text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, fantasy, villain protagonist]
  
  Year 75
  
  "Do you really believe you can separate yourself from me? You think that you can actually steal my power without consequence?" Dendrin asks.
  "Yes, I have figured out a way and you will do nothing about it. You know why? Because you are a being of much power sure, but you and I know that you are no god and. More importantly we would not even be stealing any power from you, because I also know you are not even native to the shadow realm; you are merely using it as a source to act as a god. In my years of study, I have come to learn what you truly are and that is a Yequk, a whimsical being of the planes that loves to leech of the energy of a plane. Your kind also has a tendency to masquerade as gods or demons for amusement purposes and will bestow magic powers to those who believe in you or in my case, for the hell of it." You reply.
  
  There is silence for a while, but eventually Dendrin speaks.
  
  "Well done Eternal, I always thought I would manage to make you a believer though. I always thought that eventually you would come around, and for a while it looked it like you might, but ultimately you resisted. I suppose it's my own fault for not killing you immediately, but your potential for amusement value was too great to resist. However even with this knowledge do you really believe the shadows will survive without me granting them powers?"
  "The shadows could directly draw upon the source of the shadow realm under the right circumstances. Circumstances that I have finally unlocked, all I need to do is perform the ritual."
  "Well, it looks like you've got it all figured out Eternal. I just hope there aren't any unforeseen consequences to your plan..."
  "Is that supposed to be a threat?"
  "Perhaps, but not necessarily one from me because let's face it what would be the point? No, I believe your problem is of more mortal matters."
  "The shadows will follow me in performing the ritual."
  "Oh of that I have no doubt, you know why? Because you'll tell them what you've always told them, that it's my will that must be carried out! But tell me this Eternal, what is the point of this endeavor if I am most likely going to be worshipped anyway? Do you really believe that you can just expose the truth so easily? If you could, you would've done so long ago."
  "No! Now is different, because I can actually do something about it. I can show the shadows that they don't need you to sustain their powers. That's the whole point of this."
  "No, the whole point of this is I'm the only enemy that you've never been fully able to beat. You've denied me, you've ignored me, you've blatantly insulted me and you've even changed the religion to something that you prefer better...though I always agreed with what you did in that aspect. This whole thing is nothing more than an attempt to defeat me before you die of old age and it's a pointless endeavor based on your pride if you ask me."
  "Well nobody asked you." you say starting to get angry.
  "I genuinely don't understand what your problem is, because we've ALL benefited from this arrangement. You've even called on me for help in the past."
  "Moments of weakness, I assure you."
  "Yes, I'm sure seeing as you've been hung up on the whole instilling fear into everyone and no room for the weak type of thing for the past couple of decades. Your problem started when you started believing in your own rhetoric. YOU want to be the one that the shadows worship. YOU want to be the god of fear and shadows. You don't want to share any of the credit with me."
  "And why should I? I'm the one whose really been guiding them all these years! You've done absolutely nothing! They'd all be fucking dead if you had your way! You even admitted as much. You've claimed on several occasions that you've been bored of the shadows for years and you've only taken a more direct interest in them recently because I came along."
  "While all of that may be true, what you're forgetting is I've been guiding them a lot longer than you have. I gave them purpose for centuries! And what did you think other shadow masters were doing all those years? Twiddling their thumbs? No they were also guiding the shadows! You think you're not the only shadow master to have these sorts of feelings? You already know by Master Ebon's own dying admission that he never spoke to me and lied the whole time. You really think other shadow masters didn't have their own doubts of whether I was a god, or even existed? You're just the first one to figure out the entire truth and let the bitterness get to you. So by all means perform your little magic ritual and tap directly into the power of this shadow realm. I'm sure it'll be a success, but you will never be free of the religion tied to it. My name will always be attached to the shadows. Perhaps now more than ever, for a day may have soon come that I would've abandoned the shadows entirely and moved on to other things. On that day, they would've lost all their powers and undoubtedly the organization would've soon collapsed afterwards. Now? You're going to give them access to the power directly whether I'm here or not. Who do you think is going to still be worshipped? That's right."
  
  "So I'll risk exposing the truth." You say in an attempt to continue to be defiant.
  "Before or after the ritual? If its before, you're not even going to get a chance to complete it because you'll be strung up as a heretic or you'll be forced to kill them all. I doubt even your own mate would side with you even if she and possibly a few others might suspect you're right. Faith is a powerful thing and you know this. If it's after the ritual, you might have better success, but I doubt it. At best you'll end up getting utter chaos because you'll get rogue shadows that will see no reason to be part of the group anymore. Just think about those in the past that dared to oppose the status quo like Theo, Yvette or even Shade. Don't you think there will be MORE dissident types when they know there is absolutely no chance of them losing their powers now? The shadows will eventually splinter apart through selfishness. Of course perhaps you don't care, but I think you do care about the shadows more than you let on sometimes. If you didn't, you wouldn't be making such a grand effort of trying to free them from me."
  
  You hate it when Dendrin makes good points and this time he's made several.
  
  "I'm...not going to win this one am I?" you say.
  "My advice? You'd be better off letting this one go. You're a mortal and have limitations. Enjoy what little time you have left. But it's your choice, and I've always believed that you work better without guidance, so do what you will."
  
  You wake up from your mental ordeal and sit up placing your head within your hands trying to come to grips with your own short sightedness. It's almost enough to make you cry.
  
  "What's wrong? You seem upset. Bad dream?" Talia asks when she sees you after rousing from her own sleep.
  "No...I...no. I'm fine. Just still tired I guess."
  
  You lay back down and Talia soon goes back to sleep. You're left wondering what you're going to do, but it all seems so pointless now no matter what you decide.
  
  If you go ahead with the ritual anyway and expose the truth, you're going to face all the potential problems Dendrin mentioned. Of course you could just keep up the lie about Dendrin, but that seems to be defeating your original purpose.
  
  > perform the ritual and keep up the lie
  It's not the most ideal plan that you had, but at least if you perform the ritual, the shadows won't be left in the lurch whenever Dendrin decides to cut out on them. Sure they'll still be paying tribute to an uncaring and possibly empty god, but then again haven't they always?
  
  You get up and gather the books you've been studying and go over one more time this ritual you have planned. You don't even know if it'll even work, but you're fairly certain you haven't gotten any of the magic words or signs wrong.
  
  It suddenly occurs to you that maybe you should also create a new initiation ritual too. It won't be necessary for new recruits to be brainwashed into meeting with Dendrin anymore, in fact it would probably be a hindrance.
  
  And that's when you suddenly realize a bunch of things you can't believe you overlooked!
  
  You're not going to "beat" Dendrin in your lifetime. He probably won't even be beaten decades after your death, but you still have time to set the plans to do it now. First things first though.
  
  You send a general announcement out that after all assassination missions have been completed, no more are to be given and that all shadows are to remain at the temple until the Ritual of Ascension is to be completed. (Which is what you've called it, because you're practically performing the same thing just with some of your own alterations)
  
  Many of the shadows immediately cheer at the news, others aren't entirely sure what you're talking about which isn't surprising since the Ascension Ritual isn't common knowledge to the newer shadows. Still when you explain it, they all seem excited about the plan.
  
  When the time comes you stand outside the temple in front of the several hundred shadows with their heads down in prayer. From the ones nearly as old as you to the ones that are barely out of the crib, all shadows are lending their own energy to your own in the effort of pulling off this historical moment.
  
  Talia stands by your side as always. You look at her and wonder if you would've even come this far if you hadn't fallen in love with her. Lately you've been a bit distant with her, but you promise that'll change when this is all over.
  
  "Dendrin, we are your shadows! We have served your will for centuries no matter what the struggles. From before the Empire and through it, and after it's inevitable demise. We will always be your faithful servants in the years to come. We feel we are ready for this power. I feel we are ready. This is the destiny of the shadows!" you say and then begin the incantations.
  
  Most of your people recite what you say in unison while others stand at the far ends and chant supporting verses, which are essential to the ritual. Talia is also chanting yet another portion of it while making gestures with her hands to begin the first part of opening up the portal to Dendrin's realm. This part is almost like the initiation ritual, but of course much more complex and involved.
  
  A large portal opens up above all of you and even with the sky already in perpetual darkness; it seems to get even darker. There is no wind or lightning or anything that most would connect with such a grand attempt altering reality. Instead, it just gets very dark and you start to feel a tingling numbness.
  
  You begin to see some of the shadows fall to the ground. You don't know if they've died or just fainted. None of them are deterred though; they all continue to perform their parts for as long as they are able. This is like one of your personal encounters with Dendrin when you've slept, but instead everyone is experiencing it in the real world. You begin to feel all five of your senses becoming non-existent and the numbness is close to complete at this point.
  
  Eventually you can't even see most of the shadows in front of you and you can hardly hear them anymore. Still you know you're on the right path, the blackness is engulfing everything. You briefly look over at Talia who is barely visible now. She continues to chant like a true believer that she's always been.
  
  A few minutes pass and you soon can't hear anything except your own voice now and even that is very faint, though you can't be sure it's due to losing your hearing or your voice. Probably both. You look over one more time at Talia who you see start to teeter from exhaustion. You see her look over at you as well before you lose sight of her completely to the blackness.
  
  You continue to silently chant while your mind fights the fatigue you're experiencing. It feels like you've been doing this forever, but you have to finish. You wonder what's happening to everyone else. You wonder if they're still alive. You wonder if Talia is still alive.
  
  "Decided to go through with it after all eh? I thought you might." you hear inside your head. It's Dendrin, you can't talk to him though, you need to focus since you're going into the part of the ritual that you've created yourself with other non-shadow incantations.
  
  "Eternal, are you sure this is even going to work? Perhaps you should stop before you continue any further."
  
  And now you know that you've made the right decision. He's trying to talk you out it.
  
  "Eternal, are you sure this is what you want?"
  
  Of course it is. This is what will be for the best for the shadows. You've been their true master for over decades now. They would've ultimately been destroyed without you. When you're gone the shadows will fall prey to something else, whether it be from external forces or internal ones. Dendrin doesn't give a shit about them despite his fondness for you. By doing this, they'll always be strong and independent of him whether they know it or not.
  
  You begin the finishing lines of the ritual.
  
  "Very well, I can see you have made your decision."
  
  With those last words you succumb to absolute numbness and pass out.
  
  Hours later you awaken to Talia's face staring at you along with several other shadows.
  
  "Thank Dendrin, he's still alive." You hear Gannon say.
  "My love are you all right?" Talia asks.
  "Yes. Yes I'm fine, just a little disorientated. How is everything else? Did it work?"
  "Well I suppose so. I mean we all feel a little different now. Some have expressed an increase in magical abilities. What exactly was the ritual supposed to do?" Talia asks.
  "I believe that's what it was supposed to do, increase our abilities. The ritual was vague. Maybe it just brought us a little closer to Dendrin's power source...allow us to tap directly into his divine energy as it were." You say.
  "You mean like make our link stronger with him?"
  "Yes, I suppose so." You say in a non-committal way.
  
  As you are helped up and give a squeezing hug to Talia, you realize you need to get several things in order now. You aren't exactly young anymore and you have much to accomplish.
  
  After things have calmed down a bit and it's back to business as usual, you announce that you will be choosing a successor. This comes somewhat of a surprise, but not entirely as you are of advanced years. You and Talia go through a list of the potential candidates and eventually you settle on a young twenty year old girl by the name of Celia. She shows much promise in her combat and magic abilities and Glen had been considering her as a Blade before you picked her.
  
  Mentoring her begins immediately, but that isn't your only plan. The shadows are still going to believe in Dendrin for quite some time, you don't have years left in you to make such a large change in that system, but you have set up the foundation as best you can.
  
  So you begin to write a journal, a journal containing the truth. You intend on passing this on to Celia when you die. Hopefully you can mold her a bit in such a way that when she does read this, she'll be strong enough to accept the truth about the shadows, about Dendrin, about all of it.
  
  It's all a bit of a gamble, but then most of your actions have been your entire life.
  
  > Epilogue
  Epilogue 6: Eternal Terror
  
  Year 101
  
  "My work here is done and it will soon be time for me to move on. When that happens, you will officially be the new Shadow Master...or Shadow Mistress in your case." You say to your protégée Celia.
  "Do you think I'm ready? I mean Dendrin hasn't directly spoken to me since I went through the initiation ritual." She says
  "Do not worry about that. As long as you believe in your own abilities it'll be enough. It's always enough. You're ready, you've had more than enough training and you've practically been running this order for the past few years."
  "I...I was only still assisting you. You were and still are Shadow Master." Celia says humbly.
  "Perhaps, but after my beloved Talia died six years ago, I can admit that I've been a little distracted from being Shadow Master for quite awhile. Your help with doing her job and part of my own was probably the last and best way to test if you had what it takes. And you obviously do. You'll be fine without me, but I didn't have time to explain everything. That's why I wrote something for you to study. In fact it may be the most important thing you may ever learn as your time as Shadow Mistress. You'll find the book on my desk. Embrace the knowledge within it, and remember that fear and patience are the greatest weapons of the shadows. Use them wisely."
  
  Celia nods solemnly at your words and attempts to not show any weakness, but she's not made of stone. Nobody is. You know that better than anyone. Nearly all of your life you've had so much responsibility placed upon you and you'll be happy to just get some rest.
  
  You can hear Celia quietly sobbing, but that's getting fainter. Your vision begins to darken, it won't be long now.
  
  You mumble something incoherent as you start to lose consciousness and then nothing.
  
  "There you are, I was wondering if you'd ever die." Dendrin says
  "Am I dead?" You ask.
  "Pretty much. Your brain is still semi-active, hence why we can have this conversation."
  "Are you leaving the shadows too?"
  "Don't really see the point in sticking around, do you? I mean you're dead and you've successfully made them independent whether they realize it or not. I think its time for me to move on. Though I figured I'd at least say goodbye seeing as you were my main source of entertainment all these years, but I also wanted to ask you something. This grand plan of yours, do you really think it will work?"
  "I don't know, but I had to try."
  "Why though? You'll be long dead even if it does work and is beating me that important? I know we've been at odds on several occasions, but I also know you've called on my help and we've even agreed at times."
  "That doesn't matter. The fact still remains that I looked after what was supposed to be YOUR charge. I don't care how long you did it, I don't care how long previous shadow master did it. The fact still remains I did it the best and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you or anyone destroy what I did either through apathy or hostility."
  "How do you know your own plan won't destroy the shadows? How do you know it won't cause inner strife and turmoil that will result in the organization collapsing?"
  "Well as you pointed out...I won't because I'll be dead. However if it does happen then it'll be me who did it. It'll be me who was responsible, nobody else."
  
  There's a brief pause before Dendrin speaks again.
  
  "I think I understand Eternal...you never completely shed your Empire training. Your desire to control everything was always there, and was just reinforced when you became Shadow Master. It's okay though, I think I can accommodate your true wishes, might take a while, but I can do this before leaving for more interesting things. Consider it my way of saying thanks. Besides, I can't let you win either."
  
  At this point your borrowed time is up, and you are unable to argue with Dendrin anymore. He's gotten the last word, but perhaps his last word wasn't a malicious one and somehow your mind feels like it's undergoing a transformation...
  
  The shadow order thrived under Celia, who did indeed prove to be one of the better Shadow Masters in the long line of them. Her faith in Dendrin was shaken after she read your journal. She was angry for a long time, but that anger was put to good use when she managed to extend shadow influence greatly into the Nalin Empire. She eventually came to terms with the fact that Dendrin did not lead the shadows, she did. When that happened she continued to make minor changes to shadow operations. By the time of her death, fear of the infamous shadow assassins had extended to the Felkan Kingdom, and in your footsteps she left your journal for the next shadow master with her own additions.
  
  Other Shadow Masters followed her example and the order continued to thrive as little by little the religious aspect of it began to disappear. This wasn't without its problems and were still the usual ups and downs. There was eventual conflict with other powers, but the major one was the shadow civil war. Dendrin was right that the shadows would eventually fight amongst themselves...but he was wrong that the order would completely collapse. After the dust settled the shadows had shed their belief in Dendrin completely.
  
  This of course was partly because of you. In life you freed the shadows from the Empire and now in death your actions freed them from Dendrin. Before, your writings were kept a secret known only to the shadow master it was passed down to, now the original book is considered one of the most important tomes to the shadows.
  
  While Dendrin's name is no longer revered by the shadows, your name has taken his place. Even though you mention in your own writing that you should never be "deified", people tend to elevate those that do great things. Stories begin to spread.
  
  One of the most important of those stories being that the shadows claim that when you died, your spirit defeated Dendrin in combat and took over the shadow realm where you could make sure no other "being" could trick the shadows ever again.
  
  More than one Shadow Master has claimed that they've spoke to you directly in a dream, giving advice or chastising them for not being ruthless enough.
  
  Nowadays the shadows have abandoned their assassination for hire in exchange for outright aggressive expansions of conquest. One of the more popular tales now is how at times you've managed to manifest yourself on the battlefield in shadow form bringing fear to enemies. These stories have become so prevalent that even foes of the shadows have been known to believe them. Your name has become synonymous with terror. And why wouldn't it? You defeated a "god" after all.
  
  But of course these are just stories...or are they?
  
  Whether such stories are true, half true, or completely false, what is certain is that you have maintained your influence over the shadows and you remain ETERNAL.