I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

The Shadow Haven, that is the reflection of one’s Soul expanding and going far beyond from what it was in the begining, when one’s refines their [Self] beyond what it was at the base, when someone aspires for more. When they strive forward to achieve what they [Desire] and [Reality] doesn’t conform to their needs.

That is when The Shadow Haven is born.

So what is it really?

It is a promise, a desire, it is…a Wish.

“Beatrice! Aura! Code Red!” And in the middle of it, was an spire that seemed to want to pierce the dark clouds in the eternal night that was within this Shadow Haven. “Start the emergency measures, cut the synaptic feed!”

Elizabeth landed with a haggard appearance in the middle of the spire. Her blouse was half unbuttoned, and she held her jeans with both hands as if someone had attempted to remove them from her. Her usually silky and well-groomed hair was also ruffled. As for her face, her makeup looked as if someone had slobbered her face all over the place.

“...Starting isolation of neural feed….” Aura was the first to react and silently entered some commands into a terminal.

Elizabeth’s figure shone in light, and after a few seconds, she was dressed in a comfortable pajama set. The blonde girl took a few seconds to look around as if she were escaping from a vicious monster.

“I take Lady Rossaline and Lady Rena liked the arrangement?” Aura smirked while her eyes shone in purple light. “Oh my….they even used them like that? Oh goddess, Lady Rena does have a flexible body.”

“....YOU.ARE.EVIL.” Elizabeth said word for word.

“I take you will not want the recordings then?” Aura said with a pleased smile while playing with a holopad.

“....Good job Aura.” Elizabeth, of course, relented while sighing.

“I live to please Mistress,” Aura answered back, hiding a small smile behind the holoscreen. “What business are you here to attend today?”

Aura asked, making Elizabeth remember what she had come for. Right. She had come here with a mission!

“Summon Reginald!” Elizabeth said in a regal tone.

“At once…?” Beatrice said confused while sending a small dragon shadow that darted from directly under the little girl shadow and traveled toward Aquila. “If I may…what has that one done? He is from the latest batch if I understand it right, his [Soul] was among the last batch that joined this [Haven].”

Of course, he would be among the last…

“No, you don’t get it. He shouldn't have that [Name].” Elizabeth grumbled, she had forgotten, somehow she had forgotten about it. One of her first minions, one that should have been with her from the beginning. “...he should be dead. No, he is dead.”

“Mistress, that is one of the prerequisites to be among your [Minions], at least for most of them anyway.” Aura said from the back, “Even if some among them are back among the living, most of them are dead, or perhaps it could be better to describe your armada as one of the [Dead], [Undead], [Apparitions] and [Revenants].”

“That’s not what I mean.” Elizabeth said, “There are differences, you were dead to being with. It is more like stabby, he was among my minions but died. Reginald should be like that.”

“That is wrong Mistress, I never died, or not under your command at least.” Reginald said as he materialized in the spire. He was roughly the same height as Beatrice, and as if to pair up with her, he was dressed in a butler outfit.

“...Mistress? Is this…Reginald? Is he to replace Sebastian on his work?” Beatrice asked, looking up and down at him. “I know his spot has been open for some time, but most of his duties are carried up by me and some of the other servants.”

“That would be a wrong way to look at things Lady Valkyrie.” Reginald said shaking his head, “It was my job the one that Sebastian was doing, you do remember now after all. Right Mistress?”

Beatrice's head turned back to Elizabeth, then back to Reginald. Beatrice’s eyes turned into dragon-like eyes, and they shone in different colors, one pink with golden hues while the other turned azure with black underlines. “Explain this, and measure your words with care, Minion. For you stand before the Head Valkyrie. And I will not stand to this utter disrespect to one of our greatest servants.”

“Would you have me explain it, Mistress?” Reginald didn’t even deign to look at Beatrice, “ Or would you answer this question, what was the name of the first three minions you summoned.”

Beatrice and most of the minions in the room turned to look at Elizabeth.

“The first minion I summoned was Nyxfyre, The Twilight Dragon of The End.” Elizabeth still remembered that day, the first day she summoned a blob of shadows that slowly was morphed into a cute dragon-looking blob.

“That is correct.” Reginald nodded, “And? After?”

“After it was me and Sebastian,” Beatrice answered, her twin swords pointing at Reginald’s neck, "We all know that Mother was there, and after she got her memories back, we sat down and saw them all from beginning to end. She saw us working to fix their room at the MPI. The repairs we did at the apartment…Sebastian was the one there, no matter how much you dressed like him. Your figure is different!”

That was true. Reginald’s outfit, while that of a butler, had more sky-blue tones, while Sebastian’s outfit was obsidian black.

“The first Minion I summoned after that was Reginald, a shadow dragon in the form of a butler. Then you got born from the fragments of Rossie’s Soul and my mana.” Elizabeth answered while summoning a holoscreen that played back the memory of that event. “He is right, the first butler I summoned wasn’t Sebastian but Reginald.”

Elizabeth didn’t remember when she had started summoning Sebastian or why she had replaced Reginald. Her memories of the past weren’t that…useful, half the time she was mentally addled, the other time? She was being manipulated by either [The World], [The Taint] or some [Villain].

“What?” Beatrice asked as her swords disappeared and her eyes returned to normal. “But…he is…who is he?”

“Well, that is heartbreaking, especially after all we lived together lab head.” Reginald said back as his figure morphed from that of a shadow dragon into that of a man dressed in dirty jeans a green shirt and a patched lab suit. “But I guess you did took the chance for a second live, I would have taken it too…had it not be taken away from me that choice.”

“What happened?” Elizabeth asked as the man morphed once more back into a shadow dragon - butler edition.

“Easy, someone tampered with our connection to Akasha. Our work as your [Minions] was to ease you into this world so you could fulfill your job. While in our past life, our work was to ensure you had a good standing among the peasants…” Reginald said as he summoned a projection of mobs being replaced by people wearing merchandise with the Saintsworths logo. “In this world, our job was to ensure you had all the means to achieve the mission that [The World] set up.”

…Yeah, Sebastian had said something to those effects too hadn’t he?

“When you summoned us, I took the role of getting your connection to [Akasha] set up. While the lab hea-” Reginald started explaining.

“Beatrice.” Beatrice interrupted him, “My name is Beatrice, and my job is Head Valkyrie or Head Maid, not Lab head, not PR Lead…Not whatever I lived there. My name is Beatrice Von Starbright, I’m the daughter of Rossaline Singh and Elizabeth Starbright.”

“...whatever you say boss.” Reginald said back, “As I was saying, when I made contact with [Akasha]...I found…someone else already there.”

The projection shifted away from the image of Aquila and instead it turned into a purple gem floating in the void, “Finding [Akasha] was easy enough, she had left the waypaths there for Mistress to find, so all I needed was to connect our Shadow to it.”

The purple gem floating there seemed to be ready and calling to the image of the small shadow dragon.

“But…” Reginald said as he fast-forwarded the video until he was about to make contact. “Someone else was there.”

The video image panned away as chains made of white light darted from nowhere, hitting and tying down Reginald.

“Who? Who could even do that? Weren’t you in the [Soulscape] of this planet? How could someone even…” Elizabeth said as she saw the image of the tiny shadow dragon being tied down and pulled away from the purple gem.

“I was wondering that too. I was about to cut the link toward [Akasha] and try from another angle, and perhaps with backup.” Reginald nodded, as the image panned away and a few figures made of light showed up. “Till they arrived.”

Elizabeth focused in the figures, the people that had managed to [Steal] and [Erase] the memory of one of her first [Minion], those had been all especial. Nyx was the one that channeled most of her powers from the beginning.

Beatrice, the one that managed her minions…

And Sebastian... the one who stood at the back, managing her shadows so she always had everything she needed.

“[Who dares covet that which is sacred to us?]” One of the figures spoke as he threw a sickle at Reginald, the weapon made of light sank into Reginald and the image screamed in pain. “[Who dares covet what is within the purview of The Galaxidae?]”

….Motherf-

“Yeah, it seems this world had one clan guarding their [Core] like the [Saintsworths].” Reginald spoke as the figures made of light started attacking him in the video.

“[You would covet what is Holy? A mere shadow mockery? A dead man? Not even Human!]” The figure made of light continued attacking and mocking Reginald, “[Begone from this sacred place! Tell your owner this: if the Galaxidae aren’t worthy of receiving an oracle. What makes you think a mere Necromancer or Druid worthy of touching and interacting with that which is Holy?!?]”

The image panned back to Reginald whose figure was covered in holes and he was leaking shadows.

“You will regret this,” Reginald whispered. They could only hear this because the memory was from Reginald. "YOU PUNY HUMANS WILL REGRET EVER CROSSING OUR MISTRESS. SHE MAY NOT HAVE CLAIMED HER POWER YET, BUT SHE WAS BLESSED. SHE WILL COME, AND ALL WHICH YOU CLAIM AS YOURS WILL BE RIGHTFULLY HERS!”

The video paused, and everyone turned to look at Reginald, “I am ashamed of myself; I just had woken up from our eternal slumber and was quite….Zealout..” Reginald said and resumed the video.

“HER SHADOWS WILL COVER THE WORLD! SHE WILL REIGN UPON THE ASHES OF A BILLION SOULS, FOR HER ARMADA KNOWS NO END! AS SOON AS I PERISH SHE WILL FIND MY LAST DWELLING, MY SOUL WILL CALL UPON HER!” Reginald was raving like a madman. Hadn’t [Ethan] done this too? What is with men who wielded shadow powers and ominous edgy speeches? “THIS WORLD WILL KNOW THE MIGHT OF OUR SHADOW MISTRESS, AND NO LIGHT WILL STOP US FROM SINKING THIS WORLD IN SHADOWS!”

Reginald started cackling like a madman.

“...I am ashamed of this behaviour, please excuse me Mistress,” Reginald said with a bow.

“Everyone makes mistakes, it’s okay…” Elizabeth said, not wanting to think about all the edgy or corny things she had done at some point, like her goth phase when she found out about [Shadow Pact].

“[So you claim…perhaps there is something to your claims…]” The figure made of white light walked forward. “[Perhaps your Mistress could pose a problem to us, we are already having a hard time dealing with our next Scion, and then there is the imposter daughter of the Singh…Yeah, better to not deal with this now.]”

The figure made of light summoned what seemed to be a stake, he nailed that one down into Reginald’s head and the shadow that was previously leaking came back and went straight into the stake.

“[You shall be sealed, all the memories of your existence sealed away. All that makes you will fade away from this world. For you will be separated from Akasha. Even if your Mistress holds the kind of powers you claim, that will be her undoing, for if she is truly at the head of a billion souls…She will probably not notice a missing soul…I will make sure to send a whisper through the channel that ties you to this…Mistress, so she doesn’t forget to make your replacement. And will make sure that this one is working for Akasha.]” The figure in white spoke to the stake, and as if it was trash, it threw it away.

“I then spent two years orbiting what was supposed to be my first mission, an easy mission to stretch my wings,” Reginald said as the video fast-forwarded. “My chance came when the [Advent] showed up. It disrupted the seals set on me, so I left.”

The video showed the stake once more, only this time it blinked out of existence for a second, during which Reginald dashed away. Half a second later, the stake materialized, but with nothing to latch on to, it crumbled away.

“At that time your [Soul] had advanced enough that there was a healthy line of people waiting to serve you, and I was late. Most of my work had been done, and what was left was being managed by…Beatrice. So I just waited. When you sank deep within your [Soul], my chance came as you needed someone to work for you, and I was developed enough to see this chance.” The image showed the moment when Elizabeth had spoken with Weaver and how she had called upon a [Minion] to take care of Alice and Elemental Weaver. “So I did that, then when you took your next step towards D-”

“TOWARDS HAVING A HAPPY FAMILY AND A HAPPY LIFE!” Elizabeth suddenly screamed as the words that Reginald wanted to say seemed to start with a D.

Reginald turned, confused, to look at everyone else present.

“Mistress doesn’t want to think about the D word,” Beatrice said first as if to answer the questions.

“And not the Fun D, the boring one.” Aura added, “But yeah, we get it, carry on.”

“...right… When you took that step, the connection between you and Alice was at its weakest, she was closer to the alternative Reality where she had been born as you were supposed to. So I wanted to help her achieve that, or in case she wanted to return to you. I wanted to help her do that.” Reginald said, “ Alice, just as you. Decided to do what was right, and I couldn’t be prouder for you for allowing them to continue as they wished to be.”

“So….after dealing with [Shadow Pact] our next target will be the Galaxidae, since we can’t deal with the [Nine Stars].” Elizabeth nodded as the explanation ended.

“...” Reginald looked at the other [Minions].

“...We will start expanding our network searching for any Galaxidae cell.” Beatrice sighed and turned to Aura. “Is there any information we got from the Singh Manor?”

“Nothing usefull, Lizbeth Singh has separated as much as she could from them. I guess that our next source would be the student president?” Aura answered, summoning a picture of the student council.

Evangeline Galaxidae

Lilly Hartley

Asher Sterling

Selen Dawnstrike

Magnus Embersteel

The student president that seemed to know about Elizabeth, now that Elizabeth knew more about them, it was easy to see why that girl seemed to know as much as she did.

“I guess, anyway. Welcome back Reginald, Sebastian did a good job in your stead.” Elizabeth said, turning to the Minion, not sure how to react.

She… missed Sebastian, even if he had been made by the tampering of the [Galaxidae], the small butler had worked for her as best as possible, and at the end he even helped more than needed. Was that why he decided to disappear when his mission was done?

Was that why unlike Nyx or Beatrice he choose fading away?

Elizabeth would punch his small little face if she got the opportunity.

“I'm happy to serve, Mistress. I assume I should take my old spot?” Reginald asked, turning to look at Beatrice.

“....Fine. You may take your role as manager over the civilian side of the shadow armada.” Beatrice sighed as she said, “The Combat Maid battalion will still be under my purview as they are both combatants and servants, but you will be in charge of all the civilian side and logistics. Do not embarrass us.”

Did they have such extensive minions on the civilian side to need this?

“Mistress, just in case. But the civilian side doesn’t count as straining your Soul as the combat side. So they are more….think about all the public works a normal city needs, then multiply it by the size of your Shadow Haven. That is the amount of civilian workers we have.” Aura said from the side in a small voice, “Also this doesn’t include what work you put for us, such as the Research and development you ocasionally send our way. Also some of the spy network is maintained by the civilians within the shadow haven.”

…Yeah, they needed someone to overlook all of this.

“If you need something don’t forget to ask, either to me, Beatrice or Aura. Actually, bother Aura first. She likes to work beyond what is required, she always strives to go further beyond in everything she does.” Elizabeth nodded.

Totally didn’t hold a grudge about how her body had ended in the real world in that tent. Yup, she also totally didn’t totally want to return to her body and pretend to be asleep while spying at her girlfriend making out with her girlfriend at the side of her body.

She also didn’t want to teleport the dirty clothes they had thrown away onto the floor straight to her hands so she could smell and preserve them for later use!

Totally!