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!"

of arrogant confidence… and deep animosity

another word, the Lost left, once again

gaze and glanced at the food that rolled down the slope of the

his

Never thought I'll be

glow of the runes, two colorless tubes of synthpaste were lying on the

shape all

***

synthetic paste that had the consistency of mud and tasted about the same. Still, this vile invention was cheap to produce and supposed to contain all the nutrients

the damned sludge at

called a "universal ration pack"... or simply a rat pack. It contained a tube of synthpaste, a cheap water filter, and several dry, tasteless crackers. This was what he mostly ate before becoming an Awakened, so now, Sunny felt as

Such irony...

and weak without the essence sustaining their bodies,

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

silence for a while, trying to fall

did, however,

"Sunny…"

was quiet and

how is she doing?

eyes closed and remained silent for a few

a devil already. Now

and didn't say

was night outside — he suddenly woke up, disturbed by a sudden change in her breathing. Through the thin fabric of their clothes,

turned around and

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

lingered, not knowing what to

was painful and terrifying. Was he supposed to wake her up? Or would it do more harm than

decide, she suddenly sat up with a stifled yelp. Her chest was rising and falling wildly, and there was

raised her hands and tried to feel

making Cassie

in a cage in Night

surrendering to his iron grip. After a while, Cassie

"...I'm alright."

mostly empty waterskin, and put it

and