Shadow Slave

Sunny felt that there was a hint about what manner of a creature Mordret was in the fact that only the Lost and human Echoes had been allowed to guard him, but that was too little information to make a guess.

What else did he know about the man who called himself the Prince of Nothing?

He was reasonably sure that Mordret was a human… or at least had been once, at some point. A Nightmare Creature could fake a human voice, but not the knowledge of the waking world that Mordret had shown. Sunny also felt that the mysterious prince had told the truth about conquering the First Nightmare at twelve years of age.

Other than that, all Sunny had was the description of the Cruel Edge, which told of a prince that had been given away to a monstrous Dreamspawn, and later returned only to find out that he wasn't welcome in his father's home anymore. That and the fact that the Mirror Beast had been created by Mordret, much like Saint had been created by him.

That was not much to go off of…

With a sigh, Sunny looked around the cage.

Due to the concave nature of its floor, he and Cassie were forced to stay close to each other. The only surface flat enough to sit comfortably was at the very center of the dome, and not too large in diameter. The cage was utterly empty, with the exception of a rusty bucket that was covered by a wooden lid.

Sunny stared at a bucket for a while, then grimaced.

"How long do you think they'll keep us here?"

Cassie remained silent for a while, then answered evenly:

"That depends on whether they can contain the prisoner."

A deep scowl appeared on his face.

Would a hundred elite Awakened warriors and two Masters, all in service to a Great Clan, be able to handle Mondret? Before today, he would have said yes without a moment of hesitation. No matter how powerful the mysterious prince was, how could he contend against an entire army?

…But after seeing the terror on Sir Pierce's face and how nervous the Lost were, Sunny wasn't so sure anymore.

And what would happen if Mordret somehow prevailed?

Would they be safe?

Or… would they learn that terror themselves?

'Crap…'

door of the

now, there was nothing they could

and Cassie mostly remained silent, partially because each was preoccupied with their own thoughts,

two. Sunny silently meditated, feeling the shadow essence dissipate from his muscles and his strength slowly diminishing. After a while, he stood up, climbed to the walls

even tried to bend and dislodge the iron bars, but it was useless. The cage seemed to be built to imprison Masters or, perhaps, even Saints. Even at his full power,

back to the

Actually, doing nothing was sort of relaxing — if

of the runes and the orange light of the oil lamp were soft and dim, leaving the chamber dark and full of shadows. Somewhere outside, a gruesome massacre

was calm and

dozing off when Cassie suddenly turned

"Someone is coming."

expression. Its dancing flame trembled, and then disappeared for a moment when the door opened with a bang and a

Five people came inside.

the same sentinel who had locked them inside, his

the shape of an

Mordret did not manage

cold glance

brought that piece of

Sunny shifted slightly.

"I did."

of Welthe's

you

blinked a couple

had no idea what that shard was. I just thought that it was curious and

glanced at one of the Lost,

the truth. Or at least

Lost, who was a man in his thirties, with a gaunt face and clear,

walking lie

Sunny with

in coming

for a few moments. When he spoke, his voice sounded

to do with the past of the Chained Isles. I am a researcher at the Awakened Academy, you see… maybe you've read my previous exploration report?