Lords of Shadow
What is a shadow? The scientific version would probably go something like, "absence of light cast by an object."
Well it isn't. A shadow is a commodity no currency can buy, and those who have it, are immortal, gods of prowess and power, and rule the world as Lords of Shadow.
Loki wasn't born with a shadow, he was born in the hands of an insane woman and had to watch his brother die to the madness. But years later, on a military trip to fix a drilling rig– as a handyman by the way– he encounters the worst thing he could.
A shadowed beast slaughters through their convoy on ATVs, and right before he dies, he falls into the beast's shadow, and absorbs it!
Crazy? But it goes further. The shadow manifests as that of a bee for him, and he has to level it up to other animals and things by going through extreme sensations of pain, hunting others, and killing what cannot be killed.
All for what? To reshape the world, vanquish all lords of Shadow, and become the next and final one himself!
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Chapter: Dawn's LightHis wounds hadn't mended, but his hunger had, at least for today. Despite he shabby skills, he actually felt like this time, he wouldn't poison himself with his cooking.He laid bare chested, under the tranquil winds of evening. The sunset was all the scenery described in fairy tales, except with realism, hence it was boring. But it was yharnam's sun.Yes, the Lords all didn't share the same sun. Their egotistical nature would never let them.Speaking of nature...'Can't I enjoy a moment of respite?!' thought Loki, almost aloud, jerking up. Some well-intentioned ants had just made their way into his body, and it were quite jovial about it.Of course their stings wouldn't hurt, but he didn't like ants. And for anyone who knew his background, they would know why.After getting rid of them, he decided to clear a patch of grass away, before returning to resting, and then he noticed it.At first he thought it was his eyes' betrayal, or something terribly wrong, or terribly right.His shad
Last Updated: 2026-08-21
Chapter: Jasmine And ObedientLoki went home, or rather to his temporary apartment in the abandoned clinic. He wasn't trying to get caught, especially now that the curfew would help you single him out. And luckily, he wouldn't need to go out after all; he had been successful this morning in securing ingredients for meals that would last at least three days or five if he was being frugal. Anyways, with today being the first of those days, he would prefer to treat himself to a feast instead of a few crumbs of unleavened bread, as usual. Loki didn't know how to make a lot of things, and rightly so. While surviving, he had spent more of his time learning mechanics and handyman work, so he was a bit restricted here. But still, even the staples he knew how to make had become a luxury for him over time, and that time ended today, even though only voluntarily. The kitchen of the abandoned clinic smelt like trouble, sterilized air and thyme. The kitchen had never meant to be a kitchen; it had only become what it was be
Last Updated: 2026-08-19
Chapter: FalloutYharnam was in disarray.And up in smoke too. From both the prison compound and the keeper's inn, fading mushroom clouds. For years, the capital of the country had served as an example of how impregnable the world under a lord was. Now that world had not only been broken, but it had also been broken twice.And by the same group of a few mortal men. This was not good for the country's image, nor for its ego. Before dusk, all but one of the foreigners had been executed and disposed of.They had left the seeming leader alive, kept in the same place he had broken into, with security twice as high. The military needed to know if he was alone–, or a part of something bigger.In light of that, the city had been placed under an indefinite curfew until it was certain that another attack wasn't imminent. It took a lot of words for Joan to convince his wife to let him go, but she eventually did. Because unlike before, this wasn't just a matter of going to work; it was a matter of necessity.Yh
Last Updated: 2026-08-18
Chapter: B.O.O.MBOOM!Joan saw the inn scatter, and the cloud of wood and dust that rose with it."Loki..." he said through gritted teeth. Was this his way of getting the heat of him? With the lives of others?Barely a day had passed since General Kumar gave him a timer, and the situation had already escalated. Needless to say, it wasn't good.He looked at the two corporals behind him and pointed towards the rising smoke. "Go secure the site, take people to clinics for treatment, and if you see any suspects...you know what to do.""Yes, sir," replied the two men in one chorus. And then, with their crossbows, they ran towards what remained of the inn.Joan stood still. There were many possible, and plausible, actions he could take now. But he could just be chasing his own tail.He had seen Loki, and he looked...less than average– or maybe that was his memory failing him. He couldn't have afforded the materials to set a bomb, could he?Those materials, like black powder, or whatever he used, weren't re
Last Updated: 2026-08-15
Chapter: Collapsing RubbleMorning had come, and the foreigner left, like most people who stay in less-than-stellar inns. Before the next rush of customers arrived, the rooms needed to be cleaned.A cleaner walked up the stairs and stood at the room's door, hoping not to meet a pile of debris...if only she knew.As soon as she stepped in, the strand of horsehair snapped, releasing the spring-loaded caps onto the flint and steel heads, and she was no more.The room exploded ait nd rammed its piece through the Inn at speeds almost sonic.Loki ducked, and so did the hundred other people on the streets.A moment of silence in shock, and then chaos. People scattered with unnecessary screaming, assuming there would be another explosion, and they needed to get to the safety of indoors.There wasn't another blast, but one was already bad enough. A child had run in to meet his mother; where were they both?The building wasn't levelled yet, but was sagging under its own weight. The crowd couldn't wait for vigilantes or t
Last Updated: 2026-08-13
Chapter: GunpowderGunpowder was an improved version of black powder, more flammable and more explosive than its predecessor. And perfect for warfare, since the volatile alchemical flasks had been rendered inefficient by fire extinguishers.The merchant handed the foreigner a strap bag filled with quid, another bag containing the instruments for his work, and some fake documents which could be used to lie about the contents of the large sack bag.Not that he'd need to lie. Money opens doors, and the ones he needed to walk through had been paid for in advance. Even though a few were to be closed, the key was always murder.With a displeased grunt, the foreigner took his goods and walked into 'The Keeper's Inn'. It wasn't popular or the best at anything, but it just fulfilled the requirements for being an inn with mediocre splendor.It was the perfect place to lay low. No tax collectors patrolling the area like they were the weather."Hello sir, welcome to the Keeper's Inn," said the receptionist with a b
Last Updated: 2026-08-12
Chapter: Definitely WrongThe boy was quiet, way too quiet than nature would have of him. Even his steps had an air of shyness, as if begging the winds to cover them up.Speaking of winds, since the rains had fallen, they had been biting, and so many of the kingdom guards had left their posts around the temporary settlement and retreated into the huts.Walking along the paths that the downpour had carved, Atlas felt pity for the child as he shivered. Suddenly he felt foolish for having returned the cloth, even if it was the wiser thing to do at the moment. But still, he wouldn't have cared; it belonged to his aunt.The boy looked up at Atlas, suspicion shaping his eyes. He might have thought that Atlas only came from him at the plea of his aunt, but Atlas had proved him wrong.Noah huffed, shivering as he let out some much-needed warm air. "Okay miste– sorry, I meant Atlas."Atlas straightened up and walked with more purposeful strides. Going back to his childhood, he had always subconsciously behaved like th
Last Updated: 2026-10-07
Chapter: Frantic SearchThe refugee settlement was disarranged, mostly because of its numbers. Atlas' rough estimate was hanging somewhere between a hundred and fifty and two hundred.And with about twenty people in each, the kingdom– or the people who made it out of it– were three thousand in the very least. But Atlas believed it to be in the neighborhood of five thousand.It was small for a kingdom, barely the size of most villages. But the low population was due to constant wars and low harvest rate, forcing the inhabitants to wisely choose not to reproduce as much.Also, nobody would dare disrespect Achilles to the point of naming his abode a mere village.Maybe then though, not now. The scene he beheld very much looked like a village, and not even a good one. Disregarding the environment, the structures were too rickety.Due to the large number of people and lack of adequate materials, most of the huts had been made with anything available, and spread out to accommodate a good number. Hence, the rains h
Last Updated: 2026-10-04
Chapter: Unwelcomed AcquaintanceAtlas wrapped the cover cloth around himself even tighter as he shivered. Seeing him all drenched, a nice stranger– or rather his former nanny's sister– gave him the remains of an old bedding material to use to drive out the cold.It was really nice of her. And stupid of Atlas to take it, because it smelt really bad. But it was warm, and unnervingly so.He had gone far away from camp to search for the Xhosa, but strangely couldn't find them. Then the rains had started, beating him down.Literally!'Those aren't raindrops, they're liquid bullets.'It was a great wonder to him how the rickety wooden structures had collapsed already. Water sprayed through the gaps in itself, but it didn't give in. Still, it swayed under relentless thundering.Atlas frowned and looked up at the moving roof. In truth, he wasn't worried about the possibility of it collapsing; after all, he had been crushed by much worse things. Instead, he just wanted to avoid eye contact with the smiling face of his former
Last Updated: 2026-10-04
Chapter: Hot GossipHope was never always with Atlas. In truth, she could disappear for weeks, and he would barely even bother to send a message or read the ones she sent.But this felt different. Unlike before, he wasn't in control of the timeline, and actually had a lot of missing pieces to find. So was everyone else really.Common sense told him that in such a situation, she should have been with them, yet she wasn't. Worse, she hadn't even left a letter.That meant whatever happened was either impromptu or unforeseen. His frown deepened.Hope was a god, but she wasn't the fighting type. Given, she could beat pigs into submission, but pigs were pests of a sort; their problems were predators.Still, anything that wanted to harm her would have a hard time touching her, but that didn't lessen his worry.The multiple dozen confused gazes that fell on him forced him out of his state of distress and into one of embarrassment.His outburst had been abrupt, and had broken the melancholic atmosphere. Then he
Last Updated: 2026-10-04
Chapter: What the Actual Hell?!Atlas gulped and felt himself unable to swallow the saliva completely.This wasn't fear- or shock-induced paralysis, although they were afraid. They actually couldn't move.The feeling was strange. It wasn't like their muscles were glued or locked in place; it felt like they, or he rather– because he couldn't tell what they were going through– had forgotten how to move.Even his eyelids, the pumping of his chest, every micro movement, stopped. He felt dead, but was alive.'What the actual hell!'The overwhelming numbness jarred him in a metaphysical sense, and stuttered his brain, preventing him from thinking straight. He was paused at the edge of the door so he could still see out into the streets. And what he saw...was terrifying.Everyone looked the same, suspended in animation, so motionless that an outside observer would believe it was a picture or statues. And whatever this was, it only targeted people, or living things that were rather. The drink a man had had to his lips fel
Last Updated: 2026-10-04
Chapter: War RoomOf course he didn't just spell his plan out then and there. The few words had just been for drama, and even he had to compliment himself. His acting was spot on.Matthew and the other Xhosa followed, as they went to meet up with the rest of the Xhosa members that had recently returned to the kingdom after the dire calls made by the guards.Atlas didn't bother to question them on where they had been; they were men after all.The four people coming from the north gate, of which Gerrard was part, had a lot of scratches and looked like they had just survived something harsh, which was no surprise.The weather was telling on them too, and their skin looked purple from frostbite. Even the tanned guy too.Kael and his group looked like they had had it easier, but it didn't mean they were good-looking either. Without exception, everyone here was dishevelled. Atlas wasn't displeased; he couldn't ever, knowing who he was, but he wasn't going to let them off so easily."And here I was, thinking
Last Updated: 2026-10-04
