Severin felt an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. "Which Lord beat you?"
"It’s a monster. It’s Shadow."
Severin raised his brows. He’d come to realize that Anansi has a flair for the dramatic; all those stories he’s eating must be doing something to him.
Anansi continued, "Its name is Volis, and he claimed the title of Shadow Lord, the Lord of Shadow."
"Is he strong?" Severin asked.
Anansi snorted, and his eyes hardened. "He is."
Severin’s eyes twitched, and he didn’t say anything for a long time. "I need to go through that door."
"Of course," Anansi smiled, bitterness hidden in the curves of his lips. "You are less corrupted; the door might still take you. But all other people are stuck here."
"You sound as if you are looking for a way to trick me into staying here permanently," Severin noted casually.
Anansi shrugged. He turned to him, and his eyes took on a strange look; they glazed over slightly. "Of course. What do you think? You, your kind, are the briefest hints we get about the outside world. And, I say, everyone wants to go out into the world."
Severin felt a chill on his spine, and his body suddenly came alive, as if there was danger surrounding him. "Why?" he asked softly.
There was madness in Anansi’s eyes now; his eyes were wide and blank and yet so filled with intent. As Severin stared at him, the intent crept over him as well, the desire for destruction, for death.
Madness.
All the hair on his body rose.
"This place is the territory of something, a slumber that woke thousands of years ago. It’ll eat into your head and scream its desire into your conscience."
Severin didn’t speak. The silence in the carriage was sharper than a blade, as if a single movement would tear him apart.
"We need to devour the outside, to spread its taint over what it has already claimed."
Severin’s eyes darkened, and he was reminded again of what he needed to destroy just to survive. "The Aberrant Singularity."
Anansi jerked as if struck; his eyes reeled back, his form flickered, and black lines like chains appeared all over his body and into his heart, binding him.
His shoulders hunched, and for just an instant, Severin could have sworn he saw something standing on Anansi’s shoulder.
Severin’s heart went numb.
"No wonder! No wonder the Academy and the Empire locked this place down. It’s already fallen! The Singularity has already carved a piece of the world for itself!"
Several thoughts ran through his mind as it clicked together.
"It seems the Singularity can’t just pour its monster army here, but it could influence it somehow. That way, it was able to slowly corrupt everything and turn their gaze to the outside world!"
"The author didn’t explore this, and that’s something I don’t understand."
Severin took a deep breath and slowly organized his thoughts.
"Just like I predicted, there’s no way I can manipulate my way out of this. I’ll have to use brute force," Severin thought. He looked at the man beside him. "Time to make you pay for the price of using me."
"Are you okay?" he asked Anansi.
Anansi didn’t look okay.
He looked as if he’d been fighting for a month; dark shadows appeared under his eyes, and he somehow looked thinner. "I am. It takes a lot of power to resist."
"And if you don’t?"
"Then you become a mindless thing, an extension of It."
"How do you even get to Sector Delta?"
Anansi shook his head. "I don’t know. We all don’t know; our memories of some events are missing, and with time, you will start forgetting as well."
Severin smiled. "So, I need to tell you a story."
Anansi looked at him in surprise. "Not now. I’m too low on energy; I need to recover first."
Severin nodded.
The carriage returned to silence.
Severin used the time to silently put together what he’d learned so far.
"This place is much more dangerous than I expected. I can’t trust Anansi because his first goal is to keep me in Sector Delta and get all the stories he can from me. I need to get my shadow fast, or else I’ll be stuck here."
"From the way Anansi speaks, I can already tell that the Lords are on a god’s level, and if so, I can get my Stigma from them. There must be other existences that can give something like that here as well."
He sat back with his eyes open and his head against the chair as the carriage continued. The window was still inky black, and nothing could be seen from the inside.
Suddenly, after what must have been an hour, Anansi turned to him. The man looked better already, and the lines had disappeared as if they were never there. "Hey, we’re getting close to Sector Delta. We’ll be there in a couple of minutes. As your guide, I’ll advise you to listen to anything I tell you once we’re in."
Severin nodded.
He could soon feel the carriage slowing down, and then finally, it rattled to a stop. When he looked outside, the window showed the outside with the dry land and harsh sun.
Severin didn’t understand. Which version was the real version?
Anansi stood up and stretched, his form still that of an old person. "Come, let’s go."
They had already dropped the monsters they killed on the carriage floor.
The door opened, and they were about to disembark when three people came in. They were just like the three that Anansi chased off the other time with their layered way of dressing.
Severin suddenly frowned and looked down at himself. "Anansi, I don’t want to walk around in this uniform. Is it bad to steal from them?"
He pointed at the three who wore different cloaks above each other.
Anansi blinked and then smiled. "I always hear that they wear quality clothes. Come here!"
They stole from them, one cloak each.
Severin wore one on the carriage before they finally stepped down. "Sector Delta."