankfully, due to many struggles against his Flaw and due to enduring the harrowing pain of his transformation, his mental resilience was much better than a normal person's. He felt like he could work with the blizzard, but not with one this intense.

"Can you maybe, uh, tone it down a little?" Cade asked.

Maya stared at him for a moment and then, smiled. "Should've said so earlier."

She extended her left hand directly in front of her and slowly brought it down. The fury of the blizzard began to wane. As she kept bringing her arm down, she said, "Tell me when to stop."

As Cade focused on the strain on his mind, the chaos reached a point where it was tolerable. He smiled. "Yeah, that's it. Thanks."

Maya stopped her arm and then, took a cautious step back. She was clearly unnerved by the swirling chaos, even if it had been toned down somewhat.

"Guess this is where I let you do the rest of the work?" she asked.

So, she's not gonna fight? Cade thought, but quickly realized that he was looking at it the wrong way. Of course, she wasn't going to fight. First of all, she couldn't fight. Second of all, the monsters were all surrounded by Darkness, and no one but Cade could navigate the black mist.

Besides, her Ability had slowed the Nightmare Creatures down to a crawl. Cade could sense them through his Darkness and they seemed to be completely frozen in place.

He glanced at Maya and smirked. "Smart move."

Then, without another word, Cade dissolved into the storm, his form vanishing into the Darkness and ice.