Shades of the New World

"It's an effect of my blood and my specialty. For most, darkness represents the unknown. People usually fear the unknown more, compared to the darkness itself. If you go out in the middle of a starless night, your imagination will take you on a brief trip through terror-land. But for beings like me who can clearly see, or at least navigate in the dark, it represents safety and serenity. Everything that tries to invade or clear the darkness away are seen as hostile forces. So the shining light that brings you hope is considered a herald of doom for us. Didn't you see how my children feared the Luminous spell from that boy? They've never seen such bright lights, so their first response is to hide from it in the familiar darkness" The World Sprite explained patiently.

"Am I going to have problems going out in daylight from now on?"

"Hah, why not think about some things yourself? And also, work that rotten brain of yours for once, I'm not one who enjoys small questions," the World Sprite said with a grin before continuing, "Actually, ask me one good question. Something that I will enjoy answering. If I don't like the question, I might do something unfavorable to you"

Evin was put in a tough spot. He really didn't enjoy thinking. When he wandered the World as a spirit, nothing really needed to be thought over. He just existed and whatever he did, had nothing that could be called consequences. He knew that he preferred spoonfed answers over ones that he had to think over by himself.

But it wasn't like he was dumb in the head. When forced to face a problem, he would try to solve it to the best of his abilities.

'What would be considered a good question? Nothing that concerns the Vulpine's blood, and its effects on me, that's for sure,' Evin pondered.

He went over the previous conversation to see if he missed something interesting. The Vulpine Mother seemed to like talking about her own nature or the nature of the Dark World, since she talked about those things the most. Evin thought about it and found a question that might interest her.

"Can you tell me what Darkness represents to other powerful beings like yourself?"

The World Sprite grinned in its usual manner.

"Let's start with the top. To Lady Helain, darkness represents the unknown and mysterious. She is the one Authority that is the most mysterious to mages. Every other Authority's deeds and epics are sung by bards across the World. You know the exact number of beasts they slayed, who they slept with and what they have for lunch, if they ever need to eat. Compared to that, songs about the Lady never include any details. Always the same songs about her obscurity and secrecy and some occasional poets who try to paint her as a temptress,"

'So if I ever get the Shadow Storage spell from the Authority herself, the living beings inside my Shadow would feel uneasy?' Evin thought in wonder.

"She has her own cult somewhere, and most of the members are Dark World users. Their darkness is mostly similar to the Lady's one. Obviously, there are some different ones among them, like the Darkness of Sin, or the Darkness of Deceit,"

'So edgy... Oh no, what the hell's going to be my form of darkness?' Evin could not help but ask himself.

"But as far as I know, the most prominent Dark World user of our time beside the Lady and the Beast Lords should be a mage in the South. It was one of the ambitious Northerners who didn't enjoy the peace of the North. But he acted like a good Samaritan for most of his life, before going to one of the battles with the South. When he got there, he betrayed his entire battalion and usurped to the enemy's side. After which, he became a headache for the World since he could get stronger without restraint, since the South was a place that valued strength the most. His name is Relvek, and his Darkness was one of Purification. Although, I don't know how exactly it works, words say that he can purify spells into pure mana with his Darkness Abilities," The World Sprite added.

Evin guessed that Relvek's ability should have some limits, be it being partially effective or simply ineffective on some spells.

"There is also one of the Fourteen Heroes who fought with the Mad Dragon, The Empty Knight. There were no concepts of Worlds back then, with everyone doing whatever they wanted. It was much harder for mages to cast spells, since they didn't have a channel like the Worlds to purify pure mana into different energies like today. But they still used similar magic to us, most of them similar to magic that the Worlds allow us to cast. But that's beside the point. The Empty Knight's Darkness was one of devouring. He believed that everything will eventually be consumed by darkness, so his Darkness' ability was to devour intangible material. It devoured Light, it devoured Fire, and it could also partially devour Space, Emotions, Illusions and Thoughts, depending on some circumstances. The devoured materials would strengthen him in return, making it a nightmare for the users of Light and Fire," the Beast Lord narrated.

'Isn't that extremely overpowered? Come to think of it, how strong was the Empress, to be able to contest with such characters back in her mortal days?' Evin could not help but think.

"Do you know what kind of powers the Empress had before her ascension?" Evin questioned with curiosity. When one lived in Alvox, most swear words one heard involved the Empress' name in one way or another. One could not help but feel curious about her origins.

The Vulpine heard the question and frowned slightly.

"The records of the Empress are ridiculously small. She was the most low-profile of the Fourteen Heroes, according to some records. Her fame was similar to Lady Helain's with no one that knew exactly what she could do. She was the ruler of a small country named Von, which was wedged between the three Empires of that time. You would think that such a small country would not last long during those years of war and bloodshed, but reality was that every army that was sent to Von's lands faced only the Empress and none beside the Empress survived. The Heroes of that time could probably defeat her if they joined forces, but the mysteriousness of the Empress and the relatively small lands of Von did not allow for such an outcome to come true," The Beast Lord recounted.

"There must be at least something though, no?" Evin refused to believe that the entirety of Alvox held such little information about its ruler.

"There was only one thing that was known about the Empress of that time and that was her title," the World Sprite spoke in a torturously slow pace.

"What is it?"

"The Princess of Denial"