I woke up. My dream of Zer’s battle and demise transitioned seamlessly into his actual monologue. The emperor’s shadow gazed into the distance, where the first rays of the rising sun touched the forest edge.

The morning dew chilled my bare feet. Pulling out of my bag two wide strips of thin cotton, grayed by frequent washing but clean, I began to wrap them around my feet, thinking about how quickly the morning had crept up.

“Those pathetic dogs of the In-Between would never have defeated me if there hadn’t been seven of them. And even though each of them is stronger than the mightiest human warrior, I’ve learned the laws of the Dark World that seal their power in, reducing the immortal seltars to mortal cowards just like all the other inhabitants of our continent. Do you understand now that when I say hide behind that stone, you hide behind that stone?”

“How can I not understand?” I drawled. “By the way, I’ve noticed you often call our world the Dark World. Is this another one of your strange curse words?”

“Curse? What kind of ignorant sheepfucker are you! How can one not know this?” The emperor choked at realizing the extent of my ignorance. “Hey, jester! Here’s a new joke. These people don’t know why their world is called the Dark World. Did they even hide that from the flock of sheep you are? Jester? Jester!”

His snapping voice made the girl spring up.

“Oh, Your Majesty! What a great story! I was so amazed that I’m now thinking I should compose another song about your epic battle with those demons of light,” the girl babbled sleepily, tuning her naturally high-pitched voice down to a courteous tone.

“Stop clowning around. You were snoozing as I spoke, once again. I’d give you to the dogs or pour molten lead down your throat had you not been lucky to be already dead.”

“How noble,” the girl sprawled out in an awkward curtsy, extending both her legs in turns.

For an observer, it probably looked like the girl was fooling around on her own as no one except me and her could see the forgotten emperor.

“They know nothing about me or about their world. They don’t even know about the great war we fought against that fucking Light World,” Zer mused.

“Come on, Your Majesty,” the jester comforted. “I’m sure there are a lot of legends and tales about you. We just need to ask the local singers and poets.”

“Right now you’re asking for a second death, you scoundrel. Do you think we have time to collect songs and poems? I need my loyal legions.”

“Stop right there!” I chimed in as I finished putting on my shoes. “What legions? You want more shadows to come here and take over human bodies, driving their souls out? The thing you tried to do with me. The thing your jester did to this girl’s soul. Do human lives mean nothing to you?”

“You think too much about the rabble, Rhys,” the emperor replied, calling me by name for the first time. “They are unworthy of their bodies and lives. Can’t you see that?”

“You know, I’m beginning to think your death was well-deserved.” Looking into the shadow’s eyes, I suddenly realized: a great warrior he might’ve been yet a terrible ruler. He was unworthy of his title. “How can one be so callous and indifferent to others’ lives? You can’t distinguish between war and peace.”

“Living your herd life in a sheep’s body,” Zer sneered, “do you have any idea what this world was like before I became emperor? It was torn apart by civil wars among counts, dukes, and petty kings. Brothers and sisters poisoned each other for a throne, and royal children were killed in their cradles. And who put an end to that? Who cut off the greedy hands of the lightworlders who flocked to the Dark World’s gold like bees to honey?” The emperor looked at me as if I should’ve agreed that human lives were nothing against his victories and triumphs.

“On your stupid face, I read you don’t understand a thing,” Zer hissed, seeing my indifference. But the shadow wasn’t about to back down. “It was me who put an end to the oppression of our world. I saved it!”

“Not saved but conquered, if your bragging is to be believed.”

“What’s the difference?! It was the best outcome! And now, knowing what you know, do you still believe they can handle the impending chaos? Left without a shepherd, a flock of sheep can only die by a pack of wolves. And that damn shepherd—that’ll be me! I busted my hump, spilled rivers of blood, and lost my limbs countless times so they could live. What I took in exchange for that was but a fraction of a fair pay for my effort!”

Zer was furious, spitting out his words. It was hardly possible to convince him to change his mind.

“Your Majesty,” the jester intervened, “I’m afraid to appear tactless, but it seems to me they’ve reclaimed this continent, splitting the Dark World into many principalities and lands that you had once united.”

The emperor’s shadow sat down facing me, but even in a sitting position, his figure remained colossal. “I need my army. Otherwise your... our world will forever be drowning in wars and giving its resources to those above,” the emperor said, looking up at the sky.

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“No. I won’t have you take over bodies,” I snapped and added, looking at the girl: “We still haven’t figured out her... um, his?... Anyway, tell me: did you also displace her?”

“Your girl died under the boots of those bastards.” The emperor’s red eyes with burst vessels stared at me, unblinking, and I somehow knew he was telling the truth. “Blik entered her right after her shadow disappeared.”

“Let me say a word, Your Majesty! Rhys,” the jester addressed me, “you’re talking about good, decent people when you say their bodies shouldn’t be stolen. But this world also has bad people, like those freaks who took this girl’s life.”

“And?”

“I mean, why breed evil that can’t be controlled? Instead, we could have helpers. Imagine: a violent murderer and rogue becomes a compliant imperial soldier. How’d you like that?”

“So, only murderers and bandits?” I clarified.

The emperor smirked. “A soldier. And where do you draw the line between a murderer and a soldier? Who decides that?”

“Your Majesty,” the jester pleaded, “let Rhys decide it as he really seems to care.”

Zer glanced at me skeptically, while the jester with a strange name of Blik went on: “Rhys, you’re overthinking it. We’re not up to a bloodbath. First, you’ll get to decide who deserves to lose their body and who doesn’t. Second, to gather and prepare an army, we’ll need supplies, weapons, horses, and wagons. Right now we don’t have much coin so it’s easier and safer to keep our group small.”

“Money and weapons won’t be a problem once we have my sword,” Zer declared, looking at me. “If you want to live, you’ll have to accept my methods.”

“One could almost think you’re an army of law and order. By the way, I still remember you trying to steal my body.”

“Your healer girl—she also uses a knife when lancing boils,” the emperor retorted, poking his finger at my forehead. “That’s a justified measure and the only way to save the patient’s life. Even a head stuffed with aspen shavings like yours should understand that.”

“I’m not a tumor to be removed!”

“You’re a stupid, uneducated baboon!” Zer exploded, glaring at me.

“A baboon who actually,” I raised my index finger for emphasis, “defeated the Emperor of the Dark World. And I’m ready to do it again and again until you get tired of it.”

“Calm down, you bragging dog. You’ve seen me fighting and you still think you’re barking up the right tree? For now, you have value for me as an ally, but that doesn’t mean you should be annoying me over nothing.”

I knew that men like Zer only reckoned with strength, so I kept my guard on and wasn’t going to let it down while he was around.

***

The mountain road we’d been traveling on for quite a while was taking us up and down. Winding and twisting around the highlands, it seemed to be choosing the most unnatural path possible.

We turned off the main track as the sun disk set behind the mountain range. Zer was stingy with explanations. When I pushed him for answers, he’d begin them with snorting and high-flown insults.

“The seltars are beings of light. But they are not the only ones willing to play law enforcers. Our track might also be followed by those born in the shadow, deceitful traitors of our world. These creatures can navigate complete darkness.”

“Born in the shadow? Are they shadows like you?” I inquired, truly unsuspecting.

“How dare you?” Zer bellowed.

“Rhys,” Blik immediately stepped in, “His Majesty demands that you dare not compare us with those traitors, or... In short, better not do it. As for your question, we’ll answer it someday. For now, it’s important for you to understand that in our current situation, these beings can cause some trouble.”

Observing the jester girl, I couldn’t help thinking the foolish mask he’d donned out of hardship had worked out as an effective adaptation tool, or even a means of survival. Blik knew his part so well as if he never stopped rehearsing it. Each his appearance was timed perfectly. He knew when to play the fool and when to step in and soften the emperor’s harsh words. The jester smiled a lot and talked to me in a friendly tone; nothing like the raging fire in Zer’s soul that I could almost sense physically.

The jester was gentle but persistent and focused. Like someone taking calves to slaughter in a manner that won’t get their meat ruined by fear of death. I trusted neither of the two, convinced they’d try to take over my body once again at the first opportunity.

Well, we’ll see who ends up being the victim, I thought. Knowing that the intruder’s shadow could hear my thoughts if it tried hard enough, I cut myself short.

“Some trouble,” Zer repeated the jester’s last words. “You, Rhys, will be killed. You, jester, will be raped. And I will be sent back to where time becomes torture. That’s the kind of trouble these beings can cause us.”

“Or maybe the other way around,” Blik chimed in. “You, Rhys, will be raped, and I will be killed. But don’t hope too much. His Majesty can’t be taken otherwise than with your head, so the outcome is still dire.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, losing track of the conversation.

Zer squinted. “See the path zigzagging and the trees growing strangely? We’re approaching a place of power.”

“A place of power?”

“Exactly. You have so little of it you’re pitiful to look at,” Zer sneered. Blik immediately supported him with high-pitched, ringing laughter.

The girl was walking ahead, craning her thin neck, and peering into the encroaching darkness, until I bumped into her.

“Your Majesty!” Blik exclaimed. “There are huts ahead! It’s a village!”

“I see it’s not the Pyramian Gardens.” The emperor moderated his tone, as if someone other than me and Blik could hear him.

I took a few more steps, bypassing the girl, and saw a small village of about thirty houses nestled in the hills, with the sound of many voices and pipes coming from there. The village center was dominated by a large bonfire with a dozen of men feasting around it. They were served by the entire village.

The smell of roasted meat was so enticing that Blik’s stomach emitted a loud, unmistakable rumble.

“Shall we go down and ask for food?” the jester pleaded the emperor’s shadow.

Zer bristled up. “A physical slave to your own guts! Are you a nobleman or a scavenger dog feeding off robbers?”

“But, sire, I am a very hungry nobleman right now!” Blik whined. “May I? Please please please, Your Darkness?”

“What’s the harm in that?” I sided with the jester, also eager for a proper meal.

“Well, go and beg, you stray goat,” Zer said with a skeptical grimace. “If you’d rather not take a closer look or listen to those who know a bit of this world. The men you’re going to beg from are bandits who robbed this village. They won’t give you any food. And asking the peasants is like stepping on their throats. They already gave out too much. They will not have two more vagrants to feed.”

“I’m hungry, and she... he... Blik is too.” The shadow’s words made sense, but my hunger prevailed. “I’ll still take the risk. Blik, you better stay here. You’re in a little girl’s body—it’s certain to provoke that scum.”