《Revenge of the Shadow God》


 Prologue: Shadows Awaken

    Shadow God''s POV


    I shifted in the shadows, my conscious is stirring, my eyes incline upwards, slowly, steadily till I can see my palace. Everything was the same yet everything was off.


    I can see the arching castle walls made of bone and black clay, the wide bleak windows infused with pictures of tortured souls, rows and rows of buttresses decorated with tiled scales of dragons.  The gates made 20 meters tall, inlaid with obsidian, garnets, amethyst, sapphires, emeralds, and cobalt.  Standing spires that pierce the sky.


    Everything was in ruins, time was not kind and it reclaimed my domain as it''s own.


    The place was stained with blood, the remnants of holy energy and divine blessings covered the area like a fog. Corpses of my underlings laid scattered, open for predators, scavengers and thieves to plunder my homeland.


    The sight made me boil in anger. Oh Goddess of Light you have undermine me again, yet once more I have done nothing to deserve this kind of punishment.


    Not once, in all my existence have I created an army to go and subjugate your beloved "humans", nor have I cast any major curses that plague the histories of humanity.


    Always from time and time again have your fellow humans have trespassed my domain, slaughter my people, create crazy schemes to conquer the world then blame it on me just because you brainwash them to believe that "Shadows are evil, subjugate anyone who follows it"


    I have stood by and withstood this type of annoyance for thousands of years,


    I have stood by while you initiated the demon subjugation quest world wide.


    Ignored how you enslaved my people.


    Forgave the fact  major scuffle of plaguing my lands with magic bombs and diseases.


    But defacing my place of residence and going as far as to paint it with the blood of my servants.... you have gone to far.


    I wandered into my throne room and  I see below my throne was a stone table of eight seats, each of them a different color.  Three of the eight was dim and cracked, a pillar of orange light behind one, a pillar of yellow light behind another, and a purple light behind the last.


    " Madra, Thorn, and Sable" I said to the three seats, the pillar of lights dimmed slightly and three figures emerged from them.


    A young adult, with red-orange hair dressed in a long maid outfit, on her back were two giant cleavers.  A women with no clothing, but scales covered her legs, her lower body, and tail. Feathers covered her arms, neck and her chest area, large claws were on her hands and feet. A middle-age gentleman with a sinister mask on his face, in his hands a crystal orb that glinted with malice.


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    The three of them crouched down and murmured "Mi''lord, you called to us"


    I gave them an indifferent look and answered them. "You three have died, may you inform me of what has come to past while I have slumbered." I asked them and the one called Sable spoke up.


    "Mi''lord. When you have entered your slumber the Goddess of Light, Iara gave a divine revelation to assault and plunder the castle, with explicit orders to slay the Council of 8 that serve under you.


    Such news reach our ears and the Council has decided to split up so as to not die, sadly they have found the three of us and we lurk here, awaiting for you to awaken"


    I took in all this information and looked at each of my fellow servants in turn.


    "And since you three were killed, who, how, where, and what did it take for them to slay you?"


    Sable spoke again "Madra and I stood our ground here, we could not simply leave your castle to ruin so while the others scatter, we took it to ourselves to preserve this place as much as possible, sadly our efforts were for naught and we were slain by a party of heroes, Holy Sword, Holy Spear, Holy Whip, Holy Bow. We took out two armies though"


    I nodded my head and turned to look at Thorn. "And what of you dear Thorn, your berserk self wouldn''t have fallen so easily now would you?"


    Thorn sighed slightly and spoke. "I hide myself among my sisters, sadly we are a dying breed, Not many Dragon Harpies still exist at the time, and me being in the council and with a special subjugation order, my kind is by now extinct.  Many of my siblings curse my blood, When they came for me I gave myself up so that they wouldn''t hurt them, As they pierce my heart they started to slaughter my sisters and I went berserk. The Holy Bow struck me down, Holy Whip chained me in place, The Spear hero came to send me to Ioxi''s land but I exploded myself, I believe in my ability that I have claimed one of the heroes or at the very least destroyed an artifact"


    I only sighed at how hard Ira was trying to destroy me, I gave each of the three a sorrowful look and said "You all have done well, may you be resurrected into a better realm that this, and your souls get fair treatment in Iesdi-Maw. " I gave them a prayer and the pillars of light vanished, the three also vanished into thin air.


    On the seats were three cracked pendants.


    I looked toward the remaining five seats. Red, Green, Blue, Indigo, Grey.


    "Where are you my children?"


    ___________________________________________________________________________________________

 Servant of the Green Seat.

    The disappearance of the pillars of light sadden me deeply, three good generals and council members that have fallen just for my sake.


    Madra the maid, controller of fire, cleaver of souls, Thorn a Dragon Harpy, Attribute Lava. Berserk mode is nearly unstoppable.  Sable the Null Butler, His orb can suppress or take any power.  All three had joined me and followed my every order.


    In my hand their soul pendants laid, I squeeze them tightly and  send out my soul, searching. For my five remaining and new potential recruits.


    I concentrated and from the shadows a portal appeared, out came a pack of  shadow dogs, except their lowerhalf was that of a fish, so it was like a dog mermaid.


    Roubus, the shadow dog mermaid, beings of pure shadows yet has a physical form. Though they have a core situated in their head, they are extremely agile they have a knack for surprise.


    Find a girl of shadows, she will be able to change her appearance,  A jester of shadows, he will be made of air. A teenager of black and white, she either will be passive or raging, she is a balance freak so make sure two of you appear at a time.  A Wolf of Ice, he should be able to freeze the surrounding area,  I know where the last member of the council resides,  Find them" I told the pack of dogs and they howled, before diving into the ground yet left


    I sighed and started to head toward the basement of my castle, the shadows rippled as I traveled through them,  Many layers of defense still protected much of the underground, luckily for the invaders they haven''t penetrated into the deeper realms or else a monster more terrifying than death would have been unleashed.


    After passing the nth barrier I arrived in a room with a spherical ball of water, inside of this ball was a ball of air, a girl was floating, weeping, wailing, her skin was full, plump,  a lively look yet she seemed to be suffering.


    "I see you''re doing well, Green my dear."


    "Is it time for me to eat?, Drink? Please, I haven''t eaten in centuries since you trapped me here.  I long for food, water, LIFE" the girl shrieks and cries, banging the wall of air.


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    "Yinna has done her job well for you to still be stuck here, It takes a toll on her but if it is to keep you in check she would gladly do it, I am not sure of her "Other" but this way it limits both of you, you can''t get out and she can''t use her powers to her full extent.


    "What do you want" the girl scoffs.


    "I may need your powers very soon, though I would love to refrain from releasing such a dangerous existence such as you." I replied and clapped my hands, the bubble of air that was surrounding the girl , she plunge into the water and the water started to ripple, slowly shrinking as if disappearing, it became more darker, yellowish in comparison to the clear color of earlier.  A scream rang out in the room and the water took the form of a snake, it shrieked before losing it''s form, the water completely disappearing.


    "Oh, Yinna left behind Visera, such an important part of her power, two parts returned to her and now she can control three of four. To think she was living with only one power node available to her.  I think I may have saved her life now" I smirked and Withers growled at me, "If you have the power to release me then release me, I have no time to waste being here."


    "Nice to see your power still works, I have finally decided that it is time to get revenge against Ira for all her misdeeds against us demons, I know how you long for bloodshed so in due time you shall be released, but I need a competent commander of my forces, I have come to see how you''re doing and see if you know a suitable person."


    Withers glared at me with malice before she spat out,  "I''ve been trapped in here so long that I forgot my old life, but in my clan there should be some suitable figures, East Mountains, Border of Ira''s domain"


    I grinned and bowed to her "Thank you for your time" I said and left.

 Recruitment

    The lands that I hail from is called Ionia, a land divided into many domains ruled by many deities of various names.


    Ira''s Domain that houses the humans and humanoids, Imperialige.


    Ioxi''s Domain of the dead, Iesdi-maw


    Idarvel''s Domain of the underground, Ivanforge.


    Iyani''s Domain of the sky, I-Skyris


    Inavi''s Domain of fire, Incendike.


    Isubro''s Domain of beasts Incarnage.


    Ixadia''s Domain of Plants Idathium


    and then there was my domain and I. Imporium, the domain of shadows ruled by Interrei


    Of all the conflicts that happen within the lands of Ionia, the conflict of Ira and I is the most known.


    Ira self-proclaimed herself as my enemy, send people into my domain and reduce it to nothing but wasteland, yet I did not retaliate,


    The other deities just left Ira to her own devices, leaving herself to get crazier and crazier.


    After I had awoken I am sure that the other deities had felt the fluctuations of energies and I can imagine Ira laughing crazily as she plots more plans to ruin me.


    I had melted into the shadows and traveled toward the town that Withers spoke about, I had remembered the first time I had met her, Servant of the Red Seat has infiltrated their town, a town of assassins.


    Ashley had lured two of them to a secluded area and kept them in a space-lock formation till I had arrived.


    Withers was one of the two, I had converted her first and discovered her destructive properties, the sin of Gluttony resides in her and what she is eats excessively is life energy, I immediately escaped, Servant of Red shadow blinked out of there, while the remaining assassin, trapped within the formation decayed into dust as she was trapped within the formation with Withers.


    I reminiscence the facts of the meeting, and slowly emerged from the shadows and set my sights on a village.


    In the eyes or normal mortals all they would see is a regular wooden town, the people going about their business.  But to me, I see their souls, all of them were various shades of darker colors.


    I only found a few souls of pitch black.


    I sighed since I didn''t have my servants here to lure them out but I traveled through the shadows to the souls anyway.


    A burly male, a young woman, and a teenage girl.


    I whispered to them "You have great potential"


    The teenage girl jumped up, the man and the woman pulled out their weapons with great speed and scanned their surroundings.


    "Talents like yours will be greatly appreciated,  Would you like to be......... Awakened?"


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    "Whoever goes there, it is best that you come out, or else we will not sure mercy against you"  The man yelled out.


    "With a mind like yours, you would kill me the instant I show myself, but I guess it would be impossible otherwise" I cackled


    I rose from the shadows and looked at them.  The man was taken back but he prepared his stance again.


    "Your power is not strong enough to face me" I whispered to them. The woman lunged at me and I easily evaded her, I slid forward to the teenager and pressed my hand on her face, she screamed and her body was covered in darkness.


    "Lani" the woman screamed and the man bellowed "What did you do to her you fiend"


    "I just made her awaken to her true potential" I whispered and I lunged forward again,


    To say the very least the duo put up a good fight for me toying with them.


    AS the man fell to the ground , darkness taking over his body I sighed.


    I just waited patiently as the bodies were being processed.


    The young teenager was the first to be processed, the young and nimble body was turned into a miss in a dress. She was deathly pale, The dress was made out of thousands of strands of strings and lace., She looked at me with cold eyes,  "The Incarnate of Invidia or Greed. Greedy for control"


    I notice the 8 indention on her back but left it alone for later.


    "Do you have a name?" I asked the young miss. and she curtsied toward me. "I am called Missy, Mi''lord. "


    I just nodded my head and looked toward the other two. A slender girl with a bright staff and a large iron knight.


    They both bowed  and announced their name. " Imperial and Ilv"


    Imperial was the girl, short bob cut blond hair with a Beret on top of her head,  a beige commander''s outfit with combat boots. her hands and arms are covered in skin-tight gloves.


    Ilv was a hulking armored knight, every part of his body was covered in armor, except for the joints.  I sense a deep and profound magical well inside of him, I searched inside and found no flesh and only air.


    "Welcome Missy, Imperial and Ilv, you are now part of a larger, and more grand plan.  But for now you must train and hone your skills, Sleep" I commanded them and  Missy fell over flat. The other two put up quite the struggle, I could see them resisting the sleeping spell but alas they yet to have the power to resist me, and toppled to the ground.


    I melted into the shadows, dragging their bodies along with me.

 The Demon Keys and the Orders Given

    I sat myself atop my throne, overlooking the eight seats of color where three of my loyal subjects reside.


    Servant of Orange: Imperial- a Sun Inquisitor, incarnate of Pride


    Servant of Yellow: Missy- a Control Doll, incarnate of Envy


    Servant of Purple: Ilv- a Null Knight, incarnate of Pride


    On each of them were three keys, each in various places.


    For Ilv it was the mid-back, right eye, and right knee.


    For Imperial it was the stomach area, left hand, and mouth.


    For Missy all three of them were on her back.


    "Servants, among your body are three keys in only you can see, be cautious of these demon keys for my good friend Wilves, Servant of Indigo Seat told me this simple poem"


    " I am a normal man, but with my powers I was bestowed three keys.


    The First Key allows you to give your body to a demon, if you give your body to a demon you simply lose control. Not to difficult to oppose.


    The Second Key is sinister yet, keep control of your body but give your mind to be controlled.  A demon will share your mind, thoughts of destruction foretold.


    As bad as the first two sound the third leaves no regret. The Third Key is simple, sacrifice your soul. Give your soul to a demon and you are simply not you anymore. - Poem by Wilves, Servant of Indigo Seat"  I recited and the three look up at me.


    "Master, that is not a poem it is more like a theatrics warning" Missy exclaims and she suddenly wriggled in pain.


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    "Do not slander the good work of Wilves, a poet can never always be understood" I scolded her and then glared at them all.


    "Missy you go and find potential recruits. Since your class is Control Doll, you should find manipulating people easy. Just do the thing with the string if you know what I mean."


    Missy falls forward panting heavily ''Yes Master" and from her body out came multitudes of string, forming into spider legs and carrying her away.


    "Ilv, you are tasked with wandering and striking at Ira''s Domain, they will only take you for a simple knight" I ordered and Ilv just grunts. Getting up he walks away, sword at his side, spear on his back.


    "Master what should I do?" Imperial asked excitedly. "You are tasked with staying here and training any new recruits that come along" I told her and she gave me a grumpy look and left with some muttering. In the distance a pillar of light incinerates the area leaving a smoking crater.


    I only sighed.


    How many more lives must be claimed before Ira stops her rampage, Thorn''s entire species was slaughtered and I regret having her lose her life for my sake.


    I waited at the throne, my thoughts wandering when suddenly a shift in the shadows and i see Roubus standing before me. His barking giving me news of something with importance.


    "Ah Servant of Grey i can welcome you back" I said with a smile.

 Servant of Grey Seat

    I shadow-traveled to where Servant of Grey was located, Roubus was at my side.


    Soon I came to a small village in the mountains. I was standing on the outskirts of the village and Roubus led me out of the village and into a nearby field.


    The field was full of green and flowers, a singular tree grew from the great expanse and underneath the tree was three people.


    Or should i say two people and a centaur.


    Two girls were sitting down drinking tea, one of them was dressed in black and white, the other one in pure red clothing.  The centaur appeared to be don in armor though it was irregular as parts of his body shined while others were flesh.


    I looked at Roubus and ordered him to go seek the others. I walked forward and looked at the trio.


    "Servant of Grey I see you are doing alright no?"


    The girl dressed in black and white quickly stood up and bowed " Yinna sees you are doing well"


    "Yinna who is this person here?" the girl in red asks and Yinna replies "He is Yinna''s one and only Master, Yinna pledge Yinna''s life to him as yourself had done to Yinna nona"


    "Your name my dear" I ask her and the girl replies with caution "Cardinal"


    "Your real name please"


    "Cardinal Von Kaiser"


    "I can tell truth from lie"


    "Carmen you can tell Master the truth, For if you have pledge to Yinna you pledge to Master as well"


    the girl in red sighs: "My name is Carmen, all am willing to tell you sir"


    "All I needed to hear, Carmen you have potentials in you but not to the extent I''m looking for, as for the centaur I find him perfectly dark"


    "You hear that I-Cen; You are adored by Master. Master will now empower you, friend never fear Master helps everyone find release; Right Master?"


    I-Cen nods his head and I strode over to him and engulf him in darkness.


    Carmen freaks out but Yinna calms her down.


    The darkness fades away and the centaur went from cyborg to full machine. "Thank you for helping me Master; I find the light, after Thoran turned me into a monstrosity I could never move the way I wanted to, to fast or to slow but never right, thank you Master"


    At this phrase Yinna screamed "I-CEN YOU USE AN ODD NUMBER OF WORDS, ODD NUMBER OF SYLLABLES."  Yinna suddenly twitched and her eye diluted from grey to red.


    "Hello Yinna, free again I see" I spoke without worrying about the consequences.


    "Yes Master, I can finally escape that weakling, ugh so much balance, can''t be .0002 cm off, has to be perfectly even. Oh your sentences have to be an even number of words, syllables, letters, UGH TO MANY RULES" Yinna raged and a sword materialized in her hand and started to chop up the meadow.


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    " Always wrecking things as soon as you escape, You should stop that habit, we lose many servants that way" I say calmly and the tree is suddenly sliced in half.


    " If you had another conscious in your body giving you all these rules and regulations then you''d go crazy too" Yinna cried out


    Carmen and I-Cen were unfazed by this sudden transformation so i assumed they had witnessed it before. I coughed into my fist and looked at Yinna who was starting to calm down. "How long till you are sealed again?"


    "I have about seven weeks, I-Cen upsetted this lowsy alter ego of mine immensely so it gives me time to enjoy myself, why do you ask master"


    "How loyal are your "friends"" I ask and looked at Carmen.


    "I-Cen normally follows orders cause of his robotic mind, since he turned into a robot he should be a sucker for orders, meanwhile Carmen swore an oath to the Ioxi that she shall serve me in service of her life so she will follow my orders."


    "Good, then you can head toward Ira''s lands and start laying waste. I''m sure you''ve noticed the pillars of light signalling the death of Sable, Thorn and Madra."


    Yinna nods her head.


    "Good, the new Servant of Purple should already be in her lands laying waste as he wanders. You can go help him."


    "Yes Master, your orders shall be my life" Yinna kneels and gets back up.


    "I call upon the power of the winds. Boost the speed of my allies and I. Let no terrain obstruct our path. Wind Enhancement"


    " I call upon the spirit of the winds. Gentle. Free-flowing. The fox that plays among us all. Aria"


    " I call upon the artifact of the winds. Upon Carmen''s feet you reside. Free-flying like the clouds. Hermes Shoes"


    These three phrases were said in quick succession and a wind started to blow.


    On Carmen''s feet materialized shoes with wings on them. From the air a gentle laugh and a wind fox trots down and sits, the tail swiping back and forth.


    A gentle breeze flowed from behind, boosting movement speed.


    "We shall be off Master. I do hope to bring back good news" Yinna bowed again and she took off at a run, jumping onto Aria and Aria flew off and rode the winds. I-Cen dashed forward, leaving after-images of himself. And Carmen ran, the Hermes boots carrying her into the winds after Aria.


    "Nice Yinna is such a pain" I mumbled to myself and looked at the village. "I might as well hunt for candidates" I said and traveled to the village.