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.

Sunny had learned before, he assumed that Mordret possessed a bizarre and powerful Aspect that allowed him to deal either mind or soul damage to other living beings. That made him

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 fighting with his

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 a

Sunny supposed to win against

then walked past the corpses and approached

one except for Saint

three 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 insert

to see the same type of primitive weave he had

"Curse it."

kick, then turned around and

we aren't getting out of here

in a

be able to

girl frowned, then asked

"Where to, then?"

thought for a few

damned place… why not try and accomplish the task they had come here to complete, in

check on

knife was

the scene of the cruel massacre behind, the two of them headed

***

the central temple. The distance itself was not that considerable, but the bizarre interior of the cathedral was

already tense nerves. Both Sunny and Cassie had not recovered from their ordeal completely, so they had to stop and

— rotting corpses of the Lost, signs of bloodshed and destruction, as well as things that were too strange

was as though they were traveling

Sunny grew

his actions had led

an unspeakable evil

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

he sent the shadow ahead, made sure that everything was fine, and finally led Cassie into the