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

since

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

how was Sunny supposed to win against

past the corpses

was sealed, and no one except for Saint Cormac would be able to open it. However… Sunny had to check for

wrapped all 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

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

"Curse it."

then turned around and walked

aren't getting out of

would happen in a week, at the

able to survive that

frowned, then asked with

"Where to, then?"

for a

stuck in this damned place… why not try and accomplish the task

check on the

knife was still

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

***

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

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

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

though they were traveling through the workshop of

each minute that passed, Sunny grew more and

the first time since this whole disaster started, he actually began to question the moral implications of what his actions had led to. Even if he had been an unwilling accomplice, Mordret only managed to escape

released an unspeakable

about that. On one hand, he didn't really care about the world… but on the other hand, Sunny didn't like to leave behind a mess without cleaning it up. It

was