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.

powerful Aspect that allowed him to deal either mind or soul damage to

be looking the prisoner of the Night Temple in the eyes… which was good, since

had clearly died in a ferocious and bloody melee. That meant that, on top of everything else, Mordret was a fighter of incredible skill… skilled and powerful enough to not only kill a dozen experiences Awakened with

to

walked past the corpses and

the Citadel was sealed, and no one except for

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 insert

the gates, hoping to see the same type of primitive weave he had seen in the door of the Ebony Tower. But there was

"Curse it."

gave the gates a good kick, then turned

out of

would happen in a week,

be able to survive that

girl frowned, then asked

"Where to, then?"

for

try and accomplish the task they

check on the

the ivory knife was

cruel massacre behind, the two of

***

but the bizarre interior of the cathedral was disorienting and sprawling, resembling a vast, convoluted maze of

recovered from their ordeal completely, so they had to stop and

while they were slowly dying inside the cage — rotting corpses of

were traveling through

each minute that passed, Sunny grew

to question the moral implications of what his actions had led

accidentally released an

really care about the world… but on the other hand, Sunny didn't like

sure that everything was fine, and finally led Cassie into the grand hall of