Shadow Slave

He sat back down, waited for a while, and then turned to Cassie:

"Did you take a look at her Attributes?"

She sat down, too, and sighed.

"Yes. Her, the four Lost with her. Sir Pierce, too. I also saw the name and Rank of their Aspects."

Sunny frowned.

"What? Since when can you read Aspects, too?"

The blind girl shrugged.

"Since my Awakening."

He stared at her for a bit.

'What a useful Ability…'

In worse news, if she had not known some of his secrets before, she surely knew them now.

'...How infuriating.'

Sunny grimaced, lingered for a bit, and then said:

"Good. Chances are, we'll need that information before all of this is over."

He didn't press her for answers yet, since there was a lot he had to think about.

Some more time passed with both of them remaining silent. After a while, the door of the chamber opened once more, and the familiar four Lost entered. The one with a bandaged head was carrying a tray of food and a waterskin.

He studied them for a few moments, a cold expression on his handsome face, and then threw the food and the waterskin through the iron bars without approaching the cage.

Sunny suppressed his anger and opened his mouth, assuming the persona of a cowardly researcher:

"Hey! Sir… uh… sir Awakened! Can you tell us what is going on? Please, we don't even know what is wrong!"

The sentinel glanced at him darkly and spat in a commanding tone:

"Silence!"

was clear and strong, full of arrogant confidence… and deep animosity toward the two

the Lost left, once again locking the

moments, then slowly lowered his gaze and glanced at the food that

suddenly, he threw his

oh, gods! Never thought I'll be eating this crap

him, reflecting the blue glow of the runes,

shape

***

the consistency of mud and tasted about the same. Still, this vile invention was

not missed the damned sludge

pack. It contained a tube of synthpaste, a cheap water filter, and

Such irony...

and weak without the essence sustaining

space in the center of the cage was so small that Sunny and Cassie had to settle with their backs against each other. With nothing but two layers of thin fabric separating

cage was cold and chilly, but at least his back was

in silence for a

however, Cassie

"Sunny…"

was quiet

is she

kept his eyes closed and remained silent for a few moments, then said

doing great. She is a devil

sighed, and didn't

the middle of the night — if it was night outside — he suddenly woke up, disturbed by a sudden change in her breathing. Through the thin fabric of their clothes, he could feel the blind girl's

hesitated, then turned around and looked

face seemed white and bloodless. It was contorted in a tortured grimace, with beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. Her eyes

knowing what

visions, this one was painful

chest was rising and falling wildly, and there was a panicked expression

to feel her surroundings, clearly not quite remembering where she

one of them, making Cassie

in a cage

iron grip. After a while, Cassie took a deep breath

"...I'm alright."

go, picked up the mostly empty waterskin,

of their water and closed her eyes,