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

left, once

few moments, then slowly lowered his gaze and glanced

he threw his head

Never thought I'll

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

their shape all

***

same. Still, this vile invention was cheap to produce and supposed to contain all the nutrients one needed to — barely

had not missed the

get was 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 though his life

Such irony...

and weak without the essence sustaining their bodies,

backs against each other. With nothing but two layers of thin fabric separating their skin, Sunny could feel

chilly, but at least his

in silence for a while,

however, Cassie suddenly

"Sunny…"

voice was quiet and

how is she doing? Do

remained silent for a few moments,

great. She is a devil already. Now stop bothering

didn't say

a sudden change in her breathing. Through the thin fabric of their clothes, he could feel the blind girl's

around

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

not knowing

having a vision, and that like most of her visions, this one was painful and terrifying. Was he supposed to wake her up? Or would it do more

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

feel her surroundings, clearly not

caught one of them, making Cassie flinch, and

it. You're in a cage

to his iron grip. After a while, Cassie took a deep breath and

"...I'm alright."

mostly empty waterskin, and

water and