Shadow Slave: Possibilities Without Meaning

"You bastard. You had that this whole time and you never told me?"

Effie spoke in overzealous joy.

Aldric stepped away from her close proximity and ignored her.

He looked at Nephis and spoke.

"Let's go. Stay close in formation. I don't know the effective range of this thing."

Hearing him speak, Nephis focused on the pit leading to the supposed catacombs and jumped first.

A confused Caster and a disgruntled Effie followed suit. 

The rest of the group also dropped down.

They had landed in a narrow tunnel composed of weathered stone. It was enveloped in complete darkness, except for the ghostly green flame. 

Effie summoned a radiant memory: a glass jar that shined brightly, allowing them to see far ahead.

" Well, let's see how effective this eyeball of yours truly is."

She spoke sarcastically.

A lone figure stood 5 meters shy in front of them. It was completely composed of bones. Nothing else.

Gripping a sword just as weathered as itself, it turned around at the sudden noise. 

"Stand close together and move silently. The memory can only do so much to ward them off." 

Aldric emphasised. 

On his journey to the Dark City, there were a few times when a loud step got their attention. Memories are not omnipotent. Especially only an awakened ranked one.

The walking dead looked at the flame and was repulsed. It immediately ventured off into the darkness to avoid the vitality pouring out of the necklace.

"Damn, that thing actually works."

Effie seemed conflicted. She knew that the item would make the journey as easy as a walk but being blindsided like this vexed her.

"Come on. Let's move it."

Nephis charged forward. 

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The cohort traversed through the narrow space like a thief in the night. Silently avoiding large groups that were far ahead. The [Warding Eye] warded off those that came too close. 

They were now coming up to a large center chamber that Aldric recognised. 

Having already cleared the chasm by walking along the old bridge, there was only one thing before their exit.

"Listen up. The exit is right up ahead. Only a big fat nightmare creature is blocking it. But don't worry, it takes time for it to wake up. Just follow Nephis and everything will work out."

Effie reassured the group after dropping the harrowing news.

"Well, let's go meet the Lord of the Dead."

The group entered the chamber.

The underground chamber was as large as a sacrificial ritual chamber. The types with large alters in the middle. The walls were made of the same stone as the city wall; however it was covered in the nebulous cold water of the dark sea.

Aldric often entertained the thought of gaining something from the dark sea with his abilities of darkness.

'It's like an ancient well of darkness that I can't even touch.'

'To gain something, I have to find the source of this.'

He thought.

In the center of the chamber, a vast mountain of bones was stacked high enough to be near the ceiling. Crimson coral was growing out of the white bones, like a sick rendition of blood and muscle. Above the Lord was a large stone hand reaching through the broken dome. Pale sunlight surrounded the hand, it was a majestic sight like a forgiving God reaching into the depths of hell.

It reminded Aldric of the pillar of human bones that he saw at the beginning of his first nightmare.

'How strong is a wraith that managed to collect so many bodies to form itself?'

Aldric mused.

Looking at the rear directly opposite them, he could see where he had entered from when he first arrived here.

Looking back on it, it must have been a cave system that led to the underworld. The place beyond where the first lord passed.

Nephis passed the golden rope to Kai. The plan was for Kai to fly through the hole in the dome and pass the rope back for the rest to climb.

However, the sleeping Tyrant had other plans. 

Moving its colossal body around in its sleep, it was preparing to wake up. Swinging its pillar-like limbs around, the cohort was forced into a game of dodging. No sword or shield would save those crushed by the limbs of this beast. 

With Kai having already landed high above, he looped the rope around one of the statue's large fingers. The rope was ready for the rest of the group.

Cassie was the first to ascend. With the strength and agility of a sleeper, she climbed the rope in under 10 seconds.

Caster reached the rope after dodging a bony tendril and moved along the rope in a blur.

Effie followed in a showing of brute strength and made her way up.

In a dance of evasion, only Sunny, Nephis and Aldric remained. 

This was easy for the group to do as they were not wounded from the journey through the catacombs. 

Aldric was next to climb the rope. He dodged a tendril and landed on it. Using it as a platform to jump off, he caught the rope and climbed the rest of the way quickly. 

He landed on the palm of the statue and saw the rest of the group anxiously waiting for Nephis and Sunny to join them. 

Nephis was next to make it out of the chamber but there were no sounds of anyone else climbing the rope.

"What the hell is he doing?"

Nephis spoke immediately after landing. She looked back into the chasm straight away and watched Sunny move towards the back of the Fallen Tyrant.

She was clearly agitated at the Scout and worried for him as well.

Aldric looked below and saw Sunny stabbing something in his arm. Moving his blade to his elbow, he was about to swing before the thing fell off his arm. 

He narrowly avoided the Lord of the Dead and made it above the chamber.

Sunny looked anemic, his face pale and his left arm was dried up. 

Nephis placed her hands on his chest and healed him using her soul flame.

The rest of the cohort gave them some space to talk and for Nephis to heal Sunny. 

Everyone was mostly in top condition. Only Sunny was below his usual standards of health. With that, they left immediately to cover more ground. At night, this area would be submerged by the dark sea. So there was no time to rest.

----------

After traversing through a chasm filled with mud, they continued southwest to make up for the change in their journey.

4 awakened spiders ambushed them and they were quickly disposed of. 

Aldric had bisected one in half with a dark slash. 

Seeing his battle prowess for the first time, all but Cassie and Effie were surprised at the destructive power of Aldric's darkness ability.

'What the actual hell? how can his slashes cut straight through an awakened creature? and the distance it travels. Insane.'

Sunny thought. He could tell that Aldric had a much higher damage output than him and was genuinely conflicted about whether he was on the same level as Nephis or higher. 

Caster was stuck in his own thoughts after seeing the teen's performance. 

'Did the House of Night send him or was it the Song Clan? he can't be some unknown sleeper. Who is this guy?'

Similar thoughts were running through Nephis' mind.

Questions on the allegiance and goals of such a powerful sleeper. She knew that among all the people in the outer settlements, he would be her biggest challenge.

Now during dusk, they finally arrived at a magnificent white marble arch. Much larger than the one inside the city that led to the outer settlement. The cohort aimed for this as their resting ground as it would not be submerged by the dark sea come nighttime.

Given that they were not exhausted or injured, they opted for an early night so that they could leave early the next morning. They all took turns keeping watch while the rest slept.

With heavy eyes, Aldric fell asleep.

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Thanks for reading.

A bit of a filler chapter, not much action. I'm trying to pace my story a bit better so bear with me.

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Till the next one.