Shadow Slave

'I certainly knew that Neph was coming to Antarctica, but why is Wake of Ruin calling her one of the lea... huh? What? In a few minutes?!'

Sunny stared at the veteran Saint, dumbfounded. He had been anticipating meeting Neph again for a long time, but now that it was mere minutes away, his thoughts were in disarray.

'Did she check out my runes recently? Does she know that I'm a Tyrant now, too? Wait, no... why do I care if she knows or not? I shouldn't!'

Jet seemed a little surprised, too.

"Weren't they supposed to arrive in a couple of days?"

Saint Cor shrugged.

"They were. But with Tyris receiving some free time due to the three of us being beaten black and blue in the last battle, the schedule has been moved up. Ascended Sunless and you arrived just in time."

Sunny tried to digest the information. He knew that the Legacy reinforcements would be coming in two waves. The second one consisted of the bulk of their forces, traveling by sea, while the first one was supposed to be the vanguard and consisted of just a few people. They were going to travel to Antarctica through the Dream Realm.

The process was both simple and complicated. They needed a Saint who had already established a tether in the Southern Quadrant... in this case, Saint Tyris. The members of the vanguard had to either already be anchored in the same Citadel as she or be brought there by a different Transcendent.

Then, Sky Tide would be able to bring them with her to the waking world, thus transporting the necessary people to Antarctica.

The vanguard had to be small because Saints were limited in how many living creatures they could carry with them between the two worlds - just like Masters were limited in how much inanimate weight they could bring. Usually, a Saint could only transport one or two people at a time, and that consumed a fair amount of essence.

Coming to a sudden realization, Sunny looked around. He was starting to understand why such a lavish place was chosen for their impromptu meeting.

The opulence of the grand hall was not for the benefit of two Ascended... Wake of Ruin was rolling out the red carpet for the powerhouses of the great clans.

He looked at the old man, thinking. Saint Cor smiled.

"I'm starting to suspect that you are not of a very high opinion about the Great Legacy Clans, young man."

Sunny gritted his teeth, trying to hide contempt and anger from seeping into his gaze.

"That... is putting it lightly. Sir."

The old man studied him with a bit of curiosity.

"Why?"

Sunny gathered his thoughts, trying to come up with a convenient answer. Eventually, he said evenly:

"I guess it boils down to the fact that they are traitors."

Wake of Ruin raised an eyebrow.

"Traitors... interesting. How so?"

Sunny sighed.

"Awakened are supposed to be humanity's sword against the Spell, no? The Legacies are the greatest of the Awakened, and yet, they have seemingly given up on challenging the Spell. Much worse, they refused to come out of the sheath when we needed them. This whole disaster could have been salvaged if they had done their duty."

He had not mentioned the millions of people who had died in the Antarctic Center, and neither had he mentioned the tens of thousands of soldiers that perished with them. He doubted that such numbers could touch the heart of Saint Cor... the old man was one of the leaders of the government, after all. People like him viewed the world in terms of billions of lives, spread across many decades.

If Sunny told him that he was burning with anger toward the great clans because of the death of just three Awakened, the old man would have probably thought him crazy.

Wake of Ruin sighed.

"I see. Indeed, as long as you know anything about the world, it is easy to dislike the great clans. It is even easier to dislike them if you know a lot. But forgive me for sounding like a grumpy old man, Ascended Sunless... young people like you really lack perspective."

Sunny looked at him somberly.

"Do we?"

Saint Cor nodded.

"It's not your fault, of course. One hand to be there and live through the worst of it to understand. You see, Ascended Sunless - and you too, Jet - people of your age were born in a stable world. It might be a cruel world, and a harsh world. But it is a stable one, nevertheless. Because it has been built that way by your predecessors. Many tend to look at the flaws of the world, but very few stop to question its foundations. And those foundations... why, they might have been better, but they could have also been so much worse."

He leaned back in his chair, looking into the distance with a neutral expression.

"The fact of the matter is that the Great Clans emerged from the chaos of the past... but they weren't the only ones fighting for power and dominance back then. There were other clans, other forces, and people with entirely different ideas about what the world should become. The things they did... ah. It is a blessing, really, that those old monsters were buried in the past, and that the Great Clans ended up victorious. So... yes. You lack perspective."

Sunny frowned.

"Other forces? Different ideas? No offense, sir... but you have some nerve saying such things to two people who grew up in the outskirts. Others might now feel the same way, but we enjoyed the premium experience of living in this stable world you praise so much. I struggle to imagine what ideas could have been worse."

Saint Cor looked at him coldly, then suddenly laughed. His laughter sounded like the caws of a hungry raven.

"Ah. You are a direct person, Ascended Sunless. I like it."

He looked at Sunny with his dark, harsh eyes, the hint of mirth that had appeared in them for a moment dissipating without a trace. The gaunt old man shook his head.

"But you should make an effort to imagine it. A dying world ravaged by war. People who had all but forgotten how to be proper humans. And then, an even bigger disaster... but one that presented a great opportunity. An opportunity for some of them to become unimaginably powerful, unmistakably superior. Entirely unrestrained, and all but unstoppable, free to make whatever they wanted from this new era. Freedom, young man... freedom can be the most appalling curse in the world, if it falls into the wrong hands. It is a terrifying thing."

Wake of Ruin grew silent for a few moments, and then smiled sarcastically.

"...Here I go rambling again. Jet, you should have stopped me. In any case, our guests should be arriving any second now - the emissaries of Valor will come first, and the emissaries of Song will follow in a few hours. Help me welcome them, you two."

He paused, then looked at Sunny and added in a neutral tone:

"For better or worse, the Great Clans are all we have now. We'll need their help to see this operation through, so... keep that in mind, young man."

Sunny lingered for a bit, then reluctantly nodded. 'I can play nice... or at least pretend to play nice. We'll see how it goes.'