It had been months, or perhaps the better part of a year, but regardless not much time at all since Vanessa Tang had been sent into torpor at the hands of a ragtag group of followers of Vladislaus Straud. They had shown up without warning on a special night for the young woman, messing the whole thing up royally and just altogether making a mess of things. Vanessa was still reeling.

But things were getting better.

It was just after four in the afternoon. Her eyes flung open with an urgency she had not experienced in years. The feeling was terrifying, it reminded her of attacks of manic energy she’d had in her younger days. In those days, it had been wild and uncontrolled, spiraling downwards into a sleeplessness that had landed her in the hospital. Days had melted into nights and dream had become nightmare. But here? There was no hospital. Just the unyielding hand of a disapproving master. And that, she would not test.

She had an idea. A crazy idea, but fresh and untamed. Might she, in this hour of twilight, look upon the sunset?

She didn’t bother dressing. No, time was of the essence. If she remembered her high school science well enough, the thick cushion of atmosphere might protect her from the damaging photons from the sun. It was certainly chancing it but how else could one learn the limits of one’s abilities?

She lived in a warehouse deep in the bowels of Brooklyn. Surely the sun would be visible from the upper floors. She imagined the sky, inky and blue, darkening with the gradual descent of the sun.

But it was only a picture within her mind’s eye at this point. She had been what her master dubbed a late riser, not rising to the night’s motion until well after the sun had sunken behind the horizon. And her master had bid her to sleep far before the earliest threats of sunrise.

VANESSA

PERHAPS HE JUST WANTED TO KEEP ME SAFE.


But today, something within her yearned to test the boundaries of what was possible. She would see if she could see the sunset and that was that.

She would take a winding path through the warehouse to avoid her (mostly) human roommate Avaelle. There was something off about that woman that she just couldn’t place.

The hallways were empty. She whispered to herself.

VANESSA

THERE’S NOTHING HOLDING ME BACK.


At last, she reached the top floor. It was a huge, sprawling room, decorated with little else than a collection of dour chairs.

In the corner was a ladder to the roof. She undelicately climbed the rungs and tried the hatch.

VANESSA

BINGO.


She pushed it open and peeked her head outside.

She did not burst into flame but she did see something she did not expect.

Master Trelaine.

Hatch now open, she quickly turned into a bat and reappeared at his side. He was staring quietly into the sinking sun.

VANESSA

MASTER, I…

TRELAINE

GOOD EVENING, MY CHILDE.


He has known to find her here.

TRELAINE

YOU TOOK A RISK TO COME HERE TONIGHT.

GOOD GIRL.


His praise warmed her heart more than any old sunset could do. It was so rare to come her way, though she suspected Avaelle might have found herself on its receiving end on more than one occasion.

But she tried to put jealousy out of her mind.

TRELAINE

YOU ARE SURPRISED THAT THE RAYS OF THE SUN ARE NOT DAMAGING YOUR FLESH.

YOU SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED.

OUR TIME IS RISING.

THE REIGN OF THE FALSE GODS WILL COME TO AN END.

I HAVE COME TO SPEAK TO YOU OF SOMETHING IMPORTANT, SOMETHING I’VE NOT YET BEEN ABLE TO DO.

BUT YOU ARE READY.

SAY IT WITH ME.

YOU ARE READY.

VANESSA

I AM READY.

TRELAINE

DO YOU RECALL THE POET WE HAD PREPARED FOR YOU TO ABSORB?

VANESSA

OF COURSE I DO, MASTER.

THAT RIGHT WAS DENIED ME BY THAT BITCH–

TRELAINE

DO NOT SPEAK HER NAME.

IT IS NOT IMPORTANT.

IT IS A SETBACK, BUT ONE WE WILL ENDURE.

DO YOU KNOW WHY WE WENT TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM AND BROUGHT HER TO YOU?

VANESSA

NO, MASTER.

I TRUSTED IN YOUR PROCESS AND I DID NOT QUESTION WHY YOU CHOSE HER.

TRELAINE

IT IS TIME YOU UNDERSTOOD.

VANESSA

I AM READY.

TRELAINE

YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT I FIND MY INSPIRATION FROM THE PATH OF SHADOW.

IT IS A MEDITATION ON DARKNESS AND NOTHINGNESS THAT FEW TRULY UNDERSTAND.

IT TAKES ABSOLUTE SILENCE AND ACCEPTANCE TO FIND THE TRUTH OFFERED BY THE PATH OF SHADOW.

THERE ARE COUNTLESS WORLDS THAT HAVE PERISHED IN THE ALL-CONSUMING BLACKNESS OF SPACE.

SHOULD WE NOT TRY TO GLEAN THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH THEY’VE SEEN AT THE END OF TIME?

VANESSA

IS THAT WHAT HUMANS CALL NIHILISM?

TRELAINE

YOU ARE WISE TO MAKE THE COMPARISON.

YES, MANY MORTALS HAVE BEGUN TO GLIMPSE THE WISDOM AT THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY.

VANESSA

DOES TRENTE GAGARIN FOLLOW THE PATH OF SHADOW?

TRELAINE

SHE DOESN’T YET, BUT SHE WILL.

SHE JUST NEEDS TIME.

BUT I DIGRESS.

DO YOU KNOW WHY I WANTED YOU TO ANNIHILATE THE POET JIA HUA?

VANESSA

NO, I DO NOT.

TRELAINE

IN MY MEDITATIONS, I MADE A PREDICTION.

I PREDICTED A RISE OF BLASPHEMERS IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM, LED BY THIS WOMAN JIA HUA.

VANESSA

HOW WOULD THEY BLASPHEME?

TRELAINE

SHE AND HER FOLLOWERS, LIKE THE TRAITOROUS STRAUD, WOULD PROCLAIM THE DOMINANCE OF THEIR DREAM AS RECEIVED VISIONS FROM THE SOLAR WARLORDS, THE EIGEN.


At the mention of the name, Vanessa broke out into a vicious, animalistic hiss.

TRELAINE

YES, WE MUST FIGHT THOSE SPIRITS AND FORCE THEM TO RETURN TO THEIR EXILE.

VANESSA

THE… EIGEN?

HOW ARE WE TO FIGHT THEM?

BY WHAT MEANS?

TRELAINE

WE WILL FIGHT THEM BY FIGHTING THEIR FALSE DREAM.

WE HAVE STILL SUCCEEDED BY SEPARATING THE POET FROM HER FOLLOWERS IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.

BY FINDING HERSELF IN THE TRAITOR’S COTERIE, SHE WILL SUFFER HIS MISOGYNY AND LANGUISH IN OBSCURITY.

MY ONLY LAMENT IS THAT YOU WERE NOT ABLE TO ABSORB THE ANCIENT KNOWLEDGES OF YOUR ORIGIN COUNTRY.

VANESSA

IT IS FINE, MASTER.

THERE WILL BE OTHER VICTIMS.

TRELAINE

YES, INDEED, MY CHILDE.