Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2442

Chapter 2442 Self-Sufficient Cycle

"...And so, I cleaved the Snow Tyrant's head clean off."

He finished the description of the battle with a thoughtful expression, looking at the stars burning in the cold black sky beyond the window.

"I think that it was mostly lying through its teeth to confuse me — well, actually, I don't think that it had a mouth, so it was lying through whatever it had instead of teeth. Puppeteer was definitely not as immune to the madness of Corruption as it presented itself, at least. As for the rest…"

He frowned.

"...Maybe there was some truth to what it said, after all. Even if it twisted the meaning of it all entirely to sow seeds of doubt into my mind."

Speaking of which, Sunny had felt a few of those still growing in his heart after returning from Ariel's Game — soon to give birth to larval Worm's of Doubt, certainly. He poisoned them with Death Will and obliterated them completely, shivering in fear and disgust, then asked Nephis to purify him with her radiant flames just in case. Kai underwent the same cleansing.

That did the job, preventing the Puppeteer from infecting the world with its sinister malice from beyond the grave. Things could have gone differently if it had met a less paranoid — and well-informed — adversary.

There was silence in the council chamber for a while.

Then, Nephis said in a contemplative tone:

"Actually, I'm inclined to believe at least one thing the moth told you."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Which one?"

She looked into the distance, a distant expression on her beautiful face.

"What it said about the Flame waning. If you think about it… that is only natural, no?"

Sunny studied her carefully.

"I'm not sure. Natural? How so?"

Nephis let out a light sigh.

"Our world was created by the gods, who were born from the Flame of Desire. But a flame does indeed need fuel to burn — it cannot exist in a vacuum. So, what fuel was there for the Flame of Desire to burn, all those eons ago, before time even existed?"

Sunny tilted his head a little, confused by her words.

'What fuel...'

Then, his eyes widened slightly.

What else could there have been, in the eternity before time existed?

He whispered:

"The… Void?"

Nephis nodded.

"That would make sense. An everlasting, endless source of fuel for an immortal, inexhaustible flame."

Her eyes flared with a promise of white flames, as well.

"But there was also an irrevocable conflict between the ever-changing Void and the eternally constant Desire. So, the gods waged a war against the Void and eventually imprisoned it… separating the Flame from the Void by nothing. Now, the Flame burns in a vacuum, deprived of its fuel... of its source. So, the Flame is waning, and at the same time, the Flame is sustaining itself, by itself... from itself."

Cassie spoke at that moment, her voice sounding soft in the silence of the council chamber:

"But it does sustain itself. It's a closed, self-sufficient cycle. We are all a part of the Flame, and our own desires fuel it. The Puppeteer tried its hardest to paint that truth as something vile and appalling, but I think it's the opposite. To me, it seems… it seems beautiful. A flame that ensures itself, burning brightly with human striving and longing..."

She faced them and smiled hesitantly.

"Don't you think so?"

Nephis looked at the stars, while Sunny shrugged.

"Well, we are indeed of the Flame — of this vast and strange existence the gods created. So the Puppeteer's whole argument was meaningless behind its sophistry, since he was trying to convince me that being destroyed and consumed by the Void is a better alternative to being alive… simply because being alive is not all sunshine and roses."

He scoffed.

"I don't know about you, but sunshine is overrated… I'd much rather relax in the shade. And as far as roses go, most of the flowers I encountered in my life had tried to either eat me, shred me to pieces with their thorns, or get their pollen into my body to use it as fertilizer — none of which is conducive to being alive, as it happens."

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