Nephis opened her eyes.
She didn't know exactly when she had gone to sleep. Weirdly enough, she felt that her bed was more comfortable than on the other days. The constant voices of those billions of people that belonged to her domain could not be heard, making her head feel light.
Such relaxation did not take too long to dissipate. She was a Supreme Titan, like any awakened, she had been forged in countless battles where death's breath could be felt behind her all the time. So, there was no way to not notice those incongruities.
This was not her bed, hers was bigger to accommodate her nights with Sunny. It was not more comfortable, that was just an illusion cast by her burdenless mind.
That led to the other incongruity. She could not feel her domain or even her own essence.
'I can't use my Will either. What is going on?'
She tried to contact Cassie. Nothing.
She tried to summon a memory. Nothing.
She tried to wield Blessing. Well, at the very least, Blessing was still with her, albeit in its bracelet form, seemingly impossible to change to any other form.
Nephis breathed deeply and looked around the room she now found herself in.
It was a white room with a few black furniture pieces, but mostly white. It didn't have much. There was a bed, a closet, and a table.
A single note was placed on the table.
Nephis stared at it for a moment before deciding to pick it up and read it.
'Greetings, Star of Ruin, I am the Mask. You have been brought here for a very interesting topic. You should consult the details with Miss Song of the Fallen, I left the full explanation in her subconscious. If you leave through the door, you will find a corridor full of doors that resemble yours, inside those rooms are some of your subjects. Make sure to greet them.'
This person, Mask. It clearly possessed great power. To be able to not only kidnap her but also seal her capabilities to such an extent.
For now, she decided that she needed to find Cassie and get the so-called details from her.
Nephis left the note on the table and watched it slowly turn to glimmering dust. She then turned towards the door and walked out.
The first sensation that hit her was the bright light of a chandelier at the center of the corridor.
The second one was what seemed to be a sliver of her domain, or rather, a singular individual that belonged to it.
Cassie.
The blind seer was outside a door, seemingly waiting for her.
"Neph."
"Cassie, I suppose you do have the details 'The Mask' gave you?"
"I do."
Cassie hesitated for a moment and "looked" around as if inspecting the place. Eventually, she sighed and turned towards Nephis' position.
"Apparently, this is what the Mask calls its greatest project."
Nephis' brows rose up.
"Project?"
"Yes. The Mask called it the 'Exposing the Fateless One Project'. It is quite a straightforward title, if I do say so myself."
The word echoed in Nephis' mind, making her pause.
"Who is the Fateless One? And what does it entail to be fateless?"
"A fateless being... well, I suppose you know about what happened to Fate after our Third Nightmare?"
"Yes. It was turned into shambles, preventing you or any seer from properly using their abilities."
"Indeed."
Cassie stayed silent for a moment, as if weighing the pros and cons of speaking further.
"There was something that I didn't tell you, though."
"Hm?"
After returning from her stay in the Dream Realm and her Second Nightmare, Nephis had grown accustomed to Cassie no longer revealing her prophecies, it was clear they were a clear burden for her, even more than they were before.
And so, Nephis never pressured Cassie to give an answer every time she needed one. So, she was pleasantly surprised when she decided to reveal a piece of information that she had withheld before.
"I'm not sure about other seers. But I was able to tell what had happened to the tapestry of fate. There was a hole, a man-shaped void in existence. Someone had become fateless, and they were so important to it that the whole tapestry collapsed without their existence."
Nephis listened silently.
"Of course, becoming fateless is not something one accomplishes without sacrifice. Nephis, you are very proficient in True Names, so you surely know how one's existence is tied to it, including to their fate. What happens when one loses their fate, their True Name? They become a void to everyone, and regardless of past moments, they would become free of everything."
Nephis's eyes widened. She remembered the lack of memories she and the rest of the cohort possessed after their Third Nightmare and the elusive published work that described in such detail the inside of the Tomb of Ariel and the River of Time.
"Nobody."
"Yes, Nobody is Fateless."
Nephis stayed silent for a moment and then asked.
"Cassie, do you know who Nobody is?"
Cassie sighed.
"I do. I was also prohibited from telling anyone by Mask. According to them, it will become pretty clear once the 'Viewings' comence."
For a moment, Nephis let herself doubt if Cassie was telling the truth and was instead trying to cover the full extent of her knowledge.
She decided to trust her friend regardless.
At that moment, one of the doors close to hers opened. From the room, three people were leaving. They were Effie and her husband, along with their son, Ling.
Seeing Nephis, the Nameless Awakened briefly nodded and gestured to Ling to greet her and Cassie, not that he needed anyone to say it.
"Hello Auntie Princess! Hello, Auntie Cassie!"
Effie did not lose any time either.
"'Sup Princess, and Cassie. So, do any of you actually know what exactly this is?"
Nephis organized the new information in her head before answering.
"A sort of event hosted by an entity called The Mask. They want us to react to some viewing in order to 'expose' a person that is Fateless, that is, the one we can't remember since our Third Nightmare."
Effie fell silent.
"Damn. So, when exactly are we going to react?"
"We are going to wait until everyone leaves their rooms, inform everyone here about the situation, and then head towards the other end of the corridor, where a viewing area is prepared."
"Neat. I hope there is food at least."
All eyes set upon her, Nephis' and Cassie's was a look of exasperation, while Ling's was a look of agreement, her husband just looked amused with his wife.
It didn't take long for another two doors to open. From them Kai and Jet walked out.
Like Effie, they also asked for an explanation.
"Geez. And I thought things couldn't get even crazier after my last adventure. Now there is an entity capable of suppressing a Supreme and more than a handful of Saints, and not only that, we are finally uncovering the mystery behind our missing memories. This will be a wild ride, I can already tell."
"Well, at the very least we won't have to face Cursed abominations, or a fake city, or an army of immortal beings. Hm, maybe I shouldn't jinx it."
Effie said while scratching the back of her head.
"Talking about those 'incredible' experiences, where is Sunny?"
At the mention of Humanity's Second Sovereign and old/new friend, the group fell silent.
Nephis decided to break the silence.
"I believe the only ones here are the members of my domain, therefore, Sunny won't be here, I think."
It was a little early to tell for certain, but Nephis believed that each domain had been separated if all the domains had been brought here.
From what she could understand, the only ones she would meet were people from her domain, and therefore those that belonged to the Shadow Clan wouldn't appear.
If the Shadow Domain was still going to watch the exposure of the Fateless One, then they had been separated, and Sunny was most likely with them in the same way she was with hers.
As she was thinking, several doors opened, revealing several recognizable faces.
Nephis could see Morgan, the Song sisters, Saint Tyris, and Saint Roan along with their daughter.
She recognized other faces as well, like Saint Nightwalker and some other members of the House of Night. She could see Ling's teacher, Professor Julius.
In the end, there were mostly the ones that were easy for her to recognize.
Not only because of their power but also because of the closeness they had with people around her.
Changing Star did not let herself become lost in thought and began to explain the situation.
The situation seemed grim, of course. It was easy to see that there was nothing for any of them to do other than to follow the Mask's wishes and whims.
That sense of powerlessness might have affected a normal person terribly, but everyone here was an Awakened, and not only that, most of them, the exceptions being Professor Julius, Telle, and Effie's husband, were Saints!
They had seen horrors that mundane people could not comprehend and survived to see another such horror.
The sense of powerlessness was a familiar feeling, one that no matter how strong they became, they could never forget, after all, there was always a bigger fish.
Even in a reality where there were three Supremes to fight off the threats of Great and Cursed Abominations, the sense of desperation and powerlessness plagued those that were high up in the hierarchy to understand that victory was uncertain, no matter how peaceful times seemed nowadays.
And so, they all accepted the condition they were in pretty easily.
After the explanation, they made their way towards the end that opposed her room's, at the other end of the corridor.
Above it, a simple sign could be read.
[Longing Room]
It was obviously referring to her Longing Domain. It seemed that her theory was correct, there should be a "Shadow Room" as well where Sunny and the Shadow Clan were present.
That eased her heart slightly.
She opened the door and stepped inside.
The room beyond the door was big. It reminded Nephis of a movie theater, with rows upon rows of seats and a wide screen encompassing the entirety of the wall to where the seats faced.
The screen was on, a single instruction projected onto it.
[Take your seats, The Mask of Longing will speak with you soon.]
Nephis looked at the message for a while before walking towards a seat that was in the last row.
The reason for that was really simple.
That seat that was present in the last row's center was not a normal seat but a throne.
A stone throne that reminded Nephis of the Ivory Tower's white walls.
As she took her seat, everyone took their seats as well.
Cassie sat beside her, to her right, while Jet sat to her left.
Kai sat a little further down, and as soon as he sat, Morgan sat beside him, carefully placing her hands in her lap.
Effie sat along with her husband and son around the center of the theater.
Professor Julius sat beside Little Ling, the man seemed to be explaining to him the concept of a movie theater, the child eagerly listening.
The Song sisters sat all together, not in a single line, some a row above and others a row below, occupying seats in three different rows.
As soon as they sat...
... a figure came out of the screen.
It was a humanoid silhouette adorned by a white mask with an expression that seemed to resemble desire and longing.
Welcome, Longing Domain.
I am The Mask of Longing, a subordinate to my Master, The Mask.
A distorted voice was heard all around them, as if the masked silhouette was all around them instead of in front of them.
As it was already explained. My Master's plan is to expose the journey of the Fateless One. However, merely putting you in a room would be pretty boring, so he decided to leave it more entertaining.
First in the list is to explain the rooms.
As some of you might've guessed, there are other rooms besides this one. They are-
The screen changed, showing what seemed to be several rooms and masks.
The Longing Room, supervised by ME, The Mask of Longing.
Then the Shadow Room, supervised by The Mask of Death, where the members of the Shadow Domain are.
Then the Room of Nothing, supervised by The Mask of Nothing, is accompanying the King of Nothing and his Flaw.
Then there is the Nightmare Room, supervised by The Mask of Nightmares, where people from the various Nightmares of the Fateless One will watch his journey beyond their nightmares.
And lastly, the Alter Room, supervised by The Alter Mask, where different versions of people from the other rooms, including other versions of the Fateless One, will watch your reality and compare theirs to yours.
Any questions so far?
The audience stayed silent, digesting the information.
Nephis sighed.
She was right. The domains had been separated, and so had their Sovereigns. But not all Sovereigns were present.
The Dreamspawn was not present.
Nephis couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. Who knew what kind of things they were going to learn while watching Nobody, a fateless being.
Still, the presence of the Nightmare and Alter Room unsettled her. If Nobody had been someone that belonged to their cohort during their Third Nightmare, would Ananke be there? Would the Plagues be there?
And the Alter Room, what kind of versions were there? Different versions of her, of Sunny, of Cassie, and, obviously, different versions of their enemies, like Aster, Song, and Vale.
It seems that there are no questions. Or are you all so afraid of me?
Then, next topic: Themes and Such.
Every day, you will watch a varying amount of "Viewings" that belong to a theme. That theme can be simply the Fateless One discovering or improving his Aspect Legacy or reading the descriptions of memories, or a theme could also be a reference to a specific point in time.
Themes can be grouped into what The Mask calls a "Volume".
The first volume you are going to watch is called [Child of Shadows].
And the first theme is [Humble Beginnings].
Before you see the Viewings that belong to this theme and therefore the ones that you will be watching today, there is something else that needs to be explained.
Any questions about the Themes?
The group stayed silent. The explanation was simple enough and easy to understand.
Some of them were actually interested in the volume's name, [Child of Shadows], mostly because of its similarity to the title of certain Masked Supreme.
...
No questions? Then the last thing to explain is competition.
At the end of every day's viewings, each room will participate in a competition against the other rooms for certain benefits. These benefits go from small luxuries to certain pieces of extra information that are going to be useful not just for exposing the Fateless One, but also for future endeavors.
At the promise of benefits, it was normal for some individuals of the audience to perk up their ears.
These competitions are no biggie, with rules varying depending on the game that you will be playing, with one single rule that exists in every single one: those who participated in the previous game cannot participate for the next two games.
The masked figure clapped its hands.
Now that is out of the way, it is time for you to know what you are about to watch.
The screen shifted images at incredible speeds until it stopped at what seemed to be three cards.
[Volume: Child of Shadows]
[Theme: Humble Beginnings]
["Unnecessary Blood"]
[Description: A to-be slave worked hard for a single goal. One could say it was the only time in its life, past and future, that it would ever hold such conviction.
To save its blood.
But the poor slave could not see, not until it showed directly on its young face.
He was never needed.
]
[Actors: Promise of a Distant Sky | -Unknown-]
*-*-*-*
["Black Mountain"]
[Description: A nameless slave ascended the Black Mountain.
Both heroes and monsters fell by his hand.
Unbroken, he entered the ruined temple of a long-forgotten god and spilled his blood on the sacred altar.
The gods were dead, and yet they listened.]
[Actors: -Unknown-]
-*-*-*-
["Fated Encounters"]
[Description: A shadow woke up from a long nightmare.
As it awoke, he encountered a wraith, a nephilim, and a seer.
Were those encounters mere encounters?
Or were they Fated to meet.]
[Actors: -Unknown- | Soul Reaper | Star of Ruin | Song of the Fallen]
**
Author's Note: A Shadow Slave Fanfic, a reaction fanfic to be exact. Needless to say, characters do not belong to me but to the author of Shadow Slave, Guiltythree. Hope you like it :)
Check out my original Novel: Fake Game