Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2070

A shattered moon shone upon a shattered castle. The castle had always been a ruin, but now it was reduced to rubble. The rubble used to be surrounded by a deep lake, but now, the lake was gone.

Its bottom had been revealed, in all its mystery and horror.

Standing on the mound of debris that had once been a great rampart, Kai was looking down. Far below him, ancient ruins glistened in the pale moonlight. They were covered in mud and seaweed, but he could still recognize the shapes of beautiful stone edifices and smaller buildings beneath the mud.

The castle stood on a mountain, and there was a prosperous and sprawling city surrounding the mountain… or had been, once.

Others would not see, but Kai did. Buried in the mud, hidden in the darkness of the ancient buildings… there were human bones. There were too many of them to count. Myriads of skulls were staring at him with empty gazes, as if blaming him for being alive.

Millions of people must have perished here once, a long time ago. Some of the skeletons were intact, and some were crushed. He did not know what had killed the inhabitants of the ancient city, but whatever it was, their deaths had been sudden and brutal.

Perhaps it was the great flood that had drowned the city, burying it under the mass of water for thousands of years.

Perhaps the great flood had happened on the same day the moon had been shattered.

Looking at the drowned city that sprawled across the entire basin of the lake, Kai wondered if there was a similar ruin at the bottom of the real Mirror Lake.

No… this was the real Mirror Lake. The Bastion he was familiar with was merely an illusion.

It was still strange to think about that.

Letting out a heavy sigh, he looked away from the ruins of the ancient city and turned his gaze to the sky.

The shattered moon was always the same, and Kai knew better than to stare at it too much. It could not tell him anything about time, anyway… however,he knew that there was going to be a full moon in the illusory version of Bastion today.

Which meant that, for a short time, reality and illusion would overlap a little, allowing for passage from one to another.

...Which meant that if Mordret wanted to infiltrate the capital of the Sword Domain, he had to do it today. There would be another battle, without a doubt… and a much more ferocious one than all the previous ones.

If that was even possible.

The ruin of the castle had not been turned to rubble without a reason, after all, and the bottom of the lake was not revealed by accident. For the past month, Kai and the other Saints whom Morgan of Valor had recruited were battling the Prince of Nothing in this dreamlike land, slowly changing the very landscape of true Bastion.

Even the ancient forest on the other side of the hollow lake was now charred and devastated, its outer edges burned to ash.

The bitter clash between the children of the King of Swords had been like a cataclysm, eroding the very land that was supposed to be their birthright. Looking at the scene of utter devastation surrounding him, Kai could not help but feel relieved that Morgan had decided to hide the illusory Bastion away and repel her brother's siege in this desolate place. Otherwise, the loss of life would have been more unbearable than during the Southern Campaign.

He had not seen a battle that calamitous yet… except maybe for the siege of Verge, where they had faced the Defiled Legion and the abominable First Seeker. That one, he still saw in his nightmares sometimes.

Miraculously, the defenders of Bastion had held their ground for an entire month. It was partially due to their own resolve and prowess, partially due to how tenacious Morgan of Valor and enchanted body were, and partially due to sheer luck.

But mostly, it was because of the battlefield she had chosen.

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