#wheeeeeeeee!

-Apex said that even the Vex were scared of it, so I should just be careful. I don’t think I’m going to go into the shadowlands today after all, because that encounter spooked me a little bit too much for comfort. I am going to try to summon my new shadow, though. For real this time.

Zedaph put his pen down and sighed, leaning back and putting his feet up on the desk. He felt like he’d been basically living in the shadow temple, between bright lights giving him headaches still and the constant trips into the shadowlands. He had all his materials - maybe he really did need to take a long break, stop giving himself the interdimensional bends.

He stretched, headed up to the platform, then realized he’d forgotten to grab his shadow-stabbin’ scythe - he headed over to the desk, picked it up, and made sure there was only one armor-stand in his inventory just in case his instincts caused him to try and do the double-summon.

It felt weird, actually waiting for his shadow to form up into a shape. It felt even weirder when his headache vanished altogether as if he was back in the shadowlands as the silhouette he was casting over the center of the room began to darken in color rapidly, as though a huge pit was opening up in it.

He must’ve blinked, needed to refocus or something - his regular shadow was back to normal, and the straight-up Vantablack shadow was now standing across from him, leaning against one of the pillars casually.

Its eyes were closed, he assumed, because all he could see was the vague outline of probably him, like a hole cut right through the fabric of spacetime. It raised one hand, waved, and opened its eyes - yeah, there was that piercingly bright, glowing yellow, solid through, somehow both cold and warm at the same time.

Oh, finally.

Zedaph blinked again. Generally, shadows were not supposed to be immediately sentient on summoning… unless he’d gotten a monster one, like Puzzler or a shadow-vex.

It grinned at him. Rows and rows of sharp, white teeth. Yep, this was one of the spooky shadows. He raised his scythe and took a step back, and the shadow vanished - he felt one of its hands on his shoulder as the other one gently plucked the scythe from his hands.

Don’t be harsh, it said - or, actually, did it say? He was starting to notice that his shadow’s mouth was rarely… moving with what it said, and he wasn’t hearing it speak from wherever it was located. It was more like hearing himself speak, just with a weird shadowy edge to it.

I’m not going to hurt you, it continued, now twirling the scythe rather like a cheerleader’s baton. Actually, I was getting worried. You spend too much time in my domain.

“Your domain…” Zedaph frowned thoughtfully. “The shadowlands? I mean, yeah, you’re a shadow. I thought it was the domain of all the shadows, though? Anarchist communism or something like that.”

Its laugh was soft, almost ambient. I am no mere shadow, Zedaph.

Hm. Well, that was worrying. Zedaph pulled out his backup scythe, turned around and pointed it at his silhouette. “Hey. Stop being ominous. We already have enough of that from Puzzler.”

Puzzler… oh, that little shit.

He blinked. “Hey! No cursing! This is a family-friendly ritual area. Let’s unpack your hatred for Grian’s new shadow in a bit. I met another shadow today. Apex, you know him? He told me to be careful of the old shadows, what’s that mean.”

It smirked at him. He was warning you about me, I think. His spooky doppelganger stretched, spun the scythe in its hand again. I don’t believe I’m supposed to be a summonable shadow, you must have broken something the first time you summoned me.

“The old shadows… oh, I get it!” Zedaph clapped his hands together. “It must be a result of me immediately hopping into the shadowlands without me actually summoning a shadow first and spending a lot of time in there. Something got glitched.”

Speaking of glitched… his face fell back into a frown. “Wait, that doesn’t mean… you’re the giant patch of void covering the bottom of the shadowlands? The abyss?”

Its grin seemed proud, this time, judging by the way its eyes turned up. Clever. Yes, that’s me.

“Well, that solves one issue. I’ll call you Oldie.”

…What? Why?

Zedaph grinned back. “You’re the old shadows! An oldie, but a goodie?”

Absolutely the fuck not.

“Woah, okay, okay, watch your language. I have a backup name. How’s Abyss sound?” He spread out his hands in a placating gesture, almost accidentally dropping his scythe in the process; his shadow vanished once more, this time reappearing alongside him and casually grabbing his arm, readjusting his grip on the scythe for him.

Much better, Abyss said, eyes glinting. I like it.

“Okay then, Abbie, what’s your beef with Puzzler?”

It blinked at the nickname, then shook its head, putting its hands into pockets Zedaph could only assume were there. Puzzler… he’s an aberration. Defacing my domain with his snotty little-

“-language-” ...Right. Puzzler is a corrupted shadow. Something extra has gotten into his - you would call it code, right? Abyss paused, cocked its head to the side - it seemed to actually be waiting for an answer from him.

“Yeah. It’s called code. You think something’s glitched Puzzler and he’s not actually supposed to be, uh, like that?”

I know for a fact that Grian should, by all rights, have a normal shadow. Technically, everyone should, though the Vex I can let slide. His shadow shrugged. They coexist well enough, after all. Now, that little usurping fuc-

“Hey! I said, no cursing!” Zedaph crossed his arms, gave his void-nightmare-shadow a fake glare. Truth be told, this was simultaneously the most terrified and also most comfortable he’d ever felt. Joking with a terrifying god-monster incarnation of a dimension felt surprisingly natural - oh, wait, right, he knew Death, that was probably why he was taking this so well.

Apologies. I forgot myself again. Abyss shook its head. Whatever language I do or do not use, Puzzler is a power-hungry and manipulative creature caused by some outside force intentionally trying to gain more power. I can’t stand him.

He nodded in understanding, rubbed his chin thoughtfully with his free hand. “You know, I bet if we just strolled on up to Puzzler he’d get pretty spooked by you. He’s already been staring at me suspiciously. Maybe we could scare him straight?”

Or I could consume his essence, removing all scraps of that pestilence which corrupted him, and then remake him as a proper shadow ought to be?

Zedaph chuckled nervously. “Let’s, uh, let’s call that a last resort, okay Abbie?”