The Villain's Story

A lightless void where my eyes could not see, a void where my body existed but did not, where my soul lay bare, witnessed only by a single being.

The source of the void, and its only inhabitant. A being I could see, albeit only from below… somehow. Veiled in obscurity unlike any other, I could not perceive his features at all. All I knew, was that he existed, and the only thing I could process was a small golden light, barely escaping his clenched fist.

An urge to kneel overtook me, but I thought.

‘How must I kneel?’

For I had nobody here… I was but… I was but… a shadow, looking up at the Lord of Shadows, The Warden of the Forgotten, The Shade king, and the most elusive supreme being to exist.

Kulak, the Supreme Dragon of Shadows, the Guide after the end, and the second son of death herself.

I could see him, through my shadow, and I realized that… I could see myself. My own being, standing still over me, like a statue as the Lord merely sat on his throne.

I wanted to go there, I wanted to become a part of his throne, there was an urge I couldn’t explain, and somehow, I overcame it.

It was composed of so many shadows, each a loyal servant to their Lord, his only subjects in this lightless void.

A voice escaped my shadow, as my body stood still, frozen in this… void.

I could speak, even though I was but an ethereal being, a product of light stopped by a solid object—a construct of mana unlike any other.

I could talk, I could see, and I could feel. Furthermore, I could feel his stare as he looked into my soul and asked a simple question.

[Are you confused?]

This wasn’t anything like Lanesha, A bored monarch in her dark and cold palace, a Queen who wanted to see her proclaimed son in the flesh, a lofty monarch with a hint of kindness.

It was at that moment I felt as if I was standing before a true supreme being.

I couldn’t describe the feeling… I always knew supreme beings were powerful, but perhaps Lanesha’s attitude had lessened the impact of that Knowledge.

They stood at the top of the Universe, above the levels of Epic, Legendary, Mythic and Divine, beings who harnessed the powers of the elements to a level no one other than them could fathom.

The strongest, the most powerful, those who stood at the peak. That was a supreme being… and Lanesha had never managed to make me feel this way.

Like he was a speck of dust standing at something he couldn’t even see fully, This was a supreme.

But as time passed by, I began to grow… at ease. The pressure lessened, and I felt as if I was more in control. I looked up once more, but now I was no longer a shadow, but in my own body again.

I floated down, losing my balance in this lightless void, only for a tide of shadows to come to my aid, supporting my body.

Furthermore, I gazed at Kulak, the Supreme Dragon of Shadows, but there was no obscurity masking his figure anymore. There was no veil through which I could not perceive… It had vanished.

Before me stood a towering man, with skin as dark as the night and long hair as bright as the moon, iris of pure black but pupils of glowing white light. Twin horns of shadows emerging from his temples, appearing like liquid fire that joined the shadows that formed his throne.

[Mother tried to hide you from me.]

His voice, much like his face, was charming. The way he rested his chin on his hand, and the way he sat on his throne, relaxed as if nothing could threaten him, exuded an aura unlike any other. The right that a Supreme being held, the very essence of Supremacy itself.

Untouchable.

“What do you mean?”

[She cast magic on you to hide who you think you are. The calamity we have been facing for so long.]

“…”

I couldn’t help but repeat myself.

“What do you mean?”

What did he mean by that…?

[Are you confused?]

I took a deep breath and nodded.

Kulak smiled, but that smile disappeared the instant he looked at my eyes. I couldn’t help but notice the sorrow in his eyes, and a deep longing I didn’t know the source of.

And I couldn’t help but be drawn towards the light emitted from the gaps of his fingers, the golden light trapped in his fist.

‘No…’

It wasn’t trapped… It was fading; every second that passed by, the golden light was beginning to fade. Likewise, it was disappearing, but Kulak was keeping it alive. He was the one who stubbornly remembered the origin of that golden.

‘What?’

How do I know this? What is happening? What is this knowledge?

[We all are… aren’t we?]

He smiled as he opened his fist, looking at the fading crystal of gold with emotions I couldn’t describe. I didn’t even know of them; I had never experienced them.

[Such a terrifying skill, to bring upon the worst death known to man, to cut you from the weave of fate itself. A skill that banishes one to a place so unforgiving.]

What is he talking about…?

[You possess it, you possess both of their unique skills… and one of your own as well.]

He stood up from his lightless throne and walked towards me. The gold crystal began to bring light into this void. The Lightless void knew of light, and it came from something its master held so dearly in his hand.

[Tell me.]

He lowered his head and looked me right in the eye as he asked a single question.

[What do you think you overcame down there?]

I instinctively thought of the fight with the Shadow I had below, in the Realm of Shadows, the Shadow of… the shadow of…

What did I beat down there?