Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2464

Chapter 2464 Palace of Imagination

Sunny remained silent for a while, contemplating, then said slowly:

"Unless… Mirage wasn't the one who created this city at all."

Effie gave him a dubious look.

"If not the great and terrible Demon of Imagination, then who? This place is literally called Mirage City, for Spell's sake."

Sunny shook his head.

"Think about it. Mirage might have created Bastion — both its true and illusory versions — but that is not all Bastion is. It has been taken by the Spell and turned into a Citadel… a Great Citadel, no less. So, just like with other Citadels, the Spell would have taken what made this place special and given its master a way to use it. Turning it into a Component."

Effie wrinkled her nose.

"I don't follow. Are you saying that I, the current master of Bastion, created Mirage City?"

Sunny shook his head again.

"No, I don't think that it was you. I think that someone has co-opted that Component of Bastion and created Mirage City in your stead."

He hesitated for a few moments, then added:

"Naturally, we don't know a lot about the Demon of Imagination. However, we know that her powers had to do with fantasies, illusions, and fanciful things — like fairytale castles rising from the clouds reflected on the surface of water. And that her hobbies included creating lakes and tinkering with mirrors."

Sunny smiled faintly.

"So, what would be hidden in the heart of her cloud castle? A awful weapon? A prison for eerie beings from the reflections? No. I think that this place — this dreadful city imprisoning millions of Others… is a playground."

Effie laughed.

"Wait, a playground? First a toy room, now a playground... is this your weird way of making up for a dull childhood?"

Sunny scoffed.

"I wish. No… but I do think that this place, the Palace of Imagination, is created to be a playground of sorts. A realm where anything Mirage imagined would become reality — just like the illusory Bastion, only devoid of permanence, capable of changing according to her every whim. Complete with beings to populate that reality and play whatever roles she wanted them to. After all, the only thing the Demon of Imagination could not create was living beings — that was something only the gods could do. Well, and Nether."

Effie leaned back and frowned.

"But… the Demon of Imagination is gone, and this playground of hers was turned into a Component of Bastion by the Nightmare Spell, thus allowing Awakened to control it."

Sunny nodded. "Only the original masters of Bastion — Warden and Anvil — never discovered the Mirror Maze, and never made it to the Palace of Imagination. Instead, someone else slipped his way here, and made this place his."

Effie's frown deepened.

"...Mordret."

Her tone was not at all enthused. In fact, Sunny had rarely heard his easygoing friend sound so somber.

He was not too happy, either.

"It was either him or Morgan. Had to be. I don't know whether they created this city consciously or if the Great Mirror simply extracted the blueprint from their subconscious, but it was definitely one of them."

Effie blinked a couple of times.

"Right. Morgan is also here, but we have no idea where either of them is…"

Sunny smirked.

"Says who? Actually, I have already located both Morgan and Mordret. Oh, I also found Saint while I was at it."

Effie blinked a few times.

"When did you… actually, never mind. Wow, Shadow Boy! You really do work fast. So fast, in fact, that it makes me wonder if you're as quick in…"

Sunny gave her chair a kick under the table, winced at the pain in his mundane foot, and said:

"Mordret is the young CEO of the Valor Group… which is a private conglomerate that basically controls the city. The politicians, the courts, the police — pretty much everyone is in their pocket, so he is all but untouchable."

Effie raised her eyebrows.

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