Shadow Slave

Before the gates of the temple, a large hall stood, submerged in darkness. The air was permeated with the smell of rot, and at least a dozen of eviscerated bodies lay on the cold stones, staring into nothingness with their empty eyes.

Sunny had long become accustomed to such sights, so he wasn't too bothered by it. The implication, however, left him feeling cold.

'Damnation…'

He entered the hall, both Saint and the Serpent emerging silently from his shadows. Cassie followed, gripping the hilt of the Quiet Dancer so hard that her fingers turned white.

Sunny walked over to the nearest corpse, held his breath, and knelt beside it, studying its wounds. Then, with a grim expression, he moved over to the next one and did the same.

It took him some time to check on each of the slain Lost, and by the end, his eyes were full of darkness.

The blind girl remained silent for a few moments, then asked, her voice tense and trembling:

"...How did they die?"

He lingered for a second, then shook his head.

"Sword wounds."

Each of the fallen sentinels was killed with one precise, fatal strike. However, most of them were terribly mutilated and covered in multiple wounds — none of them lethal, but all aimed at inflicting the maximum amount of pain.

The killer, whoever it was, wanted his victims to suffer before they died.

Well… Sunny was pretty sure that he knew who the killer was.

Mordret. The man — or thing — that he had set free.

It seemed that the Prince of Nothing had a sadistic streak about him.

…But that wasn't the problem.

he assumed that Mordret possessed a bizarre and powerful Aspect that allowed him to deal either

Ability seemed to be looking the prisoner of the Night Temple in the eyes… which was good, since both Sunny and Cassie could naturally counter it — Sunny by

was a fighter of incredible skill… skilled and powerful enough to not only kill a dozen experiences Awakened with

supposed to win against someone

sighed, then walked past the corpses and approached

sealed, and no one except for Saint Cormac would be able

shadows around his body and tried to push open the gates, but to no avail. The heavy doors didn't budge even when Saint joined him. None of the keys their jailers had carried were of any use, too… there wasn't even a keyhole to

of the gates, hoping to see the same type of primitive weave he

"Curse it."

good kick, then turned around and walked back to Cassie

aren't getting out of here

would happen in a week, at the

even be able

frowned, then

"Where to, then?"

thought for

place… why not try and accomplish the task they had

check on

ivory knife was still

of the cruel massacre behind, the two of

***

them a long time to cross the outward ring and enter the central temple. The distance itself was not that considerable, but the bizarre interior of the cathedral was disorienting and sprawling, resembling a vast, convoluted maze of black stone. They also had to remain cautious and move slowly so as to not walk into

and eerie emptiness of the deserted Citadel were slowly stretching their already tense nerves. Both Sunny and Cassie had not recovered from their ordeal completely, so

of the struggle that had been going on inside the Night Temple while they were slowly dying inside the cage — rotting corpses of the Lost,

were traveling

Sunny grew more and

his actions had led to.

an unspeakable

world… but on the other hand, Sunny didn't like to leave behind a mess without cleaning it up. It was just basic

everything was