Calling it a neck would have been a lie, because in truth, it had no neck. Mordret just assumed that's where it was. Much like Soul Stealer, the skinwalker's true form was a humanoid amalgamation of the victims it had claimed. Interestingly enough, the creature could also shift between the vessels it had in possession in a heartbeat. Similar to Mordret, the more vessels it had, the more it could switch to, and with Transcended Moonveil not being in the soul sea, there was nothing to stop it from using the aspects of its vessels.
As Mordret's weapon moved at its neck, the skinwalker leaned back, narrowly avoiding it, and slashed at him in retaliation, Mordret moved his body to the left and the creature shifted its momentum moving to the left as well and throwing out a kick that Mordret blocked but not without consequence as pain immediately shot through his arms from the impact of the blow.
Moving back with a grimace, Mordret realized something he had hoped was wrong, and it was that the creature was becoming more natural in moving its human vessels correctly. He had to end this duel quickly so he could shift more of his focus to his other six duels that he was currently in; if he didn't, Mordret would be corrupted and be forced to pull out soul cores, a process that, while effective, was also extremely painful.
Mordret was pulled from his thoughts when his body involuntarily convulsed from being hit by a streak of lightning that he failed to dodge.
What was it that Mordret had heard Sunless occasionally say during his time in Raven Heart?
'Damnation?'
Yes, that was the word.
He quickly recovered, sidestepping to avoid another lightning attack narrowly, and sent one of his own, then rushed the creature. Mordret utilized the lightning aspect to enhance his speed and slice off his opponent's hands, preventing any further attack. He smiled at it, using the vessel's ascended ability to coat the weapon in electricity, drove the saber he had been using into the side of its neck, and decapitated it.
[You have killed a Great Beast: Vessel of Skinwalker. Your reflection grows clearer.]
Mordret watched as the soul core was purged of corruption and slowly regained its brightness and radiance. Standing on the calm waters of the soul sea, Mordret began shifting his consciousness and focused on the second battle of the remaining six vessels that he was fighting simultaneously.
He felt less mentally strained, having to fight in only six different soul seas now. Wasting no time, he summoned the next memory of the second weakling that was killed and taken by the skinwalker.
The creature looked at him again, and this time it seemed to have words for him.
"I will offer my alliance to you just as I did last time we encountered each other and the previous times before that. Join me, child of war; it is a waste for us to fight constantly. After all, I only have to kill you once, whereas I do not have such a hindrance." It had many faces and, therefore, many mouths, so it came out as a chorus of voices that would usually sound pleasant if it were a singular person. But instead, it was the equivalent of scraping a fork against a plate or dragging nails on a chalkboard.
Mordret raised an eyebrow at it, an amused smile playing at his lips, then his face went completely emotionless. "I'm afraid I will have to decline once again, even a monster like myself would never align with a nightmare creature. Let alone an imitator like you."
It began to speak once more. "That is a shame, I-" The skinwalker didn't finish its sentence because Mordret had the opportunity to drive his spear into its face. Anticipating the attack, the skinwalker made a strange noise and moved its head to the right, then dashed towards him, slashing at his arm, leaving a deep gash in his forearm.
Mordret let out a pained groan as he felt one of his soul cores begin to fill with corruption. He had to be extra careful since he was only a devil at the moment due to making two reflections on their way to retrieve the missing party and a third reflection shortly after the battle to keep the nightmare creatures that had woken up due to the clashing of the saints and the skinwalker at bay.
Reaching into his own soul, Mordret ripped out a soul core and thought about how fast the skinwalker would grow if not eliminated, not because it would spell doom for humanity, Mordret couldn't care less about that. But if that thing somehow killed his father, then Mordret would likely do something very childish as a result of his life goal being stolen from him.
Not only was there the nightmare creature Sunless had mentioned months ago during the meeting with the queen, but also a cursed tyrant named Condemnation lurking underneath the nameless temple. If Mordret recalled correctly, Sunless felt its presence as he was going to save those three sleepers; one of them was Tamar of Clan Sorrow, and the other two, Mordret hadn't bothered to remember their names.
Mordret smiled and drove his spear through where its heart was and ripped it out of its chest, then pushed it into its neck, pulling upwards, ultimately splitting its head apart. The rest of the battles went by swiftly, with Mordret as the victor of each one.
He dove out of the vessel's soul seas just in time to catch an arrow flying at him.
"Don't fret, my friends," He smiled politely at their confused looks as Sunless dismissed his mask and stared at each of his vessels for a moment, then raised his hand to stop Saint Nightingale from releasing another arrow.
"Took you long enough, calm down, it's Mordret, though I wouldn't be opposed to it if you shot another arrow at him, Kai." Sunny scoffed at the bastard and looked around at the shattered trees and craters in the ground, then he looked to his right at the corpses that were scattered around. He took a look at the destruction of the forest, then turned to his companions, who still held their weapons, looking around.
"I didn't realize you missed me that much, Sunless." Mordret gave him a pleasant smile.
"I was hoping you died trying to win the soul duels." Sunny held a neutral expression.
"How unfortunate for you, my friend. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I still have much to do. But I must ask, what are you all doing?" Mordret tilted his head, looking at them.
"Are you daft? The fight we had with the skinwalker has likely woken every nightmare creature in the area!" Howl hissed at him.
"Which is why I said don't fret," Mordret pointed behind them, prompting them to turn around to see a new third reflection of Eunbin standing behind them with an emotionless expression, along with the reflection of Sunny and his six avatars and Lonesome Howl standing beside them with the same emotionless expression.
"When did you do that?" Kai asked while floating down to the ground beside Sunny, where he wondered the same thing.
"Just after the battle began. You forget Saint Nightingale, my reflections can reflect anyone once I've laid eyes on them anytime I want." Mordret switched the reflection of Eunbin to the eerily familiar sight of Nephis. She stared at them for a long moment before white flames washed over them, healing the temporary cohort of their ghastly wounds, and she immediately switched back to his enchantress friend.
"You never mentioned it in the first place; I would have recalled such a thing." Kai frowned at the prince of nothing but nodded nonetheless.
"Did I not mention that? Well, I did now, so be thankful for that, Nightingale." Mordret smiled pleasantly while motioning Neph's reflection over to the corpses of the saints and Blood sisters. She walked over to them and held her hand out, ready to turn them to ash at Mordret's command.
In the exact moment Mordret's reflection of Sunny switched to a reflection of Eunbin as well, helping keep the incoming Nightmare creatures at bay by keeping them docile. The third reflection, Howl, remained the same and moved to stand beside Mordert with an expressionless face.
Silent Stalker turned to Sunny with an unreadable expression. Her lips moved to say something, but Kai beat her to it. He took a deep breath and stepped forward with a hesitant expression. "Sunless, it is amazing that you knew the skinwalker took them before anyone else did. Do you have a memory that detects corruption in a person? Or… or did you somehow sense something wrong with their shadows?"
Before he could go on, Silent Stalker walked up and nodded at Sunny, then stared at him for a long minute. "You helped save Veil. I still don't trust you, but your actions today didn't go unnoticed." Silent stalker finally spoke up, stopping to stand before him. She held a rare look of approval on her unassuming face.
"You're welcome," Sunny nodded back at her. He knew she didn't say 'thank you,' but the statement was essentially a thank you in her own stubborn way.
The pain of his flaw was slowly increasing, so he turned to answer Kai's questions and frowned at his friend. "No, of course not, I have made no such memory as of yet, I don't think one exists. Yes, I guess I did sense something wrong with their shadows; it felt unnatural and alien, at least that is one of the ways I did." Sunny watched the hesitant expression on Kai's face melt away into a dazzling smile. It was as if he was happy to finally not hear an outrageous answer from him.
"Ah, I see! Then you truly have the keenest of senses, Saint Sunless! Well done indeed!" Kai smiled wider, making Moonveil and Lonesome Howl blush.
"You said one of the ways, what was the main one?" Silent Stalker asked.
"I looked at it," Sunny shrugged, preparing to Shadowstep back to Raven Heart.
"What?" Kai's dazzling smile froze.
"I said I looked at it," Sunny smiled.
"You looked at it?" Silent stalker raised an eyebrow at Sunny, then turned to Kai, whose smile had disappeared and was replaced by a look of utter terror. The princess of Song then looked at Sunny again.
"Yes, I looked at it, that's how I knew." Sunny nodded.
Still unconvinced, Silent Stalker looked at Kai again, only to see his obnoxiously handsome face drained of all color, staring into nowhere particular while nodding numbly.
"You are a strange man, Saint Sunless, but well done. Mordret, don't burn those corpses, you fool, you know that Shan will want to bury her blood sisters properly, and our mother will want the corpses of her saints." Silent Stalker scowled at Mordret with a grumble.
"Very well," Mordret changed the reflections of Nephis and Sunny into Eunbin, making three enchantresses. Usually, Sunny would be overwhelmed by the sight of his friend, let alone three of them, but instead, he was unsettled by the lack of expression on her enchanting face.
Sunny looked at the corpses only to see that Creepy had moved to stand over them, staring at the bodies with an emotionless gaze. He slowly leaned down to poke them a few times with morbid interest. Crazy moved to stand beside him, his eyes filled with a mad look. That is, until his haughty shadow walked to them and smacked them both on the head, causing the crazy shadow to whirl around, giving his brother a scathing look.
While the creepy one turned around to face them and simply stared at them for a while with a blank gaze, before slowly turning back around and started to poke the corpses with his foot. Moonveil, Lonesome Howl, and even Silent Staller stared at the interaction with a hint of amusement. Shaking their heads, the three sisters each grabbed a corpse and hauled it over their shoulders, then began walking. Sunny and one of his avatars carried the remaining two, then followed after them with Kai flying to scout ahead, and to Sunny's dismay, Mordret and his reflections of Eunbin covering the rear.
They ran for a few kilometers in silence before they all slowed down to a walk, and Howl strolled up to him on his left side with a corpse on her right shoulder and a smile on her face. "Sunless, how many bodies do you have in total?"
"I have seven,"
"Good! That's one for each sis—ow!" She didn't finish as Silent Stalker smacked the back of her head. Howl turned to the right and glared at her sister, one that the sullen Saint easily matched.
"Stop. Talking." Silent stalker growled through gritted teeth and stalked forward into the forest.
***
To no one's surprise, four days had passed when they arrived at their destination, as it took them a lot longer to make their way back to Raven Heart with the corpses in tow. As they passed through the entrance gate and made their way through the streets of Raven Heart and towards the castle, pedestrians cleared the way for them and watched with sorrow as they carried their former protectors' bodies through the packed streets
Sunny wondered how long Mordret had been stealing the skinwalker vessels.
'It's not like I'll get a straight answer from the lunatic.'
Sunny and his companions soon reached the castle and walked through the doors, their steps echoing through the hallway as they swiftly approached the throne room, where the luxurious, dark oak doors were cracked open. Mordret moved past Sunny, sending him a pleasant smile, and opened the doors further so that everyone could walk inside. He then closed the doors behind them. Walking inside the throne room, Eunbin and Seishan stood just a few meters away from them, with their backs turned to them as they walked past them. Sunny could feel relief flooding through his friend's shadow and surprising Seishan as well.
Ki Song sat on the throne with her two dead sleepers on each side. She sat there staring at them silently until they set the bodies down and moved to kneel, but stopped when she held out a hand, motioning for them to keep standing.
"I was beginning to think you all would not return and wondered what was taking so long. Now I see why. I think I deserve an explanation as to why my Masters are dead and why my saints are missing and why there are only five instead of twelve." The dead sleeper pointed to the corpses on the right and held their gaze for a moment before landing on Sunny, then moved elsewhere.
"They were taken by the skinwalker, your highness, all twelve of them, we had to kill them, as for where the remaining seven are, they are in my soul sea." Mordret summarized.
Ki Song remained silent for a long time before the dead sleeper on the left nodded. "I see, what's important is that you all have returned safely, you are all dismissed. Except for you, Saint Sunless, stay here."
They all went their separate ways. Seishan carried the bodies of her Blood Sisters one by one, with Eunbin helping her. There were five blood sisters, as Mordret had purposely helped kill the blood sisters first and had taken the bodies of the saints for himself. After a few minutes, the two sisters carried the last three out of the throne room, leaving only Ki Song and Sunny remaining.
"How many cores do you have currently?" Ki Song asked softly from her original body.
Sunny was deeply unsettled by the question but was forced to answer nonetheless. "Six, your highness,"
"And as a result, you have six bodies," Ki Song pieced together.
Sunny silently nodded.
"Do they know?" Ki Song asked after a moment of silence. Sunny assumed she was talking about her daughters.
"That I have a divine aspect? No, your daughters don't know."
"And what about your lineage?" Ki Song slightly leaned forward.
Sunny nearly answered before he remembered that Ki Song thought he had the Shadow god lineage. "They don't know that either."
"Good, keep it that way for as long as you can." Ki Song admonished him.
Sunny knew why she said that; it was because she didn't want the dreamspawn to find out.
"Is there anything else, your highness?"
"Yes, enjoy this peace while you can, Saint Sunless, because around this time next year, I will have my saints and masters set up camps in your temple. I hoped not to have to do such a thing for the next two years, but since the assassination attempt of Changing Star, things have escalated." Ki Song slightly curled her alluring lips into a frown.
"If I am being honest, I thought it would be as soon as later this year," Sunny admitted.
"Yes, as did I, but fate just so happens to be on our side this time." She slightly smiled at him.
"That is not a lot of time, though." Sunny pointed out.
"Yes, I agree that it is not. That is all I have to ask. You are dismissed." Ki Song nodded and leaned back into her throne, staring off into the distance. Bowing to her, Sunny left the palace, covering his eyes with his arm from the harsh afternoon sunlight, and walked to the brilliant emporium.
***
One week had passed since the battle with the skinwalker, and Sunny was finishing up a memory for one of the blood sisters in his memory, half of the emporium that connected to the cafe. Sunny had just put it into a luxurious, small, black silk box when Eunbin walked in with a curious expression.
"Another memory for a customer?" She leaned against a wall to his right with a smile.
"Yeah, it's an ascended memory with only two enchantments. The first being an active enchantment that will constantly cool you off, and the second being a decrease in needing to drink water!" Sunny smiled at her.
"What is it called?" Eunbin walked around the room, looking at the various memories.
"I haven't named it yet," Sunny shrugged.
"Alright, what will you call it then?"
"I'll call it Breeze!" He smiled proudly.
Eunbin stopped in place and stared at him for a long time. "You have the worst naming sense I have ever seen in my life."
"Bah! What do you know? Do you want to try naming these things?" Sunny scoffed at her.
The nerve of this woman!
"I think I would do a lot better than you in naming them, so yes, I do want to." The Enchantress pointed a finger at him.
"Forget about it! What are you doing here anyway?" Sunny asked, putting the box down.
"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Eunbin asked
"No, why?"
"Find or make a costume by tomorrow night, it will take place here in your emporium. Aiko will tell you the rest." She began to walk away.
"What will? What are you talking about, woman?! And what do you mean tomorrow night?! Eunbin? Eunbin!" He called out to her as she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.
Why did she always tell him these things with so little notice?!
Now is the time to give any feedback or criticism on what you think of the fanfic so far!
Whether it be the story, the chemistry and interactions between characters like Sunny and Eunbin.
Speaking of them, let me know your honest thoughts on their growing relationship. Whether you think it's too slow or too fast, if their interactions feel forced or just what you think about it as a whole. (That is my main concern.)
Or tell me something you think I could work on! Or anything else about A Shadow's Song in general! Please be completely honest, I write for you all my dear readers after all and I want you to enjoy what you read.