Shadow Clan/History

After the Throne War, Sunny had become the head of a Legacy Clan. Legacy Clans, once symbols of elite power, had lost their prestige due to the surge of new Awakened after the Chain of Nightmares. The Great Clans were now eclipsed by the Immortal Flame clan, which stood alone in its supremacy. Nephis, the sole heir of the Immortal Flame bloodline, commanded the Fire Keepers, an elite military force formed by original members of the Dreamer Army and reinforced through a grand tournament that saw only 4,000 chosen from hundreds of thousands of applicants. This tournament was a global spectacle, offering both distraction and hope to the masses.^[1]

However, Sunny noted that not all tasks suited such a visible force. For missions requiring stealth, subtlety, or secrecy, there existed his own group—the Shadow Clan. Founded out of his need for anonymity, the Shadow Clan was much smaller, with only around 200 members, half of whom were elite combatants personally selected by Sunny. Marked by him and trained in stealth, these warriors handled threats like rogue loyalists, doomsday cults, and problematic Nightmare Creatures. Their operations were covert, and the clan itself officially did not exist, though rumors and tales whispered of them.^[1]

The Shadow Clan was based in the Forgotten Shore, a place of great personal and strategic significance to Sunny. Once a prisoner there, he now returned as its ruler. He cited several reasons for choosing this location: preparing for the fragmented arrival of Earth into the Dream Realm, establishing a launch point into the Nightmare Desert, searching for a path to the Underworld, strengthening his Domain in the Burned Forest, staying hidden from public attention, and most importantly, establishing a last bastion in case all else fell to ruin.^[1]

But the situation was dire. There are looming threats—the Death Zones in the Dream Realm, profane beings, a confirmed Category Five Gate in the waking world, and possibly something worse on the moon. Once the waking world was fully consumed, the protective laws of the War Realm would vanish, allowing Unholy nightmare creatures to roam freely, unleashing devastation.^[1]

Their urgent goal before the end comes, both he and Nephis must ascend—to godhood, or at the very least become Sacred.^[1]

On a moonless night at the peak of summer, the Shadow Clan was fully mobilized in complete secrecy, with dozens of elite Awakened teams preparing to strike simultaneously across both worlds after months of careful preparation.^[2]

In Bastion, Quentin led his men to surround the Church of the Moon as the street lamps flickered and died, plunging the area into shadow. Elsewhere, Rain and Tamar, accompanied by Ray and Fleur, prepared to assault a hidden black market auction base. In NQSC, Kim led an armored cohort against a fortified compound of a minor Legacy clan while surveillance systems conveniently failed, and June's people, having boarded the Night Garden days earlier, moved through its cavernous cargo holds. In Ravenheart, Shadow Clan members watched in awe and fear as Princess Revel, the Lightslayer, walked among them wreathed in swirling darkness, before ordering them to reinforce other teams while she handled the Bridge operation alone.^[2]

Meanwhile, Sunny and Aiko oversaw the operation from a vast table displaying manifested shadows that tracked hundreds of attackers surrounding thousands of targets, relying on the near omniscience of the Lord of Shadows, the clan wielded Memories forged by Sunny, could travel between worlds through seven hidden Dream Gates, and was often accompanied by incarnations or avatars of their Lord, who possessed near omniscience, with senses spreading across vast distances to uncover secrets and provide detailed knowledge of enemies. His six avatars escorting teams assigned to the most dangerous sleeper cells.^[2]

Despite Aiko's exhaustion and misgivings about coordinating a simultaneous assault across three continents and regions of the Dream Realm, she activated the communication Memories at Sunny's signal, ordering all shadows to advance. The coordinated strikes followed immediately: darkness and cold wind overwhelmed the Church of the Moon as unseen attackers rushed in, Awakened guards at a secretive auction house were paralyzed by a beautiful voice, a sealed Legacy clan manor was breached and secured within a minute, impenetrable darkness and chilling screams engulfed a battle sect's headquarters in Ravenheart, and a sudden explosion tore through a smuggler lair deep within the Night Garden.^[2]

The Shadow Clan was susceptible to the plague, although their resistance to it was quite high compared to others in the Human Domain. This increased resistance was attributed to the fact that each member knew their Sovereign personally, unlike most subjects of the Longing Domain, for whom Lady Nephis was merely an abstract symbol. Despite this resistance, they had still lost a few agents to the Hunger Domain, though identifying infected members was far easier because the Mark of Shadows rejected them, which could be visibly detected through their serpent tattoo. Their lands were geographically isolated, separated from the rest of the Human Domain by the Hollow Mountains, with only limited ways to reach the Forgotten Shore, including crossing the mountains, being carried across the realm boundary by Dark Dancer Revel, or using the Dream Gate of the Lord of Shadows. The Shadow Clan maintained organized evacuation procedures through this Dream Gate, retreating from the waking world under orders from their leader, after which the Gate was shut down, leaving Revel as the only member capable of traveling freely between worlds.^[3]

In Chapter 2830, Revel confirmed that she had transported Asterion's former thralls to the waking world and released them, ending their imprisonment, but this also exposed the presence of the Shadow Clan in the Dark City, prompting her to relocate the Dark Castle and make it a wandering fortress.