During the awe and horror of the dawn of time, the shadow had confined its senses within the cave, trying to make itself blind to the world. It wanted to become as small as possible, so that the terrifying giants that walked the earth could not see it — could not sense it watching them, and therefore become aware of its existence.
Now, however, the shadow was forced to take a look outside.
In an instant, its senses spread across hundreds of miles, encompassing the movement and texture of every creature, insect, and blade of grass swaying in the wind in the lands that surrounded its shelter.
...The world had grown small while the shadow rested.
Its cave had ended up in one of the mortal realms. The boundary of the realm felt like a moving stream to the shadow's senses — easy enough to cross, if one didn't mind getting wet.
Not that the shadow wanted to do such a thing.
Its senses encompassed a region of the primal realm that was covered by craggy mountains, green valleys, and forests. The youthful world was pure and untamed, unsullied by the devastating splendor of civilization. Myriad beasts and creatures populated its wild expanse...
And abominations, too.
They hid in the dark corners of existence, just like the shadow did. They were the beings of the Flame who had been corrupted by the Void, driven mad by the insatiable need to destroy that which they had lost, all in a futile effort to reclaim it.
They roamed the world, hunting the children of the Flame in a tortured frenzy, and infected everything around them with the appalling rot of Corruption.
Where there was life, there was Corruption. And those Corrupted were the rulers of all lands that fell beyond the cleansing fury of the gods.
The gods were great and vast... the gods themselves were beings of the Void. So what did they care about these small abominations?
The shadow did not care, either.
However, now, there was a scent of blood drifting into the cave it had chosen as its shelter. Out there near the entrance, a human was crawling across the jagged stones, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. The man was dressed in crude garments made from fur and hide, his weathered face hidden by a bushy beard. His body was covered in gruesome wounds, and his eyes were full of pain and despair.
As a hoarse groan escaped from his mouth, a grating sound came from behind him. There, a towering abomination broke through the wall of tall trees, shattering them into splinters. It was tall and imposing, blood streaming down from between its bestial fangs, its vaguely humanoid shape both gaunt and menacing.
The abomination was wounded, too, but it was nowhere near the man's grievous state. It fell on all fours, glaring at him with murderous fury. Its powerful hind legs tensed, ready to send the creature into a deadly lunge, and its long tail whipped like a bone spear.
The man was about to perish gruesomely in the creature's hideous maw.
The shadow did not care whether he lived or died.
It had experienced hundreds of thousands of deaths, after all, so what was one more? It was not worth the effort of feeling anything. All things died, in the end. Their passions, their aspirations, their pain, their despair — none of it held meaning to the shadow. The accumulated weight of its myriad lives made everything seem fleeting, and it had lost the desire to care about small things.
All that was left was indifference.
The shadow did, however, feel a strange impulse to intervene.
It was not because the shadow felt compassion toward the man or considered his life valuable. Rather, it was because at that moment, the shadow discovered a new fact about itself.
It disliked Corruption.
In the vague recollections of its previous lives, the shadow remembered being constantly haunted by the corrupting influence of the Void. In fact, most of its lives seemed to have been spent in the throes of Corruption.
Sometimes, the shadow was born as an abomination. Sometimes, the shadow was born as a child of the Flame, lived a life full of joys and sorrows, then underwent the torturous transformation of being tainted by the Void and spent myriad years roaming the world consumed by madness and agony.
And throughout all those lives, the shadow itself — the being dreaming the nightmare of myriad lives — had to arduously resist the Corruption, preventing its seeds from taking root in its soul. That was a reason why the shadow's dream was a nightmare, as well.
Some of the seeds were small and weak, some were vast and terrifyingly virulent. The shadow seemed to possess quite a powerful means of defense, though, so it had managed to destroy them all. Still, Corruption never stopped trying to claim it, persistently sending its dark tendrils into the shadow's soul. It was unpleasant.
Corruption... was a bully.
Not only was it a bully, but it also seemed to have made its life's mission to endlessly bother the shadow.
So, even though the shadow did not feel much, it felt a strong dislike toward Corruption and those who carried it.
It was fitting, in a sense. Death was a weapon that destroyed Corruption, after all, and since the shadow felt a strange sort of closeness to death, it was only natural that it despised Corruption as well.
That was why it decided to act.
As the towering abomination prepared to lunge at the bleeding man, the shadows around it suddenly moved, as though coming alive. Tentacles of darkness surged forward, entangling its arms and legs.
The mighty being struggled, trying to break free, but it was powerless in front of the shadow. The dark tendrils dragged it back, pulling in different directions. The creature opened its maw, as if wanting to howl...
Before it could, its body ruptured, torn apart into pieces. Blood, viscera, and severed limbs fell to the ground in a torrent — wherever its yellow blood touched the soil, the soil smoked and melted, as if corroded by a strong acid.
But it didn't matter much, because the loathsome creature was dead.
Unlike Beast God, the shadow did not devour the remains of its enemy. It had better manners, and a more refined palate at that.
The shadow was displeased, though. It shivered uncomfortably.
That was because the moment the abomination died, the shadow felt something slip inside its soul, and thought that it heard an echo of a vaguely familiar voice.
It wondered if it would be forced to relive that unfortunate life, as well.
The bleeding man, meanwhile, stared at the gruesome remains of the ruptured abomination in shock. Then, he turned slowly and peered into the deep darkness suffusing the entrance to the cave.
His face paled horribly, and he took a step back, trembling.
Then, finding the strength to run, the man turned around and fled.
The shadow was relieved.
'Good. Good riddance...'
Content that its shelter was peaceful and quiet once more, the shadow settled into its resting place. It hoped that no one would bother it again.
These hopes, however, were soon shattered into pieces.
Some time had passed — days, maybe, or perhaps years — and the shadow felt someone moving at the mouth of its cave once more.
With a heavy sigh, it directed its senses outward.
Then, its face fell.
Well, the shadow did not really have a face. But if it did, there would have been an expression of stunned dismay on it at the moment.
That day, the shadow asked itself the third question.
'What the actual hell?'The shadow expanded its senses outward when the abomination appeared on its doorstep, so it knew where the man hunted by the creature had come from.
Out there in a valley at the foot of a hill, not too far from where the shadow's cave was, a small tribe of humans had been setting up crude tents on that day. The shadow assumed that they were merely passing by — now, however, it knew that its assumption had been wrong.
These humans were trying to settle down. The initial scattering of fur tents had grown since then, and their frames seemed more substantial. There were tools and hunting implements scattered around, wooden fences, and half-domesticated wolves gnawing on old bones.
The men were busy hunting beasts and fishing in a nearby stream. The women gathered fruit and berries, while simultaneously dedicating time to small crafts and rearing children. The children ran around and engaged in all sorts of mischief. There were not a lot of elderly around, but those few who had lived to see old age observed them from afar with grumpy discontent.
The tribe seemed like a primitive one, with only a few Awakened champions to guard them against the Creatures of Corruption that dwelled in the forest. They seemed to be at peace, but in truth, their existence was a constant war — a war against hunger, a war against the harsh elements, and most of all, a war against the loathsome rulers of this vast, untamed world.
Humans were wary of the forest. They were wary of the darkness. And so, they fought against the forest and the darkness, slowly pushing both back.
From the looks of it, the tribesmen were just barely learning the basics of agriculture, which had given their nomadic tribe the courage to settle down.
'It means that they have nowhere else to go.'
The shadow felt a hint of interest.
It knew that agriculture was not born from progress. Rather, it was born from necessity. Nomadic tribes were far less vulnerable to the vagaries of the world, so there was only one reason why they would compromise their established way of life in favor of being tied to a land — there was not enough space for them to move to.
After all, nomads could leave in search of kinder lands in case of drought or natural disaster. They could flee if a powerful Creature of Corruption set its sights on their tribe. Once they became dependent on the land, however, there was no escaping it. Unless they wanted to starve, all they could do was stand their ground and fight — and go extinct if the enemy was too powerful.
The shadow found it mildly interesting, but its interest was aloof. It would not have paid the people any attention... if not for the fact that a group of them was currently standing near the entrance to its cave.
The man it had inadvertently saved was there as well, his wounds mostly healed. The tribesmen weren't holding spears or torches, though, and neither were they trying to enter the cave.
Instead...
They were setting up an altar.
The shadow observed them from the depths of the cave, flabbergasted.
'For the love of gods, what the hell are they doing?'
The men dragged a large flat stone from somewhere lower down the mountain and placed it near the entrance, using smaller rocks as supports. Then, they placed strange things — fruit, meat, and some kind of beverage that smelled suspiciously like honey — on the altar and stepped back.
They were all wearing very odd garments and headdresses, as well, throwing frightened glances at the cave from time to time. Their faces were pale, but determined. The shadow was focused on something else, though.
'...Honey?'
It recoiled.
The shadow didn't know why, but it felt a strong animosity toward honey.
The shadow distrusted it.
The humans, meanwhile, lowered themselves to their knees and then sprawled on the ground, kowtowing toward the dark entrance of the cave. Their voices rose in a strange litany, and they kept making noise for a long while.
The shadow shifted uncomfortably. It didn't like what was happening one bit.
The humans continued their ritual for some time, then left. Their pitiful presents remained lying on the altar. In time, the fruit and the meat rotted, while the vessel containing the sweet beverage was knocked over by the wind and spilled.
The shadow, obviously, did not leave its cave to lay claim to these unwanted offerings. It wasn't happy to receive them, but it was rather relieved that the noisy humans were gone.
It settled back into its half-awake state, slumbering in the darkness. Its senses still encompassed the land, so it could feel the world changing as time flowed. The trees grew taller. Two colonies of ants waged a war against each other. Deep in the forest, an eerie abomination had killed a bear, the mighty beast's body hanging limply from the creature's maw.
The realm was teeming with life, and the shadow's placid consciousness seemed to fuse with it, sensing every little facet of the boundless land through the shadows. In that state, it was difficult to differentiate where the world ended and the shadow began; it wasn't keen on making that distinction, either.
Such existence was peaceful in its own way, and while the shadow could not say that it was enjoyable, it did not find the state unpleasant. Its sense of self dissolved into the movement of shadows, and since there was close to no self in that state of inner transparency, there was no joy or discomfort either. There was only the great, endlessly changing vastness of the world. The shadow sensed the tribe of humans, as well.
The tribesmen were busy living their lives. Their settlement slowly grew, and as more of them matured and formed families, new tents were raised on its outskirts. The old tents were being slowly replaced by wooden structures. The forest was pushed back, creating space for a modest field. Some elderly surrendered to old age. Young women gave birth to children. A few of the hunters formed their soul cores and Awakened.
From time to time, the tribesmen made their way to the shadow's cave and performed their rituals, leaving new offerings on the altar. They seemed to have mistakenly decided that the creature that dwelled in the darkness was the guardian spirit of their tribe — the shadow did not care what they believed, so it wasn't going to correct them.
For what it was worth, it seemed that its presence scared away the more discerning abominations, so the tribesmen were benefiting from the shadow's existence, even if the shadow itself had no say in it. These humans were also quite lucky, since no powerful Creature of Corruption had wandered through this land in a long, long while.
They seemed to attribute that luck to the shadow, as well.
In time, the offerings the tribesmen left on their stone altar grew more lavish.
The shadow ignored them, as always. In fact, it ignored the humans entirely, enduring their noisy hymns with a mild sense of exasperation.
That was until, one day, the nature of the sacrifice they brought changed.