Shadow Slave

Chapter 2521: Broken Mirror

Mordret remained silent for a while. Eventually, he sighed and glanced up, at the colorful windows of the abandoned church... the church of Mirage, the Demon of Imagination.

As if mourning the illusion of her creation that he was choosing to forsake.

Still looking up, he spoke in a wistful tone: “We were four when our father handed us to the Dreamspawn. That was soon after America fell, and both Immortal Flame and his daughter perished. Father... wasn't quite himself back then. Not that I remember it well."

Mordret hesitated for a few moments.

"I... don't think he ever liked us that much, even if I don't know why. Granted, we were indeed a strange child — in more senses than one. We were born with a rare condition that reversed the location of our organs, for example. And we did not learn to speak for a long while, unlike normal children. In fact, it wasn't long after we spoke our first word that we became the Dreamspawn's ward."

Morgan smiled darkly.

"I don't think you should be worried on that account. Our father did not really like anyone that much, an odd child or not." Mordret gave her a furtive glance.

"In any case... they were both mere Masters back then. I spent a couple of years with the Dreamspawn and his followers in the waking world. We moved a lot, exploring all four Quadrants and South America. We even went on an expedition to Europe, exploring the ruins of old human cities. Then, after the Dreamspawn became Transcendent, he took me to the Dream Realm. I haven't been to the waking world since."

Morgan leaned forward a little.

“What was he like? The Dreamspawn?" Mordret lingered with the answer, then shook his head.

"He was strangely detached, but full of curiosity. Determined, driven... as if searching for something. Everything on Earth seemed to amuse him a little. Looking back, there were too many strange things both about him and about his followers — but I did not know any better. For me, that was simply how things were. I just... languished because of his indifference, and longed for his attention."

He sighed.

"In the Dream Realm, it was often just the two of us. The Dreamspawn had a Citadel and Awakened retainers, but he spent most of his time exploring ancient ruins in the faraway regions of the Dream Realm... and he took me with him. Me and his most loyal servants, that was — some of them were Echoes of Nightmare Creatures, some of them were Echoes of people. A quiet bunch, to say the least."

Mordret smiled bitterly.

“Back then, I convinced myself that he took me with him because he cared about me above everyone else. And he did — just not in the way I believed. I was simply too valuable to be entrusted to anyone. Because there was something he needed from me." He glanced down.

“In any way, eventually, I turned twelve and faced my First Nightmare. That was when I gained my Aspect and my Flaw, and was shattered into seven pieces."

Mordret inhaled deeply.

“We were seven shards of the same person. Each of us inherited some aspects of the original Mordret, but none of us was... whole. We were all incomplete. Missing parts that we remembered, but did not possess or were capable of anymore."

His gaze grew distant.

Mordret remained silent for a while, then exhaled slowly.

“Who knows? Maybe if things had turned out differently, we could have learned to live that way. We could have learned to rely on each other and make up for what the other ones lacked. We could have acted as a single person who possessed the strength of seven, and the companionship of his missing parts."

His expression turned somber.

".But that was not meant to be. Once we conquered the Nightmare, the Dreamspawn took what he needed from us — the blood of War God — and abandoned us callously. He did it easily and emotionlessly, as if we never mattered to him at all. And so, we were left alone. That was when my... other self made his choice" Ɍ𝒶ƝοʙЕṡ

Mordret glanced away with a regretful expression.

"Instead of learning how to live with the rest of us, he decided to make himself whole — as whole as he could be. So, he killed the rest"

A dead silence settled in the abandoned church.

Morgan stared at Mordret, her face pale. She did not say anything for a long while, and then asked, a hint of a bewildered smile appearing on her face:

"So, when you were twelve... one of your slaughtered the others?"

Mordret nodded slowly.

“It sounds like a decision that only a monster can make, but please understand. All of us were limited by what we were still capable of feeling, thinking, and being. And he... he was not the most compassionate piece of us. He was the strongest, though, and best-suited to be a protector."

Mordret sighed.

"Perhaps he did protect us, in a way. Ina cruel, terrible way. He killed the other five and absorbed them, regaining as many parts of the original Mordret as he could and coming very close to becoming a complete person once again. However... he could not kill me. Not because he was incapable of overpowering me, but simply because one of the parts of the original Mordret I inherited was our death."

Mordret closed his eyes for a moment.

“If I die, we all die... but you must have realized that already. That was why you tried to kill me, wasn't it, Morgan? In any case, that saved me back then. I was the weakest and most vulnerable of us — there are many things I lack, and their absence renders me all but harmless. Which is a death sentence in this world we live in, more or less. So, it is quite ironic that it was I who inherited our death. Almost as ironic as our protector killing us all."

He smiled faintly.

"He must have given you a reason to want to kill him, but please understand. He is still not a complete person, you see. He has regained much of what a human should possess, but not all of it. There is one missing part in particular that lies at the root of what he has become... one small deficiency that influences everything else."

Morgan raised an eyebrow.

“And that is?"

Mordret sighed.

"It's regret. While I am capable of feeling it, my other self is not. He is incapable of regretting anything, and like the first domino, that one missing piece causes much of his claim to being a real human to crumble."

He glanced at Morgan with a sad smile.

“But he... he still wanted to come to Bastion. To find his home again. To belong somewhere again. And he did — he just made sure to hide me somewhere where no one would be able to find me first. So, he hid me under Bastion, in this place."

Mordret rubbed his face tiredly.

“And here we are."