Light Bearer, General of the Army of Light, Commander of the Marauders of Heaven, and King Under the Light of the High God of the Sun, Lumino Daybreak crushed the letter of execution and order of reparations signed by the Hero of Light in his fist. Using the strength of his Title Job and Grand Master Class Champion of the Realm Job Lumino threw the great enchanted writing desk passed to him by his father into the wall. It did not break, but the materials, inkwells, and other small things about it showered and broke across the golden decor of his office.

His chamber maid Littia, a dull little thing with a pretty face and wits enough to know to keep her mouth shut around Lord Daybreak's wife, shied, and sought shelter behind the artfully carved marble pillars that supported the room's grand arched mosaic roof. The Lord Daybreak marched out of his reading room to his armory.

Lumino was a large man given strength and size by not only his jobs, but by his family's long and distinguished service to the Lord of Light. Were he merely a man of his size and girth, and the world mundane no horse could bear him, but the magical steeds of the empire were large and mighty. Though hardly the size of man one might take for a Knight he had been a man of some adventure in his youth, but had grown comfortable in the capital after his father's passing and with it the powerful Title Job of King Under the Light.

As he passed through the room his footsteps shook the marble and gold trimmed tiles under Littia's feet and she feared more than anything that he was coming for her. Her private use as little more than a sex slave was looked over by many of the staff, but she feared his anger more than anything.

Her simple Maid Job and Scribe Jobs would not protect her against his unfettered strength. There was no resistance. The only way to survive was to please him, but his anger was so great that she feared if he touched her he would simply shatter her bones and leave her as a bloody mess to be swept under the carpet.

“Littia, you sparkless dim-witted girl! Get my armsmen! Summon my armorer and Nathaniel Dayfire of the Marauders of Heaven! NOW! YOU DIM WITTED STUPID GIRL!” He roared as he slammed open the heavy carved and gold inlaid enchanted doors of his armory.

He stormed inside past rows of elegant golden weapons and shining suits of armor to a massive wardrobe in the back. He cast open its doors and drew out the hammer of his namesake, Day Break, a hammer meant to strike with undeniable weight of the coming dawn.

Littia retreated first bowing to her Lord, her legs trembling as urine ran down into her stockings as she ran to find first the Head of the House Men. He would be in the servants quarters this time of day, likely organizing the last preparations for Lord Daybreak's massive lunch and starting up on his even larger dinner. Then it would be the armsmen's quarter's, another place she normally would have never dared to go for the men there were vile and knew her place. Everyone did, but no one ever said anything.

Littia ran down the halls trying not to cry. It would disrupt the make up on her face and the Lord Daybreak would grow cross with her. She ran, in her pretty maid outfit hating herself, wishing she had the courage to throw herself from any of the high windows she passed looking down into the high streets of the City of Lights. She, nor Lord Daybreak himself ever suspected the thing living in her shadow.

“My shade hear me...” A voice rang out to the Shade's mind.

It did not need to stop what it was doing in any real manner. It was perfectly at home, hidden away in the girl's living shadow. It was a simple creature, one of thousands, that spread little corruption and what it did best was watch. Nearly undetectable by all but targeted means for its specific presence the Adept Class Spirit Creature fed off the powerful emotions and dreams of mortal beings. That was the easiest way, next to feeding on their luck, but that was more detectable to the right minds.

The Shade focused and paid heed to its Master.

“My Lord Samiel, Greetings Master.”

“Things are not well in Lord Daybreak's manner I take it?” His Lord asked, with his usual casualness.

“No my Lord. I have moved close to him as you asked, but he has finally received the news of which you warned myself and the others nearby. He is greedy and possessive enough to be of several demon kinds, but his word is as vile as his 'light filled' spirit.” The shade answered.

Littia meanwhile was rounding the final stair of the hidden and much less well lit servants corridors leading down the levels of Lord Daybreak's mansion. She was losing her battle with her tears, her emotions feeding in loops around her trauma and sending her into distress.

The Shade had no need to feed upon her while comfortably possessing her shadow, simply being around such a 'brightly' spirited being for weeks as it had been was food enough, but it sipped from her sorrow and panic all the same. It was a heady sweet and sour brew to the Shade's tastes, but it allowed the girl to calm so that she might better do her duties. The shade turned its focus back to its Master's Void Contact.

Fortunately Samiel seemed distracted as always and took a great deal of time to respond. Sometimes he didn't at all when he got the information he needed.

“Was that all my Lord?” The Shade asked, feeling slight discomfort a biological being would certainly call bloating.

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This wasn't the first or only time the Shade had fed upon the girl to simply keep her sane, or calm enough to act as she should. There was something about her that interested the shade, and while it could easily possess another shadow in this house of fools it felt reluctant to let the girl die to that vile 'Servant King' of the Light God.

The Shade used some of its excess mana from feeding on the girl to dabble a little in her mind. She was an open book to his skills after all, a perfect practice ground, but the Shade had little grip of Domination or Dream magic, certainly his skills were nothing more than clumsy compared to even a fresh succubus. It drew on the girl's favorite memory, that of her father's last words of encouragement before she was taken up and brought to the Maid Guild's School.

“You'll learn to read there little one. You'll work as hard as any of us, but you'll make good money and be far from the monsters near our home. That education is the best I can give you so do everything you can with it. Make something of yourself and don't worry about coming home 'til you manage as best you can. You'll do great my little one. I know it.”

The Shade couldn't help but listen in on the memory. It brightened Littia so and her happiness was a much better and heady brew than her sorrow and lament. She made it to the kitchen doors and went inside to report there.

“You're...interested in that one are you?” Samiel asked.

If the Shade had a physical body it might have jumped hearing its master's voice in its mind so suddenly after thinking him gone, but it was only surprised. It addressed its master calmly.

“She is...Bright to my senses, Master. It is hard to explain. I am a simple being I know, but my instincts tell me that she is more than she seems.”

“I sense it too. You've been helping her for some time then?” Samiel asked.

“I am a parasite, benefiting from her imbalances, and helping only enough to keep her, my host, from dying before time. It is as much laziness as it is kindness Master.” The Shade replied.

“But you are helping her. You are taking discomfort from her. You dabble in her memories to motivate and reassure her. You are going out of your way to help her so it seems to me and I dare say you're starting to care.” Samiel answered.

The Shade thought over this for some time. Its job as an observer left it much time to think as it was little more than a shadow with a small demonic mind attached. It began to wonder when the thought words formed in its head.

“She is 'Bright' my master. It is strange, but that is the only word that comes to my limited mind. It is as if my shadow is deeper for the light that comes from her soul. The light that is not light, and the shadow that is not shadow.” The Shade rambled on, and cursed itself for addressing its master with such foolish words.

“Stay with her as you are. In fact keep aiding her as well as actively as you can manage. Speak to her through her memories and dreams if you can. You're growing my shade and I find it curious. Continue with my blessing. Not many host a parasite such as you so well as their spirit fights against our intrusion even if the mind does not know enough to sense as the soul does.” Samiel ordered, the Shade feeling its master's mana surge into him through its single weak binding.

“I will do as you will my Lord.” The Shade answered.

The usual quiet settled over its mind as its Master went silent yet again.

Littia was rushing down dimly lit inner corridors once again, her fear of the dark rising as she rushed to the base level of the great mansion. The Shade leaned into that feeling, slowly ebbing its own comfort in her shadow into Littia's fear.

Littia wiped her eyes, too distracted to notice the Shade's fumbling. The Shade continued in that way leaning into Littia as she went down into a darkened corridor where the last lamp had gone out due to inattention, or perhaps mere chance.

The dark just a few steps down from Littia's feet made her feel an ocean of dread as if she could see the claws and fangs waiting in the dark. The Shade was pressed and driven by its master's order.

Littia hesitated, and took a step down into the dark. She was a smart enough girl at times, and was trying to overwhelm her fear with logic aided by the fear of the fat and impossibly strong being that held her captive in the halls above.

“There is warmth in the shadow, Littia. A place to hide. Where none can see.” The Shade found itself whispering to her.

Littia jumped, but was so panicked and shaken in her state of mind that with the aid of the words spoken aloud she finally felt the same comfort in the shadow that the Shade did.

Littia paused there, swallowed in the dark, taking several shaking breaths. Confusion raced through her mind, and then wondered as she began to feel the Shade's comfort with the dark press into her mind. She put a hand to the wall and started forward.

There was denial in the front of her mind. She had heard the shade speak, but was too terrified to accept its reality and the effect it had over her. The Shade backed off a little once she was fully consumed within the shadowy dark.

Littia found the door. It was locked. Such passageways often were.

She fumbled at her pouch for the key ring. In the dark she fumbled more as her fear began to creep back into her mind. She struggled with the locked latch on the door and she began to panic once again. Her trauma beginning to loop in her mind once again it wouldn't be long before she broke into tears. She was afraid of what lay ahead as much or more as what lay behind.

The Shade found itself reaching up through the dark of the shadows, twirling about her fingers, and guiding her to the right key. Buried in the dark with the door it could feel the shape of the mechanism within the lock and which key would fit.

Littia gasped and shuddered in fear as the dark around her came to life.

“What..?” She asked aloud.

“Where there is too much light the unseen shadows grow deep and foul. You are not alone in the dark Littia. When you are in danger...seek the shadows...when you are lost...seek the comfort of the dark...” The Shade whispered to her, taken up by the pulsing drive of its master.

“I...” She stammered, so frightened she was unable to speak.

The Shade turned the lock and light spilled into the hall from the brightly lit 'proper' halls of the mansion into the narrow servant corridors.

Littia watched as her shadow clung to her possessively against the shining light before finally slipping away. Her panic and fear was almost gone and she was very nearly calm as the Shade ate away at her panic and fear much to its own discomfort. It was full and could hold little more, but it strained so that the girl might feel calm. She stepped forward into the hall turning back to stare at the unlit lantern in its sconce. She hadn't been able to make it out in the dark. Its wick was at the proper height, and its glass oil reservoir was full. She had also felt no draft in the dark of the servant halls, not since she left the upper levels.

Quickly she took up the nearest lantern and stepped back into the hall she would have to take back to her Master's room. The shadows clung to her once again, warm and comforting, and she found herself walking slowly to the unlit lantern.

“Candle Spark.” Littia chanted, her gaze drifting from one lantern to the next, the flame leaping from one wick to another. The wick caught and went up on the first try.

She swallowed and quietly exited the servant hall before returning the other lantern to its post. Her heart fluttered with fear and the remembered feeling of the shadow coiling about her protectively. She ran to her next stop.